Inspired by how good Ace Combat 7 is, I've decided to take a closer look at the entire series (well, the mainline series at the very least) over the long term.
I already own physical copies of 3, 4, 5, Zero, 6 and 7 and a digital copy of Assault Horizon (which isn't technically a "mainline" one, I know, but still) and today I ordered copies of the first and second games for PS1.
During a bit of casual research into the series, I was extremely surprised to discover the sad tale of what happened to Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere here in the West. If you've ever complained about the localisation process in current games… man, you know nothing, I have to say!
Electrosphere originally shipped in Japan on two CDs and unfolded over the course of 52 missions. There were branching paths that resulted in one of six different endings, anime cutscenes and dialogue between missions as well as extensive in-mission dialogue.
By contrast, the localised version for the West shipped on one CD and only had 36 missions. The vast majority of the plot had been cut or changed considerably, all the cutscenes were gone and most of the dialogue was missing. Namco apparently never gave an official reason for this, but it's likely down to a combination of lower-than-expected sales for Ace Combat 2 and the then-imminent arrival of the PlayStation 2. In other words, Namco didn't see spending the money on a full localisation of what was then a very ambitious, large-scale game as worthwhile.
Namco has apparently officially refused to do a "re-localisation" project of Ace Combat 3 due to the time and expense it would require — some of the development team were reportedly quoted as saying porting the entire Japanese content of the game would be more work than remaking Ace Combat 4, 5 and Zero combined. However, certain members of Project Aces have also indicated that if there is sufficient organised interest, it may be something they will take into consideration. With how well Ace Combat 7 has done, perhaps it's time to start making some noise about it — particularly now Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition is on shelves after some never thought it would happen!
Anyway, in the meantime, there is a fan translation out there called Project Nemo, which apparently released a full patch for the game in 2016 and has been continuing to tweak and refine it since. If (or more likely when) I get to Electrosphere in the overall exploration of the series, I'll definitely be giving it a look for sure.
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