Space Ace is a LaserDisc video game created by Bluth Group, Cinematronics, and Advanced Microcomputer Systems (later renamed RDI Video Systems). It was introduced in October 1983, four months after the release of Dragon's Lair. A limited version was available in December 1983, and a wider release occurred on April 29, 1984. Like Dragon's Lair, it uses high-quality animation played from a LaserDisc.

Players control the hero by moving a joystick or pressing a fire button at specific moments during the animated scenes. At times, players can choose to temporarily transform the character into an adult form or keep him as a boy, which changes the difficulty of the challenges.

The arcade version was successful in North America but did not reach the same level of popularity as Dragon's Lair. The game was later adapted for several home gaming systems.

Gameplay

Space Ace is made up of many separate scenes, where players must move the joystick in the correct direction or press the fire button at the right time to avoid dangers Dexter/Ace faces. The game added new features, including the ability to choose different skill levels and take different paths through some scenes. At the beginning, players could pick one of three skill levels: "Cadet," "Captain," or "Space Ace," which corresponded to easy, medium, and hard difficulties. Only the hardest level allowed players to see all the scenes in the game, as only about half of the scenes were shown on the easiest setting. Some scenes included choices for the player, such as deciding which direction to turn in a hallway or whether to respond to the on-screen message "ENERGIZE" to change back into Ace form. Most scenes also had mirror-image versions. Dexter usually avoids obstacles and enemies, but Ace attacks enemies directly. Occasionally, Dexter must use his pistol to fight enemies when needed. For example, in the first scene, Dexter escapes from Borf's robot drones. If the player presses the fire button at the correct time, Dexter temporarily becomes Ace and can fight the robots. If the player stays as Dexter, the player must avoid the robots' drill attacks instead.

Plot

Space Ace is a game about a brave hero named Dexter, who is also called "Ace." Ace must stop the evil Commander Borf, who plans to attack Earth using a weapon called the "Infanto Ray." This weapon would change Earthlings into babies, making them unable to fight back. At the beginning of the game, Ace is partially hit by the Infanto Ray, which changes him into a teenager. Meanwhile, Borf captures Ace's female helper, Kimberly, making her the character in need of rescue. The player controls Dexter, now in his teenage form, as he moves through challenges to find Borf and save Kimberly. To stop Borf's plan, the player must prevent the use of the Infanto Ray to take over Earth. Dexter has a special wristwatch that can temporarily reverse the effects of the Infanto Ray, allowing him to change back into Ace for a short time. This helps him overcome harder challenges in a heroic way. The game's introduction uses narration and dialogue to explain the story to players.

Voice Cast

• Will Finn portrays Dexter and Baby Borf.
• Jeff Etter portrays Ace.
• Lorna Cook portrays Kimberly.
• Don Bluth portrays Borf, Aliens, Dark Side Dexter, and Dark Side Ace.
• Michael Rye portrays the Narrator.

Development

The animation for Space Ace was created by the same team that made Dragon's Lair, led by former Disney animator Don Bluth. To save money, the studio used its own staff to provide voices for the characters instead of hiring actors. One exception was Michael Rye, who repeated his role as the narrator from Dragon's Lair. Don Bluth himself provided the voice of Commander Borf, which was changed electronically. In an interview, Bluth said that if the studio had more money, he believed Paul Shenar would have been a better choice for the role of Borf.

The game’s animation used a technique called rotoscoping. Models of Ace’s spaceship, "Star Pac," his motorcycle, and the tunnel from the dogfight scene were built, filmed, and then traced to create realistic movement and depth.

The game cost $2.5 million to make.

Space Ace was sold in two formats: a special cabinet and a conversion kit that could turn an existing Dragon’s Lair machine into a Space Ace game. Early versions of the dedicated Space Ace cabinet looked like Dragon’s Lair cabinets. Later versions had a different, upside-down design. The conversion kit included a Space Ace laserdisc, new EPROMs with the game program, an extra circuit board for skill buttons, and new artwork for the cabinet. The game originally used Pioneer LD-V1000 or PR-7820 laserdisc players, but an adaptor kit now allows Sony LDP series players to be used instead if the original player breaks.

Ports

Space Ace was made for many home computers and game systems. Most versions tried to copy the detailed hand-drawn animation of the arcade game, but some were more successful than others. ReadySoft released floppy disk versions for Amiga, Apple IIGS, Atari ST, MS-DOS, and Macintosh. They also made a CD-ROM version for MS-DOS and Macintosh that used lower quality video but kept most of the original laserdisc content. A sequel, Space Ace II: Borf's Revenge, was released on floppy disks for the same platforms. It combined new animation with scenes from the original game that were removed earlier because of large file sizes.

In 1991, Leland Corporation released an updated version of Space Ace as a conversion kit for Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp. This version added more complex moves, like diagonal movements, and removed easier skill levels, so only the "Ace" (hard) level was playable.

In 1993, Space Ace was released for the Philips CD-i. It later appeared on the Sega CD in 1994.

In 1994, Absolute Entertainment released Space Ace for the Super NES. Because the SNES cartridge had limited storage, the game was a top-down action game with levels based on scenes from the original. To see the credits, players had to earn an "Ace" rank on every level, requiring near-perfect accuracy and collecting all disks in the game. Some scenes from the original were kept in low-resolution video format.

In 1997, Digital Leisure released the Dragon's Lair Deluxe Pack, which included Space Ace and both arcade versions of Dragon's Lair. They also released a DVD version of Space Ace that could be played on most DVD players. However, this version did not allow players to choose skill levels and played differently from the arcade version. If a player made a mistake on the arcade version, they could restart from where they left off, but the DVD version required replaying the entire scene from the beginning.

DAPHNE, an emulator for laserdisc-based games, can run both the original and 1991 versions of Space Ace. It needs ROM files and the original laserdisc to work. Alternatively, MPEG-2 video and Ogg Vorbis audio files can be used instead of the laserdisc. These files can be created from the original laserdisc or from Digital Leisure's DVD.

Like Dragon's Lair, a comic book miniseries that included elements from both the game and its Saturday Supercade version was released in 2003 by Crossgen Publishing. The miniseries showed Ace changing into Dexter and back instead of "energizing" back into Ace.

In December 2003, free disks featuring Space Ace and trailers for similar games were included in issues of PSW (PlayStation World) and XBW (Xbox World) magazines.

In May 2009, Space Ace became available on iOS.

In October 2010, Space Ace appeared on the Wii as part of the Dragon's Lair Trilogy, which also included Dragon's Lair and Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp. It was later released as DSiWare in North America on December 6 and in the PAL region on December 31.

In February 2011, Digital Leisure released a PlayStation 3 version of the game through the PlayStation Network.

An Android version of Space Ace was released on Google Play on December 28, 2012.

In August 2013, the game was made available on Steam.

In July 2015, Rebecca Heineman shared the source code from a reverse-engineered Apple IIGS version of Space Ace (from 1990) on GitHub.

A compilation called Dragon's Lair Trilogy, which includes the original Dragon's Lair, Space Ace, and Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp, is sold on the PlayStation Store.

In January 2019, Space Ace appeared on the Nintendo Switch as part of the Dragon's Lair Trilogy, likely a port of the Wii version.

An NES version of Space Ace was developed but never released.

Reception

In April 1994, the CD-i version of the game was the best-selling game in the United Kingdom.

Four reviewers from Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the CD-i version a score of 7.75 out of 10. They said the game was a "pixel perfect" version of the arcade game, but they noted that the game did not offer much fun for repeated play.

In their review of the Sega CD version, GamePro gave the game a score of 3.9 out of 5. They mentioned that the game showed the poor color quality of the Sega CD, but they praised the story, voice acting, and music. They concluded that Space Ace is good for people who enjoy animation or who liked the game Dragon's Lair. Next Generation gave the Sega CD version a score of 2 out of 5. They criticized the story as "juvenile" and the gameplay as "overly limited," saying that the only way to complete the game's 13 stages was to repeat them until responses became automatic. They added that even a trained monkey could perform the same actions.

A reviewer from Next Generation gave the PC version a score of 2 out of 5. They wrote that Space Ace is an entertaining cartoon that closely resembles the original arcade game, but they said that being nearly identical to the original is not always a good thing.

Entertainment Weekly gave the game a B− grade. They wrote that Space Ace is part of a special type of CD game called a "decision point disc," where players respond to specific threats instead of controlling every movement. They said the game has excellent animation and an amusing story about the evil Commander Borf and his Infanto Ray, but they also said the game is frustrating because it requires very fast reactions.

Power Unlimited reviewed the CD-i version and gave it a score of 91%. They said the game is an eye-catching interactive cartoon where players influence the course of events, but they noted that players must be extremely fast because they have little time to make choices. They called the game unique but suitable only for those who enjoy speed-based challenges.

Legacy

Space Ace II: Borf's Revenge is a follow-up to the original Space Ace game for home computers. It includes content that could not fit on the original game due to limited memory. The game was released for Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS, and Macintosh in 1991. A version for Apple IIGS was created but never released. Instructions for loading the IIGS version are included in the manuals for other platforms.

A short cartoon series based on Space Ace was made in 1984 as part of the Saturday Supercade cartoon block, which featured animated stories based on popular video games. In the series, Ace was voiced by Jim Piper, Dexter by Sparky Marcus, Kimberly by Nancy Cartwright, and Commander Borf by Arthur Burghardt. Twelve episodes of the Space Ace cartoon were produced.