Ace Combat: Distant Thunder

This trick only works with jets that have high speed and can go over 40,000 feet in altitude (X-02, S-37, Su-37) .Press R2 to go way up holding down over 40,000 feet (near space). Keep going in a circle while R2 is held. Go up and down slightly until the speed reaches 1665, then dive. If done correctly, when you dive the impossible speed should be about 1788 (if fast enough). Actually it will be about 1725. Note: Try practicing this trick in free flight mode.

Use the following tricks when you have a group of enemies on you, or just one that will not give up. Find a very mountainous area and try to lose your enemy in there at full speed. Zigzag in and out until the enemy cannot find you. They will not follow you into this mountain area. If dealing with multiple enemies, disengage, climb to 40,000 feet at full throttle, take a breather, then re-engage and destroy the enemy. Use this technique against the Yellow Squadron in the second part of the Siege Of Farbanti mission.

Under some difficulty settings, you can only be hit with a missile two or three times. This is different for the higher difficulty settings. In Ace mode, you will be shot down by one missile. Immediately when someone locks onto you and fires a missile, look at your radar. The moment when the missile is about to hit you, barrel roll. This is a difficult feat to perform but is quite impressive. This move only happens very rarely. If one of the planes lock on and manages to fire a missile and it is on your tail, you can blow a plane right out of the sky with the enemy's missle. Rush towards an enemy that is coming at you. In the split second it is about there, try your best to dodge it. if done correctly, the enemy missile will hit the enemy. Another way of missile dodging happens when you have a missile on your tail. Dive down, come to about six to seven thousand feet, then rise up. The missile should deflect and hit the ground. This is also successful when you have ground targets. You can save your own missiles. Note: The X-02 stealth plane us recommended.

If you are in a nose dive and your speed is over 700 mph, do not drop below 2,000 feet. There is a small chance that your plane will pull up again because gravity will pull it down into the ground. If you are, lucky you will escape with 98% damage.

When you are in the hanger looking at the airplanes or weapons, hold Square. You will be able to look all around the airplane or weapon.

There are about eleven balloons ahead of you, up and down and to the side slightly. Then, turn right and go until you cross a mountain, four to six balloons later. Then, turn right again. Blast balloons until time runs out. It is possible to get an "S" rank under the ace difficulty setting using this method, with just balloons, not counting the planes. When you start the mission, your radar will have blinking dots all around. The dots are actually the blimps and not the noise. This will help find the blimps' location and hopefully increase your score.

Do not bother going after the Yellow Squadron fighters. They are nearly impossible to hit. If you do manage to get enough hits on one to qualify as a kill, it will not go down. Instead, a red radio transmission will appear as follows. Note: You do not get any points from it.

: Who was that who shot me?
: It was a Ribbon fighter!

In the "Shattered Skies" mission, the fast moving plane you are locked onto when the mission first starts is an SR-71. You can shoot it down by heading towards the back of the combat area and climbing to about 30,000 ft. Head it off and you should be able to shoot it down. Quickly tap the Analog-stick Down as the mission starts. If done correctly, the SR-71 (which is the orange triangle) should still be blinking. This is the chance to get the Sr-71. Using the X-02 is recommended, due to its powerful speed.

Hitting a Yellow early will not kill them, but may make him and other Yellows leave the area early, after he gripes about being hit.

While flying any jet, lock on to a target (ground or air) and hold Circle. This will allow you to watch your missile or bomb from the time it leaves the jet until it hits the target. Note: You have to be careful or your jet may crash.