arcade cabinet

Taito EGRET II Mini Arcade – It’s So Awesome

March 15, 2022 By ausretrogamer

When the Taito Egret II Mini was announced in 2021, our collective jaws dropped at this cute and awesome little arcade unit. The Egret II was packed with Taito’s greatest arcade hits, which was a good start. But that wasn’t all! To differentiate itself from the Sega Astro City Mini and any other mini arcade unit on the market, Taito’s offering had a rotating screen (just like its big brother), so you could play games in either TATE (portrait) or landscape (horizontal) orientation – how clever and awesome is that?!

You turn me on!

The games menu is quite intuitive. The orientation of the game is also depicted, which is a great feature

The downside to all this great news was that the Egret II Mini was only going to be available to a limited set of countries for pre-orders. But, we managed to get our hands on the Taito Egret II Mini, and we must say, this thing is so cool and oozes quality – everything looks and feels top notch! The rotating screen is something to behold and feels industrial grade, which is a relief. The other great feature is the ability to switch and lock the joystick in 4-way mode or the usual 8-way – this makes a big difference for games that only have four directions of play!

8-Way or 4-Way – another neat feature!

Taito’s Egret II Mini comes pre-installed with 40 games (see list below), from platformers, shoot’em ups to puzzle, beat’em ups and fighting games to keep you entertained. There are bound to be games you like in Taito’s stable of arcade hits that come with this mini arcade unit. We absolutely love Bubble Bobble, Tatsujin (aka: Truxton), Elevator Action Returns, Rastan Saga and The New Zealand Story to name just a few.

Horizontal? No way!

You spin me right ’round, baby, right ’round

Vertical – that’s much better!

Taito Egret II mini vs Sega Astro City mini: Both are darn cute & awesome!

An essential purchase with the Egret II Mini is the paddle and trackball games expansion set, which incudes the aforementioned paddle and trackball controller and an additional 10 games on an SD card! Speaking of which, we can’t wait to see what the clever modders out there will do with the SD card slot on the Egret II.

It is still early days playing on our Egret II Mini, but so far during this honeymoon period, we love it. This mini arcade unit is packed with great games and feels pretty good to play on. Let’s be honest, this thing is great, but its price does cause a wince. The standard Egret II mini is approx. AU$280 and above (depending on the exchange rate) and that is without shipping. If you want the limited edition (blue joystick top and blue fire buttons), then you pretty much double the price of the standard unit, but we reckon save your dollars and stick with the standard if you really got to have the Taito Egret II mini.

For anyone in Australia looking to get the Taito EGRET II Mini, check them out on Play Asia!

We love the little extras we got with our Taito EGRET II mini

Egret II specs and features:

40 pre-installed games, including arcade classics
Special in-game features like: Save states, adjustable lives and rapid-fire
5-inch 4:3 rotating monitor (1024×768 resolution) for horizontal and vertical alignment and an optimal adaptation to the selected game
6-button arcade layout and joystick that is individually adjustable for each game – easily switch from 8 directions to 4 directions
HDMI output to also play the games on newer TVs
SD card slot to add more games
Own integrated sound through stereo speakers
Two USB Type-A controller ports for the additional, optional EGRET II mini controllers
Power Source: Above 5V/2.4A (12W)

Games:

image source: ININ Games

Very Cool Tabletop Arcade Cabinets

January 24, 2022 By ausretrogamer

Check out these amazing tabletop arcade cabinets created by Hidecade!

According to Hidecade, the Xevious tabletop arcade is complete with a vertical screen and a JAMMA harness – which is totally mind-blowing! Oh how we wish these were for sale 😉

source: Arcade Cabinets on ameblo.jp

The RepliCade Mini Tempest Is In Da House!

February 6, 2019 By ausretrogamer

Being an early backer on a Kickstarter has its perks, you can usually pick up a product for an early bird price (way cheaper than its inevitable retail price) and you get to use / play it well before anyone else does. The only down side is the usual delivery time frame, so the wait can be agonising.

After waiting patiently, our Replicade Mini Tempest arcade machine has finally arrived! Joining its sibling, the Replicade Mini Centipede, these machines are a sight to behold! With great quality inside and out, it’s like someone got a shrinking gun and used it on the real arcade machines – they are that damn accurate! Don’t believe us, then check out the pics below. Oh yeah, the spinner, albeit on a smaller scale, feels almost how we remember playing Tempest over three decades ago!

Introducing the RepliCade Mini Centipede Arcade Machine

October 4, 2018 By ausretrogamer

When we backed New Wave Toys‘ RepliCade: Mini Centipede Arcade Machine Kickstarter, we only imagined how good it would be. Well, we have received our limited edition RepliCade Mini Centipede and let’s just say, we are totally blown away by it!

The level of detail, from the cabinet styling, artwork, light-up marquee, control panel overlay, old school P1 and P2 player select buttons to the fire button, coin slots and the beautiful trak-ball, New Wave Toys should be commended for a prefect recreation of Atari’s iconic Centipede arcade machine – it truly needs to be seen to be believed!

The Six Million Dollar Man, Steve Austin approves of the RepliCade Mini Centipede Arcade Machine

OK, we know what you are thinking, it looks great, but does it play well? In short, it plays perfectly, we cannot fault it one bit! The trak-ball feels oh so right (you can adjust its sensitivity) even though it looks small, it feels great under the index finger. The concave fire button also feels right, with no lag at all. The emulation used is as if it was yanked right off the Centipede arcade board, it plays unbelievably smooth. Just on this, New Wave Toys are using their proprietary RepliCade high-performance chipset for smooth, lag-free gameplay. It runs on a closed system that boots directly into ROM. By pressing the right coin slot, you have access to all the options that the original machine had in the arcades. Seriously, these guys have thought of everything!

The RepliCade Mini Centipede Arcade Machine comes highly recommended. The design and level of detail of this replica mini arcade machine is simply sublime. Dona Bailey and Ed Logg would be quite impressed with what New Wave Toys have achieved. We now look forward to their next creation in their RepliCade series, the Mini Tempest Arcade Machine!

PS: The Atari 25c insert coin keychain (bottom of this article) was available to Kickstarter backers only! The generic 25c insert coin keychain is available via Amazon!

SKYCURSER Is Coming Soon To Shoot Up Your Arcade

April 17, 2017 By ausretrogamer

Who says that the arcade is dead? If you are sick of seeing redemption machines at your local amusement centre, then perhaps the new horizontal shoot’em up, SKYCURSER will draw you back for some good old fashion blasting!

Griffin Aerotech’s SKYCURSER takes players through some gorgeously drawn worlds in which they must battle mutant hordes to save the planet. SKYCURSER has a total of four missions with a reward scoring system that keeps things quite competitive.

The game runs on a platform called Airframe and its creators have also promised free game updates. A year ago, the Griffin Aerotech team expressed hopes that the open-source nature of Airframe would attract other independent designers to create games for arcade cabinets and controls. This means that operators could potentially swap several games on the same Airframe using only a USB stick, which brings back memories of swapping those good old Neo Geo MVS cartridges.

There’s a Pro (USD$700) and Deluxe (USD$1,200) version of the kitted game, each coming with necessary software and hardware while the Deluxe has additional conversion art. The game is also available in a dedicated arcade cabinet ready to hit the floor (USD$3,499). Conversion kits are expected to ship by June 2017. For information on purchasing the game in a dedicated cabinet, click here.

The arcade industry needs more of these good old fashioned arcade games, like SKYCURSER, to draw back the 80s and 90s kids (now adults) into arcade centres for them to have fun while introducing their own children to the kind of games they played at their age many moons ago.

image source: Griffin Aerotech

The R-Kaid-R: The Elegant Retro Arcade

July 7, 2014 By ausretrogamer

Imagine being able to fold-up and carry your arcade cabinet in a safe and secure manner. The Swedish design firm, Love Hultén have created exactly that, the R-Kaid-R – an elegant retro arcade machine that you can fold up and carry around.

The R-Kaid-R (Arcader) is truly a tribute to the arcade. It is handmade from solid wood, combining yesterday’s game physics with the digital spectrum of today. Love Hultén puts it perfectly – “The R-Kaid-R is a creative link between the present and the past. It’s a game jewel to possess”.

If you do want one of these beauties, you better hurry to their shop. The R-Kaid-R comes in a limited, numbered edition of 50 handmade units. You may want to speak to your financial adviser first.

The elegant arcade machine. The lock doubles up as the joystick!