Sky Target

Like After Burner, Sky Target places players in control of a modern fighter jet. Players can select from four planes: the F-14D Super Tomcat, Rafale M, F-16C, and F-15S/MTD. The camera follows in chase view (with two selectable follow distances), and players control movement with an analog flight stick. As in After Burner, moving the reticule over a target allows the player to lock on (denoted by a voice shouting "Fire!") and fire homing missiles.

Unlike After Burner II, there is no throttle to control speed, nor an ability to barrel roll. After certain stages, players may have a choice of two different stages, an element later revisited in After Burner Climax. Also unlike After Burner, Sky Target has large, sci-fi-inspired bosses that must be destroyed in a set amount of time in order to receive a score bonus.

Sky Target was negatively received by critics. Reviewing the arcade version, Next Generation called the game "a fancy-shmantzy remake of After Burner, and a lot less fun". The reviewer praised the visuals for their cutting edge level of detail, lack of draw in, and strong design, but said the gameplay is so simplistic and repetitive that the average player will have mastered it by the end of the first two levels. He noted that the game was even simpler than its predecessor After Burner, since it lacks a means of controlling acceleration. In spite of the negative reception, Japan's Game Machine listed the game on their December 1, 1995 issue as the fourth most-successful dedicated arcade game of the month.

The Saturn version was also primarily criticized for its generally shallow gameplay, and limited controls, which a Next Generation critic summed up by saying that the player's plane "acts more like a targeting icon than a pilotable craft." GamePro concluded, "Sky Target might have made a decent arcade game a decade ago, but it certainly won't do anything to calm all those Saturn owners worrying about the system's future." In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of 26 out of 40.