SEGA's After Burner hits PSP

SEGA has confirmed rumours that the deal it recently signed with Planet Moon Studios was for a new After Burner game for PlayStation Portable.

Called After Burner: Black Falcon, it's due out in spring 2007 and promises a single-player campaign along with competitive and co-operative Wi-Fi multiplayer modes.

Planet Moon will be injecting the game with 19 officially licensed, customisable planes, as players embark on a story-rich campaign to discover the origins of the titular mercenary group Black Falcon, responsible for the theft of 13 top-secret planes.

SEGA creative director Matt Woodley says After Burner will be "a good example of updating one of the all time SEGA classics for the current generation of gamers", maintaining the arcade original's fast pace and challenge.

For his part, Planet Moon CEO Bob Stevenson said building the game from the ground up on PSP has given the team license to explore multiplayer, customisation and "over-the-top" gameplay where it might not otherwise have been able to. "Most importantly, it's approximately 9000% more portable than the original arcade cabinet," he joked.

It's also got a lot to live up to, mind - and it'll be interesting to see how Planet Moon gets on with it. Not long to go either, with spring pegged as the release target.