1988 Archives - The Greatest Game Music

After Burner Soundtrack (C64 – Europe), Adam Gilmore / Hiroshi Kawaguchi, 1988

The immersive 3d-action and visual fireworks of 1985’s Space Harrier were unparalleled for its era. Sega quickly realised they were on to a winning formula and began to churn out several games that made more and more advanced use of the company’s Super Scaler technology. After motorbikes (Hang-On) and racing cars (OutRun), Sega chose fighter jets for 1987’s action extravaganza After Burner. In many ways, After Burner is the perfect summation of the arcade game experience: blinding speeds, non-stop action – and a difficulty level that focuses more on parting gamers with their quarters rather than providing a fair challenge. The latter point was less of an issue for the many, many console and home computer ports that this genre classic and franchise starter saw in subsequent years. Some platforms even received two After Burner ports – for example, C64 users got to choose between a European and a US version.

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Last Ninja 2 Soundtrack (C64), Matt Gray, 1988

The Last Ninja had been a multi-million smash hit, so developer System 3 didn’t upset the apple cart when they created Last Ninja 2: Back with a Vengeance. The main novelty was the change of scenery: protagonist Armakuni is mysteriously transported from feudal Japan to 20th-century New York City, where he has to defeat evil shogun Kunitoki once again. The new locales added just the right amount of innovation, while the core gameplay largely remained the same. However, System 3 also tweaked and improved important aspects of the formula: better sprite animation, more locations, and a more significant number of puzzles. The result? A whopping 5,5 million copies sold and ports for the Amiga, Atari ST, NES, ZX Spectrum and MS-DOS following in due course. And let’s not forget the confusingly titled Last Ninja Remix, a slightly enhanced re-release of Last Ninja 2 for 8-bit computers.