Gamers who trudged through high school in the 1980s probably dropped a few quarters into an After Burner cabinet in a dingy arcade. The past four years have seen Sega bring back the series in the form of the 2007 PSP game After Burner: Black Falcon and the 2006 arcade sequel After Burner Climax.

　　After Burner Climax takes to the skies in just over four weeks.

　　In January, Sega announced that After Burner Climax will be released on Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network sometime this spring. Today, the publisher dated the game as arriving on the former on April 21 and the latter on April 22. The E10+ for everyone 10-and-over rated game will cost $9.99 on the PSN and 800 Microsoft points on XBL.

　　Presented in HD, After Burner Climax gives players three planes to choose from and 20 stages with branching paths to blast through. The "Climax" part of the game's name comes from a gameplay mechanic that lets players slow down time for easier missile locks and evasive maneuvers. In keeping with the series' arcade roots, development is being handled by Sega's AM2 development division, the same studio behind coin-op classics like Space Harrier, Out Run, and Virtua Fighter.