About Space Ace
Space Ace is a LaserDisc video game produced by the Bluth Group, Cinematronics and Advanced Microcomputer Systems. It was unveiled in October 1983, just four months after Dragon’s Lair, had a limited release that December and went on wide release on April 29, 1984. Like Dragon’s Lair before it, it plays film-quality animation back from a LaserDisc. Don Bluth designed it and produced it with Rick Dyer, and Cinematronics published the arcade machine. Wikipedia classes it as an interactive movie. In the arcade, up to two players could play, taking alternating turns.
The game didn’t stay in arcades. Versions followed for the Amiga, Apple IIGS, Atari ST, Macintosh and MS-DOS, and for the 3DO, CD-i, Jaguar CD and Sega CD, and later for DVD and Blu-ray players, the Wii, DSiWare, iOS, the PlayStation 3, Android and the Nintendo Switch. ReadySoft made the floppy-disk versions for home computers, MS-DOS among them, along with a CD-ROM version for MS-DOS and the Macintosh.
How it runs in your browser
Hit Play and DOS.Zone’s Space Ace page opens in a new tab. The site starts the MS-DOS version in js-dos, an open-source build of DOSBox that runs in the browser, so the old PC is emulated right inside the tab. DOS.Zone supplies the game files, which means no installer, no disks to find and no account. You won’t see ads on DOS.Zone.
The listing files the game under action, adventure and quest for MS-DOS and the IBM PC, and shows a rating of 5 from 3 player reviews. It doesn’t say which of ReadySoft’s PC releases it carries, and it says nothing about scores or saving. If either matters to you, look over DOS.Zone’s page before you start.
Controls and devices
DOS.Zone doesn’t publish the controls for Space Ace, and the game’s description there is a short general one. Plan on a keyboard and mouse, the inputs this version was built for, and work out the rest from the game itself. Click inside the emulator window once it has loaded so it receives your input.
On phones, DOS.Zone offers virtual on-screen controls, though a computer is a better fit for a game made for a keyboard and mouse. We haven’t tested it on a phone, and Chromebooks haven’t been confirmed.
Who it’s for
Space Ace suits people curious about the LaserDisc games of the early 1980s and about Don Bluth’s animation, and players who remember the arcade machine and want to see how the PC version handled it.
For another LaserDisc game from a different angle, Mad Dog McCree is American Laser Games’ live-action Western from 1990. Its MS-DOS version is on DOS.Zone as well, and you aim with the mouse.
Is Space Ace Free, Safe and Official?
Can I play Space Ace online for free?
Yes. DOS.Zone runs an MS-DOS version of Space Ace free in a browser tab. There’s no download, no registration and no game file of your own to supply.
Is this the arcade version of Space Ace?
No. The arcade machine played its animation from a LaserDisc. DOS.Zone runs an MS-DOS version by ReadySoft, which made both a floppy-disk and a CD-ROM edition for the PC, and the listing doesn’t say which of the two it is.
Does Space Ace work on a phone?
DOS.Zone shows virtual on-screen controls on phones, but this version was built for a keyboard and mouse, and we haven’t tested it on a touchscreen. A computer is the better fit.
