Classic Namco arcade title Air Combat 22 announced for Switch / Switch 2

Hamster Corporation has announced that the classic Namco arcade game Air Combat 22 will be heading to its Arcade Archives series for modern platforms. As the sequel to the industry defining Air Combat, Air Combat 22 expanded the gameplay by allowing players to select different aircraft to carry out their missions. The game got its name from Namco’s Super System 22 hardware board, which was a slight upgrade over what the original Air Combat ran on.

 

 

Back in the day, people positively received Air Combat 22, but most reviewers considered it an incremental upgrade instead of a true evolution of the formula. Arcade cabinets came equipped with a massive screen, which did lend a sense of believability to the title as a genuine flight simulator. The addition of extra aircraft did give players a reason to return, which is something the original game could not boast.

If you’re thinking that Air Combat sounds eerily close to Ace Combat, that’s because it basically is the progenitor of it. Although the arcade games lack a connection to the series, Namco released the first Ace Combat game as “Air Combat” on the PS1 in 1995. It wound up being a spiritual successor to the arcade title as the PS1 was not powerful enough to handle what Namco’s arcade boards could render. Little did anyone know that Ace Combat would go on to become a much more successful and recognized brand than Air Combat.

If you’re interested in grabbing Air Combat 22, it will be heading to both Arcade Archives and Arcade Archives 2 in the near future. The main difference is that Arcade Archives 2 runs on current-gen systems with higher resolution visuals. If you don’t have a PS5, Xbox Series X|S, or Switch 2, you can still nab the game on PS4 and Switch to hold you over.

Leave a Comment