The Ace Combat series of games are arcade style flight sims made by Namco.

The series began with Air Combat on the Sony PlayStation, however the name was changed to Ace Combat for the sequels and reissues of the game. Ace Combat, Ace Combat 2, and Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere were released on the PlayStation, whilst Ace Combat: Distant Thunder (the fourth game in the series) and Ace Combat 5 are PlayStation 2 games.

Air Combat was one of the original six games on the PlayStation platinum range.

Ace Combat 2 is seen as the best of the Ace Combat games on the PlayStation, it is a direct prequel to the two games of the series on the PlayStation 2.

Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere was seen as a step in the wrong direction from Ace Combat 2 going in a far more arcade oriented direction when it was seen that AC2 had gotten the balance between arcade and realism right.

Ace Combat: Distant Thunder was a huge step forward from the previous three games due to its use of the superoior power of the PS2. Ace Combat 5 was largely seen as a dissapointment due to not improving over Distant Thunder in the same way Distant Thunder improved over the original three games. AC5's only major additions were a basic system where you could give orders to other members of your squad and a improved arcade mode (which was a direct sequel to the story of AC:DT).

Title differences

In NTSC territories Ace Combat: Distant Thunder was titled Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies. In Europe, Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War was renamed Ace Combat: Squadron Leader as a attempt to cash in on the good sales of Star Wars: Squadron Commander.

List of games

• Air Combat (Ace Combat)
• Ace Combat 2
• Ace Combat 3
• Ace Combat: Distant Thunder
• Ace Combat 5

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