Another Century's Episode 3: The Final

Lore & Background

The game is set three years after the events of A.C.E. 2, during the final battle between the UCE and the Zentradi known as The First Defensive War. The UCE forces have been reformed into the Earth Federation forces. The plot involves the sudden appearance of a second, war-torn Earth from which new enemies emerge, while survivors of the First Defensive War reappear on the original Earth. Central to the story is the Baldora Drive, a device originally planned as a teleportation device for outer space travel on Earth A and for invading space colonies on Earth B. Both sides abandoned it 18 years ago but brought it back into service after obtaining means to repair it. The device creates a wormhole between the two Earths, which expands due to the Baldora Charge, threatening to make the two Earths collide and destroy all mankind. Heroes from both sides must stop the device before the wormhole fully expands.

Reader's Guide

Another Century's Episode 3: The Final is significant as a crossover mecha action game that brings together multiple anime series, including Eureka Seven, The Prince of Darkness, and Getter Robo. Its primary battleships are the Gekko from Eureka Seven and the Nadesico B from The Prince of Darkness, with the latter eventually replaced by the Nadesico C. The Ra Cailum and its captain Bright Noa appear, but due to the death of voice actor Hirotaka Suzuoki in 2006, most of his scenes were cut and his voiceovers reused recorded material from A.C.E. The game was shown at the 2007 C3×HOBBY Chara-Hobby convention in Japan from August 18 to 20. Hitomi Shimatani returned to provide the opening theme 'Shinku' and ending theme 'Ai no Uta', released as a single on September 5, 2007. The game's legacy includes a sequel, Another Century's Episode: R, released in Japan on August 19, 2010.

Did You Know?

• The game's subtitle 'The Final' is misleading, as the series continued with Another Century's Episode: R in August 2010.
• Due to the death of voice actor Hirotaka Suzuoki in 2006, Bright Noa's existing voice clips from previous games were reused, though his scenes were not cut.
• The opening theme 'Shinku' and ending theme 'Ai no Uta' were performed by Hitomi Shimatani and released as a single one day before the game's release.

The Dual-Earth Crisis

Set three years after the climactic confrontation between the UCE and the Zentradi in the predecessor title, A.C.E. 3 picks up during what the game calls The First Defensive War. By this point, the UCE forces have been reorganized into the Earth Federation, yet peace proves fragile. A second, war-scarred Earth suddenly manifests, unleashing a fresh wave of far more lethal adversaries. Simultaneously, enemies who survived the earlier conflict begin resurfacing on the original planet, compounding the threat. The narrative's central MacGuffin is the Baldora Drive, a device originally conceived in Earth A as a teleportation system for deep-space travel and in Earth B as a tool for invading space colonies. Both factions had shelved the technology eighteen years prior, but recent advances in repair capability brought it back to life. The Drive opens a wormhole linking the two worlds, and as the Baldora Charge—drawn from assorted energy sources—powers it, the aperture widens until gravitational pull threatens to slam the planets together, annihilating every human on both. To avert mutual destruction, heroes from each Earth must unite and find a way to shut the device down before the wormhole reaches its full, catastrophic size.

Flagships and a Truncated Captain

The game's naval backbone draws from several beloved mecha franchises. The Gekku, the mobile fortress from Eureka Seven, serves as one of the two primary battleships, while the Nadesico B from The Prince of Darkness fills the other slot—though, in keeping with that series' film storyline, it is eventually succeeded by the Nadesico C. The Tower, the iconic vessel from Getter Robo, also makes frequent appearances throughout the campaign. Perhaps the most poignant casting is the Ra Cailum, the flagship of the Londo Bell and the launching ship from the very first A.C.E. entry, accompanied by its captain Bright Noa. However, the voice actor who brought Bright to life, Hirotaka Suzuoki, passed away in 2006. As a result, the majority of his scripted scenes were removed from the final build, and the remaining voice lines are drawn from previously recorded material dating back to the original A.C.E. game. This loss left a noticeable gap in what could have been a more substantial role for one of the franchise's most recognizable characters.

Production, Debut, and Soundtrack

Another Century's Episode 3: The Final was produced by Banpresto and developed by FromSoftware, landing on the PlayStation 2 on September 6, 2007. Before its retail debut, the title was showcased to the public at the C3×HOBBY Chara-Hobby convention in Japan, held from August 18 to 20 of that year. On the audio front, the game benefited from a familiar voice in the mecha-music world: Hitomi Shimatani, who had already composed the opening and ending themes for the first A.C.E. installment, returned to score this entry as well. Her opening track, titled "Shinku" (meaning "Scarlet"), and her closing piece, "Ai no Uta" (translating to "Poem of Love"), were packaged together on a single that hit stores on September 5, 2007—just one day before the game itself reached shelves. This tight release window suggests the label wanted players to have the soundtrack in hand almost simultaneously with the disc, reinforcing the emotional framing of the campaign's narrative.

The 'Final' That Wasn't

Despite carrying the subtitle "The Final" and the abbreviation A.C.E.3, this entry did not actually close out the Another Century's Episode franchise. The series continued well beyond this PlayStation 2 title, with the next installment, Another Century's Episode: R, arriving on the PlayStation 3 in Japan on August 19, 2010. That nearly three-year gap between the two releases underscores that "The Final" was more of a thematic or marketing flourish than a literal endpoint. For fans who had followed the crossover mecha action series since its inception, the promise of a definitive conclusion was ultimately broken, replaced instead by a new generation of hardware and a fresh roster of characters. The mislabeling also highlights a common pattern in long-running video game franchises, where a "final" designation often proves premature as publishers and developers find new creative and commercial reasons to keep the brand alive. In the broader context of the A.C.E. line, A.C.E.3 stands as a high point of the PlayStation 2 era rather than a true farewell.