>>290284
You can't play the Arcade cabinet game in good conditions without having access to the actual cabinet, if you can do play it though
Give Air Combat a try, if you can't handle (handling is weird and the ground tends o be a solid single color leading to unfortunate crashes) it skip to AC2
If AC2 is too much (handling is really ass) skip to 3JP, you're not missing much if you want the story you can just play the remake
If 3JP handles like ass to you you can try 3 US, yes it's missing all the story but it's good arcade fun that works well, handles well as it's purely arcade and isn't replicated in that way in any other game of the series.
Now you're onto the 3 games you should play those being 4, 5 and 0,, if you only want to play the bare minimum play those, they don't emulate well, but if you have an halfway decent PC and don't mind SW mode I'd still recommend playing that way as you get progressive scan and 16:9 for every title.
Ace Combat Advance is pure ass even by arcade flight sim on 2D system standards.
After that if you have access to an x360 play 6 (but it's not really worth getting one just for that game)
Both of the PSP games aren't terrible but not exactly the greatest either, though easy to emulate so there's that
Ace Combat: Assault Horizon is just bad, not "funny" bad either.
Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy though is that AC2 remake I mentioned earlier and it's pretty good for a portable title, play ti if you can emulate it.
Ace Combat 7 is okay, somewhere between PS2 trilogy and 6, though it has Denuvo and the pirated version is severely out of date.
Now if you want more in that style afterwards
>Airforce Delta
The handling is very particular specifically the missiles but once you get around to it it's an AC2 clone on Dreamcast,, it also might have inspired the PS2 games for a couple things that are big spoilers.
The XBOX and PS2 sequels are anime bullshit, but still fun.
The portable games are okay for portable games but nothing more.
>Project Wingman
The only game on there besides Airforce Delta that can even begin to pretend being on the same level as a mainline AC game, needs a more powerful PC that you would need for emulating the PS2 games to run halfway decently though.
>H.A.W.X
It's a very barebones americanized clone of the PS2 AC with baby mode no stall handling (and the fucking atrocious limiter off mechanic), it's competent but nothing more, there's a few mods that add neat things to it like Callsign Warlord (so you get the fun planes early instead of having to grind forever or cheat).
The second title is so bad it makes AH look passable.
>Jane's Advanced Strike Figther
This is a bad game, though it's enjoyable in just how stupid the story is and how the characters act in it.
>Top Gun
Really mixed bags, some games are enjoyable some are pure ass, sorta worth it if you really need more, the latest PC game is probably the best of the bunch.
>Dropship
Emulates like ass and isn't all that great anyway but if you want more AC it's pretty much the limit of enjoyability
>Sky Crawlers innocent aces
WW2 planes instead though still made by the AC people
>Vertical Strike
There's no story only more things to shoot, does that competently though.
>NGen Racing
What happens if,you take AC and make it into a racing game, it's fun and about as far as I go in terms of deviating from AC in those recs
There's more games that might scratch the same itch out there but I'm keeping them off the list because the connection is far too tenuous, though I'll mention Heroes of the Pacific and Crimson Skies just because they're about as close as you can get for WW2 era AC equivalents outside of Sky Crawler.
I'll never get around to making that infograph I promised forever ago