‘Aero Fighters 3 ACA NEOGEO’ Review – I Wonder How Spanky Can Fly the Plane?

A few months ago, Aero Fighters 2 ($3.99) by Video System was added to the mobile Arcade Archives. In my review, I said that it was good for mobile play and gave it a strong recommendation. At the time, I said that Aero Fighters 3 ($3.99) probably wouldn't be out for long, and, well, here we are. Aero Fighters 3 came out just over a year after the last game in the series. It is definitely more confident than the last game, but is it better?

Most of the time, the answer to that question is "no." On the plus side, there are a lot of characters to choose from, and in single-player mode, you can choose any pilot you want. There are also a lot of stages, and since the game's progression can go in different directions, it can be played more than once. Some characters can now charge up their basic weapon, which gives the game an extra way to play. There are a few fun and interesting secrets to discover. It's a good game overall, and it still has the weird sense of humor that made the last one so memorable.

The biggest flaw of Aero Fighters 3 is that its stages are too short. Some of them are just getting started when the boss comes, and they are all very short. The bosses are a bit longer, and almost all of them change into different things before they are finally defeated. Most of the patterns are pretty simple, and only a few of them have really interesting tricks. In a full run, you'll go through eight stages, some of which are bonus rounds. So, yes, it's not very long or interesting, and you'll spend almost as much time fighting bosses as you will moving through stages.
Many shooting games that aren't very good can be saved by a clever scoring system, but Aero Fighters 3 isn't very interesting, even though it has a bit more to do than the second game. Kill enemies and try not to get killed yourself. Grab bonus point items when they appear, and try to stay powered up so that future power-ups will just give you more points. You should also find out which routes give you the best chance of getting higher scores and take those. It's not bad, but it's not good or different enough to make the game better.

What helps it a little is the same thing that helped the last game a lot: it's funny. As you move through the game, your chosen character will say things. Each solo character and team has a different ending, most of which are funny. For example, the Russian team of Spanky the Dolphin and the twin sisters Chaika and Pooshika ends with the women wondering how a dolphin can fly an airplane. The scene then cuts to Spanky complaining about the heat and taking off his head, which is now clearly a costume, to reveal a strange-looking man underneath. There are a lot of strange jokes like this in the game, and it makes you want to win with everyone just to see them all.
The other way this sequel is different from its predecessor is less important for this mobile version, but it's still worth pointing out. In Aero Fighters 2, two players could mix and match characters from different countries. In Aero Fighters 3, both players must use characters from the same country. This cuts down on the number of possible endings by a lot, which is probably why the developers did it, but it also makes building teams less flexible. But in this mobile version, you can only play with a second player if you have external controllers, so this is probably not a big deal for most of you.

While we're here, let's go over the usual list of things to know about mobile releases from Arcade Archives. You can play the international and Japanese versions of the game, as well as Score Attack Mode and Caravan Mode, which are the usual options. There are online leaderboards that let you see how you stack up against other people, which is important in this kind of game. The game can be played with external controllers, but just like the last one, touch controls work just fine. You also have the usual options, such as changing the level of difficulty, changing how the controls work, and changing the sound settings. The emulation is, of course, just as good as it has always been. Hamster is a pro at NEOGEO at this point.
Aero Fighters 3 isn't quite as good as Aero Fighters 2, but at this price, it's still a fun shoot-em-up game that fans of the genre will enjoy. It stands out from other games because of how funny it is, and the fact that you can use so many different characters makes it very fun to play again and again. This would have been a better experience all around if the levels were a little longer and the bosses were a little more interesting. But it is what it is, and Hamster did a great job, as usual, of making it work on mobile devices. It'll do for the price.

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