[1] Beginning at the game's fourth mission is the ability to allow a wingman to fly with the player, which provide additional support and will help them in completing the objective.

[2] The team created a program that was able to output as many polygons as possible without causing strain on the hardware, which allowed the graphics to be of significantly higher-quality than most other games.

[2] They also watched several films on air combat and traveled to the American Armed Force airshow to take photographs of the planes on display.

Ideas for missions were from Kato and the team's imaginations, although he stated he wished they were able to travel to real-world places to gather data and references.

[2] The development team experimented with a level design that would involve the player attempting to de-rail a trail through a mountain valley, but it was ultimately dropped due to technical and graphical restraints.

[8] The soundtrack for Ace Combat 2, composed by Kohta Takahashi and Nobuhide Isayama along with contributions from Hiroshi Okubo and Tetsukazu Nakanishi, was heavily inspired by Top Gun and largely features funk rock music.

[9] Ace Combat 2 was a commercial success; in May 1998, Sony gave the game the "Gold Prize" award for selling over 500,000 copies in Japan.

[13] Next Generation said that it would "keep a whole bunch of weekend warriors strapped in to the TV",[17] while IGN labeled it "one of the best flight simulators ever to come to the PlayStation" and said that Namco went "all out" with its visuals.

[14] Publications commended the quality of the gameplay for its fast-pace and variety in missions, although AllGame and Computer and Video Games felt it became "monotonous" and tiring after a while.

[13] Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot argued that the low difficulty level ensures the game is over too quickly in spite of the large number of missions.

[15] However, the majority of critics contended that the enemy artificial intelligence is extremely advanced and responds to player movements, making the game's difficulty, if anything, overly high.

[14][15][20] Many publications agreed that Ace Combat 2 was a vast improvement over its predecessor,[16][14][15][17][20] with IGN, Electric Playground and GamePro all commending Namco for successfully updating the gameplay in the original to make it much more action-packed and entertaining.

[17] While some criticized the lack of a multiplayer mode,[7][16] Computer and Video Games argued that the removal of a two-player option was a good idea, feeling that it allowed Namco to refine the gameplay and stages in general.

[21] Assault Horizon Legacy features a complete revamp of the game's storyline, alongside the addition of cutscenes, voice acting and remade level designs.