Overview:
- Estimated achievement difficulty: 2/10
- Offline: 11 (185 )
- Online: 1 (15 )
- DLC: No DLC
- Approximate amount of time to 200 : 1-2 hours
- Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 3
- Number of missable achievements: 3
- Glitched achievements: None
- Do cheat codes disable achievements?: No cheats
- Does difficulty affect achievements?: No


Step one - Preparation
First off you are going to want to hit , go to 'HELP & OPTIONS'.
Once there go to Settings, at the bottom and set the difficulty to 1. This is the easiest setting.

Step Two - Arcade Mode
The following achievements will be unlocked in this playthrough:
ROLL
Climax Mode
Emergency Order
Stealth Bomber
Across Enemy Lines
Strike Eagle/Super Tomcat/Super Hornet
All Clear! (Possibly)
Now you have the difficulty set to your advantage, go ahead and start Arcade Mode. Chose your plane and get ready for one of the best XBLA games to date. As soon as the game starts, press and hold either left or right, this will get you the ROLL achievement. Immediately after the roll, press to enter Climax mode, unlocking the Climax Mode achievement. From here just keep playing through.

I advise that you do not stay still for more than 1-2 seconds as the enemy rockets will take you out. Push the stick and hold either left or right to do a roll to avoid enemy missiles. When you see large groups of enemies, or multiple missiles fired at you at once, you may want to use the Climax Mode to destroy/avoid them.

On certain stages, you are ordered to take out a target. The first target you encounter is Stage 3. This target takes 3-4 rockets to destroy, unlocking the Emergency Order achievement. Upon completion of Stage 5 you will unlock the Stealth Bomber achievement. Also upon the completion of Stage 10, you will unlock the Across Enemy Lines achievement. Once you complete Stage 13a/b, you will have completed the playthrough and gain the achievement related to the plane you chose at the start.

Step Three
In this playthrough you will unlock the following achievements:
50 Combo
Strike Eagle/Super Tomcat/Super Hornet
Triple A (Possibly)All Clear! (Possibly)Throughout your last playthrough, you may have noticed the Ex Options Unlocked banner pop up on your screen. To activate these, go to Ex Options from the main menu. You will definitely have unlocked extra credits and also Lock-On: LARGE CURSOR. Also activate the Aircraft Speed: FAST. This will help you to get the AAA ranking later on. Click on any of the images to activate them.

Now start your second playthrough, as you now have a fair idea off what the stages are like. As you have to play the game three times, we will leave the tougher achievements till last. This is because you unlock more things in the Ex Options that help you.

Here, all you are focusing on is getting a 50x combo. I found this easier to do on Stage 5. Once you hit the 50x mark, the 50 Combo achievement will unlock. If you can not get this, then just try get a combo of 1000 points. This will unlock a Ex Option (Combo Window: LONG) that makes the combo last longer. This makes getting a 50x combo a piece of cake.

Upon completion of all stages, you will receive the achievement related to the plane you chose.

Step Four
If you do not yet have the 50 Combo or Triple A achievements, this is the time to do them. You will also receive the last place specific achievement you need.

For this playthrough, make sure you have ALL Ex Options that you know are going to work in your advantage, don't get too excited when you see you have unlocked a few, READ them before activating. Some decrease your plane's abilities.

Try and use Climax Mode as much as you can, this really helps when taking out enemies to try and keep your combo. The easiest stage to get this in my opinion is Stage 5.

As for Triple A rankings, just hold down the whole way through the game, do not let go. This will ensure a fast playthrough getting you the Triple A ranking for time, unlocking the Triple A achievement.

Final Arcade Playthrough
Here you will unlock the final Arcade achievement, All Clear! To obtain this, you need complete all emergency orders given through out the stages, I believe there are four. Once you have taken out the last one, you will unlock the last stage. Make sure you take out the rockets labeled with Target. If you do not destroy them, you get ending B not A.

An alternate way to unlock the last stage to get the ending A is to play 20 Emergency Orders through out the stages. This unlocks a Ex Option that enables you to have the secret stage at the end of every playthrough.

Score Attack Mode
In score attack mode, you need to upload a score for the final achievement. To do this, simply play through the level and have the scores uploaded to XBL.

Thanks for reading and I hope this helps everyone out a little.

x360a would like to thank Slowly Consumed for this Road Map

After Burner Climax Achievement Guide

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Show secret achievements

There are 12 achievements with a total of 200 points

  • ROLL

     

    15

    Performed a roll in Arcade mode.

    For this achievement, just simply push and hold the left analogue stick left or right, the plane will do a roll and the achievement will unlock.
  • Activated Climax Mode in Arcade mode.

    Simply press and the achievement will unlock.
  • Got a combo of 50 in Arcade mode.

    When playing through the game, try aim for a 1000 point combo. This will unlock the Combo Window: LONG Ex Option. What this does is makes your combos last longer, giving you greater time to get the 50x. I found this easiest on the later levels, Stage 5 in particular. Don't forget to use Climax Mode, this really helps towards the achievement as you can knock out many enemies without them knocking you out first.
  • Cleared Stage 5 in Arcade mode.

    You will unlock this as you progress through the Arcade move.
  • Cleared Stage 10 in Arcade mode.

    You will unlock this as you progress through the Arcade move.
  • Cleared Arcade mode with the F-14D.

    When you start Arcade mode, you get to chose from three planes, make sure you chose the F-14D.
  • Cleared Arcade mode with the F/A-18E.

    When you start Arcade mode, you get to chose from three planes, make sure you chose the F/A-18E.
  • Cleared Arcade mode with the F-15E.

    When you start Arcade mode, you get to chose from three planes, make sure you chose the F-15E.
  • Cleared an Emergency Order in Arcade mode.

    If you look at the symbol in the achievement picture, you will see this at the bottom of your screen on four of the stages, this is an Emergency Order Mission. Simply complete the mission (not the stage) for this achievement. The first Emergency Order Mission is on Stage 3, simply shoot down the Fighter with the word Target by it and the achievement is yours.
  • Uploaded a Score Attack score to rankings.

    To unlock this you need to play through Score Attack mode, upon completion, the scores will be entered to the boards as long as you are connected to live.
  • Got a AAA ranking in Arcade mode (for Shot Down, Combo, or Play Time).

    This achievement may come naturally, if not then make sure you set your Aircraft Speed to FAST in the Ex Options, this is the easiest of the three to get AAA ranking on. Hold down and just keep shooting, you can complete the arcade mode in around seven minutes which will give you the AAA ranking required for this achievement.
  • Cleared Arcade mode with ending A.

    First method would be to try and complete all four of the Emergency Orders through out the stages. This unlocks the secret mission at the end, make sure you shoot down the nuclear missiles or you get ending B, if you succeed and shoot all the nukes down, then you will receive ending A. To shoot a missile down, you must use your cannons, missiles can not hit them. Use Climax Mode to slow down time so your shots are more accurate.

    The second method is to complete 20 Emergency Orders, this will unlock an Ex Option which allows you to set the secret mission to always available. Simply play through and when you get to the last stage (14), make sure to shoot all the nukes down. See first method for details.