Follow TV Tropes

Following

Video Game / Air Combat
aka: Ace Combat 1

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1738275_acecombat_jpfront.jpg

"Win one for the free world. Good hunting."
— Back of case

The first game in the Ace Combat series. Released on the PlayStation in 1995, which was meant to be a port of the 1992 arcade game Air Combat (which spawned its own sequel, Air Combat 22, also in 1995). You fly as the leader of an elite mercenary unit out to stop a terrorist threat.


Tropes pertaining to the PS1 version:

  • Ace Custom: Every plane you use has the unique paint scheme shown on the box art, white with purple highlights and red-and-purple flames on the wings. When you're looking over planes to purchase in the hangar, they have standard paint schemes, but then are replaced with the above scheme if you buy them.
  • Anti-Frustration Features: The game let's the player save after every mission to balance out the Permadeath feature tied to their planes and wingmen. Although, it can more so completely negate said mechanic if the player chooses to do so.
  • Anyone Can Die: The player's wingmen, who can get shot down by enemies and be lost for good.
  • Artificial Brilliance: Enemies will veer in different directions in order to throw off the player's aim. The AI also knows the power of missiles and will constantly get right behind the player in order to get a clean shot with them. Both of these are especially true on the Hard difficulty.
  • Boss Battle: The flying fortress, which is not only the only boss in the game but doubles as the Final Boss.
  • Boss-Only Level: Mission 17: "Discovery of airborne fortress!"
  • Bottomless Fuel Tanks: Averted; All of the player's aircraft have a fuel gauge, and if it empties then the aircraft crashes and is lost permanently.
  • Bottomless Magazines: Literally averted yet virtually played straight as the player's planes can all hold up to 65 missiles and 9,999 bullets, which is more than enough for every mission as long as the player isn't firing wildly.
  • Captain Obvious: Especially grating when compared to other games in the series, but at least your wing-man was the only annoying one yammering you.
  • Collision Damage: Flying into aircraft, buildings, and terrain causes major damage to your plane. Even the most defensive planes go down after just three collisions.
  • Continuing is Painful: See Permadeath below.
  • Critical Annoyance: Getting hit by a single bullet prompts the plane's system to blurt out, "Alert, body damage! Alert, body damage! Alert, body damage! Alert, body damage! Alert, body damage!", exactly that many times.
  • Critical Existence Failure: Bullets and missiles can severely damage aircraft and buildings without leaving a mark or affecting the performance of planes in the slightest. But, the moment an aircraft or building takes too much damage it explodes. Subverted with the final boss, which loses parts and teeters from side-to-side as it gets damaged, although it still doesn't have its performance affected.
  • Damage-Sponge Boss: Even the most resilient of aircraft can only take a few missiles before being shot down. And then there's the flying fortress, which takes dozens of missiles to take down
  • Defenseless Transports: The C-5 aircraft lacks any offensive weaponry and is primarily used for transportation.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: The game features many differences from the rest of the series.
    • If you lose a plane, it's gone for good. To balance this, the shop may sell multiple units of the same plane.
    • Repair cost is deducted from mission pay.
    • Wingmen cost money to hire. They can be shot down and become permanently unavailable.
    • The game employs a map system with branching paths at certain junctions, allowing the player some control over the order the missions are played.
    • The game has no fictional plane designs, with the exception of the air fortress that serves as the final boss.
  • Excuse Plot: Compared to the later entries of the series having international conflicts and the various pilot's personal recollections of the conflicts, this game boils down to, "Fight the terrorists, save the free world." Probably in due part to its arcade origins. Later Canon Welding would recontextualize it as a small-time conflict in the greater timeline of Strangereal.
  • Final Boss: See Boss Battle above.
  • Final Death Mode: If you crash a plane or get shot down, you lose that plane for good and, with very few exceptions, cannot buy another one. If you crash all the planes, then it's game over. Although, it's easy to avoid this.
  • Flunky Boss: The flying fortress occasionally sends an enemy plane after the player.
  • Fragile Speedster: The F-16 among other planes has strong firepower and great mobility but can't take many hits.
  • Homing Projectile: Missiles become this if an aircraft locks onto their target.
  • Hyperspace Arsenal: See Bottomless Magazines above.
  • Info Dump: See Opening Monologue below.
  • Life Meter: The Damage icon which changes colors as the player takes more, well, damage; It starts at white to indicate perfect health, then goes to light-yellow, to yellow, to orange, and finally to flashing red and white when the player's aircraft is almost destroyed.
  • Market-Based Title: The name of the game was changed from "Ace Combat" to "Air Combat" in western regions most likely to tie it in with the original arcade game.
  • Mighty Glacier: Aircraft like the MiG-31 can take and deal great damage but are slow to maneuver.
  • N.G.O. Superpower: The enemy is supposedly a terrorist group, though the country you're fighting for is apparently a small one (the tiny Skully Islands to the south of Usea, according to Aces at War).
  • One-Hit KO: Missiles become this against the player on Hard mode.
  • Opening Monologue: Happens when the player starts a new game, which explains how the terrorists became a problem and why the government chose the player character to deal with them.
  • Permadeath: The player's wingmen and aircraft. If the player loses all of their planes, then it's game over.
  • Precision F-Strike: The only instance of swearing in the K-A game is if the player takes heavy damage, at which point their character may blurt out, "Damn it, damn it!"
  • Protection Mission: Mission 10, which has the player keep enemies from shooting down the plane of a government officer.
  • Save Scumming: Players can save their data right before doing a mission and if they crash their plane then they can load the save to try again. This in turn completely negates the final death mechanic should the player choose to do so.
  • Sole Survivor: The player can become this by the end of the game if all of their wingmen die.
  • Suicide Attack: Averted as the player's plane can't make contact with other aircraft. They can crash into structures that they must destroy, but the end result is that their plane explodes... and that's it.
  • Video Game Cruelty Potential: The player can deliberately let their wingman get shot down. Although, there's little reason to do this considering that they must be hired in order to join the mission in the first place.
  • The Revolution Will Not Be Vilified: Also averted, and setting the standard for most of the rest of the series when it comes to revolutions and the like, as you're fighting for the government.
  • Time-Limit Boss: A given for the air fortress since, like every other mission, the player's aircraft has limited fuel and as such it must be destroyed before that happens.
  • Title Drop: One of the songs on the OST is titled "Ace Combat".
  • We Cannot Go On Without You: If the player's wingman gets killed during a mission, then they can still finish said mission on their own. If the player gets shot down, then they fail the mission and have to try again. Also, even if all wingmen are alive, it's still game over if the player destroys all of their own planes.

Alternative Title(s): Ace Combat 1

Top