Following consoles shaped like miniature arcade game cabinets from companies such as SNK, Sega decided to dip its own foot in the well with the release of the Astro City Mini.
The system is modeled after Sega's popular sit-down candy cabinet known as the Astro City. It's a self-contained unit with a screen, speakers, and a joystick with arcade-style buttons. The screen picture is sharp and easy to read the text on the screen despite its small size. The speakers have a little too much treble with too little bass for my tastes, but they sound fine. The most important part, the joystick, is a dream. It has the tight feel of an arcade joystick. Plus, the buttons have a satisfying click-clack and aren't mushy.
The thirty-six games included are Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars, Alien Syndrome, Alien Storm, Altered Beast, Arabian Fight, Bonanza Bros., Columns, Columns II: The Voyage Through Time, Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams, Crack Down, Cyber Police ESWAT, Dark Edge, Fantasy Zone, Flicky, Gain Ground, Golden Axe, Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death Adder, Ninja Princess, Puyo Puyo, Puyo Puyo 2, Puzzle & Action: Ichidant-R, Puzzle & Action: Tant-R, Quartet 2, Rad Mobile, Scramble Spirits, Seishun Scandal, Shadow Dancer, Shinobi, Sonic Boom, Space Harrier, Stack Columns, Thunder Force AC, Virtua Fighter, Wonder Boy, Wonder Boy in Monster Land, and Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair.
It also includes a bonus game in Dottori-kun. This game is based on Sega's 1979 arcade game, Head On. It was included with Astro City cabinets as a test game to ensure everything was hooked up and functioning correctly.
The included games spread across a wide variety of genres, from beat 'em ups such as Altered Beast and the Golden Axe games, to fighting games such as Dark Edge and the classic Virtua Fighter, the maze game Dottori-kun, platformers such as the Alex Kidd games and Flicky, puzzle games like the Columns and Puyo Puyo series, racing games such as Rad Mobile, run-and-gun games such as Alien Syndrome and Crack Down, and shoot 'em up games such as Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams.
The console was released by Sega Toys in Japan and by Limited Run Games worldwide. As of the time this article was published, on April 4, 2023, the Limited Run release is rather expensive but the original Japanese release is reasonably priced and easy to obtain.
Since Sega began releasing its own game-packed retro consoles rather than relying on outside companies such as AtGames, it has arguably become the leader of the miniature console market. Astro City Mini continues that trend with thirty-seven games spanning multiple genres of arcade games that were originally released between the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. The emulation is fantastic, the console is cute, the sound is adequate, and the joystick and buttons are as tight as you'd hope for in an arcade cabinet release. Because it can also be hooked up to television sets through HDMI and to external joysticks and gamepads through USB, it is a fantastic way to experience three dozen arcade classics.
Final Verdict:
4 out of 5
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