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October 1983 marked the creation of a legend before its time. Space Ace was created by Magicom, a division of Don Bluth Studios, and Cinematronics. Don Bluth, a talented animator formally from Disney, worked on Space Ace in hopes of the same market success Dragons Lair previously experienced. Although not a huge hit in terms of revenue, Space Ace has gathered quite a following.
In Space Ace you control Dexter and your mission is to rescue Kimmy, destroy the Infanto Ray, and save the Earth from the evil commander Borf. Borf's weapon, the Infanto Ray, can transform Dexter into a baby incapable of harming anyone. Opportune times in the game allow Dexter to "energize" metamorphosing Dexter (a weak geeky nerd) into ACE (a brawny super hero). The game
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Control panel for the Space Ace kit. Designed to fit into the original dragon lair cabinet.
Space Ace Movie poster. Used for promotion of the game.
ends when Dexter becomes ACE, is reunited with Kimberly, and Borf is transformed into an infant by means of his own Infanto ray.
The main characters Dexter (ACE), Kimmy, and Borf make the laser disk game enjoyable to not only play but too watch too. Space Ace could often be found with an additional monitor on top of the cabinet just to accommodate the spectators.
Like its predecessor Dragon's Lair, Space Ace is a laser disk game exemplifying the uniqueness of using laser quality video in a video arcade. The monitor displays Laser Disk video without an RGB signal sent from the Main PCB. The players score is displayed on a separate LED above the monitor.
Unlike Dragons Lair, Space Ace offers the player the ability to select the desired skill level of play. An annunciator board adds the capability for three flashing LED pushbuttons to be depressed for selection of a difficulty level. This was added because players of Dragon's Lair often complained that the game was too difficult to complete. Space Cadet, space Captain and Space Ace determine the amount of levels you are required to play before continuing on to the next scene. The "Space Ace" selection, being the most difficult, includes all of the animated levels.
Space Ace comes as a kit to Dragon's Lair. A simple laser disk and ROM swap will result in a new animated classic. Space Ace also came in a rare dedicated cabinet. The game utilized the pioneer pr-7820 and ldv-1000 laser disk players.
Different techniques were used in the creation of Space Ace. Models were created, filmed, and then traced. This was done to reduce cost and the time required animating sequences. The traces are later painted. Many of the voices for Space Ace were done by some of the people creating the animation. The voice of Dexter is done by Will Finn who also was responsible for animation. Another animator Jeff Etter does the voice of ACE. Kimberly's voice (named after the studio's publicist, Kimberly Coy) was done by Lorna Pomeroy. Don Bluth (lead animator) also helped in the creation of voices. He used his voice with synthesized effects to create the evil commander Borf.
Space Ace attempted to make a come back in 1991 when the Leland Corporation released the game as a conversion kit for the new Dragons Lair II laser disk game. Changes included new moves due to the 8-way joystick (previously 4-way) and removal of the ability to select difficulty level.
Look for more Space Ace information at...
KLOV: Killer List Of Video Games
Wikipedia
