The History of Space Ace - arcade console documentary 

I'm one of the two developers mentioned around 14:40. It was so pretentious, I'm laughing and cringing. I wrote something like a virtual machine consuming bytecode that operated a library of game engine routines. This was way before java. Who would have thought my c64 popped up recently as the platform on which to resuscitate two amazing K of 6502 machine language that came off a PROM, only known specimen, of the Mark 6b Laserium console.

Fun fact: Will Finn who voiced Dexter and Baby Borf was an animator who would later be known for being the supervising animator for Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast, Iago in Aladdin and Laverne in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, as well as writing and directing Home on the Range.

I've always been terrible at both Space Ace and Dragon's Lair. Though I grew up with Don Bluth movies so I love the art style and smooth animation. They really don't make 'em like that anymore. Great video!

I Remember My big brother was a wiz at this Game and Dragons Lair at the neighborhood pizzeria back in the Days Sigh miss 1980s Great upload thanx😎🤗💞

Whenever I put on the Space Ace DVD, I'd choose the "watch" option. As with Dragon's Lair, my response time was kinda off.

I had to travel to another country as a kid to play Space Ace. It was the highlight each summer. Taking the boat from Sweden going to Linnanmäki in Finland to play Space Ace. Then the Amiga version. I tried to get the LaserDisc home version, but it was not released in Europe. Finally I got the arcade perfect CDI version of the game.

I played the crap out of Space Ace to the point I could play it with one life. The only problem I couldn't figure out was the three portals where you had to jump into at the very end and lose a life there.

Well, I have been living in a cave for the last 40 years, but there was a Dragon's Lair arcade cabinet in there. I never saw a Space Ace cabinet until like the late 90's. No place around me ever had one. Shame, because I would have played the hell out of it, like I did Dragon's Lair.

Can we FINALLY get a Dragon's Lair & Space Ace cross-over where Dirk uses the Time Machine to travel to the future, meets Ace & have to work together to save Daphne & Ace & Kimberly's children, or something? Loved ❤ Space Ace growing up, alongside Dragon's Lair & Dragon's Lair Time Warp. Wish Space Ace received the same love & attention Dragon's Lair got in the home PC & console game department. Something like Dragon's Lair 3D, but w/Space Ace could've been really cool.

Finally, someone has confirmed the existence of 'Cliffhanger'. I swear I'm the only one I know who has ever seen it. None of my friends ever believed me. They thought I was making it up...

Fun factoid ... in the Space Ace cartoon, he didn't have the 'Energizer' watch, the transformations were completely random (well, based on plot needs, but you know what I mean). Kimberly had to pass off Dexter as her little brother to keep Ace's age-shifting a secret. And Dexter's voice was PATHETICALLY wimpy and whiny. And in the cartoon, Kimberly was voiced by Nancy 'Bart Simpson' Cartwright.

I own the Cliff Hanger and Space Ace laser discs, sadly not the machines.

Love your videos! Please consider doing a review of Cobra Command. I shoved a lot of quarters in that game at my local arcade.

The attract modes on these were always set at a much higher volume than the other games. If it was in an arcade you knew it immediately

The villain looks like the genie in aladdins hillbilly uncle lol

So you have to be in adult mode to use your gun? 🔫 Makes sense, kids shouldn't be playing with guns.

Cliffhanger was the best to me, the Lupin III character and movies were my 10 yo style of animation. Like Starchasers and many other Japanese animations which just seemed more advanced, funny and enjoyable. So by 83 when I was playing games in arcades I loved Cliffhanger. Space Ace and Dragons Lair were awesome too!

1st

Wonderful video as always Pat! It's crazy to think how amazing these graphics are considering it's nearly 40 years old.

I play space ace at the arcade one time when I was a kid and it's cool and I will keep trying to beat the game. 😀👍🎮

EA: “Never heard of Space Ace.” Unfortunately, EA is still just as lost today.

I remember how hard that game was. Lost interest in actually playing it because of its difficulty. I would just watch others play it and save my money.

a Another Don Bluth Animation Work's of a Arcade's Laser Disc Hits Thank You Pat for a Other Great History Lesson of The History of Don Bluth:Space Ace the Arcade Laserdisc Game Hopefully You Will Do a Other Don Bluth Laserdiscs of Don Bluth:Dragon's Lair 2 Time Warp the Final Don Bluth Laserdiscs Arcade Hits Anyway Thank You Patrick a.k.a PatmanQC The History Theory Lesson of Everything's 👍❤️👍.

Great game I remember hiring a Philips CDI from a local games shop and playing Space Ace all weekend using the silly remote control thing. But it seemed incredible. Who’d have thought that all that tech on a giant Laser Disc could now be easily fitted on a minuscule MicroSD card. I’m very tempted by the Arcade1Up version which has all 3 games but not sure if the novelty would wear off. Dragons Lair is still amazing. Every time you see the Lair it’s so mesmerising and beautifully drawn. Great video man. Cheers. Call me Ace huh

Cannot wait to watch this! One of my favorite arcade machines growing up!

The game takes me way way back to a time when arcades were flourishing. So sad that arcades are becoming increasingly rare, nowadays. I think I know of only a handful, now.

In the early 90s while in college I bought an original Space Ace arcade unit for $350 from a local arcade amusements shop. It was converted from a Dragon's Lair cabinet and was in great shape. I dragged that thing around every time I moved, and eventually put it in my office in San Francisco, then later brought it home. By 2005 both the laserdisc and CRT started to fail, so I traded it to a local collector for a working 1983 "Mr. and Mrs. Pac Man" pinball machine, which I still have. I'm sure the original cabs are worth a fortune now - I don't even want to look. Anyway, good memories of old Space Ace - I will probably buy one of the mini replicas to keep around for old time's sake. Thanks for this documentary, very enjoyable.

Wonderful nostalgia. Thanks so much for taking me back to my early teenage awkwardness. Also: I was THE VERY FIRST PERSON to complete the game on Space Ace level at the now long-gone arcade at Putt Putt Golf And Games on South Freeway in Fort Worth, Texas. Probably two dozen kids had gathered around me as I progressed further and further, and when I reached the final scene and made the very last move (the Infanto Ray mirror reversal) there was a hush...and then suddenly spontaneous applause when the victory screen appeared! I'll remember that experience forever.

I remember playing at local 7-11 as a youth 1.00 a pop! 25 yrs later played all 3 games on Phillips cd-i overpriced system,and now on ipad love it to the day I die.

I used to Love this Game back in 1985 & Defeated it on 2 levels, The 8 bit at 15 mins, Looks Really Bad The 16 bit look OK Very hard to recreate such Good Graphics.

Nice documentary. I do like Space Ace but find it very difficult. I have the arcade machine and can get to Borf's lair on Cadet. The iPhone version is easy though, with prompting what button to press. Hope you do more Laserdisc games in the future, especially the 90s ones.

Nostalgia Critic has a video where he plays Dragon's Lair and Don Bluth mocks him when he dies

Another great video. The only version of this game that I've ever played is the Jaguar version. I figured it was too hard to spend quarters on! LOL

Im 52 nowadays and got to see the movie Firefox in theaters , Maybe that is what that Atari video game was supposed to be of ?

I LOVE this game SO much! Used to play it all the time at the local Putt-Putt. I became friends with one of the attendants, and he unexpectedly gave me the movie poster that Cinematronics sent out as a promo. Unfortunately, unavoidable circumstances led to it being left behind in my most recent move, about five years ago. But I kept it from '83 or '84 until 2017 or so, almost 35 years, still rolled up in it's cardboard packing tube. You can buy replica movie posters online for this and Space Ace. As soon as I find locally available frames, I plan to buy each and hang them in my home gym/library.

At 9:54 I feel you intentionally said "flash" the moment she flashes the screen.

I remember being so disappointed this one wasn't at a single arcade in my area, even though Dragon's Lair was everywhere. Then, FINALLY, an arcade set up just for for the state fair had the game. I was more excited to play it then go on any of the rides. That was the first and, to this day, remains the only time I played the game.

My buddy Andrew was the first one in my neighbourhood to finish this game. In grade school he was treated as a local celebrity.

I'm a huge fan of Don Bluth Movies! However when Space Ace came out I was still a kid & there was a line of adults with tons of quarters ready to play this game. I found myself just enjoying watching them play the game. I think I was able to play it once, but with this cabinet there it made for Dragon's Lair to open up. So that took all my quarters & not Space Ace. I did get the Space Ace for Blue Ray but only put it on as Watch Mode. One of these days I'll try it out on game mode. Until then keep up the good work there Patman!

I was always intimidated by Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace. I always had a hard time with those games. I finally gave them a real chance when they came out on the DS.

I vividly remember when the prototype was put into a Golfland arcade in Escondido, CA. The attract mode was so incredibly exciting. I couldn't get enough of it. There were two guys from the company who were giving quarters to us to have us play it. Over the following weeks, there was a small group of people who were playing it regularly, trying to beat it. This was before the three difficulty modes were introduced. The timing windows were also extremely tight. Personally, while difficult, it made progressing so much more satisfying. At one point, the prototype got moved to the University Town Center mall in La Jolla, CA. I would drive down there from North County whenever I got the chance to keep playing it and try to beat it. One day I was there, some of us were getting very close to finishing the game. I ended up being the first person to finish the game. When I did, someone from Cinematronics was behind the crowd watching. Because I was the first person to beat it, I got an invitation to go to Cinematronics. They had a meeting with me and some of the people working on the game to get my opinions and thoughts then I got a tour of the factory. Such an amazing experience!

Also available on the iircade. WAY harder than Dragon's Lair!

My brother is a complete champion of Space Ace, FYI. He’s been a fan of the game since 6 years ago.

The comercial scenes and sounds reminds me in He man or Marshall Bravestarr.Typical 80's Cartoon stile

Outstanding work, Patman! This one is one of my favorites, and this video was a nice nostalgia trip! I'm really hoping that New Wave Toys will make Space Ace as a follow-up to their excellent Dragon's Lair cabinet. Cheers!

All I remember was losing because of Ace cheeks 🍑

GREAT video! Been waiting for this one! Dragon's Lair and Space Ace are my favorite arcade games of all time. There was something so incredible about walking into an arcade in the 80s and seeing this game. I never finished Space Ace in the arcade. Only when it came to home systems like Sega CD. Don Bluth was a genius. I still love Secret of Nimh.

Great job on both this and Dragon's Lair, my two unquestionable favorite arcade games. Enjoyed them, and even learned a few things!

Love the videos and love the games you cover. I just installed the emulator to play these yesterday.

Space Ace was such a fun game even though it was less popular than Dragon's Lair. After all these years, it would have been fun to experience a Dragon's Lair II level where Dirk and the Time Machine go into the future fighting with Space Ace/Dexter against Borf and Mordroc.

The princess in Dragon's Lair was hotter

Aw yeahyah hope he says farts and queefs

The fish n' chip shop down the road from my childhood home had Space Ace. Ahh, the memories of fluid Bluth animation paired with deep fryer smell! Has to be said, Dexter's voice is exceptionally annoying looking back.

I think you goofed when you mentioned Dragon's Lair Trilogy for the Playstation 3, I think you meant to say Playstation 4 maybe? You left out M.A.C.H. 3 in the beginning, LOL. The real problem with the DVD version is after every move there was a pause while the DVD player found the right scene on the disc to play next. I actually beat all 3 games on that format. The Blu-Ray version was MUCH better.

Sure there might be some terrible versions and there’s no way replicated from our Cade quality but I was not lost arcade one up me to dragons layer cabinet to cancel dragons layer 1 dragons later2 time warp and space Ace now you can 40 reimagine the arcade glories back in the old days Writing your own home with extremely accurate controls accurate timings and all the scenes and audio are perfect Plus it’s all programs within the CPU computer unit instead of a laser disc player

Kimmy is sooooo hot

I got this brand new for Sega CD on clearance for like $10 back in the day. I kind of regret turning it in to Funco Land for credit on a different game, but the replay value isn't really there once you beat it. Even if it had that fancy pathway tree.

Knowing that Erci Chahi's inspiration for Another World (Out of this World in North America) was the poor ports of Dragon's Lair, I've always wondered if these games would've been possible on the Amiga, if the scenes were redrawn with vectors.

One small inaccuracy. The Sega CD version was quite complete but did not include the checkered tube level which was heavily background animated instead of a static or simple scrolling background which would have been a problem for programmers.

Never saw Space Ace in the arcades but played Dragon's Lair once - once only. Too expensive, and I felt it was not really a game as you can not meaningfully interact with pre-photographed drawings! I feel that Another World successfully bridged the gap between animated movie and real gameplay. It was the game Dragon's Lair and Space Ace were trying to be.

What about the game Freedom Fighter? My Favorite All Time Arcade game! Can you Please do a Documentary on that hidden Gem!? Great video & Research as Always!👍👾

As much as I loved Dragon's Lair, I absolutely hated this game at my local arcade. It was way too difficult and the frustration level overcame what little enjoyment I had playing it. Quarters that would have lasted me a good hour on other games would be gone in 10 minutes or less. If the developers slowed the gameplay down it probably would have been a bigger hit.

To me the hero character is much less likeable than that one from dragon's lair, such the heroine too this time (but i do still like her designer, much more than the hero). Maybe because they focused so much in the teenager audience trying to be more "respectable" sort to speak, but with a Superman type like as hero (as a model for the teens get inspired), instead of trying the normal aspect for hero like in dragon's lair they could the reach the same sucess. Think with me, anyone visit the arcades in the seventies and eighties, don't only the "super" guy, but anyone. And the hero from dragon's lair is exactly this, someone normal trying to save the day and accomplishments. I'm pretty sure this focus in audience restricted the game's audience if you compare with dragon's lair. And amazing documentary as always!

I enjoyed these types of titles for a time, but it wasn't very long before I realized they weren't actually games. No matter how many branching paths were put in, these titles were ultimately just a bridge technology until computer power became sophisticated enough to do more realistic images. In reality, while Dragon's Lair was extremely influential due to its runaway financial success, it sent the industry down a false path and slowed innovation.

I wasted sooooo many quarters on this game as a kid, and I wouldn't change a thing! This game is AWESOME!

Yup, I tried my hand at this in the 3rd grade at Chuck E Cheese. I couldn't match the prompts or the bank to get good. I would just watch the big kids play as they had the scenes memorized. Good times....

Did this game inspire The Legend of Zelda cartoon? Also, there is something really disturbing about how eager she is to steal a baby who was fully grown adult - and a sociopath - a few seconds ago. There is no hesitation. I really want to see how that works out for everyone.

Space Ace, I put a ton of quarters into this machine and got pretty far, but did not complete it. I liked this more than Dragon's Lair because there were some choices available for the player: solve as the skinny kid or as Ace.

It was actually Garry Goldman who suggested they use playboy as reference for Daphne. He also provided the magazines

Oddly enough, Space Ace was one of the few cartoons in the Supercade that was shown in reruns. Animation was, of course, inferior to the game and Borf was hilariously off model.

Hey I was wondering which versions of Space Ace has the skating level? I was about to download the Steam version, but people say it doesn't have the level.

why is the aspect ratio of all the space ace footage wrong?! it's all squished and looks terrible!

I can still EASILY recite the opening narration from both this and Dragon's Lair. Possibly the greatest attract mode sequences ever! If nothing else, Kimberly and Daphne both gave new meaning to the term "attract mode"...😍😆

I finally picked up a copy of space Ace for the sega cd not to long ago. I've heard a lot of interesting things about the game and I have a good amount of laserdisc games on the sega cd, my favorite system. A very different time in gaming overall but an interesting one indeed. This vid brings up a few more consoles I'd really like to collect, being the 3do and cdi. They are really difficult to find but I did see one cdi in the wild recently. The games are expensive but it may be a rabbit hole I'll definitely go down at some point. Great job with the vid Pat. I can't wait to see what you come out with next in regards to the sega cd or cd based consoles. 👍

Love your productions. I'd suggest getting a pop screen for your mic. It's very pronounced when wearing headphones.

They're fun cartoons, but I could never embrace referring to Dragons Quest and Space Ace as "games".

Fun Fact: Britt Robbins in California was the first player to beat the game in Space Ace mode.

Ace sounds like George Clooney, & Borf sounds like Galactus in Marvel vs Capcom 3

These games are not geared for dyslexic people.. up and down no problem but left and right problem.. duuno why.

Space Ace, cool! Lead on Brave Adventurer, your quest awaits! Space Ace! Cool video, thanks Patman. Sadly, the animated planned Dragon's Lair movie never happened, and is turning into a potential live-action film instead, if that happens eventually.

I love how you used the real name instead of Shazzaam

You forgot about Astron Belt

Thank you so much for the great videos.

Hmmp I suck terrible at that. I thought it was gonna be fun but nope it’s crappy

Great game, but it was hard to justify 0.50c when I was a kid. Play Space Ace once or Donkey Kong twice! Loved DK.

Cliff hanger was crazy had a hangman scene when you died basically it was a Japanese cartoon I also remember Don xiote too

What about Freedom Fighter I used to play it along with space ace and dragon lair good times love your videos keep it up

Picked up this game and dragons lair during a sale a couple years ago on PS3 Honestly best five bucks I ever spent on that store thanks for the video had no idea they made a 3DS version

Forget the question of Ginger vs. Mary Ann. The more important debate is Kimberly or Daphne? I will cast my vote for Kimberly.

Funny how Space Ace *is* a cartoon, yet the cartoon for the game didn't look anything like the game's animation (in style and animation). Space Ace looks more like Fred from Scooby Doo in the cartoon. Just shows how high the animation production quality was on the game's actual production, versus Saturday Morning cartoon cheap stuff.

“Retain his manhood”. I’ll take things you can’t say in 2021 or you’ll trigger people for $500, Alex.

0:30 Why am I reminded of the web browser? 4:50 Wasn't Captain Marvel's name changed to Shazam due to copyright issues between DC and Marvel? 6:48 It could just be my imagination, but I swear, I could see the Universal and Amblin logos on that poster. Then again, I'm possibly thinking of both The Land Before Time, a film that both Steven Spielberg (E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial) and George Lucas (Star Wars and Indiana Jones series), and An American Tail. Having a BD Port means that Space Ace was made, albeit indirectly, for the PS3, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.

I always changed to ace. I've literally never done the other sections. I will have to give them a try.

Never got to see Space Ace in person, but appreciate that a high quality port was placed onto the Switch as part of the Dragon's Lair trilogy.

Cliffhanger is based on Lupin the 3rd movie called Castle of Calistro one of my personal favorite anime movies..Space Ace was my childhood and still love it today...thanks for posting this. :)

Awesome video buddy

I sucked at Dragon's Lair but was great at this game. 50 cents kept me busy for most of my mom's grocery shopping. What does Ace say at the very end when she asks if they can keep Borf? I've never been able to make that out.

"Sections of the screen will Flash..." Just as we get a flash of Kimberly's ass there Lol. I don't know if that was intentional but its nearly killed me laughing Lol.

Space Ace and the Drangon's Lair knight should've teamed up in a time quest. What a hit that'd have been. PS. Gary Owens and Ted Knight have to have been the best narrators ever. Morgan Freeman, James Earl Jones and Patrick Stewart are marvels at it too, but in a mellow way. This guy (and Knight) made it feel bigger than life. It's a lost artform, I think.

This and Dragon's Lair took so many $5 rolls of quarters, that's just 10 games, but it was worth it when I could get through them in a single go. I thought Ace Daring would be a cool name too, Dirk Dexter sounded like a nerd name but would probably be a cool name among a gathering of Astrophysicists and Engineers.