Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War Original Soundtrack

The Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War Original Soundtrack is the collection of music composed for Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War. The soundtrack features many signature composers of the Namco Sound Team, including Tetsukazu Nakanishi, Keiki Kobayashi, and Hiroshi Okubo, while also introducing new composers such as Junichi Nakatsuru and Katsuro Tajima. This is the only Ace Combat soundtrack to include licensed music, namely Puddle of Mudd's "Blurry".

The soundtrack was released on four physical CDs by King Records on December 22, 2004 under the catalog numbers KICA-1346~9. It was later digitally released multiple times: first on February 23, 2010 on iTunes under the name Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War Music Collection; then on May 15, 2020 on multiple streaming services under the Namco Sounds label with many audio issues; and finally on September 12, 2023 on multiple streaming services under the Bandai Namco Game Music label. All digital releases have excluded "Blurry".

The game's director, Kazutoki Kono, explained in 2020 that the album cover's large black section was applied to hide a rendering error on the nose of Blaze's F-14A Tomcat.^[1]

Track List

Disc 1

Title
Briefing 1
Hangar 1
Shorebirds
Open War "Theme Of Open The War"
Wardog
Naval Blockade
First Flight (Arranged ACE COMBAT 04 "Blockade")
Rendezvous
Ballistic Missile
White Bird (Part I)
Front Line
Scinfaxi
Mother Goose 1
Lit Fuse
Blind Spot
8492^{[note 1]}
Chain Reaction
Reprisal
Powder Keg
Game Over
Shop

Disc 2

Menu
Four Horsemen
Demons Of Razgriz
Hrimfaxi
Ice Cage
White Noise
Desert Arrow
Desert Lightning
Free Flight
Supercircus
Into The Dusk
Fortress
Mask
Final Option
Ancient Walls
Failed Game Over
Result
Tutorial Main
Tutorial Menu
Tutorial Result

Disc 3

Briefing 2
Hangar 2
Solitaire
Closure
Ghosts Of Razgriz
White Bird (Part II)
Heartbreak One
Grabacr
The Journey Home (On Radio)
Wings Of Unity
Dead Ahead
Winter Storm
The Unsung War
The Journey Home / The Warsaw Philharmonic^{[note 1]}
Razgriz / The Warsaw Philharmonic^{[note 1]}

Disc 4

Arcade Title
Arcade Menu
Arcade Stage Select
Arcade Briefing
Arcade Ripping Air
Arcade Knock You Down
Arcade Elemental Particle 2
Arcade Broken Skies
Arcade Catch The Lightning
Arcade Riding High
Arcade Do or Die
Arcade Consequence
Arcade Game Over
Arcade Clear
Arcade Victory Road
Blue Skies (remix)
Razgriz "ACE COMBAT 5 Main Theme"
Open The War
Sand Island
The Following Morning
15 Years Ago
A Blue Dove For The Princess "Nagase's Theme"
OSEA
Blind Corridor
Fugitive Hope
New Emblem
President Harling
SOLG
Battleships Uprising
Final Launch
Hope For Freedom
Unsung Heroes
Peace (Epilogue)
The Journey Home "ACE COMBAT 5 Ending Theme"
BLURRY / PUDDLE OF MUDD

Legacy

"The Unsung War", which plays at the end of the eponymous mission and like "Megalith -Agnus Dei-" before it, is one of the most popular tracks from this soundtrack. It has been repeatedly performed live and re-released in other soundtracks, including Ace Combat Infinity & Series Music Best. Other Ace Combat 5 tracks have also enjoyed mainstream success; "First Flight" was one of the pieces of video game music played during the Parade of Nations at the 2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony.

A solo piano rendition of the Razgriz motif, which appears in multiple Ace Combat 5 tracks, was featured at the start of the 2015 announcement trailer for Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown. This performance was released as "2015 Trailer", Track 18 on Disc 6 of the Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown Original Soundtrack. "2015 Trailer" later evolved into "Friendly Fire", Track 17 on Disc 1 of the same soundtrack, which plays in-game at the end of "Rescue".

The track "8492" was unused in Ace Combat 5, but its placement between "Blind Spot" and "Chain Reaction" on Disc 1 indicates a cut Mission Update from the mission "Blind Spot". The track's first official use in gameplay was in the multiplayer modes of Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown.