I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

[Sima Tuna]

I like Ace Combat, but I think the series got a lot better from Electrosphere and 4 on. I'm sure this will be of interest to diehard AC fans though.

[D]

I like Ace Combat, but I think the series got a lot better from Electrosphere and 4 on. I'm sure this will be of interest to diehard AC fans though.

For me, it's the total opposite. This has big bad cool ass After Burner vibes!
I loathe the console exclusives

Pretty cool.
Hopefully it can be played with a cool Hori flight stick somehow
Can I hook up my ps2 flight stick to my ps4 with an adapter?

[AGermanArtist]

Macross 2 on July 10th

https://www.famitsu.com/article/202506/46065

[OldSkoolShmuper]

Namco this week. July 3rd - Air Combat 22
https://www.famitsu.com/article/202506/46058

Holy shit

Just in time for Ace Combat's 30th Anniversary.

Looks like it is gonna get a worldwide release despite using real world aircraft.
https://www.arcadearchives.com/en/title/aca-367/

Cross your fingers, everyone. We don't want this to be another F/A.

Fingers crossed.

[EmperorIng]

Macross 2 on July 10th

https://www.famitsu.com/article/202506/46065

Excellent news for an excellent game, though I worry that you would not be able to push it quite to the limits you need for score without some esoteric autofire rates (I think I saw AKO mention somewhere he used 0.92hz in a few spots!), which is unlikely to be a concession granted out by Hamster. Still it will be nice to see some new high-scoring replays, or attempts at them, with the new port! I'll be picking it up I suppose

I was replaying some Sonic Wings/AF 2 and 3 the other night and was unfortunately reminded of how fucking dogshit the early/Neo-Geo ACA releases are. Practically unplayable, especially for Aero Fighters 2/3. Made me upset to think that while they're moving ahead with ACA2, they leave the huge chunk of their old catalog languishing in the dust.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I like Ace Combat, but I think the series got a lot better from Electrosphere and 4 on. I'm sure this will be of interest to diehard AC fans though.

For me, it's the total opposite. This has big bad cool ass After Burner vibes!
I loathe the console exclusives

Pretty cool.
Hopefully it can be played with a cool Hori flight stick somehow
Can I hook up my ps2 flight stick to my ps4 with an adapter?

The PXN-2119 Pro Flight Stick is compatible with both the PS4 & Xbox One + Xbox Series S/X gaming consoles -- it's $99.99 usd on Amazon right now. https://www.amazon.com/PXN-2119Pro-simu ... 432&sr=1-6

I do recall seeing the Namco "System Super 22" powered Air Combat 22 arcade cabinet at my local Camelot Park joint -- it had the huge rear-projection monitor for that "larger-than-life" overall visual presentation to draw the players in, indeed, back in 1994-1995. They even had the rare Microprose produced "F-15 Strike Eagle" arcade cab as well -- how cool was that?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[D]

I like Ace Combat, but I think the series got a lot better from Electrosphere and 4 on. I'm sure this will be of interest to diehard AC fans though.

For me, it's the total opposite. This has big bad cool ass After Burner vibes!
I loathe the console exclusives

Pretty cool.
Hopefully it can be played with a cool Hori flight stick somehow
Can I hook up my ps2 flight stick to my ps4 with an adapter?

The PXN-2119 Pro Flight Stick is compatible with both the PS4 & Xbox One + Xbox Series S/X gaming consoles -- it's $99.99 usd on Amazon right now. https://www.amazon.com/PXN-2119Pro-simu ... 432&sr=1-6

I do recall seeing the Namco "System Super 22" powered Air Combat 22 arcade cabinet at my local Camelot Park joint -- it had the huge rear-projection monitor for that "larger-than-life" overall visual presentation to draw the players in, indeed, back in 1994-1995. They even had the rare Microprose produced "F-15 Strike Eagle" arcade cab as well -- how cool was that?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Cool, if that stick works I might need it for this game alone

I remember only ever seeing a 50"Air Combat dlx cabinet in the Dutch National Video Game Museum.
I wanted to get it up and running. The other volunteers had other plans unfortunately

[Sengoku Strider]

Macross 2 on July 10th

https://www.famitsu.com/article/202506/46065

What a world we live in.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Hamster sure is on a roll with the upcoming Banpresto's Macross II: Lovers Again arcade stg release.

Considering that it's a super premium Hamster release, the usual MSRP $7.99 usd pricepoint will not apply in this case but be more likely with a possible $14.99 or even $15.99 pricepoint due to the expensive Macross licensing fees associated with Big West of Japan (as they own the Macross IP outright). The arcade developer & publisher, Banpresto, was a subsidiary of parent company Bandai back in the early 1990s -- hard-core arcade gamers knew about this little-known "arcade game trivia factoid" back in the day.

----------
Will Macross II appear on the USA region Switch eShop the second time around? As you might recall with Super Dimensional Fortress Macross, it was a "no show" on the USA region Switch eShop the first time around (due to Harmony Gold's ownership of the Robotech IP namesake which includes Macross, Southern Cross & Mospeada IPs as usual). We'll see if that's the case or not on July 10th, 2025, indeed. It would seem with the current Harmony Gold establishment/corporate entity (that rules with an "iron fist" nowadays), most likely that won't happen -- but stranger things have happened in the past in regards to various Macross IPs like on Steam, etc.
----------

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Daytime Waitress]

"I got a kill, I got a kill! Yahoo!"

ded.

AC22 looks delightfully cacophonous.

As someone who has never touched an Ace Combat - is this a good time trial intro to the series?

[PC Engine Fan X!]

"I got a kill, I got a kill! Yahoo!"

ded.

AC22 looks delightfully cacophonous.

As someone who has never touched an Ace Combat - is this a good time trial intro to the series?

Delving into Namco's inaugural Ace Combat series with it's Air Combat 22 arcade flight based game
(especially if played with an LCD or laser projector setup to match the original 50" 4:3 based rear projection monitor used in the Deluxe Air Combat 22 arcade cab), it's quite something to witness/behold for "armchair flight jockeys" as they will be over wrought with joy.

Namco had the smarts and wisdom to release AC22 in the better well stocked American arcades considering that it required ample real estate space to even host such a massive arcade cab with a 50" monitor setup to begin with. For extra immersion, it's recommended to play AC22 with a flight stick + throttle combo setup (that a mere gamepad or arcade stick can't replicate) to play it properly as originally intended. Unfortunately, there isn't a dedicated Switch-based flight stick/throttle combo set out on the market these days.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Marc]

Macross 2 on July 10th

https://www.famitsu.com/article/202506/46065

Excellent news for an excellent game, though I worry that you would not be able to push it quite to the limits you need for score without some esoteric autofire rates (I think I saw AKO mention somewhere he used 0.92hz in a few spots!), which is unlikely to be a concession granted out by Hamster. Still it will be nice to see some new high-scoring replays, or attempts at them, with the new port! I'll be picking it up I suppose

I was replaying some Sonic Wings/AF 2 and 3 the other night and was unfortunately reminded of how fucking dogshit the early/Neo-Geo ACA releases are. Practically unplayable, especially for Aero Fighters 2/3. Made me upset to think that while they're moving ahead with ACA2, they leave the huge chunk of their old catalog languishing in the dust.

What's up with them? It's been a long while, but I'm sure I got pretty far into AF3 without any issues?

[EmperorIng]

What's up with them? It's been a long while, but I'm sure I got pretty far into AF3 without any issues?

From my experience with 2 and 3:

-higher lag than other ACA releases
-no multiple autofire settings, just ON and OFF, and ON is less than 30hz (this I noticed when my timing for killing things in SW2 was off the other night) - later ACA releases often have several rates to choose from
-can only map one button for autofire, instead of having multiple buttons for multiple types of autofire
-in Original mode, you can set your lives to 99 and still have your score registered on the leaderboard
-in High Score mode, you are locked into playing Aero Fighters 2/3, there is no way to play the japanese version in High Score Mode
-even worse, autofire is disabled for High Score mode! This is not the case in other aca titles and just makes the whole experience a tedious slog.

Note that none of these issues apply to the much-later released Sonic Wings 1... the most vanilla game in the series, lol.

You can still get along fairly well enough in SW3 because 3 is really easy - I have the highest score on the Switch high score mode despite these handicaps. But in aggregate they just make it a lousy way to play the game compared to much more respectable packages in the ACA lineup. Despite all the improvements they've made to the platform they have never felt the need to update the back catalog into something more respectable.

[OldSkoolShmuper]

I guess Air Combat 22 is up early on Xbox Series in NA.
.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Yep, Hamster's Series S/X port of Namco's Air Combat 22 is available to buy at the MSRP of $16.99 usd and is a mere 524.07mb d/l at best on the USA region Xbox Marketplace portal. You'll want to break out your home theater LCD screen projector to be able to play AC22 in 4:3 screen format with a minimum of 50" and no less than that to match the Deluxe AC22 arcade cab setup as it was back in it's heyday of 1994-1995. At the very least with the Xbox Series S/X port of AC22, it wasn't a "no show" like with the Switch port of Namco's Fighter/Attacker on the USA region Switch eShop portal.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~