With Amusement Expo 2025 approaching in Las Vegas, Play Mechanix and Raw Thrills have officially detailed Top Gun: Maverick, a new arcade flight-action game that had already appeared in early form at select Dave & Buster’s venues.
Top Gun: Maverick arcade hardware
The cabinet follows the broad layout used by Raw Thrills’ Fast & Furious Arcade, including two 65-inch 4K displays. Its cockpit presentation is different, however, replacing the car-inspired seating with a fighter-jet shell.
Players use a joystick and throttle while seated on a compressed-air motion platform. The seat and controls appear to have received some changes since the earlier location test, suggesting the production version has been refined before its wider rollout.
Up to four cabinets can be linked for multiplayer sessions. The competitive structure appears to borrow from arcade racing, with players competing for position while completing aerial combat objectives.
How the game plays
Raw Thrills’ official description casts players as recruits in the Top Gun programme, racing elite pilots including Rooster, Hangman and Phoenix across six levels. The missions move through hazards such as volcanoes, hurricanes and avalanches, with enemy aircraft, vehicles and boats providing targets.
Players can build their score by destroying targets and collecting Destruction Boosts. Power-ups include Afterburner, Heat-Seeking Missiles and Multi-Missiles, while the game features licensed music and recognisable fighter aircraft.
The aircraft roster includes the F-14 Tomcat, F-15E Strike Eagle and F/A-18 Super Hornet. The combination of speed, ranking and score competition makes this look more like a head-to-head arcade race with combat layered into it than a traditional standalone dogfighting simulation.
That comparison is reinforced by the prominent finishing-position language shown in the promotional material. At the same time, the trailer indicates that shooting down opponents and attacking ground and sea targets remain central to the experience.
Arcade release plans
The game is scheduled to debut at Amusement Expo 2025. It had also been reported at select Dave & Buster’s locations ahead of the event, while broader shipping was expected from the following month or into May. Operators interested in the cabinet could place orders through their distributor, with show-period finance offers also anticipated from some distributors.
For Australian operators and collectors tracking new releases, the cabinet is an intriguing return for jet-combat games in commercial arcades. Its final appeal will depend on how convincingly the motion system, flight controls and competitive format come together in play.
Raw Thrills has published the new webpage that showcases the game. For more arcade industry coverage, visit the RETROCADE Arcade Blog, or explore our racing arcade range and arcade machine buying guide.
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