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These games don't typically have the best reputation (well, I guess the 32X version gets some respect at times).

I've decided to spend some time with Afterburner 2 on my Genesis.

Pretty fun in general, but I feel like it's kinda easy to get hit without seeing it coming, or have I just not developed the detection skills as well.
The Genny does a pretty good job handling the fast action and movement, but it feels like it's hard to see stuff in the distance.

Anyone else have similar experience and/or eventually somewhat-mastered the game at all?

Which version do you want some more thoughts on? I can give one a go this weekend when I have more time.

Well, Afterburner 2 for the Genesis/MD is the most relevant to me at the moment as that's what I've been playing off and on for the last few days.
I am getting better at it but still can't get it especially far.

But so far, I've improved on the following:
* trying to resist the urge to use missiles on the up-close enemies
* getting more proactive in getting the far-out enemies in my crosshair for better lock-on frequency
* mixing boost and slow-down for enemies coming from behind
* slowing down as much as I can to dodge pillars, shoot targets in bonus round

Struggles still
* seeing the incoming missiles coming from ahead before the last second
* hitting the targets better on the bonus rounds

I don't know if it's just a visual limitation of the Genesis, but I just can't seem to sense when the far-out enemies launch their missiles. Sometimes I see the missiles when they are like with 30% range of me, but most of the times I just get lucky in dodging them and/or see them at the very last second.