You must fly the fighter that you want the upgrade for and acquire enough kills for the unlock. For example, if you want the Super F-14, you must take out the F-14B, fly several missions, and acquire enough kills to get the F-14A. Take out the F-14A and fly several missions with it until you get enough kills to acquire the Super F-14. This applies to all aircraft.

Hold L2+R2 and the plane will go into auto pilot.

Hold Triangle when locked onto an enemy. Your view will automatically shift so that you are looking at the target that you are chasing. This is especially useful in dogfights.

It is a lot easier to fight submarines and battleships if you fly very close to the water, as they cannot hit you as easily. This is very effective if you also fly very fast. Be careful not to crash into the water.

Finish all 16 stages in Arcade Mode. Afterwards, Mobius 1 will be able to pilot all 53 aircraft unlocked (paint schemes included) and bought in Campaign Mode but, with limited ammunition (20 missiles, 4 special weapons).

When you have completed the game, there are a few more difficulty settings that you can choose from. These are great if you completed the game with ease, and want more of a challenge!

Just like in Ace Combat 4, this game also gives you the option of the "Free Mission", when you have completed the game, go to the main screen and select Free Mission. You can now play any mission in the game, using any plane you have previously bought.

If you switch into cockpit view in some planes, you can see the machine gun that you are firing and therefore be more accurate with it. The F5 has two guns side by side. The gun on the A 10 is very powerful and accurate.

After completing the game, just go back to the Title screen and go to options. The Music Player option will now be available. With this, you can listen to all every single track from within the game... This is probably the ONLY place you will be able to do this, without having to actually play the game.

Shoot down the indicated target or complete the listed task to unlock the paint for the corresponding aircraft. Note: All planes must be bought before the paint becomes available:

EA-18G: ABELCAIN in Mission 16B
EA-6B: DUNE in Mission 10
F-14D: ZIPANG in Mission 3
F-22A: Clear Arcade Mode
F-2A: CYPHER in Mission 18
F-4G: MINDRIPPER in Mission 4
Falken: Complete Expert mode with all "S" ranks
FB-22: PROTEUS in Mission 17
Hawk: GIGANTOR in Mission 1
MIG-1.44: REPLICATOR in Mission 27+
MIG-21-93: SWORDKILL in Mission 23
MIG-31M: COSM in Mission 16A
MIR-2000D: ZAHARADA in Mission 6
Rafale B: DECODER in Mission 26
SU-37: YELLOW in Mission 27
TND-ECR: TWICE DEAD in Mission 18+
X-02: Complete Hard mode with all "S" ranks
X-29A: DAREDEVIL in Mission 15
YA-10B: DISTANTTHUNDER in Mission 25

You can switch views by pressing R3.

Play Campaign Mode or Free Mission Mode to unlock these medals:
Bronze Shooter Medal - Destroy 5 enemy planes with the machine gun
Bronze Wing Medal - Get 'S' Ranks on every mission on Normal
Desert Eagle Medal - When aiding allies in Missions 16A or 16B don?t let more than 3 die
Bronze Ace Medal - Destroy 200 enemy targets
Silver Ace Medal - Destroy 500 enemy targets
Gold Ace Medal - Destroy 1000 enemy targets
Gold Shooter Medal - Down 50 enemy planes with the machine gun
Gold Wing Medal - Earn 'S' Ranks on all 32 missions on expert
Guardian Medal - Down 10 enemies who get a missile lock on your wingman
Grand Falcon Medal - Kill all 16 named planes in second play-through on Normal or harder
Lightning Hammer Medal - Protect all 8 armored tanks on ground
Silver Shooter Medal - Down 15 enemy planes with machine gun fire from your aircraft
Needle's Eye Medal - Get Perfect from AWACS in all 6 landings and 2 refueling stages
Silver Wing Medal - Earn 'S' Ranks on all 32 missions on Hard

Note: This is only effective against enemy ground units. This is difficult to do and requires many practice runs. If you find yourself with a missile being shot at you, try to boost to the nearest enemy ground unit. Then, slow down and make sure not to go past the ground unit. As soon as you see the missile closing in on the radar, quickly boost towards the ground unit, and time it so that the missile will go past you and into the enemy unit. This is possible to accomplish with a lot of practice, but is extremely difficult to time correctly. Try using it on enemy ships first, as they are much larger than tanks. Then, work your way down the size scale until you can use it against all enemy ground or sea units. This will save you missiles if your ammunition is low, or you need to conserve as much as possible as in missions 16B, 12B, and 9.