Ace Combat series soars past 10 million copies sold

by Jason Dobson { Apr 17th 2008 at 12:00PM }

While Namco Bandai's big news yesterday came with weapons in hand, the company also let slip that its long-running arcade-style aerial combat series, Ace Combat, has surpassed more than 10 million units sold worldwide, with the franchise's fifth offspring, The Unsung War, contributing more than a million to that total in North America alone.

The series first took to the skies in 1995 with Air Combat for the original PlayStation, and has since enjoyed the company of eight additional sequels and spin-offs on multiple platforms, from the PS2 and PSP, to even 2005's Ace Combat Advance for the GBA, with the visually stunning Ace Combat 6 for the Xbox 360 reminding us all that we feel the need ... the need for speed.

Tags: ace-combat, ace-combat-6, acecombat, acecombat6, namco, namco-bandai, namcobandai

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Mitsuo @ Apr 17th 2008 12:07PM

AC4 is my personal favorite. I just love the story and how it's presented. Not to mention at the very end with All the Mobius planes following you. =D Mobius 1 prepare for takeoff.

"Oh shit they all have the ribbon insignia!!"

Phranctoast @ Apr 17th 2008 12:08PM

AC4 was my favorite as well. I haven't played the 360's AC6 though.

dcrooks @ Apr 17th 2008 12:41PM

If you want to play AC6, here's a quick breakdown of it (note, I actually really like the gameplay, it's just that the writing is so bad it's funny)

"Go dance with the angels!!" beep...beep...beep.beepbebepbepbepep "This angel's still gots its wings!" "LOCKED ON!" fwoooooshBOOM "It's time for me to dance with the angels!" "Shamrock, locked on!" "That angel has danced for the last time"

vgxtremist @ Apr 17th 2008 2:20PM

Yeah, in 4, when you've gone from the rookie to having your own squadron, its a hella feeling...Stonehenge and Megalith are so memorable, easily one of my favorite games of all time.

I should of picked up 5 and Zero as well.

ViagraFiend @ Apr 17th 2008 4:09PM

AC5 was my favorite. After that it just went downhill. I got zero and it was pretty lame. Didnt get AC6 because I was afraid it was Zero all over again.

deaftly @ Apr 17th 2008 12:14PM

You've lost that lovin' feelin',
Whoa, that lovin' feelin',
You've lost that lovin' feelin',
Now it's gone...gone...gone...wooooooh.

deaftly @ Apr 17th 2008 12:15PM

Revvin' up your engine
Listen to her howlin' roar
Metal under tension
Beggin' you to touch and go
Highway to the Danger Zone
Ride into the Danger Zone!!

Tim The Enchanter @ Apr 17th 2008 3:04PM

No more! Please! XD

FOXHOUND @ Apr 17th 2008 12:16PM

I might be confusing it with AIR FORCE DELTA on Dreamcast... but wasn't AIRCOMBAT the one with destructible surroundings? I vaguely remember a mission where a rocket launch had to be literally stopped by a relentless volley of tomahawk missiles... and when I initially attempted it, it was hard to lock; and thus the ruined scenery.

I dunno, what little I remember of either(I still have AFDELTA on DC); it was fun. Might give the newer ones a shot after I've had my fill of GT5P, GTA IV and MGS4/MGO.

Bellerophon @ Apr 17th 2008 12:17PM

AC4 (shattered skies/distant thunder) I think was the real turning point of the series, and certainly the most memorable one for me.

Imran @ Apr 17th 2008 12:18PM

Ace Combat 4 is pretty awesome, but Ace Combat 5 was amazing, good story, decent wingmen AI and visuals were top notch.

borland502 (SDF - Macross Ring) @ Apr 17th 2008 12:25PM

I loved the AC series; I still hold hope that it'll come to the PS3. Even if the story is uneven, it's still an arcade fighter game that's fun as hell.

klitorisaurus @ Apr 17th 2008 1:12PM

Agreed. I'm so pissed that this is a 360 exclusive! I mean where's the damn loyalty?! Born and bred on Playstation consoles and then BAM! Xbox only?!?! WTF

Umeadi @ Apr 17th 2008 2:08PM

I thought for a second you were going to say, BAM! Herpes.

Leobebes @ Apr 17th 2008 4:58PM

@litorisaurus

Things change in business my friend. The Playstation brand is by no means a sacred cow. Just ask Nintendo.

Gewurztraminer says: R.O.B. is the last Cylon! @ Apr 17th 2008 12:41PM

Nice to see a series thriving, whatever game it may be. A friend of mine played Ace Combat all the time back in high school but I couldn't stand the games. I would have rather played Tetris than Ace Combat.

And now I'm an Engineer, and he's in the Air Force. hm.

Phoenix @ Apr 17th 2008 1:39PM

Yeah, I liked 5 myself. Though Chopper got reallllly annoying.

Psyclerk @ Apr 17th 2008 1:52PM

I have all the AC games, and I have to agree that 4 is still the best. All the games since then have shared one particular flaw...the story. There's far too much anti-war sentiment being bandied about by people who have supposedly dedicated their lives to flying instruments of war. Maybe that works better in Japan, but in the US at least, it comes off as REALLY strange. "I hate war so much, all those innocents dying...BOMBS AWAY!"

FireStiq @ Apr 17th 2008 2:49PM

Congrats Namco on a great franchise (and the AWESOME SOUNDTRACKS that come with it) I love AC, would love to see the original PSone games come to the PSP via PSN.

Hayabusa_sama @ Apr 17th 2008 3:10PM

ace combat 3 and 6 are the best =`D

pavs @ Apr 17th 2008 4:23PM

Can't wait for AC6 to come to PS3. With the six-axis controls its gonna be awesome.
I agree with Klitorisaurus that its a crappy move to make a 360 exclusive after having so many games on Playstation 1 and 2, but its business and they gotta stay alive.
Hopefully the future titles will get PS3 exclusivity or atleast a multiplatform release.
4 and 5 are best in my opinion, but that opinion does not matter, so reading it was a waste of your time!!!

Exodus @ Apr 17th 2008 7:14PM

Ace Combat will be going back to the Playstation mark my words. It is a bigger selling franchise in Japan and obviously it didn't sell so well there. Microsoft bought the rights to 6 to try and increase it's install base there but it obviously didn't work. You heard it hear first...Ace Combat 7 will be on the PS3. Thought I doubt it will be exclusive...the series will probably go multi-platform.

JETstream @ Apr 18th 2008 1:57PM

I would have to say you're wrong about AC6 being a flop... It's one of the few games that has been able to hold at its intro retail price of $59.99 after 6 months on the market, and still has a huge amount of people playing the MP edition.

If anything, AC7 will go multi or stick with the 360... My total cost for AC6 is upwards of $215 right now.... If you add up the LE, and all the downloadable content... If we could see the amount of people also paying for and downloading all the available content, I'm sure the numbers are huge, especially since nearly everyone on Live playing AC6 has downloaded everything...

Play AC6 on Live and you'll see.

Exodus @ Apr 18th 2008 5:42PM

Well, I never did say that is was a flop now did I? I never said that Ace Combat 6 wasn't a great game for the 360 did I? Why don't you read the comment first before replying...it might help your intelligence. Now what I did say is that it was a bigger selling franchise in Japan than it is in America, which is true. I was saying that the game would of done much better overall if it was multiplatform because it would of sold much better in Japan...As it was AC6 sold 77,000 games in Japan which pretty much means that anyone in Japan with a 360 got the game...but I do think that is this one of the few games that would of done better on the PS3 overall.