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Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere (エースコンバット3 エレクトロスフィア Ēsu Konbatto San Erekutorosufia) is the third installment in the Ace Combat series. It is the only game in the series that released in two distinctly separate forms.

The Japanese version of Ace Combat 3 was released in 1999 and had only Japanese audio and text. Its campaign featured 52 missions that were split among different paths depending on in-mission decisions. The story centered around the "Usean Corporate War" in 2040, which is revealed to be a simulation.

The international version of Ace Combat 3 was released in 2000 and was localized for specific regions. However, its campaign had 36 out of the original 52 missions with no different paths. The story, as well as all related voice acting and cutscenes, was removed and replaced with a more basic story with no voice acting.

Plot

Japanese Version

Synopsis

The story of the Japanese version of Ace Combat 3 takes place on Strangereal's Usean continent in 2040[3] (sometime between January 1 and July 21).[4] By this time, Usea's national governments have decayed, effectively replaced by a global corporatocracy led by Neucom Incorporated and General Resource Limited.

Sometime in the 2030s, territorial disputes between Neucom and General Resource began to escalate. The peacekeeping Universal Peace Enforcement Organization (UPEO), under the authority of the Neo United Nations, have tried repeatedly to prevent conflict. At the start of the game, Neucom has begun large-scale strikes against General Resource, pushing UPEO to use force to prevent escalation. This results in what is referred to as the Usean Corporate War.

There are five distinct endings to the game, entirely dependent on the organizations the player chooses to side with (UPEO, Neucom, General Resource, or a terrorist organization named Ouroboros). After all five endings are completed, the entire conflict is revealed to have been a simulation created by Simon Orestes Cohen to test whether a sublimated character, Abyssal Dision, would be killed. Since the player - controlling an AI that Simon developed - will always kill Dision no matter which ending is attained, Simon is pleased with the simulation and is assumed to release the AI into the real world.

Characters

Electrosphere cast

From left to right: Yoko, Dision, Simon, Cynthia, Rena, Fiona, Erich, Keith, Clarkson, Park

Cultural references

Electrosphere

A visual representation of the Electrosphere

The plot of Ace Combat 3 has been compared to the Ghost in the Shell anime films, Production I.G.'s most famous franchise. Production I.G. was responsible for AC3's in-game cutscenes. Possible references include the subterranean city Geofront and the uploading of a brain/consciousness to a computer (referred to as "sublimation" in Electrosphere and "ghost-dubbing" in GitS). The Geofront may have also been a reference to a location in the Neon Genesis Evangelion.

The game's style is reminiscent of the Wipeout video game series, especially the Head-up display. The logos of UPEO, Neucom, General Resource, and Ouroboros bear resemblance to the works of The Designers Republic.

Namco's later games Ridge Racer V, Ridge Racer 6 and Ridge Racer 7 contain many references to Ace Combat 3 itself, such as billboards with the General Resource and Data Swallow logos; the UPEO, Data Swallow, and Electrosphere logos plastered on various cars; and cars sponsored by Neucom and General Resource. In the case of the latter in RR7, they also specialize in nitrous.

International Version

The story in the international version of Ace Combat 3 is independent of the Japanese version, with none of its characters, backstory, or endings. Neucom has also been renamed to Neuwork. However, some portions of the story from the Japanese version were included here.

In this version of the game, Neuwork and General Resource are still at odds, and UPEO still attempts to maintain peace between the two companies. The player is a human pilot for UPEO, and works throughout most of the game to prevent Neuwork from trespassing on General Resource's territory. Later on, it's discovered that Ouroboros had masterminded everything through their leader, which is discovered to be an AI named Aurora. The player hunts down Aurora and helps destroy Ouroboros to bring back peace to the continent.

Gameplay

R-101 Amber Mountains

An R-101 Delphinus #1 engaging ground targets during Claustrophobia

Ace Combat 3 plays in a similar manner to its predecessors, but with several additions that would become staples of the series. The camera can be rotated in a 360° range around the player, and a large assortment of weapons, including guns and main missiles, can be chosen freely before each mission. Wingmen cannot be selected, but are instead dictated by the story. Missions combined radio chatter from both allies and enemies to expand the narrative.

Ace Combat 3 is notably the only game in the series that featured a mission set in outer space, complete with a different physics model on the handling of aircraft in a zero-gravity situation.

The Japanese version elaborates on the mission branching mechanics of Ace Combat 2 by allowing the player to join one of four factions through the story. Specific missions gave the player the ability to decide on remaining with one faction or switching to another. The Clear Ranks system was expanded upon, where D ranks are specifically earned by failing the mission's main objective but do not require the mission to be restarted. In addition, certain circumstances unlocked hidden missions to be played, similar to AC2.

Development

Original release

The original Japanese version of Ace Combat 3 was released on May 27, 1999 and contained 52 missions, all anime cutscenes, story branches, and five distinct endings. It came on two CDs, the first of which contained the UPEO and General Resource story arcs, while the missions for Neucom]] and Ouroboros were on the second disc. When players progressed from disc one to disc two, they were asked to insert the other CD. Supplementary materials included Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere - Mission & World View Guide Book and Photosphere.

Localization

The international version of the game was released on a single CD on January 21, 2000 in PAL regions[1] and on March 3, 2000 in the United States.[1][2] The localization of the game was subcontracted to the Japanese company Frognation, who contacted the veteran translator Agness Kaku and even produced several demo voice-over clips. However, early in the localization process, Namco suddenly cut its funding and removed most of the game's story.[5][6]

There has never been an official reason stated by Namco, Frognation, or Agness Kaku on why the funding was cut. It is believed that a lack of sales led to Namco's decision. Air Combat had sold over 2.2 million copies, but Ace Combat 2 only sold a little over 1 million copies.[7] By comparison, the Japanese version of Ace Combat 3 had a much larger story with many more missions and voice-acted lines than Air Combat and Ace Combat 2 combined, but including the international versions, Ace Combat 3 sold a little over 1.1 million copies. Namco may have expected much larger sales figures for the game, resulting in their decision to halt the full localization of the game.

Namco made their decision after they had already started advertising the game's expansive storyline in regions outside of Japan, resulting in backlash from fans of the series who were expecting the game's full localization.[5] The international version still received positive critical reception upon its release,[2] but the game's sales were adversely affected by the backlash.

Remake

Due to the international version's lack of a proper storyline, Ace Combat fans have repeatedly asked Namco over the years to re-release or remake Ace Combat 3 with full localization. However, Namco has repeatedly denied such requests, particularly since the localization was likely cut in the first place due to low sales upon the game's original release. Were the game to be re-released or remade, it would not reach the same sales figures.

When asked by GameDaily in 2006 about a possibility of remaking Ace Combat 3, Naoto Maeda said: "As far as a re-make of Ace Combat 3 is concerned, we have no plans to do this at this time. The development team is aware that there are a lot of fans out there that really loved Ace Combat 3. If enough voices calling for a re-make were gathered and various issues could be resolved, then I think it might be worth it."[8]

Kazutoki Kono, head of Project Aces, was asked by a fan during an Ace Combat Infinity signing event in 2014 about Ace Combat 3 and a potential remake. Kono explained that the team was too small to support the massive localization that Ace Combat 3 required, and if it were to happen, it would be more difficult than re-releasing Ace Combat 04, Ace Combat 5, and Ace Combat Zero combined.[9]

Fan translation

In June 2009,[10] a fan-driven project was initiated by a group of people known as "Team NEMO" in order to fully translate Ace Combat 3.

The first draft of all in-mission scripts translated to English was published in August 2010.[11] After bringing on programmers to inject the translations into the game, the first demo of a translation patch was released in December 2014.[12]

After more revisions and releases, over 17 years after the Japanese version's release, Team NEMO released the first full translation patch for both discs of Ace Combat 3 on December 14, 2016.[13] This marked the first time the Japanese version of Ace Combat 3 could be played in its entirety in a language other than Japanese, as well as the first time an Ace Combat game received a translation patch (whether official or fan-made).

Aircraft

Ace Combat 3 Concept Art

Concept art of (from top-left) the R-102 Delphinus #2, X-49 Night Raven, and R-505U

Unlike any other game in the Ace Combat series (excluding Ace Combat Advance), Ace Combat 3 features exclusively original fictional aircraft. A majority of them are based on real designs, such as the F-22C Raptor II (based on the F-22A Raptor) and EF-2000E Typhoon II (based on the Typhoon). However, there are also many aircraft whose designs were completely fictional, such as the R-101 Delphinus #1, X-49 Night Raven, UI-4054 Aurora, and more.

In both versions of the game, new aircraft are only unlocked after completing certain campaign missions. Unlike other Ace Combat games, however, aircraft are immediately available once they're unlocked; there is no credits system. (The lack of purchasing aircraft would not reappear until Ace Combat: Assault Horizon.) In the Japanese version of the game, aircraft are further restricted by whomever Nemo is affiliated with at that time. For example, Nemo can only fly Neucom aircraft when allied with Neucom.

In addition to selecting an aircraft before each mission, the player can swap out their weapons, including their standard missiles and guns. The specific weapons available depend on the aircraft being used. This system would later appear in Ace Combat: Joint Assault. However, unlike Ace Combat 2 before it, the player cannot change their wingmen's aircraft or armaments. This system did not reappear until Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War.

Gallery

Trivia

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere (1999) PlayStation release dates. MobyGames. Retrieved on December 14, 2016.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Ace Combat 3. IGN. Published on March 13, 2000. Retrieved on December 14, 2016.
  3. The interface in the main menu screen is dated 2040.
  4. Aldair Carlos Nascimento, who was born on July 21, 1964 according to in-game archives, dies at 75 years old in every ending.
  5. 5.0 5.1 AC3's official localization: the post-mortem. USEA Today. Published on April 18, 2014. Retrieved on December 14, 2016.
  6. specialty writing \ AC3. *hibernium.com. Retrieved on December 14, 2016.
  7. 『エースコンバット』シリーズ全世界累計1,000万本突破!. Retrieved on April 14, 2015.
  8. Published on March 24, 2006. This quote has been lost to time due to GameDaily being acquired by Engadget; its content is no longer available. See Talk:Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere#Interview for more information.
  9. I met Project Ace's Kono in London and it was awesome. AceCombatSkies. Published by EchoFox on June 17, 2014. Retrieved on December 14, 2016.
  10. Connecting... USEA Today. Published on June 2, 2009. Retrieved on December 14, 2016.
  11. Mission Complete. USEA Today. Published on August 17, 2010. Retrieved on December 14, 2016.
  12. AC3E IE Playable Demonstration Release. USEA Today. Published on December 25, 2014. Retrieved on December 14, 2016.
  13. AC3e IE Discs 2/2 《 Heaven and Earth 》. Published on December 14, 2016. Retrieved on December 14, 2016.

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