Easter egg

The Ace Combat series contains a large number of easter eggs inside its games. Also, many other franchises from Namco contain explicit and subtle references to the series.

Donet City Adverts
In Donet City there is several adverts which display Pac-Man and several other things such as a unknown toothpaste brand and several other weird things...

Port Edwards Adverts
In Port Edwards there is several Adverts which display Reiko or Kei Nagase, an Assoluto advert (a car company from Ridge Racer) and several other adverts relating to Namco.

Pac-Man on Cuckoo's Nest
When playing the mission Cuckoo's Nest on hard, if you look at the way the targets are placed on your radar they make out the shape of Pac-Man.

Namco Building
On the mission Jewel Box if you fly to the target farthest south of your compass you will see a building with the word Namco on the top of it.

Solar Eclispe
This easter egg can be found on mission 16A Visiting Hours. All the player has to do is fly straight up and you should be able to see the solar eclispe.

Namco logo in Invincible Fleet
In the mission Invincible Fleet, fly straight to the north from your starting position. Along the way, watch the ground below carefully. Hidden in the ground is the Namco logo (circa 2001).

Slash in the Stonehenge Offensive
The in-universe magazine Our Science: Titan Guns has a section named "The Interceptor Cannons and Their Guardians", referring to the STN Guard Squadron, the fighter pilots responsible for the defense of the Stonehenge Turret Network. The second paragraph of this section has a small interview with a pilot named John Harvard, who is described as "a seasoned veteran who once fought against coup forces". This last statement is an obvious allusion to Ace Combat 2, where the player's male wingman was also named John Harvard. Whether this is the John Harvard seen in Ace Combat 2, however, is unconfirmed.

Namco Anniversary logo in Shorebirds
Just like in Shattered Skies, there is a Hidden Namco logo in the mission Shorebirds. From the start of the mission, fly eastward in a straight line. Eventually, you'll reach a shoreline area, with seveal groups of small, white buildings. Once you reach this area, head slightly northeast and scan the ground in the green fields of the mainland. Somewhere in the area is a large crop of the Namco 50th Anniversary emblem. Namco was founded in 1954, and Ace Combat 5 was released in 2004.

Polar Bears in Hrimfaxi
The mission Demons of Razgriz is home to a particularly famous easter egg. Spread across the level are dozens of groups of polar bears. According to the developers, the polar bears were introduced to the level in order to answer a particular question within Project Aces; that is, whether it is possible to visually confirm the size of a human being in Ace Combat 5.

Glubina snowman
thumb|300px|rightClosely tied to the Hrimfaxi Polar Bears is the Snowman. In the missions Ice Cage and White Noise, there is a large snowman figure in the Yuktobanian P.O.W. camps, next to a hut. It is one of the easter eggs mentioned in the Polar bears Namco letter, the other being the Desert Arrow Pac-Man crops. The Snowman is unique in that it is the only easter egg to appears in more an a single mission. As well, it is the only easter egg which will react to the player's actions - if attacked in any way, the snowman will tilt sideways, partially melted.

Pac-Man crops in Desert Arrow
In the mission Desert Arrow, the player can find several crop fields strewn across the Jilachi Desert. Nearly all the fields have two or more crops in the shape of Pac-Man, Namco's most famous character. There is also a crop of a ghost from Pac-Man.

Chopper voice in Aces
In the mission Aces, watch the cutscene where all the Osean and Yuktobanian aircraft fly in formation and sing The Journey Home in unison. Amidst the many voices in the chorus is the voice of Alvin "Chopper" Davenport (Wardog 3), who was killed in the Yuktobanian assault of November City in mission 17, Journey Home.

Namco Hometek Inc
Another easter egg on the mission Aces is a building that can be found while flying along the river. If you look to your left while flying along the river you should see a building with red letters that say "Namco Hometek Inc" (Although it is somewhat hard to read unless you get very close to the building.)

Yellow TLS
thumb|300px|right|Yellow TLS demonstrationComplete any mission that concludes with a landing sequence with the ADF-01 FALKEN. Once the "Mission Accomplished" message appears, switch to your SP weapon and fire your TLS before the screen goes black. If done correctly, you will start the landing sequence with the TLS still in effect. However, the laser protruding from the TLS bay will be twice as larger as the original, as well as having a yellow/gold coloration.

SOLG Cease-fire
In the final mission, The Unsung War, reach the SOLG's descent point in time with the ADF-01 FALKEN. Once the descent timer begins, approach the SOLG and fire the TLS. Once the laser impacts, you will recieve a "Hold Fire" message. This is rather strange, as the player's objective is to destroy the SOLG. However, the message can also be interpreted as "Hold [the fire button]", as holding and enabling Missile cam will give the player a full view of the SOLG completely falling apart.

Bartlett In Mission 10
While playing mission 10, after the cutscene, if you look around a little, (right analog stick) you will see that there is a plane that has the callsign heartbreak one. if you've played AC5, The Unsung War, in the first level, you will see that the lead plane, Bartlett has the callsign "hrtbrkone", which is the callsign of one of the fighters.

Pops In Mission 10
If you play mission 10, Mayhem, on mercenary style, then when the Schwarze ace squad appears, you will hear that they are chasing a runaway pilot, (Huckebein) during the interview cutscene, the squad leader will say that they were chasing a top ace of the Belkan air force. In AC5 you learn that pops was a top pilot in the Belkan air force, but went AWOL when told to nuke his own country, the "AWOL pilot" that Shwarze squadron is chasing is likely a reference to pops since, in Final Option, in AC5, The 8492nd squad leader will call pops "Huckebein the Raven."

Namco-Bandai HQ in Gracemeria
The Tokyo building where Namco-Bandai Games is located at can be seen in the city of Gracemeria. When Mission 1 begins, the building should be located on the top-left corner of the screen after slightly yawing to the left. It's behind a smoke plume and is close to the ocean.

"Namco" written in the ground
Northeast of Gracemeria there is a plantation with the word "Namco" on it.

thumb|left|300px|Video demo of Namco plantation

thumb|right|300px|Video demo of Namco building in Gracemeria

Welcome to San Loma
When flying in San Loma, fly to the east of the airport at the south of the city. Near the airport is a large sign on the sands, which reads "Welcome to San Loma". The sign itself is a reference to the "Coronado" sign present in real-life Coronado Beach, California.

Project ACES emblem in Fort Norton
In mission 12, Weapons of Mass Destruction, fly towards the north-eastern corner of the map, and scan the ground. In this region lays the Project Aces emblem.

Gears of War Allusion
In mission 14, Gracemeria Patrol, former Emmerian Independence Radio operator DJ Zed will say over the radio that a woman named Maria sends a message through the radio to her husband, Dominic. The comment is an obvious reference to Epic Games's famed Gears of War series, more specifically to main character Dominic "Dom" Santiago and his wife, Maria.

Pac-Man and Pooka
Another easter egg on mission 14 can be found by flying along the second river to the east. Keep flying untill you see a building with the window lights in the shape of Pac-Man. Near the Pac-Man building you can also see another building with the lights in the shape of a Pooka, a character from Namco's Dig-Dug game.

Galm One in Chandelier
In Chandelier, a comm on the radio saying "Galm One, engage the enemy ace and..." The rest is cut off by another comm by a Chandelier announcement (when they announce another stauros shell is being loaded). A Belkan mercenary posing as Galm One, or Cipher himself, was probably hired by Estovakia.

Mobius in the Chandelier
Also, "Mobius" is mentioned in the Chandelier mission on the radio where a voice says, "Mobius, back me up. I'll strike while descending." Whether this is Mobius One or an imposter is unknown.

Return of Kei Nagase
In several cutscenes throughout Assault Horizon a character bearing an uncanny resemblance to the Ace Combat 5 incarnation of recurring character Kei Nagase can be seen int the background. This Easter egg was first reported prior to the game's release, as Nagase could be seen in the E3 "Trinity" trailer at 1:19 where main character William Bishop and the rest of the Warwolf Squadron walk inside a NATO hangar.

USS Kestrel
In two cutscenes the number 30 is seen on the island of the carrier used by Task Force 108. This is the same number seen on the OFS Kesterl and not to mention that there is no CVN-30 in the US Navy.

Mobius One vs. NRF
In Mission 15, "Hurricane," Warwolf 3 says, "Mobius One, Akula's at the edge of my radar. He's almost out of range," while the subtitles note him as saying Warwolf 1 instead. It is unknown if this was intentional.

Tornado Destruction
Also, in the Hurricane mission, the player can destroy the tornado that Hurricane Alex spawns using a Trinity missile on the PAK-FA. This is best done from a high altitude while pointing the nose of the PAK-FA down at the water, since Trinity is air-to-ground. If positioned correctly in the center of the tornado, Trinity will blow it off the mission. The wind shears won't even remain; it's as if the tornado never existed. This makes it much easier to dogfight and Illich is not able to hide himself and to escape in the storm.