Saturday, March 27, 2021

Looks Like I'm Getting Another Mini Console: Sega Astro City Mini


This is the Sega Astro City Mini, a miniature arcade that contains 37 games. They are as follows: 

  • Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars (with Stella)
  • Alien Storm
  • Alien Syndrome
  • Altered Beast
  • Arabian Fight **
  • Bonanza Bros. *
  • Columns **
  • Columns II
  • Cotton **
  • Crack Down
  • Cyber Police ESWAT
  • Dark Edge **
  • Dottori Kun (Dot Race)
  • Fantasy Zone
  • Flicky
  • Gain Ground **
  • Golden Axe
  • Golden Axe: Revenge of Death Adder **
  • My Hero
  • Puyo Puyo *
  • Puyo Puyo 2 *
  • Puzzle & Action: Ichidant-R *
  • Puzzle & Action: Tant-R *
  • Rad Mobile
  • Quartet 2
  • Scramble Spirits **
  • Sega Ninja
  • Shadow Dancer **
  • Shinobi
  • Sonic Boom
  • Space Harrier
  • Stack Columns *
  • Thunder Force AC
  • Virtua Fighter
  • Wonder Boy
  • Wonder Boy in Monster Land *
  • Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair

As you can see, that's a crapload of games, and they're also the arcade versions, not Master System and Genesis games. Some, obviously, I am not familiar, while others I am and can't wait to play again. The main one I wanted is Virtua Fighter, because I've never owned that game, and another real treat will be the arcade versions of Altered Beast, Shinobi, and Golden Axe. God, the number of quarters I had wasted on those games.... I'm hoping that there will be unlimited continues here. 

If you want to get one yourself, I'm afraid you're out of luck, unless you want to go to eBay or Play-Asia. Limited Run Games only did a very small run for the US of 3,500 units! I got the email yesterday morning that the preorders went live, but of course by the time I checked the website, they were sold out. They were going to do a second and final batch at 4 PM MDT, so I made sure that I had my window ready to go. I was logged in and kept refreshing while that countdown timer got closer to zero. Finally, the Add to Cart button popped up and I was off to the races! 

Oh, but hold on. I was put in que. I started panicking a little bit, because I was afraid I was already too late. I also put the separate game pad in my cart as well, so it was just a matter of time before being allowed to check out. When I got to the checkout screen, to my dismay, the game pad was already sold out, but the Mini itself wasn't. I think it was because I had to spend a few extra seconds putting in my payment information that cost me the gamepad. Oh well, I'm not too concerned about I'm sure I can find one later on. Then when I finished checking out, I refreshed and not a minute later, the system was sold out. Looks I like I lucked out again. Man, preordering has really become a major headache lately. 

The funny thing about this mini arcade is that I knew it was coming, but didn't really know how badly I wanted it until I found out how limited it was. Just knowing that I could finally own Virtua Fighter in some capacity was enough to make me try to get one. I think it'll be a novel idea to be able to play arcade games on the go (although you'll need a USB battery pack, since there's no built in battery, which is a huge drawback) and hooking it up to the TV via HDMI to play at home. I've never owned a mini arcade system before, so I'm really looking forward to this. 

Looking over the list of games again, I doubt I'll even bother with most of them, as the ones I'd probably play I already own versions of on the Sega Mini. I do want to point out one game, though, and that's Rad Mobile. Ever seen Encino Man?


Although I couldn't find the clip of Brendan Fraser's Link playing Rad Mobile, I did find the one where he thinks driving in real life is Rad Mobile. It was a really cool reference, and I'm trying to remember if I ever played the game, although I'm pretty sure I have. It'll be nice to own the actual arcade version of it. 

So yeah, my collection of mini consoles keeps growing. I think I'll do what I did with the other mini consoles and blog some quick impressions of the games as I play them. So, look forward to those!

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