Ace Combat scores the dream collaboration with Top Gun

Ace Combat recently celebrated 25 years (and announced a new one's in the works). While reporting on that I mused about how the best thing Bandai Namco could do for Ace Combat 7 would be the fantasy collaboration with Top Gun: Maverick. Well, clearly someone over at Bandai Namco is a PCG fan because those beautiful suits have done it.

The Top Gun: Maverick collaboration launches on May 26 alongside the film, and will feature three aircraft—though the trailer only shows one, because spoilers. The movie is a sequel where Tom Cruise's Maverick character now teaches a new generation of fighter pilots, and by all accounts it's an absolute cracker.

Ace Combat and Top Gun are both about the same particular fantasy, that of being a roguish pilot flying at supersonic speeds to blow up the baddies and save the world. If there's an Ace Combat fan out there who doesn't also love Top Gun, I would be amazed. It's easy to be cynical about brand collaborations but sometimes the two things are just a perfect match.

The DLC includes Maverick's F/A-18E Super Hornet with insignia unique to the game, as well as an F14A Tomcat which has Maverick and Goose's names under their respective cockpits.

2019's Ace Combat 7 was a triumphant return to what made the series great in the first place: fighter jets blowing each other up in ludicrously OTT scenarios. It's a great laugh and I'll definitely be booting it up again to have a tootle around in Maverick's plane. Heck, if you're as excited about this movie as I am then you might even want Project Aces' celebration phone wallpaper.