Ace Combat 8 guns-only run: checkpoints and the mission bonus check

What the successful checkpoint report establishes

The question asks whether a checkpoint restart is safe in a guns-only run. bushaya says they restarted because they crashed and still received the guns-only bonus on the mission scoreboard. They believe avoiding missile hits was important.

That is usable evidence for a crash/restart attempt. It does not demonstrate that a missile hit can be erased, that firing a missile without hitting is always allowed, or that every checkpoint behaves identically. Keep missile use out of a conservative attempt rather than converting the commenter’s inference into a rule.

Check the scoreboard instead of guessing

1. Prepare a mission attempt for the guns-only objective and use guns for combat.
2. If you crash and restart, remember exactly why and where you restarted.
3. Finish the mission and inspect the reward/score breakdown for the guns-only bonus.
4. Record the result before proceeding. If that bonus is absent, replay the mission rather than assuming the run counted.
5. Track the final campaign reward separately; a single mission bonus does not prove full-run completion.

For aiming problems, compare Type A/B gun sights, control styles and training. A targeting or steering issue is not a medal condition.

What remains unverified

The visible reply does not answer another player’s lowest-difficulty question. It does not provide every mission exception, wingman-hit rule, weapon-pod eligibility or an award-screen confirmation for the complete guns-only campaign medal. Those points remain unknown in this checked discussion.

Do not use the Ace all-S Free Mission rule to infer a guns-only shortcut. For a no-damage attempt, Not a Scratch has a different report that expressly distinguishes armor hits from real damage.