The only close one to Ace Combat will always be Project Wingman

<< Destroy enemy buildings! >>

Heat Seeker actually has an Ace Combat-like control scheme in the option menu.

aero elite air academy also has a really out there scramble mission. 95% of them are pretty boring and just locating a neutral aircraft. But one mission is very very difficult and basically requires a fast place like the F-15. Where there's a cigar shaped UFO you have to take a picture of and it disappears. Then you're told to never mention the details of what you saw. It's a very random element thrown in and feels like something a friend makes up.

Heads up, long comment incoming. Mostly related to AeroWings series, since it is in the video.

While I have enjoyed your commentary on Aero Elite: Combat Academy (also known as Aero Dancing 4: New Generation), I'd also like to add some things.

It is correct to say that the first AeroWings / Aero Dancing is Blue Impulse focused (with shockingly brutally difficult "fly through rings" mode called Sky Mission Attack), this video omits that there were two more installments: AeroWings 2 (aka Aero Dancing F) and Aero Dancing i, the latter was a Japan exclusive. Then again AeroWings wasn't exactly the focus of this video, but it's something I'd like to point out as a huge fan of the series.

AeroWings 2 also has a campaign, which unlike its predecessor, it is essentially training for JASDF pilot. As a console flight sim, this is an oddly specific but very interesting experience, you don't really get such stuff on console, minus stuff like venerable Energy Airforce series. I'd even say that the AeroWings / Aero Dancing franchise as a whole is much more closer to Energy Airforce than Ace Combat.

Now Aero Dancing i can be strange, because there are two versions of it. The initial version had a Harrier II focused campaign, where as the updated version with a more specific campaign, where you can take aircraft of choice.

Unrelated to AeroWings, I'd also like to mention that Top Gun: Combat Zones is one of the last games that a venerable flight simulator developer Digital Integration had made. It already shows that the team behind Combat Zones was significantly different compared to the dev team that worked on classics like Tornado, Hind and such.

Cheers!

airforce delta storm gave me the love for planes, ace combat made it 10x bigger

2:04 thank you for acknowledging the wonderful soundtrack that kept this game in my memory for 20+ years ❤

God Heatseeker was so good, I remember it so fondly

I just played the first mission of ace combat 8 and I fell in love again with the series. I've been playing since Ace Combat 2. Ace Combat is life

Holy hell! Aero Elite Combat Academy!
I remember my mom rented that for me from blockbuster after I fell in love with Ace Combat. I remember ALWAYS running out of fuel playing it and dropped it after not knowing what the hell I was doing wrong.

Aero Elite and Sidewinder 2 are games that sometimes just pop up in my head and I don't know why I find them endearing

Jet Impulse on the DS is a good one. It has it all, fictional aircraft (the entire roster is fictional tbf), fictional nations, super weapons, enemy ace squadrons. It got an English translation very recently as there was supposed to be a western version called DS Air iirc but it got canceled.

Wow, all of these games really make me appreciate how much care went into creating AC4, 5 and Zero. Just wow.

It's always the little details.

Also, 31:01 Prez is that you?

Thank you for making a video about the sidewinder series and airforce delta. Both series are pretty interesting!
Delta has some crazy original aircraft designs, strike has a lot of konami classics to use each one with crazy gimmicky weapons and strange cockpits! btw he control scheme with the air break button makes the game so interesting to play imo. Get a vtol/float plane and you can fly like a UFO using the air break right.

Aero dancing sure is its own thing. I read before an article on a website talking about the story of the series and how many expansion packs the game has. Some with bonus modes like flying inside a house like toy commander or the rc helicopter (simple 2000), others let you play online etc.

29:09
you have single handedly convinced me to play this game again

You're the first person who I've heard mention "Area 88".
Both the film and series are so good.

I was hoping you'd cover these acelikes when i saw you played them as well on backloggd especially Lethal Skies.
One of the best parts about these clones is discovering the soundtracks. There's no shortage of bangers

I was going to say this is perfect timing since I coincidentally just finished AC3 (the japanese translation which is a masterpiece) then I realized why I too was playing AC3.

I feel like games always makes planes unresponsive for "realism".  But, it's like, go to an air show, these planes can accelerate while going straight vertical, why am I stalling every time I nose up a bit?

You know, I never played Heatseeker but I know that font and fade in on the kill count, that's by the guys who made Heroes of the Pacific! They're moving like prop planes because its based on the same engine! Crazy as hell really