Ace Combat 7’s Bizarre “JPEG Dog” Is A Very Good Boy

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown’s “JPEG Dog” became an instant meme icon. Although they’re not directly connected, the Ace Combat franchise definitely owes a debt to Top Gun. Prior to Tony Scott helming this 1986 classic, filmmakers such as David Cronenberg and John Carpenter were approached to direct it. The resulting film made Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer movie stars, and despite mixed reviews it became a huge blockbuster because of its action scenes, amazing soundtrack and surprisingly involving story.

The first Ace Combat game debuted on the PlayStation One in 1995 and was an evolution of Bandai Namco’s (Tekken) arcade title Air Combat. While it might look crude by modern standards, the original Ace Combat was a tight little aerial action game that would lay the path for a franchise. Ace Combat 2 was already a major leap in terms of graphics, and the series has been running ever since. Like any long-running franchise, it’s seen highs like 2002’s Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies to major disappointments like Ace Combat Infinity.

Ace Combat still remains one of Bandai Namco’s most popular series, and Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown for the PS4, Xbox One and PC did much to restore faith in the property. Like most of the previous titles, Ace Combat 7 takes place in the fictional Strangereal, which closely mirrors the real world. The story follows on from the events of previous games, with conflict breaking out between the Kingdom of Erusea and Osea over the construction of a space elevator. The game received solid reviews and was also a strong seller, proving there’s life in the series yet. One element of the game that soon became infamous is the pet dog of Princess Rosa Cossette D’Elise, who has become known as “JPEG Dog.”

For context, this loveable golden retriever is the pet of Ace Combat 7’s Erusean Princess Cossette and appears alongside her during a cutscene. The Princess steps off a plane and is greeted by friends, but her dog sits beside her completely motionless. It’s a detail that, once noticed, is impossible to unsee. It looks like a picture of a dog was just dropped into a fully-animated cutscene, and it didn’t take long for fans to turn “JPEG Dog” into a popular meme.

Ace Combat 7’s dog belonged to a member of the development team, but sadly, despite becoming an internet celebrity following the game’s release, it was confirmed the dog passed away shortly after the photo was taken. The golden retriever didn’t fare much better in Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown’s story either, as the poor pup is later killed protecting the princess from an attack.

About The Author

Padraig Cotter
(3485 Articles Published)

It’s pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that’s out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site.

A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU – where Hawkeye is clearly the best character – to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle.

He’s super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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