CHRONO ACES · All-direction Dogfights Through Time

What is it?

An all-direction aerial shooter you steer with one finger. Jump through six eras, from 1917 biplanes to 2199 flying saucers, shoot down copycat squadrons and take on a giant boss in every era. Level up four weapons, and dodge, decoy and slow time to slip through the bullets. Friends join with one link for co-op up to four, or team dogfights up to 4v4.

CHRONO ACES is an all-direction aerial shooter in your browser. Seen from above, your time-patrol fighter stays in the centre of the screen while the sky scrolls whichever way you fly, and enemies come from every side.

A runaway machine legion has scattered copycat squadrons through time. You chase them across six eras — 1917 Golden Fields, 1943 Storm Strait, 1972 Red Canyon, 1991 Sunset Harbor, 2031 Aurora Ice Field and 2199 The Time Rift — filling a kill gauge in each and then bringing down the era's boss.

Steering takes one finger: push toward where you want to go and the fighter turns and keeps flying. Friends join with a link for co-op up to four, or split into teams for dogfights from 1v1 to 4v4.

How to play

1. Put your thumb anywhere and push toward where you want to go. Your fighter turns that way and keeps flying (it holds the heading when you let go).
2. Firing is automatic — turn toward enemies ahead to hit them. If one gets too close, slip past and swing back around.
3. Bullets closing in? DODGE — for half a second they pass right through you. Missile alarm (red screen edges)? Drop a DECOY!
4. Fly through glowing supplies: S Spread · L Lance · H Homing · R Rapid · ◆ Shield · ✦ Decoys · ☺ time-lost pilot capsule (doubles each time).
5. Every 12 kills the BRAKE button glows — press it and enemies and their bullets slow down for 4 seconds.

Modes

Solo patrol

Six eras in order, each unlocking the next and earning up to three stars. Solo play can be paused. A Shield boost option makes it easier (up to two stars).

Co-op patrol

Up to four pilots in the same era. The host can launch first; friends join mid-patrol. More pilots mean a higher kill goal and a tougher boss. Co-op does not pause.

Team dogfight

Team Chrono against Team Red, 1v1 to 4v4, under any of the six skies. Bots can fill empty seats. Three minutes, or the first team to the kill target (8 plus 4 per seat).

Controls

Good to know

• Arrows at the screen edge: red = enemies, BOSS = the boss, coloured = supplies, blinking white = incoming missiles.
• Down all five of a V formation for a supply drop and 1000 points. Chain kills within 2.5 s for up to ×4!
• In co-op, friends join mid-patrol with one link. Team dogfights last 3 minutes — first team to the kill target wins.

Strategy tips

Swing wide, then shoot

Your fighter always moves forward and turns at a fixed rate, so the best attack is a wide loop that ends with an enemy in front of your nose. If one gets too close, slip past it rather than turning into it — touching an enemy costs a shield or a life.

Dodge late

The dodge makes bullets and missiles pass through you for half a second and recharges in 1.5–2.8 s. Save it for the moment a burst is about to land, not when bullets first appear.

Decoy the missiles

From 1972 on, jets and helicopters fire homing missiles. When the screen edges turn red, drop a decoy: every missile chasing you goes for it and nearby enemy bullets vanish.

Keep the chain

Kills within 2.5 s raise the multiplier to ×2, ×3 and ×4. Wiping out a whole V formation of five adds 1,000 points and a supply drop.

Stack one weapon

Picking up the weapon you already carry raises it a level (up to 3); a different one keeps your level. Lance pierces lines of enemies, Spread covers a wide arc, Homing finds targets on its own, Rapid melts bosses.

Save the brake for the boss

Twelve kills fill the time brake. Four seconds at 35% enemy speed is most useful when a boss fills the screen with bullets.

At a glance

Genre

Action & multiplayer

Players

1–8

Price

Free

Available languages

Korean · English · Japanese · Chinese · Spanish

Platform

Web browser (no install)

Developer notes

Original game, classic genre

CHRONO ACES is GameNow's own game in the tradition of all-direction arcade shooters: its eras, bosses, fighters, story and art direction are its own. The era aircraft are open-licence 3D models from Sketchfab and OpenGameArt, recoloured with a red underglow as the legion's copies.

One-finger steering

Touch steering sets a heading rather than a turn rate: push toward a direction and the fighter turns there at its own speed, then holds it when you let go. Combined with auto-fire, one thumb is enough to play.

What you see is what you dodge

With friends, the server runs the rules at 30 Hz and sends the state at 15 Hz, while each browser flies its own fighter. Your hits and the hits on you are judged on your own screen; the server checks distance and how many shots you actually fired.

A different sky per era

Each era has its own ground, clouds and colour: wheat gold, cobalt sea, terracotta canyon, pink sunset city, white ice with aurora ribbons, and a violet-gold rift. Enemies glow red underneath and your fighter glows blue, so you can tell them apart on any background.

Update history

• 2026-11-12CHRONO ACES launches with three fighters, six eras with a boss each, four weapons with three levels, dodge, decoy and time brake, co-op for up to four, team dogfights from 1v1 to 4v4, five languages, and touch, mouse, keyboard and gamepad controls.

Questions and answers

Further reading

• CHRONO ACES: One Finger, Six Eras, 360° of Sky