Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere

Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere
Developer: Namco Publishers: Namco (JP/US), SCEE (EU) Platform: PlayStation Released in JP: May 27, 1999 Released in US: March 2, 2000 Released in EU: January 21, 2000 This game has unused areas. This game has regional differences. This game has a prerelease article

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Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere is probably most infamous for Namco heavily butchering the content of the non-Japanese versions.

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Prerelease Info

Unused Missions

In the Japanese version, there are two missions only accessible through a GameShark: "Mission Code" and "Game Show", which can be accessed with 800BF65C 0000 and 800BF65C 0013 respectively. However, trying to load in the former will cause the game to crash, while the latter is playable but has no way to properly finish the mission.

Interestingly, "Game Show" also appears as a playable demo on a US-released PlayStation Magazine disc, where it is listed as "Special Mission".

Regional Differences

The Japanese release underperformed in sales, particularly when considering its high production values and the sales of the first two games. While the team had already started working on translating the game for western audiences, Namco ultimately decided to cut down on the game's content for the international releases:

• The Japanese version came on two discs containing 52 missions, a branching story with multiple endings, and fully animated cutscenes with full voice acting. The international release came on one disc, has just 36 missions, and the story is linear and only provided through some occasional expository text.
• In the Japanese version, the story has four factions that the main character could join through the branching story. The international release has the main character staying on the same faction throughout the entire game.
• One of the factions, Neucom, was renamed "Neuwork" in the international release.

A fan-made patch was released in 2016 which translates the entirety of the Japanese version to English.