Arcade Archives Air Combat 22

Genre: Combat Flight Simulator

Players: 1, Online Leaderboards

The Nintendo Switch 2 Difference

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Review:

Air Combat 22 is a Combat Flight Simulation game originally released in arcades in 1995, the sequel to 1993’s Air Combat and the spiritual predecessor to the Ace Combat franchise. In this game, players pilot a fighter jet shooting down air- and ground-based enemies.

The gameplay in Air Combat 22 is smooth, responsive… and a bit repetitive. I appreciate the game trying to shake things up by adding in different elements like taking down an aircraft carrier or lining up to refuel mid-flight, but overall this game has a lot of lining up enemy fighter planes in your sights and then shooting them down. Oh, and on that note, I found the plane’s guns to be mostly useless unless an enemy was fairly close and directly ahead of you, and found it was usually easier to rely heavily on missiles.

This release of the game includes a new “Hi-Score Mode” that challenges players to score as much as they can in one run before seeing a game over screen. There is also a new “Caravan Mode” that does much the same, but with the limit being five minutes. In addition, this release of the game includes both Japanese and English versions of the game. In addition, there are various display options, sound options, button mapping, online leaderboards, and save states.

Finally, I should note that this release supports gyroscopic motion control, which is nice… but when I tried it I found it wasn’t to my liking, and is even on in the game’s menus, which is irritating. Also, I did not see any option to adjust the gyroscopic controls in the game’s menus, and even finding the option to just shut it off was difficult.

Overall, Air Combat 22 is a decent but somewhat repetitive Combat Flight Simulation game, though given that it is over 30 years old, its $15 price tag seems overly-high. However, if you’re a fan of the genre and looking to enjoy a good retro entry in the genre, you may find this to your liking.

tl;dr – Air Combat 22 is a Combat Flight Simulation game that’s decent but somewhat repetitive, and at $15 for a game that’s 30 years old it seems horribly overpriced. Fans of the genre still may find this worth checking out, but I expect most players will find it’s not worth the expense.

Grade: C

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The Nintendo Switch 2 Difference

Arcade Archives 2 Air Combat 22

Genre: Combat Flight Simulator

Players: 1, Online Leaderboards

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Review:

When the Arcade Archives series jumped to Nintendo Switch 2, it did so with a “2” added to the title, and an extra $2 added to the price tag over the cost of the Nintendo Switch release. An while these games don’t have a “Nintendo Switch 2 Edition” upgrade, players who purchased the Nintendo Switch release of the game first will be able to buy the Arcade Archives 2 release on Nintendo Switch 2 discounted to only $3, making this effectively a $3 upgrade. So the question is, what do you get for that $3?

As far as I can tell, not much. I didn’t notice any difference in resolution or framerates, and the only extra feature I saw was a new Time Attack mode where players try to complete the entire game in as short a time as possible.

Beyond this, the only difference I noticed was slightly-improved loading times. On Nintendo Switch, the game takes 11 seconds to load to the main menu and 3 seconds to start the game, while on Nintendo Switch 2, those times are cut to 7 seconds and 2 seconds.

Better? Sure. But $2-$3 better? Nuh-uh. If you’re trying to decide whether to get the original Arcade Archives release or the Arcade Archives 2 release, I’d honestly say to save yourself a few bucks and get the original Arcade Archives version… and that’s if you think this overpriced game is even worth it at that price.

tl;dr – Air Combat 22 is a Combat Flight Simulation game that’s decent but somewhat repetitive, and at $15 for a game that’s 30 years old it seems horribly overpriced. Fans of the genre still may find this worth checking out, but I expect most players will find it’s not worth the expense.

Grade: C

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