Ultimate Air Combat (NES)

Ultimate Air Combat

Platform: NES Year: 1992 Developer: Activision, Inc.

Ultimate Air Combat (known as Aces: Iron Eagle III in Japan) is a semi-realistic combat flight simulator developed and published by Activision for the Nintendo Entertainment System/Family Computer. Having relatively good graphics for the console, Ultimate Air Combat differs from other similar games by having both a cockpit view and an isometric view throughout the missions.

The game seems to be set in the near future due to some of the highly advanced weapons systems but modern-day planes. In Japan, the game is known as Aces: Iron Eagle III and is barely based on the film of the same name (as both involved aircraft).

This is the only of two games that were developed internally by Activision for the NES, instead of outsourcing development to other companies, the other one was Galaxy 5000: Racing in the 51st Century.

Screenshots

The title screen. The Japanese title screen.

This page needs more screenshots.

Music

For 1992, Richard Miles Boogar did a good job writing this simple soundtrack, with additional music support from Matthew Berardo of Bubsy fame. Both of them created MIDI files, which was implemented into Activision's NES driver.

Recording

There are issues with the timing of this recording.

#	Title	Composer	Programmer	Length	Listen	Download
01	Title Screen	Matthew Berardo, Richard Miles Boogar	Glyn Anderson	3:00		Download
02	Menu / Introduction / Password / Stage Select	Matthew Berardo, Richard Miles Boogar	Glyn Anderson	3:00		Download
03	Admiral's Briefing / Select & Aim Aircraft	Matthew Berardo, Richard Miles Boogar	Glyn Anderson	3:00		Download
04	Professor Newron's Theme	Matthew Berardo, Richard Miles Boogar	Glyn Anderson	3:00		Download
05	FA-18 Hornet Flight Sim Theme	Matthew Berardo, Richard Miles Boogar	Glyn Anderson	3:00		Download
06	AV-8 Harrier Flight Sim Theme	Matthew Berardo, Richard Miles Boogar	Glyn Anderson	3:00		Download
07	F-14 Tomcat Flight Sim Theme / Credits	Matthew Berardo, Richard Miles Boogar	Glyn Anderson	3:00		Download
08	Got 'Em - Engaging Autopilot	Matthew Berardo, Richard Miles Boogar	Glyn Anderson	0:12		Download
09	Overhead Mission Theme 1	Matthew Berardo, Richard Miles Boogar	Glyn Anderson	3:00		Download
10	Planet X Race	Matthew Berardo, Richard Miles Boogar	Glyn Anderson	3:00		Download
11	Overhead Mission Theme 3	Matthew Berardo, Richard Miles Boogar	Glyn Anderson	3:00		Download
12	Mission Completed / Ending	Matthew Berardo, Richard Miles Boogar	Glyn Anderson	3:00		Download
13	Got 'Em - Engaging Autopilot (Alternate)	Matthew Berardo, Richard Miles Boogar	Glyn Anderson	0:12		Download
14	Shot Down	Matthew Berardo, Richard Miles Boogar	Glyn Anderson	0:10		Download
15	Unused Theme	Matthew Berardo, Richard Miles Boogar	Glyn Anderson	3:00		Download

Credits

• Ripper: MrNorbert1994
• Recorder: Duc4Wikmedia
• Game Credits:
  • Music by: Richard Miles Boogar
  • Additional Music by: Matthew Berardo credited as Matt Berardo
  • Sound Effects by: Pete Mokris
  • Uncredited Programmer: Glyn Anderson

(Source 1, Source 2, Source 3)

Game Rip

This rip is missing songs.

Format	Download

Ripping NES music is an arduous process that is beyond the scope of this site. The music was recorded in Game Emu Player for foobar2000.

Audio Devices

The game outputs to the RP2A03 in North America and Japan and RP2A07 in Europe. The DPCM channel is used for sound effects.

Releases

USA Title: Ultimate Air Combat Platform: NES Released: 1992-04-?? Publisher: Activision, In.c     EU Title: Ultimate Air Combat Platform: NES Released: 1991-??-?? Publisher: Activision, Inc.     Japan Title: エアコンバットゲーム エイセス (Aces: Iron Eagle III) Platform: FC Released: 1992-08-07 Publisher: Pack-In-Video Co., Ltd.