Most of Bandai Namco’s Ace Combat series is set in its own entirely fictional setting called Strangereal. A place of multiple continents, a variety of nations and cultures, and many, many wars, its timeline isn’t too easy to grasp from the outside. But don’t worry, Nugget is here to help. In a new video series, the new puppet mascot for Ace Combat explains Strangereal – and thus Ace Combat – history.
First introduced on video in April 2022, Nugget is a little chick, named after the slang term for rookie fighter pilots. Now Nugget is the official YouTuber for the Ace Combat official channel. Now Nugget’s first presentation focuses on making Ace Combat history and Strangereal a little more “real” to fans new and old.
The first subject of Nugget’s “Strangereal World Setting Commentary” focuses on 2001’s Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies. English subtitles are available via closed captions.
Nugget introduces the series setting by framing it from the perspective of the latest entry, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown. AC7 takes place in 2019 (of the game timeline), but AC04 is set in 2003-2005. Strangereal’s modern history hinges on the arrival of the Ulysses Comet, an asteroid found to be on a collision course with Earth. To face the threat, many nations cooperated to build the superweapon Stonehenge, a massive railgun battery. Stonehenge destroyed many incoming comet fragments, but those that got through wrought havoc upon the continent of Usea. The chaos of the disaster caused refugee surges, economic crises, and eventually prompted a new war.
Ace Combat history calls Ace Combat 04‘s central conflict, “The Continental War”. During the war, the nation of Erusea fought against ISAF, an international military coalition. The player character, “Mobius 1” becomes a hero pilot of the Continental War, beating back the Erusean forces and defeating the infamous Yellow Squadron. They also destroy Stonehenge. The Eruseans had captured the facility to use as a powerful anti-aircraft defense system.
Ace Combat 7 is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Bandai Namco celebrated its 3rd birthday with Idolmaster tie-in content.
