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SEGA's new "Astro City Mini" will feature Virtua Fighter

Discussion in 'General' started by celsowm, Jul 7, 2020.

By celsowm on Jul 7, 2020 at 8:57 AM
  1. celsowm

    celsowm Well-Known Member

    mini-astro-city-vf1.JPG
    This article has been quoted from: https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/7/21315726/sega-astro-city-mini-arcade-cabinet-retro-price-japan

    We may soon be reaching Peak Mini Retro Console. After the excellent Genesis/Mega Drive Mini and the baffling Game Gear Micro, Sega has unveiled an even more improbable product: meet the Astro City Mini.

    For those unfamiliar with the original Astro City, it wasn’t a platform per se but a specific sit-down arcade cabinet that operators could buy and install one of a huge variety of game boards inside. Sega developed a whole range of “City” cabinets, with 1993’s Astro City proving to be by far the most ubiquitous and iconic. They’re still a very common sight in Japanese arcades.

    As such, the Astro City Mini comes preloaded with a bunch of Sega arcade games. There’ll be 36 in total, and here are the confirmed titles so far, via Game Watch:

    • Alien Syndrome
    • Alien Storm
    • Golden Axe
    • Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death Adder
    • Columns II
    • Dark Edge
    • Puzzle & Action: Tant-R
    • Virtua Fighter
    • Fantasy Zone
    • Altered Beast
    The Astro City Mini looks like a shrunken-down arcade cabinet, similar to the Neo Geo Mini. Unlike that system, though, Sega says that the stick uses proper microswitches, so it should be a lot more satisfying to use. There’s an HDMI-out on the back as well as two USB-A ports, a Micro USB port, and a headphone jack. Unfortunately, there’s no word on whether it’ll have a built-in battery.

    The Astro City Mini is set for a release in Japan around the end of the year, and it’ll cost 12,800 yen (about $120.)

    update (the oficial trailer):

     
    Last edited: Jul 8, 2020
    celsowm, Jul 7, 2020
    #1
    smbhax, Dennis0201, cobratron and 4 others like this.

Comments

Discussion in 'General' started by celsowm, Jul 7, 2020.

  • Page 1 of 2
    1. KrsJin
      KrsJin
      I have an unreasonable desire for this even though I'll probably play it twice then just put it on display. That game list is strong though.
      KrsJin, Jul 7, 2020
      #2
      smbhax, cobratron and jimi Claymore like this.
    2. DomAug
      DomAug
      okay Sega take my USD converted into yen
      DomAug, Jul 7, 2020
      #3
      cobratron and jimi Claymore like this.
    3. ICHIBANin10000
      ICHIBANin10000
      Reminds me of the color LCD Game and Watches I used to have as a kid. Nintendo's Popeye, DK Jr. Automatic buy.
      ICHIBANin10000, Jul 7, 2020
      #4
      DomAug and cobratron like this.
    4. MadeManG74
      MadeManG74
      I have zero interest in mini consoles, but this would be a cool collectible. I just hope we get ports of these games to PC and Console as well for the sake of longevity and accessibility.
      MadeManG74, Jul 7, 2020
      #5
      cobratron likes this.
    5. Ali
      Ali
      Maybe if it got the sounds right
      Ali, Jul 7, 2020
      #6
    6. Dragonps
      Dragonps
      Two questions:

      1: Can it connect to a TV?

      2: EU release?
      Dragonps, Jul 8, 2020
      #7
    7. ICHIBANin10000
      ICHIBANin10000
      1: YES! AND You can hook up your Arcade stick to it. Win /win

      2: NEVER! Get on EBay mother fucker! This is SEGA , Remember? This 60th anniversary is looking a whole lot better. I must say.
      ICHIBANin10000, Jul 8, 2020
      #8
    8. beanboy
      beanboy
      This and the list of games in it, has caught my interest.:)
      beanboy, Jul 8, 2020
      #9
    9. smbhax
      smbhax
      Where did you get this information? I haven't seen anything saying regular USB arcade sticks will work. It would be nice, but has there been confirmation?
      Last edited: Jul 10, 2020
      smbhax, Jul 9, 2020
      #10
    10. smbhax
      smbhax
      The Game Watch link in this article is broken--the one in the original Verge article works:

      https://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/interview/1263877.html

      Interesting bits via Google Translate:

      The stick: "The lever shaft was also made of metal, and I was particular about making it as close as possible to the real structure." ... "There are 4 switches inside, so that you can input in all 8 directions including not only the top, bottom, left and right but also the name. Also, the ball part at the tip is the same screw type as the real one, so it can be removed by turning it by hand."

      The cabinet: "it uses the same resin as Astrocity." "Just like the real thing, the speaker is placed on the top and supports stereo output, and the part where the fluorescent light was contained has the LED turned on properly."

      Controllers: "The Astrocity Mini Control Pad will be released at the same time as the main unit. It's the first pad in Japan to connect to Astrocity." "I think fans are probably the most familiar with MegaDrive pads, so I'll try to make reliable original parts and make good original ones. For games such as 'Virtua Fighter', we want to make it easy to enter commands accurately and full of SEGA love, so please look forward to this as well, including the design."

      A mock-up of the pad (not final):

      [​IMG]

      I was kind of blank on this until it got to the VF part of the video (1:23) and then I was like oh no, I think I have to get this. Well, depending on how good the emulation is, I guess. But man. An actual good VF1 port would be amazing.

      There's potentially a limitation in terms of what game settings are used. The Game Watch interviewer asks if the user can change DIP switch settings for the games--to set difficulty, and so forth--and the designer answers "I also wanted to make that happen, but considering that it was offered as a product, there was a difficult side. Therefore, I made it so that Astrocity Mini can only be played with certain settings."
      smbhax, Jul 9, 2020
      #11
    11. ICHIBANin10000
      ICHIBANin10000
      If theres a pad its simple as pie to solder the PCB to my Stick and its a go. The mere fact that it has USB ports opens it up for brooks to make a converter for it.
      ICHIBANin10000, Jul 10, 2020
      #12
      DomAug, beanboy and smbhax like this.
    12. smbhax
      smbhax
      That's a good point, they did make one for the NEOGEO Mini. = o
      smbhax, Jul 10, 2020
      #13
    13. smbhax
      smbhax
      Official sega.jp site:

      https://sega.jp/astrocitymini/
      https://sega.jp/astrocitymini/soft/virtua-fighter.html

      segatoys.co.jp site:
      https://www.segatoys.co.jp/astrocitymini

      There's a small VF screen of a fight between Wolf and Sarah on the VF page, I don't think that one was shown before. And the little view of the cabinet at the top of the site's main page has an embedded, soundless 60fps YouTube video as a screen, which starts with a clip of VF:



      The 3D has very smooth anti-aliasing; of course, it isn't clear what hardware this is running on. Maybe one particularly promising sign, though: although the video is technically 60fps, the VF part is actually only running at 30fps--which is the speed at which the internet tells me the original VF hardware runs the game.

      There's a page linked from a prominent button at the top of the sega.jp site with Japanese pre-order links--Amazon JP and so forth: https://sega.jp/astrocitymini/shoppingguide.html

      Play-Asia appears to have sold out their pre-orders already: https://www.play-asia.com/astro-city-mini/13/70dlhb
      Last edited: Jul 18, 2020
      smbhax, Jul 17, 2020
      #14
      MadeManG74 and jimi Claymore like this.
    14. Dennis0201
      Dennis0201
      Dennis0201, Aug 24, 2020
      #15
      jimi Claymore, DomAug and MadeManG74 like this.
    15. Dennis0201
      Dennis0201
      Dennis0201, Aug 26, 2020
      #16
      DomAug and jimi Claymore like this.
    16. KrsJin
      KrsJin
      Honestly, it's looking great.
      KrsJin, Aug 26, 2020
      #17
    17. Rodnutz
      Rodnutz
      Where is the best place to pre-order this and get all the extra accessories?
      Rodnutz, Aug 26, 2020
      #18
    18. MadeManG74
      MadeManG74
      Probably Amazon Japan if it's not sold out already.
      MadeManG74, Aug 26, 2020
      #19
      Rodnutz likes this.
    19. ICHIBANin10000
      ICHIBANin10000
      Lol. Preorders went up like 8 freaking weeks ago. Good luck with that. I'll sell you mine on ebay, for 8 times the price. Cha-ching.
      ICHIBANin10000, Aug 30, 2020
      #20
      beanboy likes this.
    Page 1 of 2

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