With Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve nearly out to surpass most fan expectations, it’s time to reminisce about what was arguably Namco’s dumbest-ever decision regarding Western audiences—yes, worse than releasing any of the Tekken movies.
Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve isn’t even out yet, but it already has a Metacritic score of 87. So, it’s likely seriously good, to the point that Namco felt so confident it didn’t even bother with a big embargo to prevent any sort of ugly truth from coming out and stunting sales. Nice to see it flourishing like that, because I remember a little-known story of a time when the studio wasted one of its greatest opportunities in the West for dumb reasons.
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Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere was my introduction to the series, and I thought I couldn’t have asked for more. Back in ’99, absolutely no PS1 game came close to the tense action, beautiful graphics, and overall beautiful aesthetics of its presentation. I’d even go as far as to say that, since just a couple of years later we’d witness 9/11, an event which would immediately taint flight-related thought forever, Ace Combat 3 might’ve been the most fun anyone in history would ever have with a game that so easily lends itself to military propaganda. I was really happy with what I had, and only got mad about it many years later when I found out I’d actually played a severely chopped version of the real thing.
I’m extra sorry if you’re only learning about it now, but it turns out that the version we got in Europe and the United States was actually a truncated version of what’s described as the most ambitious narrative experience in the history of air combat games.
Because Namco didn’t believe localizing the game for Western audiences would justify the costs, the studio decided to cut most of the game’s story—a huge problem because it was tied to the most complex campaign in a game of its kind. Thus, we got 16 fewer missions, every single anime cutscene of its rich hour-long branching narrative cut out, no voice acting or subplots, and only one ending out of the four we’d get in the original Japanese versions, because if there’s no real story, then there’s really no dramatic choices to make.
In the end, we got a game that greatly satisfied a lot of kids who, like me, didn’t know they were getting a glorified and full-priced arcade version of the real thing. Though it played great, Ace Combat 3 underperformed in the US, selling just a few thousand more copies than Ace Combat 2, and all that likely just because it didn’t add much to its predecessor, though it totally could have. Arguably the second-biggest aerial combat blunder ever performed by the Japanese on Americans.
Weirdly, Namco thought that the country that loves both Top Gun and anime the most wouldn’t like anime Top Gun, but there’s good news. Even though Namco ended up never releasing an official version of the true Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere, fans have taken the time to localize the brilliant Japanese version, which they made available for download just three years ago. You can play it right now. Sure, the graphics might feel too archaic for newer players, but those who’ve played the original—or part of it— will undoubtedly feel like they’re unearthing a treasure trove of goodies they didn’t even know existed.
And a new experience is right around the corner, and it seems pretty good as well: Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve comes out for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on October 2, or on September 28 if you acquire the Deluxe Edition.
