I recently had the chance to conduct a short interview with Ryunosuke Hagiwara, the producer on the Switch version of Ace Combat 7, which releases today. He gave some great insight into the technical challenges they face and where their priorities were in bringing the game to Switch. He also mentioned Star Fox!

John Rairdin：It has been a while since Ace Combat 7 originally released, what brought about this Switch port?

Ryunosuke Hagiwara: When we conducted user research on ACE COMBAT around the world, we found that there are customers who are interested in ACE COMBAT but are unable to play it because they did not own a console. So we decided to release a Nintendo Switch version of ACE COMBAT 7 in order to allow as many people as possible to play the game.

JR：How long has this port been in the works? 

RH: Around 2022, we conducted the aforementioned user survey and as a result, we started to consider the possibility of developing ACE COMBAT for other platforms so that more customers can experience being an ACE COMBAT hero. After that, through technical verification and development period, we went through a long period of trial and error to secure the frame rate and improve the graphic quality without compromising the gameplay, and we were able to reach the quality of the production version with the help of the technology and strong desire of our partner companies.

JR：What sort of challenges did you face bringing this game to Switch? 

RH: There was a possibility that the realistic cloud rendering of ACE COMBAT 7 could not be reproduced on Nintendo Switch during the verification phase. Other than that, we were able to reach the quality of the production version after a long period of trial and error to ensure the frame rate without compromising the gameplay.

Note from John: Ace Combat 7 makes use of a complex and dynamic volumetric cloud system that is very demanding to calculate and render

JR: Visually the game looks remarkably comparable to the original release. Were there specific graphical effects or other elements you felt it important to preserve?

RH: One of the features of ACE COMBAT 7 is the realistic representation of clouds and weather conditions that affect the game in real time. We spent a lot of time to develop the Nintendo Switch version of ACE COMBAT 7 to ensure that the realistic weather expressions and volume of the original version would remain unchanged, and that the quality of the game would be high enough to be released to the world.

JR: Are you able to detail any performance metrics such as frame rate or resolutions for docked and handheld mode?

RH：Both TV mode and portable mode are 1280 x 720 30FPS (variable).

JR: This is marked as a Deluxe Edition, what previous content is included and is there additional optional content beyond that? 

RH: The "Ace Combat™7: Skies Unknown Deluxe Edition" for the Nintendo The Switch version of ACE COMBAT™7: SKIES UNKNOWN DELUXE EDITION is a luxury edition that includes the following items. Even those who have never played Ace Combat before can enjoy the game, so if you are at all interested, we hope you will take this opportunity to dive into the world of ACE COMBAT.

• Contents
• ACE COMBAT 7: SKIES UNKNOWN base game
• Downloadable content " Three original aircraft sets" + "Three SP missions"
• Part 1 “ACE COMBAT 7: SKIES UNKNOWN – ADF-11F Raven Set”
• Part 2 “ACE COMBAT 7: SKIES UNKNOWN – ADF-01 FALKEN Set”
• Part 3 “ACE COMBAT 7: SKIES UNKNOWN – ADFX-01 Morgan Set”
• Part 4 “ACE COMBAT 7: SKIES UNKNOWN – Unexpected Visitor”
• Part 5 “ACE COMBAT 7: SKIES UNKNOWN – Anchorhead raid”
• Part 6 “ACE COMBAT 7: SKIES UNKNOWN - 10 million Relief Plan”
• Bonus “Music Player Mode”
• Playable Aircraft F-104C -Avril-
• ＊The F-104C was abandoned in a "graveyard of airplanes," and it took Avril and his team more than eight years to restore it. It is a drag racer in the sky, soaring toward the blue-black sky. Since it is not equipped with any armament, it can be used only in free flight mode.
• *The regular F-104C with armament is included in the main game.
• 3 popular aircraft skins from the past series
• 8 popular emblems of the past series
• For more information, please check the official website.

JR：If your team could work on one Nintendo franchise, which would you most like to work on? 

RH： As the ACE COMBAT team, we still think it would be fun to create a "Star Fox" series. There are many elements that are close to the ACE COMBAT series, not only in game genre and play, but also in radio direction, and it is very exciting to fantasize about what kind of "Star Fox" Project ACES would create.