Earlier this year, Taito threw its hat into the mini-console ring with the announcement of the Taito Egret II mini, a miniature version of one of Taito’s most popular arcade cabinets. At that time, only a Japanese release was on the cards, but it’s now confirmed for North America and Europe as well, thanks to United Games Entertainment.
The Egret II mini stands just over 20cm tall, with a five-inch screen that—as with the Egret II itself—can be rotated to suit both horizontally- and vertically-oriented games. It comes with 40 games spanning Taito’s history, with a further 10 available as part of the Paddle and Trackpad Game Expansion set. All up, the line-up covers almost 20 years of Taito’s library, from 1987’s Space Invaders to 1997’s Arkanoid Returns and Puchi Carat, but with modern conveniences like save states, adjustible lives, and rapid fire settings.
The mini cabinet is powered by mains power via a USB-C connection, and is full functional on its own (although at 15cm wide, people with big hands might find the controls a little bit cramped). There’s also HDMI-out for connecting to an external display, and two USB ports for a few different Egret II mini controllers that are sold separately: a slightly roomier arcade stick, a gamepad, and the aforementioned paddle and trackpad set.
Here’s the full list for the Japanese version (via Co-Optimus)—presumably, the Western release will be the same:
- Adventure Canoe (1982)
- Bubble Bobble (1986)
- Bubble Memories (1995)
- Bubble Symphony (1994)
- Cadash (1989)
- Chack’n Pop (1983)
- Dan-Ku-Ga (unreleased update to Kaiser Knuckle, 1995)
- Darius Gaiden (1994)
- Don Doko Don (1989)
- Elevator Action (1983)
- Elevator Action Returns (1994)
- Fairyland Story (1985)
- Growl (1990)
- Gun Frontier (1990)
- Halley’s Comet (1986)
- Hat Trick Hero (1990)
- Kaiser Knuckle (1994)
- Kiki KaiKai (1986)
- The Legend of Kage (1985)
- Liquid Kids Adventure (1990)
- Lunar Rescue (1979)
- Lupin III (1980)
- Metal Black (1991)
- New Zealand Story (1988)
- The Ninja Kids (1990)
- Outer Zone (1984)
- Pirate Pete (1982)
- Puzzle Bobble 2X (1995)
- Qix (1981)
- Raimais (1988)
- Rainbow Islands EXTRA (1988)
- Rastan Saga (1987)
- RayForce (1993)
- Scramble Formation (1986)
- Space Invaders (1978)
- Steel Worker (1980)
- Tatsujin (1988)
- Twin Cobra (1987)
- Violence Fight (1989)
- Volfied (1989)
And with the Paddle and Trackpad Expansion Set, you get:
- Arkanoid (1986)
- Arkanoid Returns (1997)
- Arkanoid: Revenge of DOH (1987)
- Birdie King (1982)
- Cameltry (1989)
- Marine Date (1981)
- Plump Pop (1987)
- Puchi Carat (1997)
- Strike Bowling (1982)
- Syvalion (1988)
The Taito Egret II originally launched in 1996. Like the Egret 29 before it, its screen can be rotated to suit different games, but the relative ease of doing so made the Egret II a popular choice for arcade operators in the late ’90s.
The Taito Egret II mini is due out sometime in 2022, with further details about price and availability to be announced at a later date. The Japanese version launches March 22, 2022—but any importers who haven’t already pre-ordered might struggle to get hold of one.
Meanwhile, Sega recently announced the new Astro City Mini V, a vertically-oriented version of its popular mini cabinet packed with shoot-’em-ups—including Batsugun, a game that’s both hard to find and particularly iconic, as the game that paved the way for the bullet hell genre. Anyone hoping to turn their desk into a game centre is in for a treat.