In After Burst, the player takes the role of a fighting robot who has to destroy a orb in each one-screen level. But before this can happen, a series of obstacles have to be cleared, e.g. wandering robots, platforming challenges or small puzzles (when not destroyable blocks are placed directly above destroyable ones, they fall down when their support is gone). Besides walking and jumping, the robot also has a gun to his disposal. The angle can be changed and by holding the fire button longer, the flying distance of the shot can be set. Each level has a time limit and sometimes there is a boss to defeat. Additionally there is a duel mode, also in levels shown from the side, in which two opponents (the second either controlled by a human or the AI) try to kill each other.
