Ace Combat/Trivia

""Apparently the change was down to the cold reception given to AC3 by the majority of Japanese players, favoring the generic rock music and time-attack modes of AC2.""
 * Continuity Nod: Ace Combat 5 often refers to events from fifteen years in the past during "The Belkan War." Ace Combat Zero takes place during said war, so there is some interesting overlap between things referred to in 5 and things that happen in Zero, such as the Nimitz-class naval aircraft carrier OFS Kestrel (appears in version C of Mission 4 and mentioned in versions A and B), and Huckebein the Raven (later ) and Captain "Heartbreak One" Bartlett appear in the Mercenary version of Mission 10 (see below). Furthermore, it is implied that the war that is participating in as of his video interview is the aftermath of the Usean Continental War of Ace Combat 04, two months after the Megalith mission. Also, it seems that the final missions of both Ace Combat 5 and Ace Combat Zero take place at the end of their respective years.
 * The maps and places featured in Ace Combat 5 and Ace Combat Zero are also the same and, for the most part, consistent. You'll visit Heirlark Air Base in South Belka (now North Osea) in both games. Ustio is on the map in Ace Combat 5 before it becomes the protagonist's nation in Ace Combat Zero. Most poignant of all however, is the Waldrech Mountain map. In Ace Combat Zero, you'll see a castle at the very start of that mission. At the end of the mission, everything north of the castle would be vaporized by a Belkan nuclear attack. In Ace Combat 5, this is the exact same castle where the President of Osea was being held captive. After you rescue him, he will recount how he spent his days watching the nuclear wasteland, and wishing he could find a way to stop it all from happening again.
 * When you come back to the castle after the nuclear detonation, the landscape is already turned into a wasteland and the hypocenter is very, very visible just to the southwest of the castle, which is why the lower half of the map is cut off during the mission; they can't have you flying right into the mushroom cloud or change the topography mid-mission. When you come back in 5, the crater has become a frozen lake. This, more likely than anything else, is the scene President Harling was forced to contemplate during his imprisonment.
 * Early in the game your squadron covertly escorts President Harling en route North Point, an island nation off the cost of Usea, notable for being ISAF's GHQ at the start of 04.
 * Albert Gennette, the photojournalist who covers the "Four Wings of Sand Island" (later the "Demons of Razgriz") in 5 returns to cover the Leasath-Aurelia War and serves as the narrator for X.
 * A number of cutscenes in Zero consist of full-motion video interviews (complete with live actors) of enemy pilots ten years later the game opening and closing with "Solo Wing" Pixy's interview), and the fate of almost every enemy ace you shoot down is revealed in their Assault Records entry; one of them may have been the disgruntled uncle in Ace Combat 04, another is the father of Archer from 5, and it's believed that Yellow 13 is also in the game.
 * The Ace Combat world's analog to CNN, Osea's OBC turns up in 5, Zero and X.
 * It is actually possible to reenact or "rewrite" history during Mission 10M in Ace Combat Zero: The enemy boss squadron Schwarze was tasked with shooting down the deserter Huckebein the Raven, aka from Ace Combat 5, only for him to fly right into a huge air-to-air battle in the Round Table. (He leaves if not engaged, but if you engage him he'll relentlessly pursue you for the rest of the mission; shooting him down though unlocks the special paint scheme for his plane.) On Ace difficulty, if you don't engage him for about 20 seconds the future Ace Combat 5 boss Grabacr 1 appears in an Su-47 near him and will eventually shoot him down unless you destroy him first.
 * Another cameo from 5 is in the Soldier version of that mission: Ofnir 1 appears in an F-15 S/MTD on Ace difficulty.
 * The meteor shower that ruins Estovakia's economy in Ace Combat 6 is related to the same 1994XF04 Ulysses asteroid that struck Usea in Ace Combat 04. Ace Combat 6 also suggests that  is the last construction in the world intended to repel Ulysses and its destruction eleven years after the fact, combined with that of Stonehenge in Shattered Skies and the Arkbird in The Unsung War, is the end of Ulysses' impact (pun not intended) on the world. Furthermore, Ace Combat 6 notes that Estovakia's crazier technology, most notably the Aigaion, was developed by Belkans who sought asylum after the collapse of A World With No Boundaries and brought technology that helped the militaristic faction win the Estovakian civil war. The enemy ace Lorenz Riedl in the mission to bring down the Aigaion is one of them and, in fact, none other than Gault 7, whom you shot down in the Soldier Path of Zero.
 * In fact every game since Electrosphere has been carefully crafted so that not only would it all fit into a single continuity, but in effect would also be a prequel to Electrosphere gradually unfolding the geopolitical world seen in that game. Subsequent materials published have also neatly fitted Ace Combat/Air Combat and Ace Combat 2 in this continuity. This may be why the recent games aren't set in Strangereal; they're running out of nations to tell war stories about and running out of time before the world has to start resembling Electrosphere.
 * One of the more subtle nods; watch where the map puts the Chandelier in the final mission of Ace Combat 6. The map isn't labeled, but it's right-smack in the middle of the Razgriz Straights, and can't be very far from where the Hrimfaxi went down.
 * Another, very subtle Continuity Nod comes from 6, where the allied ace Sky Kid is named for the bar that Yellow 13 frequents in Shattered Skies ; this is also the name of a rock band in Unsung War (watch the posters in Chopper's room).
 * Its actually more of a nod to what AC4's bar was a nod to, the Namco Arcade gane 'Sky Kid'.
 * In the final mission of Ace Combat 6, the minor background radio chatter from your allies has them requesting for "Mobius" and "Galm 1" to back them up and provide assistance.
 * Zero's multiplayer mode contains a few extra nods to Unsung War: the 3rd map takes place over the city that Yuktobania used chemical weapons against in mission 11B; the 4th map, a race through a series of rings, takes place over the volcanic islands from mission 19; the 5th, a fight to take out enemy jamming stations, is set in the canyon Ofnir Squadron is engaged in; and in the 7th, where both players lead a squadron against one another, the first player's squad includes Edge, Chopper and Archer, while the second player's includes Omega, Viper, and Halo. On top of that, all the music for the multiplayer mode is taken from 5's Operation Katina.
 * A number of elements of later games relate to Ace Combat 2: Megalith is identical to Fortress Intolerance, the Osean mass driver is identical to the rebel-controlled Usean one, and the Scinfaxi and Hrimfaxi submarines are identical to the two Dragonet-class submarines.
 * Dueling Games: With Konami's Airforce Delta series and Ubisoft's HAWX series.
 * Expy: If you wonder who Edge from Ace Combat 5 looks like, look no further than a specific racing game made by the same company who also has the same last name as Edge Hint: her last name is Nagase.
 * Don't forget "Flight Officer Kei Nagase" five years before in Ace Combat 04...
 * It's a popular theory that Kei Nagase retired from Scarface following AC2, going into commercial aviation which by chance or by her design gets her on the same plane defecting from Erusea. It is mentioned in the debriefing of that mission that several countries had come forward willing to grant amnesty to the defectors. It's no stretch of the imagination that good ol' Osea wouldn't do her share and take in Nagase, and neither is it a stretch given the timeline that she could have had her daughter of the same name either with her, or brought over later. All idle speculation of course, but is it's the case there isn't any reason the younger Kei wouldn't have joined the Osean Air Force- aside from, you know, her extreme aversion to violence. Perhaps the Kei Nagase from Electrosphere is just Edge's granddaughter. Or maybe I'm insane.
 * Or the "Kingdom of Sapin," home to Espada Team, whose number two is one Marcela "Macarena" Vasquez... or "Osea" (especially this one) and the "Union of Yuktobanian Republics"...
 * And then there's effectively Emmerica versus the Stroviet Union in 6...
 * Fantasy Counterpart Culture. Namco just loves to do this with the Ace Combat Series. The "Strangereal World" that the series takes place in is a bizarre mish mash of our Earth geographic features, with the geopolitical placement even stranger. For example, the in-game equivalent to Europe is not actually on the Strangereal European continent at all; it's on the other side of the world, sharing a border the equivalent of the United States.
 * Osea, Usea and Emmeria are all America (Emmeria has all of two letters changed and a dash of France / England added, Usea is 'USA' with an e randomly thrown in), Yuktobania, Erusea and Estovakia are all aspects of the Soviet Union (post-communism in the first case, Erusea is a dictatorship-era, and Estovakians are called 'Stovies,' making them the Stoviet Union), Belka is Germany, North Point is assumed to be Japan, and Sapin is Spain. Aurelia is heavily based on Argentina (the capital is more or less Buenos Aires, down to the landmarks) and Chile, while Leasath is apparently based mostly on Venezuela and Peru.
 * Word of God indicates that USEA stands for "United States of Euro Asia". Plot Hole, anyone?
 * The Western world is disproportionately large, with most of the entire Strangereal world being of a western culture. Speaking of which, there has never been featured any Asian culture in the Strangereal world.
 * The past four games (excluding Zero) have dealt with wars between two nations newly-introduced to the series. ISAF vs Erusea - although it being a federation means some of the other states could have been subsumed under it... Osea vs Yuktobania. Leseath vs Aurelia. Emmeria vs Estovakia. Only Zero broke this mold by having a plot that's tied to a previous game. You know, they're gonna start running out of countries...
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Various notable VAs have lent their vocal talent to the games.
 * In 5, Captain Bartlett is Spike Spiegel, Nastasya is Faye Valentine, and Snow is Jet Black. Bartlett is also Marvel's go-to voice for Wolverine.
 * Lelouch is Grimm and PJ, Alucard is Captain Hamilton, Saix (amongst others) is Thunderhead (amongst others), Abigail Black is Melissa...
 * Also, Solo Wing Pixy and Strigon 12/Toscha is Cecil and Suzaku (cue Hilarious in Hindsight jokes), Detlef Flescher/Rot One and Bernard Schmidt/Grun One is Garra, Zero's mission announcer is Isshin Kurosaki and (here's the kicker), Dominic Zubov/Schwarze One is Albert Wesker.
 * You've likely bombed the crap out of Squad 7 as Mobius 1. Or at least Welkin Gunther, at any rate.
 * Nothing in the Japanese version? In 5, Kei Nagase is Ayane.
 * Similarly in the Japanese version of Assault Horizon, you have Janice Rehl being another ace pilot, or rather ace Strike Witch.
 * Why Fandom Can't Have Nice Things: According to this review for the Japanese version of Ace Combat 3, the reviewer states that the reason for the cutting down of the international releases is because the Japanese AC Fanbase was not really happy with the complex story and anime cutscenes in the game.