History YMMV / AceCombatZeroTheBelkanWar

* EvenBetterSequel: To ''[=AC5=]'', itself an Even Better Sequel to ''04''. ''Zero'' retains most of the gameplay features and mechanical polish that made ''Shattered Skies'' and ''The Unsung War'' shine on top of a dark and gripping narrative [[{{Deconstruction}} unafraid to call question to]] [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation nearly anything and everything]]. Regardless of which installment fans ultimately deem to be ''Ace Combat''[='s=] crown jewel, these three sterling games have combined to [[ToughActToFollow overshadow nearly every other title in the series to date]], a testament to their quality.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Invoked both in storyline and in gameplay. [[spoiler:Just ask yourself, why did you shoot Pixy down? Because you had to, or because you ''wanted'' to?]]

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[AwesomeMusic/AceCombat As to be expected]], though special note goes to "Zero." It is widely considered to be [[MagnumOpus the pinnacle of Keiki Kobayashi's immense body of work]] and, fittingly, underscores the exhilarating and emotionally-charged final mission ([[spoiler:a BossOnlyLevel where you {{Air Joust|ing}} your old wingman to prevent him from taking out the world leaders via nuclear bombardment]]), itself one of the most emblematic events in the annals of ''Ace Combat'' series.

* HesJustHiding: By virtue of NeverFoundTheBody and no official confirmation from Namco about the character being KIA, there's a contingent of fans who say this about [[spoiler:Pixy's replacement, PJ]]. Despite the loss of radio contact after [[spoiler:Pixy's Morgan wastes them by scoring a direct hit through the Falcon's canopy with the TLS]] and the grave marker shown during the epilogue, players never see their plane go up in flames when they bail out: there's only a line of smoke as they fall out of the airspace and the [[spoiler:glass seen after impact]] has led some to believe they managed to safely eject. In fact, if flying a Su-47 or another aircraft with a large enough bubble cockpit, you can clearly see [[spoiler:their plane ''stabilize'' after PJ is hit, as if it was merely disabled]]. Others also point to the fact that the enemy aces interviewed throughout the story, including [[spoiler:Solo Wing himself]], [[GameplayAndStorySegregation were shown to have survived similar or worse circumstances]], especially if [[spoiler:they were shot out of the sky by the player's own lasers ([[GameplayAndStorySegregation which Cipher really shouldn't have access to anyway]])]]. More details can be found [[http://acecombat.wikia.com/wiki/Patrick_James_Beckett#Fate here.]]

* HesJustHiding: By virtue of NeverFoundTheBody and no official confirmation from Namco about the character being KIA, there's a contingent of fans who say this about [[spoiler:Pixy's replacement, PJ]]. Despite the loss of radio contact after [[spoiler:Pixy's Morgan wastes them by scoring a direct hit through the Falcon's canopy with the TLS]] and the grave marker shown during the epilogue, players never see their plane go up in flames when they bail out: there's only a line of smoke as they fall out of the airspace and the [[spoiler:glass seen after impact]] has led some to believe they managed to safely eject. In fact, if flying a Su-47 or another aircraft with a large enough bubble cockpit, you can clearly see [[spoiler:their plane ''stabilize'' after PJ is hit, as if it was merely disabled]]. Others also point to the fact that the enemy aces interviewed throughout the story, including [[spoiler:Solo Wing himself]], [[GameplayAndStorySegregation were shown to have survived similar or worse circumstances]], especially if [[spoiler:they were shot out of the sky by the player's own lasers ([[GameplayAndStorySegregation which Cipher really shouldn't have access to anyway]])]].

* CharClone: Interestingly, Pixy has some traits of this. Sure, he doesn't wear a CoolMask or CoolShades, but he's a blonde AcePilot (implied to have had a bit of RedBaron fame before becoming Cipher's wingman and seeing the "Demon Lord" overshadow him), who's a close ally to the main character (like Quattro in [[MobileSuitZetaGundam Zeta]]), and then becomes an enemy of his, trying to bring about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt (like Char in [[MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterAttack CCA]]). Not in a ColonyDrop fashion, but close enough.

* {{Deconstruction}}: In-universe. Of the Belkan War. Those who played ''Ace Combat 5'' first will be told that the evil Belkans invaded other countries and the heroic Allies liberated them. Well that happened, but after Ustio was liberated, Thompson says it perfectly, "The true nature of the war begins from this point forward." Not all Belkans were evil, as evidenced by the interviews. And the Allied Forces invaded Belka in the first place to secure "resource interests." Come Mission 11, [[spoiler:Allied bombers destroy an entire Belkan city, and the Belkans rush frantically to defend it.]] To quote Thompson again, "Everyone is a hero and a villain. And no one knows who's the victim or who's the aggressor." [[spoiler:Pixy didn't know either. So he defected.]]

* CharClone: Interestingly, Pixy has some traits of this. Sure, he doesn't wear a CoolMask or CoolShades, but he's a blonde AcePilot (implied to have had a bit of RedBaron fame before Cipher overshadows him), who's a close ally to the main character, and then becomes an enemy of his, trying to bring about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. Not in a ColonyDrop fashion, but close enough.

** [[AllThereInTheManual Pixy is Belka]]. [[spoiler:How much nationalism is involved when he defected to A World With No Boundaries?]] Then again, it's never explained why Larry Foulke left his home country for a mercenary life.

** Perhaps all these reactions is ''intended''. See AlternativeCharacterInterpretation above.
* {{Deconstruction}}: In-universe. Of the Belkan War. Those who played ''Ace Combat 5'' first will be told that the evil Belkans invaded other countries and the heroic Allies liberated them. Well that happened, but after Ustio was liberated, Thompson says it perfectly, "The true nature of the war begins from this point forward." Not all Belkans were evil, as evidenced by the interviews. And the Allied Forces invaded Belka in the first place to secure "resource interests." Come mission 11, [[spoiler:Allied bombers destroy an entire Belkan city, and the Belkans rush frantically to defend it.]] To quote Thompson again, "Everyone is a hero and a villain. And no one knows who's the victim or who's the aggressor." [[spoiler:Pixy didn't know either. So he defected.]]

** To elaborate; While the game has Ace Style system in place, it refuses to put any words into your character. You can interpret Cipher in whatever ways you wish. [[spoiler:You can see him as either [[IdealHero a honest knight through and through]], a [[ProfessionalKiller professional mercenary]] who became [[KnightInSourArmor genuinely tried of the morbid moralities of all sides at the end]], an upright soldier whose screw came loose after [[ItsPersonal Pixy shot him and PJ]], a [[BloodKnight trigger-happy ace]] who is forced to confront reality, or a coward who is willing to kill defenseless personnel and shoot his friend for nothing but money.]] Then there's a question of why he disappears after Belkan War...

** To elaborate; While the game has Ace Style system in place, it refuses to put any words into your character. You can interpret Cipher in whatever ways you wish. [[spoiler: You can see him as either [[IdealHero a honest knight through and through]], a [[ProfessionalKiller professional mercenary]] who became [[KnightInSourArmor genuinely tried of the morbid moralities of all sides at the end]], an upright soldier whose screw came loose after [[ItsPersonal Pixy shot him and PJ]], a [[BloodKnight trigger-happy ace]] who is forced to confront reality, or a coward who is willing to kill defenseless personnel and shoot his friend for nothing but money.]] Then there's a question of why he disappears after Belkan War...
** [[AllThereInTheManual Pixy is Belka]]. [[spoiler: How much nationalism is involved when he defected to A World With No Boundaries?]] Then again, it's never explained why Larry Foulke left his home country for a mercenary life.
* {{Deconstruction}}: In-universe. Of the Belkan War. Those who played Ace Combat 5 first will be told that the evil Belkans invaded other countries and the heroic Allies liberated them. Well that happened, but after Ustio was liberated, Thompson says it perfectly, "The true nature of the war begins from this point forward." Not all Belkans were evil, as evidenced by the interviews. And the Allied Forces invaded Belka in the first place to secure "resource interests". Come mission 11, [[spoiler: Allied bombers destroy an entire Belkan city, and the Belkans rush frantically to defend it.]] To quote Thompson again, "Everyone is a hero and a villain. And no one knows who's the victim or who's the aggressor." [[spoiler:Pixy didn't know either. So he defected.]]
* DemonicSpiders: Some of the 'mooks' have a habit of flying just so close to your plane that you'll have to drastically slow down just to avoid overshooting (flying past), or will fly a tight loop to keep throwing off your own attempts to generate angles for missile shots or gunfire. Particularly annoying when it's in a skirmish, as decelerating to keep them in your line of fire will leave you vulnerable to other enemies' attacks, and deadly when (not if) the enemy aces do it to you.

** To elaborate; While the game has Ace Style system in place, it refuses to put any words into your character. You can interpret Cipher in whatever ways you wish. [[spoiler: You can see him as either a honest knight through and through, a professional mercenary who became genuinely tried of the morbid moralities of all sides at the end, an upright soldier whose screw came loose after [[ItsPersonal Pixy shot him and PJ]], a [[BloodKnight trigger-happy ace]] who is forced to confront reality, or a coward who is willing to kill defenseless personnel and shoot his friend for nothing but money.]] Then there's a question of why he disappears after Belkan War...

** To elaborate; While the game has Ace Style system in place, it refuses to put any words into your character. You can interpret Cipher in whatever ways you wish. [[spoiler: You can see him as either a professional mercenary who became genuinely tried of the morbid moralities of all sides at the end, an upright soldier whose screw came loose after [[ItsPersonal Pixy shot him and PJ]], a [[BloodKnight trigger-happy ace]] who is forced to confront reality, or a coward who is willing to kill defenseless personnel and shoot his friend for nothing but money.]] Then there's a question of why he disappears after Belkan War...

** To elaborate; While the game has Ace Style system in place, it refuses to put any words into your character. You can interpret Cipher in whatever ways you wish. [[spoiler: You can see him as either a professional mercenary who became genuinely tried of the morbid moralities of all sides at the end, an upright soldier whose screw came loose after [[ItsPersonal Pixy shot him and PJ]], or a coward who is willing to kill defenseless personnel and shoot his friend for nothing but money.]] Then there's a question of why he disappears after Belkan War...

** To elaborate; you can interpret Cipher in whatever ways you wish. [[spoiler: You can see him as either a professional mercenary who became genuinely tried of the morbid moralities of all sides at the end, an upright soldier whose screw came loose after [[ItsPersonal Pixy shot him and PJ]], or a coward who is willing to kill defenseless personnel and shoot his friend for nothing but money.]] Then there's a question of why he disappears after Belkan War...

** To elaborate; you can interpret Cipher in whatever ways you wish. [[spoiler: You can see him as either a professional mercenary who became genuinely tried of the war at the end, an upright soldier whose screw came loose after [[ItsPersonal Pixy shot him and PJ]], or a coward who is willing to kill defenseless personnel and shoot his friend for nothing but money.]] Then there's a question of why he disappears after Belkan War...

* Deconstruction: In-universe. Of the Belkan War. Those who played Ace Combat 5 first will be told that the evil Belkans invaded other countries and the heroic Allies liberated them. Well that happened, but after Ustio was liberated, Thompson says it perfectly, "The true nature of the war begins from this point forward." Not all Belkans were evil, as evidenced by the interviews. And the Allied Forces invaded Belka in the first place to secure "resource interests". Come mission 11, [[spoiler: Allied bombers destroy an entire Belkan city, and the Belkans rush frantically to defend it.]] To quote Thompson again, "Everyone is a hero and a villain. And no one knows who's the victim or who's the aggressor." [[spoiler:Pixy didn't know either. So he defected.]]

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Invoked both in storyline and in gameplay. [[spoiler:Just ask yourself, why did you shoot Pixy down?]]

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Invoked both in storyline and in gameplay. [[spoiler:When you shoot Pixy down, did you do it out of revenge, duty or because it was your job?]]

** The enemy aces in general. They always show up at the end of a mission, which if you have been spending it shooting down enemy planes may mean you are running low on ammunition. They will almost always outnumber you (with the exception of the Gelb Squadron) and are exceptionally coordinated. As mentioned above, they fly in tight loops and while you are chasing them they often have someone ''else'' chasing ''you'' at the same time. At the higher difficulties, staying on top of them requires pinpoint accuracy to avoid blowing all of your ammo on nothing but the sky and co-ordination with your wingman to keep them from getting the jump on you. [[NintendoHard You don't get the later on the Ace of Aces]] BonusLevel.