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Yes—you can finish the Assault Records after clearing the campaign. Current third-party walkthroughs report 83 entries: 52 special-unit records that generally appear automatically on any difficulty, plus 31 conditional named aces that require Veteran difficulty or higher and a mission-specific trigger. Shoot down an ace and complete the mission for the record to count. After your first campaign clear, use Free Mission to return for records you missed. These details come from guides, not an official publisher checklist.
How Assault Records work
The records fall into two different groups, so a missing entry does not always mean you missed an ace.
- Special-unit records: Walkthroughs count 52. They generally appear automatically on all difficulties.
- Named ace records: Walkthroughs count 31. Each requires Veteran difficulty or higher and a specific condition in its mission.
The 83-entry total and these mechanics are reported by PowerPyx’s September 29, 2026 Assault Records guide and compared against other current guides in KeenGamer’s Ace Combat 8 guide. Bandai Namco’s official game page and official FAQ establish game and campaign context but do not publish an Assault Records checklist.
Can you get missed aces after beating the game?
Yes. According to KeenGamer’s replay guide, Free Mission unlocks after you complete the campaign once and lets you revisit missions for Assault Records cleanup. The named-ace checklist is therefore not permanently missable according to the current walkthroughs.
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What to do if an ace does not appear or the record does not count
- Open the mission in Free Mission after your first campaign clear.
- Set the difficulty to Veteran or higher; the named-ace requirement is guide-reported.
- Check that mission’s exact trigger. It may involve a time limit, destroying or protecting particular targets, clearing a target group, or flying through a specific route.
- When the ace appears, shoot it down and complete the sortie. PowerPyx says the kill must be followed by mission completion to register.
For timed triggers, begin the required action promptly. If the trigger depends on protecting units or flying a route, satisfy it before finishing the mission objective. Those are practical implications of the listed conditions, not publisher instructions.
Examples of named-ace triggers
Conditions differ considerably by mission. These examples from the current PowerPyx mission list show why checking the specific trigger matters; they are not a complete checklist.
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| Mission | Named ace | Reported appearance condition |
|---|---|---|
| 01, “Jokers Wild” | Gigas | Destroy every non-target enemy aircraft. |
| 02, “Nomad” | Crematio | Destroy at least four enemy aircraft within the first three minutes. |
| 03, “Purple Magic Takes Flight” | Raia | Destroy all bombers before they reach a certain range of White Valley Base. |
| 04, “The Fall of the Numbered Fleets” | Auster | Fly into the tunnel. |
| 05, “Retaking of Theve” | Custos | Keep all LCACs alive. Guide wording differs on the exact count; avoid relying on a specific number without checking a current guide. |
| 06, “Attack on the Drinwich Airfield” | Flamma | Destroy at least five targets within the first three minutes. |
| 07, “A Lifeline in the Desert” | Orcus | Destroy the Land Aegis with a chain reaction. |
| 08, “Retaking of Theve II” | Tessera | Destroy all non-target surface weapons. |
| 09, “The Land Battleship Blockade” | Judex | Destroy the land battleship’s secondary tread armor before it reaches the second slowdown line. |
| 10, “Over the Rainband” | Vorago | Destroy an airship within 70 seconds after laser targeting begins. |
| 11, “Maximum Payload” | Larus | Eliminate all Shadows before the Podarge is eliminated. |
| 12, “An Island in Darkness” | Imber | Destroy all LCACs within three minutes of takeoff. |
| 13, “The People of the Lost Country” | Sicarius | Destroy at least five radar towers before the transport lands. |
| 15, “Wings of Wax” | Lupus | Destroy one Ladon, then destroy the ace before destroying the second Ladon. |
| 16, “Singer” | Currus | Appears when the UAVs launch. |
| 17, “Land Battleship No. 3” | Avus | Destroy all targets before the B-1B reaches the halfway point. |
| 18, “Moonlight and Shadows” | Curis | Destroy Shadow 24; Curis then appears near the launch pad at checkpoint 18-4. |
| 19, “Clearing the Lighthouse” | Aleator | Destroy all Su-47s. |
| 20, “Escort Orbiter” | Periodus | Destroy at least one B-2. |
| 21, “The Star-Bound Bird” | Alienus | Sink every enemy ship. |
| 22, “Pursuing the HSCA” | Caligo | Get close to the Celaeno without being spotted. |
| 23, “The Destruction of Expo City” | Milvus and Cantrix | Destroy all Lux Lunae ace units within three minutes of their appearance. |
| 24, “The Battle of Rocky Island, Day 1” | Unconfirmed | One guide reports that all LCACs must land, but the ace’s identity and aircraft are not confirmed. |
| 25, “The Battle of Rocky Island, Day 2” | Cinis and Silacrum | For Cinis, destroy the land destroyers and Land Aegis. For Silacrum, fly between floating Podarges and the ocean surface. |
| 26, “Crossing Fleets” | Lucidius | Destroy all enemy surface units on Cima Island. |
| 27, “Fatsia, The Ocean Fortress” | Stiria | Fly through gaps in the Megafloat spokes. |
| 28, “A Thousand Points of Light” | Harmonius | Destroy five bombers within five minutes of mission start. |
| 29, “Selene” | Prudens | Fly under an urban highway bridge. |
| 30, “Song of Wings” | Tegimen | Destroy at least three submarine-launched swarm missile dispensers before they release their missiles. |
Uncertainties and completion details
- Mission 14: The current ace lists skip it; do not assume every mission has a named ace.
- Two-ace missions: Missions 23 and 25 each have two conditional named aces, accounting for 31 ace entries across 29 missions in the current guide lists.
- Mission 24: The current comparison identifies 30 of the 31 named aces; this entry remains unresolved. Guides report a trigger condition, but the ace’s name and aircraft are unconfirmed.
- Mission 05: Guides agree on keeping the LCACs alive but differ in how they describe the count. Use the safer operational condition—keep all LCACs alive—rather than treating a specific number as settled.
PowerPyx also reports that named aces unlock a unique paint scheme for the type of aircraft flown by that ace, usable in Campaign Mode.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Game context
Bandai Namco lists ACE COMBAT 8: WINGS OF THEVE for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam on its official game page. Its campaign overview describes aircraft selection, weapons, and upgrade parts as campaign systems; those official pages do not confirm the record counts or ace-spawn conditions above.
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- Aerial Warfare in Living Skies. Campaign Mode showcases stunning visuals with dynamic multi-layered cloudscapes that capture the majesty of living skies. Feel the rush of a fast-paced arcade-style gameplay and deploy powerful weapons to dominate the battlefield.
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