Renaissance of Ace Combat Abandonware
- Aaron "Ribbon-Blue" Mendoza
- 3 hours ago
- 4 min read
Fan projects reviving defunct games
As Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve continues to tease fans with developer video series, consistent social media engagement and begins show appearances at game expos around the world, a few dedicated individuals of the Ace Combat fan base have been hard at work to celebrate this 30-year-old series in their own way: the revival of inaccessible Ace Combat releases.
Ace Combat Infinity in the Big 26
Ace Combat Infinity (ACI) is the most sought-after inaccessible game in the entire Ace Combat series. While the argument that Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere (1999) was "inaccessible" due to region locking and translation, ACI is truly inaccessible as it is not on a disc that can easily be emulated or just inserted into a game console.
Ace Combat Infinity is a digital download only free-to-play live service model game for the Sony PlayStation 3. It remains the only game from the Ace Combat series to adopt this model. After the turbulent reception of Ace Combat: Assault Horizon (2010), the future of the series was on the line both reputationally and in business. Kazutoki Kono, Brand Director of the Ace Combat Series, mentioned during a March 4th, 2014 interview with Famitsu that the success of Ace Combat Infinity was a major part of the decision to develop the next generation of game consoles at that time. ACI was truly a make-or-break game for the series.
Active from 2014 to 2018, ACI had over 3 million downloads with consistent activity in the playerbase. Though it has a very small single player campaign, its online multiplayer offerings were the core of its experience. Players flew with or against each other across levels that blended both the iconic original setting of the Ace Combat series with real world locations. Point based competitions, online co-op, PVP game modes, the series' largest aircraft selection, the most in depth aircraft customization system and other features were defining parts of this game.
It is not an exaggeration to say that ACI is a major part of the continuation of the Ace Combat series to this day. Though ACI would be closed on March 31st, 2018, players would continue to yearn for it even years after the release of Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown (2019).
Unexpectedly, an effort to make Ace Combat Infinity playable again has found initial success on May 2nd, 2026, with a user named Optimus1200 releasing Ace Combat Infinity Local Server on GitHub. It is not as easy as playing a .ISO file in an emulator though. There are specific requirements that do include a legitimate copy of Ace Combat: Infinity v2.11, RPCS3 emulation software, ASP.NET Core Runtime 8.0 and other items.
As of the time of this writing, the Ace Combat Infinity Local Server method lets users play the eight single player missions. You can be certain that users will be trying their hardest to find a way to access multiplayer content, but whether they will be completely successful or not is to be seen.
Ace Combat Xi Emulated for Android and PC
Another inaccessible Ace Combat game was recently revived and made available by the efforts of fans once again. Ace Combat Xi: Skies of Incursion (2009) was an Apple iOS exclusive game playable on iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. As the years went by support for the game waned until March 30, 2015 where it was removed from the app store with official websites for the game taken down.
This game was set as a prequel to Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception (2006) on the PlayStation Portable. This short game was mainly played with touch controls and was built off of game mechanics seen in Ace Combat X. While not a consequential game for Ace Combat as a whole, it was one of many side games the series produced.
The May 2026 emulation of Ace Combat Xi is now well documented and much easier to access than Ace Combat Infinity. With tutorial videos and easy to access files, players can now freely play ACXi on Android devices and personal computers after it has been inaccessible for over a decade.
Thinking on other Efforts
When I hear about fans of this series doing elaborate things like this, I recall other big fan driven projects from the past. Even from my first weeks on Ace Combat focused internet forums back in 2004, there have been people doing their utmost to make as much region locked or platform locked material from this series accessible to the international fan base. Off of the top of my head, a few of them are:
Scanning and translation of Japanese language only physical media from as early as 1995 to upload for archival purposes and translation into other languages.
Identifying and unlocking removed content from released Ace Combat games.
PlayStation 2 era game modding allowing for injection of new files, porting aircraft between games, etc.
Use of emulation software to not only play older games but also continue to make multiplayer gaming on PlayStation Portable titles possible.
Multiple efforts to translate the Japan only release of Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere culminating in the most high-profile fan project for the series which translated the game in full into many languages.
Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation has a great Xenia Canary build which lets players enjoy the game with little to no bugs with a recent effort to recompile the game to run natively on PC now producing builds.
The Ace Combat series continues to have an unyielding amount of support from its tenacious fan base. A flight arcade shooter having an amount of material on par with a Japanese role playing game to upload, translate, archive and emulate is rather unusual, but everyone seems to be benefitting from the fan efforts to make them all as accessible as possible. Impressive!
About the Writer
Co-founder of Skyward Flight Media. After founding Electrosphere.info, the first English Ace Combat database, he has been involved in creating flight game-related websites, communities, and events since 2005. He explores past and present flight games and simulators with his extensive collection of game consoles and computers. [Read Staff Profile]
