Ace Combat

Last updated

Ace Combat
Ace Combat logo.svg
Genre(s) Combat flight simulator
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)
Platform(s) PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance, Mobile phone, Xbox 360, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, PC, iOS, Xbox One, PlayStation 4
First release Air Combat
June 30, 1995
Latest release Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown
January 18, 2019

Ace Combat [lower-alpha 1] is an arcade-style combat flight simulation video game series by Project Aces, an internal development team of Bandai Namco Entertainment, formerly Namco. Debuting in 1995 with Air Combat for the PlayStation, the series includes eight mainline installments, multiple spin-offs, and other forms of media, such as novels, model kits, and soundtrack albums. Since 2012, the series has been developed primarily by Bandai Namco Studios through its internal development group, Project Aces.

Contents

The Ace Combat franchise emphasizes fast-paced action and dramatic plots with semi-realistic gameplay; for example, aircraft have flight dynamics controls and can stall, but are also able to carry dozens of missiles in hammerspace. One of the main selling points of the series is the ability to pilot a range of aircraft that include accurate or slightly modified representations of modern military aircraft, prototypes that were never adopted (or even built) in real life, and fictional boss-type superweapons. The main series of games is set in "Strangereal", a fictional universe loosely based on the real world, featuring similar events and entities but with an entirely different history largely centering around advanced technology and the effects of an asteroid impact event in the 1990s; however, certain games are set in fictional renditions of the real world.

As of 2023, the Ace Combat franchise has shipped over 19 million copies worldwide, [lower-alpha 2] and has established itself as one of the longest running arcade flight action franchises.

Setting

Most installments in the Ace Combat series are set in Strangereal, the series' fictional universe. Strangereal's Earth features entirely different nations, geography, continents, and history compared to the real world, though some nations, locations, and events are loosely based on those from real life, and most aircraft in the series are real models with few alterations.

Though Strangereal is very similar to the real modern world, technology is shown to be significantly more advanced than it is in real life, allowing for the development of superweapons and theoretical devices such as aerial warships, laser weapons, railguns, submarine and airborne aircraft carriers, orbital weapons, mass drivers, lethal autonomous weapons, nearly-sentient artificial intelligence, and advanced experimental aircraft. Nuclear weapons exist, but international agreements and nuclear terrorism are implied to have inhibited their development and use, resulting in a lack of nuclear deterrence and a greater focus on conventional weapons in arms races. This makes interstate warfare common, and many nations field large militaries with diverse equipment, develop superweapons, train elite special forces-esque "ace" fighter squadrons, or hire mercenaries to augment their forces.

Most Ace Combat games are set after a 1999 impact event with an asteroid designated "Ulysses 1994XF04" which split into many smaller fragments upon approaching Earth. Anti-asteroid weaponry was developed and used to destroy many of these fragments, but some still struck the planet, causing widespread destruction and global crises. The international tensions caused by the Ulysses impact and its aftermath play a large role in the some of the conflicts depicted in the series, and some of the game's superweapons are described as originating from anti-Ulysses devices. Another major event in the series' continuity is the 1995 "Belkan War", a World War II-esque conflict in which the highly-technological but fiercely-nationalist country Belka attempted to invade neighboring countries during an internal crisis, was repelled by an international coalition, and used nuclear weapons on their own territory to prevent a retaliatory invasion, causing their defeat and earning them global condemnation and scorn; Belkan nationalists seeking revenge for their defeat play major roles in some of the games.

As shown in Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere, the nations of Strangereal shown in most of the series are eventually superseded by sovereign megacorporations. Strangereal was later established as part of Bandai Namco's United Galaxy Space Force shared universe, representing the earliest period in its timeline, in which the nations of Strangereal unite to form a world government around 2090. [1]

Ace Combat: Joint Assault, Assault Horizon, and Infinity are not set in Strangereal, and are instead set in their own fictionalized versions of the real world.

Games

Release timeline
1995 Air Combat
1996
1997 Ace Combat 2
1998
1999 Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere
2000
2001 Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies
2002
2003
2004 Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War
2005 Ace Combat Advance
2006 Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War
Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception
2007 Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation
2008
2009 Ace Combat Xi: Skies of Incursion
2010 Ace Combat: Joint Assault
Ace Combat Assault Horizon: Trigger Finger
2011 Ace Combat: Assault Horizon
Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy
Ace Combat: Northern Wings [2]
2012
2013
2014 Ace Combat Infinity
2015Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy+
2016
2017
2018
2019 Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown

Title differences

Some Ace Combat games have differences in their title, depending on the region (NTSC or PAL) the game was sold in:

Printed media

With the release of Assault Horizon in 2011, Project Aces created Aces at War: A History, a special artbook detailing the content from Ace Combat 04, 5, and Zero from an in-universe perspective, as well as production commentary. This was packaged with the special editions of Assault Horizon released in Japan. [14] [15] Aces at War: A History would later be updated and rereleased as part of a special edition of Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown. [16]

In March 2012, ASCII Media Works released Ace Combat: Ikaros in the Sky. A tie-in novel for Assault Horizon, Ikaros tells a story of series character Kei Nagase as she participates in the JASDF's ASF-X Shinden II fighter program. [17]

Reception

Sales and aggregate review scores
GameUnits sold Metacritic
Air Combat 2.23 million shipped [18] -
Ace Combat 2 1.092 million shipped [18] 83/100 [19]
Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere 1.164 million shipped [18] -
Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies 2.64 million shipped [18] 89/100 [20]
Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War 1.802 million shipped [18] 84/100 [21]
Ace Combat Advance 100,000 shipped [18] 56/100 [22]
Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War 792,000 shipped [18] 75/100 [23]
Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception 476,000 shipped [18] 75/100 [24]
Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation 700,000 [25] 80/100 [26]
Ace Combat: Assault Horizon 1.07 million [25] 78/100 [27]
Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown 5 million shipped [28] 80/100 [29]

Ace Combat has been a consistent commercial success, with most mainline installments reaching over one million units shipped. Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown is the most successful title with over 3 million copies shipped by 2021, [28] followed by Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies and Air Combat . [18] The games have sold well predominantly in North America and Japan, where over 75% of all revenue was generated from the series by 2008. [18] In total, the Ace Combat franchise has shipped over 19 million copies. [lower-alpha 2] [31]

See also

Notes

  1. Japanese: エースコンバット, Hepburn: Ēsu Konbatto
  2. 1 2 Over 14 million copies shipped by 2018, [30] plus over 5 million copies shipped of Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown after its release in 2019. [28]

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<i>Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies</i> 2001 combat flight simulation video game

Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies is a 2001 combat flight simulation video game developed and published by Namco for the PlayStation 2. It is the fourth entry in the Ace Combat series and the first in the series to be released for the PlayStation 2. The game's plot, set in a fictional alternate universe where Earth has been ravaged by asteroid impacts, follows the player character "Mobius 1", a fighter pilot in a multinational military coalition who spearheads the liberation of the fictional continent of Usea from the expansionist country of Erusea.

<i>Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War</i> 2004 video game

Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War is a 2004 combat flight simulation video game by Namco for the PlayStation 2. The game was developed by Project Aces, an internal Namco studio credited with the development of the Ace Combat series. A limited number of the games were bundled with the Hori Flightstick 2 accessory.

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<i>Air Combat</i> 1995 video game

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<i>Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War</i> 2006 video game developed by Namco

Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War is a 2006 combat flight simulation video game developed and published by Namco for the PlayStation 2. Part of the Ace Combat series, the game was first released outside of Japan by the newly formed Namco Bandai Games. Set in the Ace Combat series' fictional universe of Strangereal, the game's story takes place before the events of most other entries in the series, and follows the actions of "Galm Team", a mercenary fighter squadron led by the player character "Cipher", as they fight to repel an enemy invasion during the titular Belkan War, a World War II-esque conflict that was mentioned but not elaborated upon in previous entries.

<i>Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere</i> 1999 video game

Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere is a combat flight simulation video game developed and published by Namco for the PlayStation. The third game in the Ace Combat franchise, it was released in Japan on May 27th, 1999 and in Europe and North America by January 21st, and March 7th 2000, respectively. Players fly fighter aircraft and must complete a variety of mission objectives, such as destroying squadrons of enemy planes or protecting a base from an invading unit.

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<i>Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception</i> 2006 video game

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<i>Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation</i> 2007 video game

Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation is a 2007 arcade-style combat flight simulation video game developed by Project Aces and published by Namco Bandai Games exclusively for the Xbox 360. It is the seventh entry in the Ace Combat franchise, the first mainline game in the franchise to not see a release on a PlayStation platform as had been done with previous titles, and the first game in the franchise to include downloadable content. Like other Ace Combat games, Ace Combat 6 features standard gameplay from the series that mixes arcade flight with authentic flight simulation.

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<i>Ace Combat: Joint Assault</i> 2010 video game

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<i>Ace Combat: Assault Horizon</i> 2011 video game

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<i>Ace Combat Infinity</i> 2014 combat flight simulation video game

Ace Combat Infinity was a combat flight simulation video game developed by Project Aces and published by Bandai Namco Games for the PlayStation 3. It is the sixteenth title in the Ace Combat series, and was released worldwide in May 2014. It is the first partially free-to-play title in the series, and unlike most games in the series, Infinity takes place on Earth. However, it includes certain elements from past Ace Combat games, including historical events, organizations, superweapons, and original aircraft.

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<i>Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown</i> 2019 video game

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown is a 2019 combat flight simulation game by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The first new entry in the Ace Combat series since 2014's Ace Combat Infinity, the game was released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in January 2019, and for Windows in February 2019. A Nintendo Switch port was released in July 2024.

<i>Air Combat</i> (arcade game) 1993 arcade video game

Air Combat is a 1993 combat flight simulator arcade video game developed by Namco. The arcade game was released in 1993 for the polygon-powered Namco System 21 arcade hardware, and received praise for its 3D graphics and technological capabilities. The game was a commercial success at Japanese and American arcades in the 1990s, and inspired several later Namco games, including the arcade sequel Air Combat 22, the PlayStation game Air Combat, and the Ace Combat series.

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