Hey Arcaders!
Now that we have talked origins and the actual game- what happened next?
Well, Rick wanted to continue the story of Dirk and Daphne- combining his “Secrets of the lost woods” tale with what they had established in the first game. But Don had a bigger plan. He wanted to go to the stars to tell a different tale. His love of the sci fi serials of his youth- combined with a little of the big red cheese- Shazam, Space Ace was created. Work on the game began in 1982. To keep the production costs down, the studio again chose to use its staff to provide voices for the characters rather than hire actors (one exception is Michael Rye, who reprises his role as the narrator of the attract sequence in Dragon’s Lair). Bluth himself provides the (electronically altered) voice of Commander Borf. In an interview about the game, Bluth stated that had the studio been able to afford more professional actors, he thought Paul Shenar would have been more suitable for the role of Borf than himself. The game’s animation features some rotoscoping, wherein models were built of Ace’s spaceship “Star Pac”, his motorcycle, and the tunnel in the game’s dogfight sequence, then filmed and traced over to render moving animated images with very realistic depth and perspective.
It was unveiled in October 1983, just four months Dragon’s Lair , followed by a limited release in December 1983 and then a wide release in Spring 1984.
Space Ace follows the adventures of the dashing hero Dexter, better known as “Ace”. Ace is on a mission to stop the villainous Commander Borf, who is seeking to attack Earth with his “Infanto Ray” to render Earthlings helpless by reverting them into infants. At the start of the game, Ace is partially hit by the Infanto Ray, which reverts him into an adolescent, and Borf kidnaps his female sidekick Kimberly, who thus becomes the game’s damsel in distress. It is up to the player to guide Ace, in his adolescent form of Dexter, through a series of obstacles in pursuit of Borf, in order to rescue Kimberly and prevent Borf from using the Infanto Ray to conquer Earth. However, Dexter has a wristwatch gadget which optionally allows him to “ENERGIZE” and temporarily reverse the effects of the Infanto-Ray, to turn him back into Ace for a short time and overcome more difficult obstacles in a heroic manner. The game’s attract mode introduces the player to the story via narration and dialogue.
compared to Lair- Ace is frantic! you have to contend with a whole host of new enemies like the Groots- man like cats who attack in packs! or the Shagg- a 40 foot monster with the DNA of bigfoot! Not to mention- Carnicula plants, Patrol Pupps, Bag-E.Z. Robots, and so much more! All created by the evil mastermind Borf- with help from his assistant, Le Grin the hovering robot- intends to enslave the planet Earth, by turning the entire population into babies! The machine gives you THREE skill levels- Cadet, Captain, and Ace- the later gives you access to the entire game!
And- this was the very first arcade game I ever bought.
Wanna learn more about this tale- listen to my very first podcast!
I bought the very machine I learned to play on- at the Dream Machine in Ducthess Mall, April 5th, 1985.
Mine was a Dragon’s Lair conversion from the Beacon Mall location. Although we did have one of the original cabinets locally- it was at the brand new waterpark- adjacent to the Derby roller rink.
So- What did you think of Space Ace? Did you like it more than Dragon’s Lair?
Let me know in the Comments!
Join us next time for the game Rick Dyer really wanted to make!
Keep Playin’ Like It’s 1981!
The Arcade Archives! 
Just an amazing piece here Ray! 😀👍
And having played the game more than a few times it is definitely intense! But oh so much fun!
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