Surprised by how large it is even after seeing it on Mark’s desk in his video. With the optional base add-on it’s probably about the same size as an Xbox Series X. But it also definitely makes it more playable at a desk than the Neogeo Mini ever was, and that’s before counting the much better built in controls.
So far I’ve only played a couple of rounds of Puyo Puyo 2. The stick is excellent, really crisp response for a game of this type where you’ve moving pieces around precisely and quickly.
But I am disappointed that there appears to be no interpolation on the image. Playing off the unit itself, Puyo Puyo 2’s vertically scrolling intro exhibited very obvious pixel crawl - I think this is similar to the Famicom Mini which I never owned?
On Puyo Puyo 2 at least, the scanlines off the main unit looked out of place as well, not quite converting the pixel doubled output into dot points as you’d hope. Bit weird since the output resolution of the game should be 320×224, pixel doubled to 640 x 448, with scanlines in between neighbouring rows of pixels where they’d have otherwise been pixel doubled.
800 x 480 according to the side of the box. HDMI out supports either 480p (not sure if 4:3 though?) and 720p
Edit:
Pixel crawl is present on all display modes, whether on the unit itself or via HDMI, and with/without scanlines enabled.
It’s frustrating because there’s a lot that’s been done well here given other micro consoles, and the built-in controls really are wonderful, even when playing off the unit via HDMI-out.
But the games really don’t look their best, even if you prefer your pixels “raw” rather than as dot points with scanlines.
Like Mark mentioned in his video the chrome in the unit and on the seat of the Arcade Styling Kit is actually plastic, but it still looks really convincing.
The Arcade Styling Kit is great for displaying the unit but not really practical if you plan to use the Astro City Mini in anger, since it becomes top heavy and starts wobbling during gameplay.
Bit of an update on this. I very quickly did not like missing a select button. No item crash in Rondo of Blood on PCE? Woof.
It also makes it very hard to sync with general bluetooth devices, for example I should be able to use this just fine with an 8bitdo retro receiver for Super Nintendo but that requires using either select+home to go into pairing mode or using the 8bitdo PC application intended to sync with PS3 controllers, which is pretty annoying.
After trying that method I quickly found that select is used by a surprisingly large number of NES and SNES games. I have other sticks for those platforms but as always options are nice.
After playing around with a few different options, I found that mapping home and select to the same button (the credit button) works well in most cases, as on Switch/PS4 the home button would just get pressed with select ignored, and on older consoles the select button would be the only thing that matters. And it means I could perform the bluetooth pairing combo. Trouble is connecting select and home together made it not boot. But just running a diode from the home screw terminal to the select terminal, and the button wired into home, fixed that and allowed the button to serve the dual purpose I want.
I’m trying to avoid Mini Console clutter, but one looks really cool and only legit place to play Death Adder outside of those arcade machines made of particle board.
From what I seen on a Game Sack video and the a My Life in Gaming stream the physical quality, construction, and Emulation is far better than the Neo Geo Arcade Mini, also the Emulation is far better than what’s available on Mame. And the Joystick and buttons have mechanical switches.
But the emulation is still off (according to the people who owns some of the arcade boards), the 720p HDMI output isn’t perfect, and only the Astro City Mini’s game pad and Arcade stick works, no other USB controllers work with the mini Cab.
For collectors and hard core Sega Fans I see this is worth it, for casuals maybe if the cab comes to the US at a reasonable price point.
I also see the missed opportunity to make a tiny Sega Ash Tray for the cab to go with the base and the stool.
Yes Sega other arcade game manufactures made ash trays for the cabs, as people used to smoke in the arcades, and it was a valid way to advertise your brand in the 80s).
Looks fab!
