Mythology Gag / Ace Combat Infinity

Ace Combat Infinity is a crossover of most titles in the game series, so it comes to no surprise that it carries a lot of references to previous games.

• Air Combat:
  • The second Mercenary King Tournament gave away the original Scarface emblem as its top prize.
  • The 20th Anniversary event includes several challenges that reward players with skins for aircraft such as F-4E, F-16C, F-22A and YF-23 based on how they appeared in the original game.
• Ace Combat 2:
  • Kei Nagase and John Herbert, Edge and Slash respectively, are confirmed characters in the game.
  • The first "Mercenary King Tournament" gave away both the original and the remake's version of the Scarface Squadron emblem as prizes alongside the "Phoenix" nickname; an alternate version of the original was also a prize for the "Fighter's Honor" event, the re-run of Mercenary King a year later added a second version of the original that plays part of the music track "Rising High" as its MVP theme, and the "We Hold the Trump Card" event in March 2016 adds an alternate version of the remake emblem that also has its own MVP theme.
  • The trailer announcing the Area 88 crossover featured "Fire Youngman" from the AC2 soundtrack. The track later plays in the Comona map for the Naval Fleet Assault Team Deathmatch Event, which is rather similar to the AC2 level "Seagull" the track originally played in.
  • The mid-January 2015 update added the ADF-01 FALKEN superplane, with the March 2015 update including an event skin for it based on that of the A.I.-controlled Z.O.E. FALKEN; with the addition of Skilled Pilot Medals as ranking tournaments were reworked again came a new special Z.O.E. version of the plane that excludes the TLS and is shaped closer to how the plane looked in its debut. The "Fighter's Honor" event in February gave out an Su-35 in Scarface One's livery and the "Scarface" nickname, as well.
  • March 2015 adds the XFA-27, complete with a new special weapon, the Multiple-Launch Standard Missile, to replicate the gimmick of launching four standard missiles at a time. Upgrading it to level 3 gives you the nickname "Fire Youngman," after the above-mentioned track from AC2. The top prize for the "Unified Command's Last Hope" event in April 2015 and then the "We Hold the Trump Card" event in March 2016 was a special variation with the paint scheme used by Scarface One's XFA-27.
  • The last event for January 2016 is "Z.O.E. Project," giving a special plane and event skins for the total of five real-world aircraft the Z.O.E. flew; it's a combined call back to 2 and to its remake, as the special craft is the YF-23 it only used in AHL, but the F-22 that plane replaced from the original also gets a skin. The "Eagle has Landed" event the next March, meanwhile, includes a Z.O.E. emblem.
  • A random emergency mission in Dubai is to protect it from a set of ballistic missiles fired from out at sea, mirroring the penultimate mission of Ace Combat 2 where the player has to protect a recently-liberated city from a ballistic missile launched from a submarine.
• Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere:
  • Trailers hinted at the COFFIN system being used. Also, a man with the surname "Cohen" plays a part in the plot.
  • In addition to the resemblance to Grabacr's emblem noted below, Viper's insignia being a snake with a tail that forms an infinity symbol could be a reference to the terrorist organization Ouroboros.
  • As of Campaign Mission 3, a large chunk of Eurasia is now the "USEA Federation".
  • Though it flashes by, in this update video a model of the R-101 Delphinus can be seen; this and a quick mention of the COFFIN system possibly confirm aircraft from Ace Combat 3 will be playable, which finally happened with the addition of the R-101 in the March 2015 patch, complete with the classic AC3 HUD (e.g. kill messages replaced with narrated "BULLS EYE!" and "BINGO!", the preview image for mission updates sliding in from the side like in AC3). Also, the music in this trailer is "Freefall" from the famous AC3 space mission Zero Gravity.
    • The true identity of the Butterfly Master is a female living in a satellite, with a spitting resemblance to Fiona Chris Fitzgerald.
  • A Flanker with Rena Hirose's colors was available as a tourney reward in December 2014, as well as a sizable number of emblems from the game; a repeat of the event in December 2015 added a Eurofighter in UPEO colors (identified as Fiona's) alongside it.
  • And now the X-49 Night Raven has been added, as well, having exactly the same HUD as the Delphinus. June 2015's "I'm pinned down!" event gave a version identified as belonging to Rena.
  • The Ring Battle TDM version of the San Diego map reuses "Physical Layer" from the Electrosphere OST, appropriate given it first played during a training exercise.
• The Whole-Plot Reference to Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies, as well as the use of Stonehenge and Sky-Eye.
  • Plus, the "title card" shown at the end of all the trailers have shown what appears to be Mobius 1's Ribbon emblem in the background. The final shot in the campaign is of a red version of the original Mobius emblem hidden in shadows. Moreover, Reaper is on rare occasions referred to as a "ribbon" after taking the infinity symbol on his emblem, a reversal of Mobius 1 primarily being the Ribbon with occasional mentions of the Grim Reaper.
  • Omega is named for Omega Squadron. His habit of being constantly shot down during operations, earning him the nickname "King Bailout," is specifically a nod to the equally hapless Omega 11. Luckily, Omega makes it through the campaign unscathed, despite Goodfellow specifically bringing back up his penchant for misfortune prior to the engagement at the Round Table. Similarly, Viper's callsign comes from Viper Squadron.
  • An aerospace center in the West Indies is given the name "Comona Base." The co-op mission set there, Aerospace Center Defense, is basically the "Shattered Skies" level with surface targets thrown in to give non-fighter class planes a way to contribute. It even has a remix of the same song playing.
  • Campaign Mission 3 is in essence a variant of "Deep Strike," starting with the player bombing various enemy buildings and ending with them having to avoid Stonehenge's attacks by flying through a ravine. Pipeline Destruction in co-op is likewise a variant of "Lifeline," with the players destroying both a coastal refinery complex and sea-based oil platforms; the Hard Mode variation makes it even more apparent by using the same music.
  • The end of Campaign Mission 5, wherein Lt. Bertz is reported to have been killed earlier in the operation and has his post taken over by Sgt. Collins, is similar to the end of Operation Bunker Shot, where the commanding officer of the ground forces, Lt. Baelz, is reported as killed in action and replaced by a Sgt. Collins.
  • Mission 8's operation is actually called Bunker Shot. Both landing team commanders survive the battle.
  • Task Force 118, nicknamed Arrowblades, recalls both the 118th Tactical Fighter Wing (aka Mobius Squadron) in its name, and the Independent State Allied Forces in the design of its emblem. ISAF's "Three Arrowheads" logo would be made available to players as a prize awarded to the Top 5000 ranks in May 2015's Mobius 1 Tournament and then again for the Top 8000 ranks in March 2016's "This is bad! All the enemies have ribbons!" event.
  • This game's version of Slash takes some traits from Yellow 13 — namely, that he prefers flying in a formation and his ace record is second to none, but his real point of pride is having never lost a wingman. In a reversal, Slash is downed first, while Edge, his Yellow 4, and the rest of the squadron live on. Yellow 13's Su-37 has also been teased in a September update video, and is an event prize, with later events and drops also giving other similar Yellow Su-37s with Yellow 4, Jean-Louis (021), and Gene's (018) numbers.
    • August 2014 brought in a Special Raid mission called Stonehenge Returns; Area B7R Dogfight can also randomly have Stonehenge supporting whoever the players fight in the mission update.
  • January 2015 added in the X-02 Wyvern.
  • Sky-Eye mentions over the radio that the day of Operation Bunker Shot is his birthday, just like Sky Eye did in 04 during Operations Umbrella and Autumn Thunder. For extra attention to detail, Bunker Shot takes place on September 19th, the same date as the aforementioned missions from 04.
  • The OLDS is essentially a combination of Megalith and Ace Combat 5's Arkbird — originally a superweapon meant to deflect Ulysses asteroid fragments out of the planet's orbit, now repurposed to instead shoot them down so they impact on the planet with devastating results.
  • The Butterfly Master calls Reaper "a decent opponent" in the epilogue. Yellow 13 made a similar remark about Mobius 1.
  • The reward for those who placed at Rank 1000 or above (or had Lucky Number ranks ending with "20") in the "AC 20th Anniversary" Ranking Event at the end of June 2015 was a Reaper Squadron emblem, suggesting that Reaper would lead a squadron named after him just as Mobius 1 had an entire Mobius Squadron as backup for the Battle of Megalith. This is supported by Goodfellow telling Arrowblades they would be regrouped for subsequent missions in Operation Eternal Liberation. The "This is bad! All the enemies have ribbons!" ranking event, which features the Mobius-118 emblem along with its Infinite-111 counterpart as top prizes, also awards the aircraft of Mobius Squadron's first eight members—F-22As, Rafale Ms, and Typhoons—albeit in an altered order from 04's lineup following Mobius 4. ^note Mobius 5 and Mobius 6 each flew a Rafale M instead of a Typhoon, with Typhoons being issued to pilots from Mobius 8 onward; Mobius 7's plane being a Rafale M is accurate, however.
  • In a more meta example, the top-thousand prize for the first Ring Battle TDM event is a special F-2A Viper Zero based on one of the real-world prototypes. Urata, one of the optional aces the player could down in 04, flew an F-2A with a paint scheme based on the same prototype. Likewise, the first event skin for the F-5E, dropped around the same time as the event, is based on a recurring paint scheme first used in the series in 04 that's based on a real-world aggressor squadron.
• Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War:
  • The Ridgeback Squadron, a four-ship formation with dark color schemes similar to the "Demons of Razgriz," complete with Edge as their Number Two. Their name also calls back to the Wardog Squadron (named after a breed of dog). The Scinfaxi-class submarine also shows up in Emergency Missions on most maps.
  • The "Grey Men" are a group of high-power corporate executives. The third mission sees them kidnapped in Russia by terrorists and spurs the Bone Arrows on to launch a rescue mission.
  • Both the Wardog and the Zipang paint schemes for the F-14 are flyable, the former given away for an event which also included the Wardog Squadron and Osean Federation emblems as prizes; a rerun of the former's "Pride of Wardog" event split it into one plane for each individual member of the squad, alongside another prize being Captain Bartlett's F-5E. Another event later on gave away Bartlett's "Heartbreak One" emblem and an event skin for the F-4G based on the default paint for the craft in 5. A Tomcat with Razgriz paint is the reward for the late January 2015 event celebrating the Unsung War, with the December rerun splitting it into four separate versions for each member of the squad.
  • Viper and Captain Bartlett, who bear some physical similarities to one another, both fly planes that are ancient by the time the game is set, but still fly them (and fly them well) because they put tons of credits toward improving the plane. Viper's infinity insignia on his plane also bears a noticeable resemblance to the emblem of the Grabacr Squadron. They also have similar roles, being the grizzled old mentor to the player's squadron before leaving and letting the player take the role of captain. Unlike Bartlett though, Viper sticks around until the halfway point, where he then leaves by choice.
  • And speaking of Grabacr, one of the random Shield emblems the player can receive after an online sortie has the number 8492 on it.
  • Nugget, the game's mascot, gets his name from a term used to designate in-training/rookie pilots, Wardog Squadron included. He's also been linked to Cpt. Nicholas A. Andersen twice: the banner announcing the original Naval Fleet Assault TDM event in October 2014 featured Nugget in the captain's outfit, and the "Commence battle! We are not alone!" Ranking Tournament at the end of 2014, which had the Nugget-piloted ASF-X -Happy New Year- as a possible reward, is named after one of his lines of dialogue.
  • The January 2015 update introduces the SOLG as a Special Raid Mission, with "Winter Storm," the theme of the preceding battle with Ofnir and Grabacr, as the default music and "The Unsung War" playing during the Gold version of the mission. Satellite Interception III is also notable for being the only version of the Special Raid that changes the time of day to fully recreate the final mission of 5.
  • Owing to 5 being the first game since its introduction to feature the ADF-01 FALKEN, May 2015 added a special variation of the plane with Osean Air Defense Force markings and roundels. March 2016's "The Eagle has Landed" event includes a second event skin for the regular FALKEN as well based on its SP paint scheme from 5.
  • Similarly, the ADA-01B ADLER, an Attacker variant of the former originally meant to be introduced in 5, makes its first formal appearance in January 2016's update.
  • The X-02 -Tiger- is Ace Combat 5's SP paint for the X-02 turned into a special aircraft.
• Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War:
  • In a meta sense, the game's title is likely taken from the loading screen quotes found in Zero, most of which mention the concept of infinity in some manner or another.
  • The various camera angles for Alpha Team and Bravo Team's introductions at the start of co-op missions and TDM battles mirror those of the Belkan ace squadrons, drawing heavily from Indigo, Grun, and Silber above all. The default MVP theme as well is the same song played after shooting down Pixy at the very end of the game.
  • The second trailer shows an unseen plane using what appears to be the Tactical Laser System.
  • Also, the main protagonist and his squadron are all mercenaries, and their status as such causes no small amount of friction with the more "professional" UNF pilots (though this time the mercs and professionals are on the same side).
  • When the Aigaion enters Tokyo's airspace, the Butterfly Master is launched to intercept the squadrons that attempt to bring it down. This is reminiscent of Espada Team engaging Cipher and PJ when Galm Team hounds the XB-0 Hresvelgr, which the Aigaion was explicitly based on in the Strangereal world, that had just bombed Valais Air Force Base and made its retreat into the Waldreich Mountains. "Hresvelgr" from Zero even plays during the battle with the QFA-44 Camilla.
  • When Task Force 118 is established, most of the squadron emblems shown are from Zero — Espada, Crow, Schnee, Indigo, Wizard and Sorcerer can be seen.
  • The ADFX-01 Morgan with the TLS is playable, coming in a "Block 1" prototype, a full production line variant, and a special version with Pixy's red-wing paint scheme. Rather appropriately, the regular production version immediately precedes the FALKEN on the aircraft tree.
  • The Avalon Dam makes a reappearance in Mission 6, with attendant flythrough in the missile silo and restricted airspace during a high-speed flight through a canyon. At the end of Operation Point Blanc (named for Zero's Operation Point Blank), an ICBM aimed for Washington, D.C. is fired after Task Force 118 destroys the launch bays and seemingly neutralizes the threat; the same thing happened with the V2 launch. It's playable in Online Co-op with the March 2015 update.
  • Areas around the world have been re-designated with letter-number-letter codenames such as Area B9K for the West Indies — a specific area of Nevada airspace, over a mountainous region where communications are difficult due to underground minerals, just so happens to be called Area B7R, also known as the "Round Table" among the USAF. Mission 7 takes the player there (complete with numerous nods to dialogue from the missions set over the original Round Table), and it's possible to join in a furball above it both in co-op and in Deathmatches.
  • July 2014's events were all about giving away the squadron emblems from Zero: Wizard and Rot for the "TANABATA -The Star Festival-" event, Crow and Silber for the first Team Deathmatch restricted-aircraft event, Schnee for the F-15C event skin giveaway, and finally Galm for the second Team Deathmatch event. In August, during the "Summer Festival," the main prizes were the Gault and Indigo emblems, and the Special Drop Event also gave players a shot at the Eurofighter Typhoon with the Rot paint scheme.
  • The September monthly plane is Pixy's F-15C, a modified F-15C Eagle, with Cipher's Eagle as a reward for the September 2014 Team Deathmatch event. Perhaps not surprisingly, their stats appear to be very nearly identical at first glance. A re-run of the TDM event in January 2016 adds a Draken in the game's "Soldier" paint scheme, complete with a huge number 32 emblazoned atop the wings.
  • November 2015's update brought forth the Excalibur Onslaught raid set, which is a revamp of "Mission 9: Sword of Annihilation" pitting you against the superweapon and its laser network — the intro camera work even perfectly recreates the introduction Excalibur was given in the original mission. Only this time you'll be facing far more opposition and lasers than you can ever hope to kill on solo.
  • The "Legendary Wyvern" event's top prize was a version of the X-02 given the Knight paint scheme from Zero; the regular craft likewise got an event skin that is a recreation of its standard paint scheme from this game. Similarly, the first event skin for the EA-6B Prowler is Zero's Knight paint scheme for it, and a challenge event in the last week of February 2016 also gave Schee 5's skin for the same craft.
  • And of course, should you decide to recreate the famous final battle from the game in Team Deathmatch by having one side have any of Cipher aircraft and the other side have Pixy aircraft, the music will change to Zero.
• Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception:
  • The "Nemesis is Here" event in early March 2015 gave away the Gryphus emblem (as well as the emblem for Ace Combat Xi's Falco Squadron), alongside an F-22 in Gryphus One's livery.
  • And now the XFA-33 Fenrir has been added as well. The "End of Deception" event in December 2015 gave away a variant of it painted in the Alect Squadron's livery, along with their emblem.
  • The "We Hold the Trump Card" event in March 2016 includes rewards of alternate skins for some of the various superfighters. The XFA-27 and XFA-33's skins are based on paint schemes that could be unlocked for them in X.
• Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation:
  • Both an unmanned variant of the CFA-44 Nosferatu and the Aigaion with support craft appear. Aigaion is even fought in a randomly-encountered "Special Raid" Mission known as Moby Dick Pursuit (though the attack on the core is omitted from Moby Dick Pursuit I), and its support craft also occasionally show up as the Emergency Mission in some maps. The Black variant gives the Aigaion its original color scheme and emulates the dreary skies seen in "Heavy Command Cruiser" as opposed to I (evening) and II/III (morning/early afternoon). The Aigaion is also featured prominently in the second half of Operation Override.
  • Warrant Officer Bertz will remark "Guess the Reaper's smiling on us today, huh?" once the UNF forces have successfully landed on Ruda Island during Operation Bunker Shot, referencing one of Shamrock's lines prior to the Invasion of Gracemeria counteroffensive: "May the Golden King smile upon us."
  • Strigon Team's Su-33 was given away as an event prize in September 2014, while the Garuda Team's F-15E and emblem were event prizes in late October 2014. The September 2015 re-run separates Garuda's plane into Talisman and Shamrock, each possessing slightly different stats and weaponry.
  • Pasternak's original CFA-44 Nosferatu is featured as June 2015's random loot reward and also a Special Supply Catalogue item from September 30 to November 30. A regular Nosferatu was later added to the aircraft tree the next September.
    • A recursive example: The inclusion of piston fighters based on Red Baron and Blue Max from Sky Kid can be viewed as a nod to the Emmerian Air Force, 3rd Air Division, 4th Fighter Squadron, which had pilots going by the callsigns of Sky Kid, Red Baron, and Blue Max in honor of the original game.
• Ace Combat: Joint Assault:
  • The first mission is to protect Japan from a terrorist attack. When Task Force 118 is established, you can see the official patch of Martinez Security's Antares Squadron as well as that of the Varcolac Squadron. In addition, a blink-and-you'll-miss-it scene in the 2nd Campaign cutscene bears the mark of Martinez Security (when the cutscene explains the Advanced Automated Aviation Plant).
  • The GAF-1 Varcolac is playable as of July 2015.
  • The first event of August 2015 was titled after the Varcolac Squadron. As its name suggests, it gave away versions of the Su-37, MiG-31, A-10, and GAF-1 in the eponymous squadron's livery. A limited-time drop in the same period also gave away a MiG-1.44 in the same paint scheme.
• Ace Combat: Assault Horizon:
  • The Ridgebacks fly the F-3 Shinden II, an in-universe production model based on Assault Horizon's ASF-X Shinden II. The ASF-X is also flyable as of the August 2014 update. The alternate skin (featuring Kei Nagase's signature emblem) is available as a random drop during November 2015's "Cutting Edge of the Elite" co-op tournament.
  • Ridgeback Squadron is full of nods to a Japan-only novel Ace Combat: Ikaros in the Sky, which is set in the same universe as Assault Horizon. The Ridgebacks are formally known as the 19th Tactical Fighter Squadron. The "19" references the 19th Task Force "ACES," whose exploits are followed throughout the tale. The squadron, also consisting of ASF-X Shinden II, is led by Lieutenant Kei Nagase aka Edge — presumably the same one who makes a small cameo in AH. Her emblem can additionally be obtained in-game as a time-limited rare drop.
  • Weapons Base Assault's second half is a Bomber-optional version of "Launch," complete with missile silos. The Hard version of the map is also set at night, albeit with Joint Assault music.
  • One of the Grey Men looks exactly like Andrei Markov, the Big Bad of Assault Horizon.
  • Speaking of Markov, his T-50 "Akula" is the prize for the April 2015 Naval Team Deathmatch tournament. He gets the Morgan's MPBM in place of Trinity, however.
  • The UNF-affiliated Task Force 118 also serves as a reference to the NATO 108th Task Force, the U.S. contingent of which was led by Bishop's Warwolf Squadron.
  • The "Torn Wings" event from October-November 2015 gave away an F-22 and F-15E in respectively Bishop and Guts' liveries, along with emblems from the Warwolf, Spooky, and Shooter squadrons. There also exists a special version of the B-1B based on Task Force 108's Razor Squadron.
  • Dubai Night Assault's layout is lifted from Mission 06: Power Play and the corresponding "Dubai" multiplayer map, though the mission is set at night and lacks "Rush" as the BGM (see below). Its Hard version takes place during the day as in Assault Horizon, but uses "Merlon" from Zero.
  • The end of the campaign mission at the Avalon Dam has the player chasing down an ICBM after it's launched and the intended anti-missile plane was shot down. Alps Air Corridor in co-op features a similar possible emergency mission.
  • The Moscow Battle map is a somewhat imperfect recreation of the mission Motherland, even set to the same music ("Keep Alive"), although the USEA Federation subs for the New Russian Federation and the player is controlling a plane instead of the AH-64D Apache Longbow commandeered by Shooter Squadron's D-Ray. Either way, the objective is to liberate Moscow from terrorist control. Meanwhile, the Hard variant of Moscow and the similar White Moscow battlefield for Team Deathmatch use "White Devil" as the BGM, possibly to evoke Siege, another mission set in West Russia.
  • Likewise, Dubai Night Assault's choice of music is "Shall Defend," played during Aftermath, the mission directly following Motherland wherein the Moscow suburbs have just been hit by a Trinity missile launched by the NRF and the Warwolf and Tiger squadrons are scrambling to protect the city from a number of Moskit cruise missiles as well as a second Trinity warhead. The aforementioned emergency update involving multiple ballistic cruise missiles may double as an allusion to this segment.
  • The Paris Liberation War map is based on the multiplayer map "Paris," complete with the ability to fly under the Eiffel Tower and through the Arc of Triumph. Instead of reusing the above "White Devil," which was featured on the map in AH's multiplayer, AC5's "Four Horsemen" plays.
  • At the end of every match, the winning squadron forms up around the MVP in the same manner as Warwolf did at the end of the mission Pipeline.
• Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy:
  • The Butterfly Master's namesake emblem is taken from Camilla Almeida, leader of the Cocoon Squadron and an antagonist to Phoenix/Scarface 1 during the Usean Continental War. The Butterfly Master is also named Camilla in honor of the Strangereal character.
  • The first Special Drop Event gave away the Albireo, Lancer, Cocoon, and Beast Squadron emblems as prizes.
  • The version of the Phoenix emblem given away for the "Fighter's Honor" event uses the flying remix of the eponymous song, played in the first mission of AHL, as its MVP theme.
  • November 2015's "Lancers Charge!" Naval Assault Team Deathmatch tournament rewards players with a few aircraft in enemy livery, such as Edgar Grint's T-50 "Albireo", Sergei Brynner's F/A-18 "Beast", and Albert Wahlberg's F-14D "Lancer"; drops around the same period aslo gave Camilla Almeida's Rafale M "Cocoon" and Grint's Su-47. The Special Supply Catalogue also offers radio messages quoting lines from that game.
• More than just that, all the songs used in the game are songs lifted straight from almost all of the earlier games, from Ace Combat 2 to Assault Horizon. The game even remixes some popular tunes, like "Shattered Skies" from Ace Combat 04.
• The first mission codename is "Gambit," the first mission codename from Ace Combat 2. Similarly, the second mission's code name is Bird Hunt, from Joint Assault.
• There's also references to the arcade games that otherwise only have tenuous connections to the series. In particular is the use of AWACS Heavy Cloud, from Mach Storm, for most special missions starting from Satellite Interception and the Naval Fleet Assault and Ring Battle variants of TDM; with Ring Battle's version of the Tokyo stage, there's also the use of a remix of Air Combat 22's first stage theme originally used in the first level of Mach Storm. It's a bit of a stretch, but there's also the "Eye of Argus" nickname for leveling up the FALKEN to Level 3, recalling the AWACS Argus Eyes from Air Combat 22.