If you'd like to play some Ace Combat, but the release of Ace Combat 7 is too far from your taste, fear not, as there is an alternative: The full fan translation of Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere has been released by the folks at Project Nemo.

Ace Combat 3 was originally released for the first PlayStation in Japan 1999, differing from its predecessors and successors for its branching story with multiple endings and beautiful anime cutscenes by the acclaimed animation studio Production I.G, known for masterpieces like Ghost in the Shell and Patlabor.

Unfortunately, when the game was released in the west a year later, the worst kind of "localization" had done its course, removing the original storyline completely, 16 of the 52 missions, and all the cutscenes.

At long last, sixteen years after, you can download the translation patch for both disks of the game here. The file comes fully equipped with the utility to patch the ISO of your disks, and a readme explaining how it should be done, as well as including a few additional translations of a few moments that could not be subtitled.

Of course, you're supposed to use images of your own original disks, and you'll need the Japanese edition of the game, not the English one.

Once patched, you can play the game fully in English, with its story intact, as it was originally intended by its authors, instead of the atrocious localization done by Namco.

If you want to check out what the game and the translation look like before embarking into the fairly laborious task of getting everything ready, you can check out the recording of the livestream of the final translation check, courtesy of project founder and editor DragonSpikeXIII. Quite obviously, the video includes spoilers, so be aware of that before you click "play."

Incidentally, if you're interested in the Ace Combat series, don't forget to check out our recent interview with Ace Combat 7 Producer Kazutoki Kono.

One of the worst original sins of the history of game localization has finally been amended. That's certainly a reason to celebrate.