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- A case of Fridge Logic. Reading the trivia section of Assault Horizon, there would have been sequences involving vertical takeoff with the F-35B if not for technical limitations. Lethal Skies, Airforce Delta Strike and Aero Elite/Aero Dancing 4, three of many a rival to Ace Combat, featured missions that required the use of V/TOL aircraft for their missions, as well as using the vertical take off features of said aircraft. The fridge logic? THE AFOREMENTIONED THREE GAMES WERE ON THE PLAYSTATION 2!!!
- This may or may not have been a case of reading too much into comments on the part of the editor in question. The actual quote from DeFelice's website was:
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There are always limitations on what you can do. For example, early on we wanted to have a V/STOL version of the F-35 - the F-35C [yes we all know it's the F-35B] – involved in the game. I wrote a really cool mission for it, which would have shown off all of the real airframe’s capabilities. But that proved just too ambitious – maybe in Ace Combat 8. |
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- Also, "technical limitations" isn't just limited to the hardware. The game's engine may not have been built to support V/STOL aircraft. In fact, if memory serves, none of the Ace Combat games have ever supported the V/STOL functionality of aircraft capable of it. (Though this Troper doesn't understand why Assault Horizon doesn't, exactly - the game very explicitly supports both fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft; it should not have been too hard to treat the F-35 as the former in flight and the latter during V/STOL segments. Probably on-the-fly switching would've been more difficult to implement, though - the control schemes for aircraft and for rotorcraft are very different.)
- Another possibility is that there just isn't much to show off about the airframe. Aside from being able to take off from small places, the F-35 acts just like a regular strike fighter. The main reason it's used is because rapid deployment forces like the U.S. Marines don't like having to lug a big ship like an aircraft carrier around when they go places.
- The ASF-X Shinden II is capable of V/TOL based movement. Oh, and it can gain altutide while in a stall. This is a DLC aircraft. Namdai has no excuse now.