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Ace Combat Assault Horizon Legacy was an enjoyable romp trough the skies in the early days of the 3DS, and its chunky dogfighting proved to be a delightful fit for auto-stereoscopic 3D. What better way to immerse yourself in a virtual world than to feel as if you're soaring over it, right?

Bandai Namco is now offering the chance to do it all over again in Ace Combat Assault Horizon Legacy+ on New Nintendo 3DS, this time with a few neat-o new features plus some older ones that didn't quite make the leap in the a Western version of the original game.

"Plus" is a suitable subtitle for this edition as what is new amounts to minor pleasantries. The meat of Assault Horizon Legacy+ is by and large the same as it ever was, which we won't go into much here — check out our full review for all that detailed goodness.

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One of the benefits of playing on New Nintendo 3DS is the vastly more stable auto-stereoscopic effect, which minimizes the visual jitter caused by natural hand movements or bumpy transit. This keeps the skies from splitting, offering a more visually appealing world in which to fly around and bomb to bits. However, since the improved 3D effect is actually a hardware-level feature, players of the original 2011 version will receive the same benefit.

Assault Horizon Legacy+ players are able to look around the skies thanks to C-Stick support — handy for locating bogies. This rights a wrong of the previous Western release, as the original Japanese version — released in 2012 — did offer this feature when using the Circle Pad Pro.

Mario Plane

All-new this time around is amiibo support. This novel addition allows you to unlock Nintendo mascot-themed skins for jets, finally allowing you to live your dream of flying a Tomcat with Princess Peach painted on the sides. Fret not, amiibo dissidents: you can still unlock these skins without having to buy a physical trinket. Select stages now contain a classic Mario question block, and blasting it to smithereens will unlock a skin. As these mascot skins are the most substantive new addition to Assault Horizon Legacy+ — let that sink in for a second — it's assuring to know that they aren't locked behind an additional purchase.

So where does Assault Horizon Legacy+ fit into the New Nintendo 3DS line-up? It's a tough sell to those who may have already experienced the title previously. If you skipped this game last time around, the allure of improved 3D and amiibo support help strengthen the case to take off. Although we must admit, we're pretty happy to have an excuse to take to the skies again.