Hey guys! I see in my absence YF-23 has kept the Polar Bear hunt alive, thanks man! B)
YF-23 also had saved this thread and PMed it to me so I could resurrect it :D



INTRO:
This has been updated!

Well, there's a lot of hidden stuff in the AC series, particularly AC5; And much of it has been uncovered. However, there still is a lot of stuff we haven't found, such as the Polar Bears [see below]; Which are considered 'Easter Eggs'. I don't know how this term originated, but basically it means an image/rendering, phrase, or name that has nothing to do with the storyline and tends to be hidden in the game. For instance, the Namco logos in AC04's Mission 06: Invincible Fleet are considered Easter Eggs. Please note that much of the infomation I introduce here is credited to the forumers of GameFAQs.com, a website I wholeheartedly encourage you to visit. So read on, and happy hunting!




PACMAN GHOSTS

There are several [five, I believe] PacMan ghosts in the Mission 16A: Desert Arrow. Basically, they're ghosts from the PacMan game, hidden among the green circles [water treatment plants, or farms of some kind, I suppose]. Most of these ghosts can be found in the middle of the map. I'll get more info and possibly pics as soon as possible.



50 ANNIVERSARY CROP CIRCLES

There are two fields in Mission 01: Shorebirds which sport strange patterns in a crop circle fashion; Upon which are written '50 ANNIVERSARY', and a small dog-like animal in the 0. The 'small dog-like animal' has been confirmed as a horse, serving as Namco's logo fifty years ago. Fifty years ago Namco was a wooden horse company. Interesting, no? Pics will be up soon.

And here is a quote from g max, a GameFAQs member.


"...to find one of the "50 Anniversary" fields on 1/Shorebirds. This requires some precision, so pay attention...

...Free Flight. Mission 1. Falken.

Before the mission starts hold down the left rudder button only. When your analog controls are enabled you will start to yaw to the left. Make your heading 84 degrees, hold that heading, and let off of all the controls - you will now just watch the clock. The field will just be coming into view at about 1:15, but it will not be identifiable at that point. When the clock reaches 1:25 or 1:30 it should start to become identifiable... ...At 1:50 you should be right over it so you can look straight down on it..."



POLAR BEARS

BACKGROUND INFO:
For any info and questions on the Polar Bears, post in YF-23's thread above ^

This used to be the hot topic on GameFAQS; As these Polar Bears have been announced by a Namco staff member in an interview, but, to the extent of our knowledge, have not been recorded as located on any Ace Combat website or forum.

INTERVIEW:
Here's a translation of the pertinent sections of the above interview article (translation kudos to yellow26 of GameFAQs);

Sugano: (Omitted)... We also used satellite photos to represent the texture of the ground, but the number of the (mission) maps was so many that we were sometimes short of data suitable to our imagination. That said, there are quite numerous original renderings of ours.

Ichiyanagi: You hid polar bears, didn't you (laugh) ?

Sugano: How could you find them (laugh) ? To tell the truth, there are parent and child polar bears in a certain stage.
Not only polar bears but also Pacman ghosts, Ridge Racer cars and so on are drawn or placed on the grounds. This is customary to the (Ace Combat) series, so we hid such amusing things in several stages this time too. We believe that the game is full of such gimmicks and scenes that can amuse people even when they are simply flying. So we hope that they will make the best out of 'Free Flight'.


[thanks yellow26!]


LOCATION?
No, the Polar Bears are almost certainly not in the Demons Of Razgriz level; As it has been vigorously searched by scores of Japanese and American AC fans. Ice Cage is also extremely unlikely, as is Desert Arrow and 8492. I, personaly, doubt that the Polar Bears are located in an 'ice level', and have scoured Open War, Sea Of Chaos, Ancient Walls, and Shorebirds myself. The only tip the Namco staff member gave as to the Polar Bears whereabouts is to search using Free Flight; which rules out the possibility of the Bears being located in Arcade Mode, Tutorial Levels, or Landings/Take-Offs.

We believe that the Polar Bears are renderings, or images, drawn upon the ground; Though the possibility of them being three-dimensional objects has not been eliminated.



TERRAIN HOLES

INTRO TO TERRAIN HOLES:
There are several 'terrain holes' scattered around various levels. One of the blank openings in Mission 27: Aces, in the South-East corner of the map [exclusively in Free Flight], can be reached and successfully entered. If you're quick, you can fly outside the combat area, very slightly North of the South-East corner, find the square 'hole' in the side of a small mountain, fly in, turn left, and re-enter the combat area, under the terrain. It is possible to fly to infinite altitude using this method [for thirty minutes, which is when you are 'timed-out' and your Free Flight session ends], as there is no surface under the surface. The system does not regard the under-ground realm as negative altitude. Also, you can only reach around 1800 MPH [with the FALKEN] going straight down, contrary to the belief of infinite speed. You can still crash against the ground, or as it appears, ceiling. You can still fail by exiting the combat area.

LIST:
Here is a list of the known enterable Terrain Holes;

M# /M Title
05 /Rendezvous
16A/Desert Arrow
17 /Journey Home
18 /Fortress
21 /Solitaire
22 /Closure
27 /Aces


LOCATIONS:
There are also Terrain Holes in 16B/Desert Lightning; But, to the extent of my knowledge, these have not been recorded as entered.

18/Fortress, 16A/Desert Arrow, and 27/Aces have their Terrain Holes located in the South-East corner of your radar map; 05/Rendezvous and 17/Journey Home have their holes North-West; And 21/Solitaire and 22/Closure have theirs located at the southmost section of the North-South river. All of the listed Terrain Holes are just ouside the combat area; And require speed and decent maneuvering to enter. For beginner under-flyers [ :lol: ], I suggest the Aces and Rendezvous holes; and the Falken as your aircraft [due to its superior mobility]. These holes are the easiest to enter. Please note that none of these Terrain Holes appear in the normal mission, and are exclusive to Free Mission mode.



STUNTS

SSTO RAMP:
There is a stunt, extremely difficult, which can be done in Mission 06: White Bird I. Locate the SSTO launch ramp, and fly to the end which the SSTO lifts off from. Directly under the ramp you will see a wire mesh, or fence; You must fly between the runway and this ramp. The trick is the five-or-so areas where the support beams connect to the ramp; These areas are extremely small. Obviously, I recommend the Hawk. I haven't completed this stunt, but I know reliable people who have.


FORTRESS GATES:
There is a stunt in the 18/Fortress underworld; After going underground via the Terrain Hole, you must locate the 'gates' that your ground forces [in the regular mission] enter and exit. Both of them have a hole through the bar which [on the Topside] is over the entrance; You can fly throught these. I found this very difficult, as I was trying to do it upside-down; If I do it rightside up, I freak out because it feels so wierd. Maybe you peeps'll have better luck


SOLG STUNT:
In Mission 27+: The Unsung War, it is possible to fly inside the SOLG. It's best to use a small aircraft, such as the F-5e, MiG-21bis, or Hawk. There are others that can perform the stunt. Just look for a small square opening in the back of the large horizontal beam on the SOLG, and fly through it. Shoot out the panel blocking the way. The first few tries may prove very disheartening, but after you have successfully completed it, you will find the stunt easy.


RENDEZVOUS BRIDGE:
In Mission 05: Rendezvous, there is a potential stunt. Locate the bridge (you will start the mission facing it). Fly parallel to it until you reach one end; then loop around and align yourself with the center of the bridge. You should be able to fly inside the bridge just over the road. If you drift too much to one side you will crash into the support beams and die :( I honestly can't remember what aircraft I did this in, but I suggest the Hawk or MiG-21.



SUPER-SPEED GLITCH:

As YF-23 put it, "...the way to do it. Uber-superly-hyperly exactly 90 degrees up with the MiG-31 (not the M variant) + a big dose of full afterburner = 30,000+mph."

Obviously try this in Free Flight. By repeatedly aiming your nose ninety degrees and clamping R1 until you stall, your aircraft [preferably the MIG-31 Foxhound] will achieve incredible speeds. I myself have reach 12000 MPH and wnet from 40000 FT to a smoking pile of rubble in under a second. It's pretty sweet.



OTHER EASTER EGGS

WINGMEN NAMES:
Okay, here's an interesting find, possibly intentional;

Archer + Chopper + Edge + Swordsman = ACES

And, if you add in Blaze...

B ACES

Be Aces!



REAPPEARING NAGASE:
A Japanese woman with the last name Nagase has appeared several times in Namco-made games; Such as Reiko Nagase, seen in multiple games of the series Ridge Racer; Kei Nagase, the famous peace-loving wingman of AC5, and Nagase, the officer on Air Ixion 701, the aircraft in AC04's Mission 11: Escort.

AC04's Nagase refers to herself as 'First Officer Nagase', pronouncing her name 'nuh-GAH-say'.

AC5's wingwoman pronounces her name as 'NAH-GAH-say'. There is no other tie between these characters [aside from their common gender and possible race]; And I believe that they share the name not as a background storyline or the same person, but simply because of Namco's Easter Egg-loving nature.



RIDGE-RACER CAR
Apparently there is a Ridge-Racer [a Namco-made racing game] car located in the Take-Off sublevel of Mission 27+: The Unsung War. There is one at each barrier at the ends of the runway. If I recall correctly, one is blue and the other red. I personally don't see their ties to R-R, but I haven't played the game. I'll have pics for you guys soon.



SKY-KID POSTERS
In one of the cutscenes where Chopper is in his quarters, [exact one to come soon] Sky-Kid posters can be seen on the wall. If you remeber, Sky-Kid was the name of the AC04 bar B)





I hope you all enjoyed this info, I'll try to keep this post updated, and please feel free to mention any additions, changes, questions, and chat about all this.


happy hunting,

Kaz

aside from this being posted twice, I think this is an exceptional guide and should be stickied so newbies can reference to it without asking so much smaller questions that usually turn into spam fests and end up locked.

lol, nice job

Excellent work Kazansky!

I can get screenshots of these, if you want.

The SOLG stunt is impossible. The "panel" is the core, and if i shoot that, i destroy the SOLG, ending the mission.

Well, the thing is to flyto the panel, not go past it.

I think I found another thing.
In "Handful of Hope" free mission, there is extra landmass at the western half of the coast. Meaning that the rader map shows you are flying over water but you would see you are actualy flying over land!

This only happens in the free mission.

Has this been discovered before?

Map inaccuracies happen all the time. eg, go play Closure, at one point before you reach the mountain there will be a river with a gunship and a Watch Tower nearby. If you check the map, the gunship stands on land and the Watch Tower is on the river.

But this one only occurs in free mission which means it is intentional.
The extra land is quite big too, it is like the coastline is extended outward by 1 km! It can't be that inaccurate, can it?

Hmm, in that case I'll check later.

Actually, I got the Free Mission bit wrong. I played in Normal and it has the extra land too.
However, the bit about the extra land is true. The coastline on the radar map kinda weird.

I'll check it out Fanboy; good find. Zaku, it'd be great if you could get those pics! Thanks man!


Kaz

i would also like to add

one one of the cars in ridge racer has the the word "Skykid" on top of its windshield.

Best post from a noob I have seen in along time. Congrats and keep up the good work!

Kazansky isn't what you'd call a noob, he's just a bit late getting active on the new boards.

Yeah, he's been in Ac.net for a while.

Yeah man I know my stuff and I'm part of the AC.net community; I just was online very little for a few months

kaz

Super-Speed glitch section added.

I only managed to find out four pacman ghost (3 around the water tower and another a bit further south), anyone seen the fifth one (if there is one)?