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SEGA plans on releasing an "Astro City" Mini. Featuring 36 Aarcade Games!!!

Faithless83

Banned
I hope once hacked it could run Virtua Racing and SegaSaturn + Titan games fine, even better than PS Classic.
Sega Saturn is a beast. I doubt we'll see sega saturn/dreamcast solutions anytime soon.
I'm glad I still have mine with an ODE installed. One hell of a system if you are into arcades in the mid/late 90's.

Virtua Racing port on switch is really nice if you are looking for alternatives.
 
It's a proper arcade stick so it's not gonna be cheap, it's about the same price as some of the mid range sticks on amazon J. Sega didn't cheap out on this thing as it's using sanwa parts and from the blurb on amazon you can mod it if you like as it's been designed to be tinkered with.
Nice it would be nice if it worked on other systems as well
 

Impotaku

Member
Damn it Sega stop trying to hijack my damn credit card lol, made the mistake of having a peek at the website to see if there was anything new. Why yes, yes there was. It seems there's a special pink version of the astro that's based on the player 2 side so all the buttons are pink and the cabinet is a slightly different model. The catch is they are only available from segatoys own website they are sold in 2 bundles.

One with 2 pads
pink_a.jpg


Or with a arcade stick, either way you can only get the pads or stick in a bundle from what i can see.
pink_b.jpg


Part of me wants them but it's already a substantial chunk of cash getting a single set of everything. Plus i'll have to set up an account on sega toys and hope they don't pull a hori on me.

On a different note if you preorder one from GEO you get a teeny tiny ash tray lol
geo_sp.jpg

Damn you amazon and you crappy bonus of pc & smatphone wallpaper that i'll never use lol
 

HF2014

Member
Interesting, but what up with the name Astro City? Where did that come from and how is this representing a Sega product?
 

Dazrael

Member
Interesting, but what up with the name Astro City? Where did that come from and how is this representing a Sega product?
That’s what the original cabinets were called. Most Sega cabs from that time came from the “City” line. I used to have an Aero City that was an older model than the Astro.
 

HF2014

Member
That’s what the original cabinets were called. Most Sega cabs from that time came from the “City” line. I used to have an Aero City that was an older model than the Astro.

Hey thanks for the history lesson here, was not aware of that.
 

Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
That’s what the original cabinets were called. Most Sega cabs from that time came from the “City” line. I used to have an Aero City that was an older model than the Astro.
And what about my candy cab?
 

Impotaku

Member
Found an interesting video just now, seems someone in Korea has one wether it's a prototype or a youtube preview unit but it's definitely the official astro mini. While i have no clue what they are saying as i don't understand Korean at all it's cool to see it actually up close as the sega website really hasn't shown much since the reveal you can even see the menu system it's using and the settings you can choose seems it has english built in which is odd seeing as it hasn't been announced for anywhere but japan yet. Looks pretty neat and i'm pleased to hear that clickly stick on it.


also another video from the same youtube guy playing some stuff via hdmi looks pretty crisp on that monitor.
 
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Got mine today.

It's a bit bigger than the Neo Geo ones.
OQNqZtc.jpg


There are a lot of ports on the back. It comes with an HDMI cable and power cable.

tPEE3TM.jpg



Start-up screens

MBPL1M5.jpg



Y5VlXb3.jpg


Very nicely, it immediately prompts you to choose the system menu. However, some of the game text in my brief play to date was in Japanese, so it seems not to affect games, or at least not the early stage of Golden Axe.

Game select screen

iToGVEE.jpg


And a few of game play. Sorry about the crappy phone photos.



Ap2JYFE.jpg


nplIxJ1.jpg


Looks nice so far.
 

kunonabi

Member
Got mine today.

It's a bit bigger than the Neo Geo ones.
OQNqZtc.jpg


There are a lot of ports on the back. It comes with an HDMI cable and power cable.

tPEE3TM.jpg



Start-up screens

MBPL1M5.jpg



Y5VlXb3.jpg


Very nicely, it immediately prompts you to choose the system menu. However, some of the game text in my brief play to date was in Japanese, so it seems not to affect games, or at least not the early stage of Golden Axe.

Game select screen

iToGVEE.jpg


And a few of game play. Sorry about the crappy phone photos.



Ap2JYFE.jpg


nplIxJ1.jpg


Looks nice so far.

Looking good. My stick is coming Monday but the rest of it probably wont arrive until January.
 

cireza

Banned
Looks nice so far.
Thanks for sharing some pictures.

Some questions, in case you might be able to answer :
- Do you feel that the screen does a good job about "movement blur". Scrolling is not too blurry ?
- Can you tell if the screen has an appropriate resolution allowing games to be "integer scaled" at full screen ? (might depend on each game resolution obviously)
- Any options for scanlines, and they look even ?
 
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kunonabi

Member
turns out my stick arrived today. I swear DHL uses transporters or something, their speed is insane.

anyway, it works on PC fine but it doesn't work on ps3 or ps4 so I'll need to mod it or preferably wait for a converter.
 

dave_d

Member
This also has the arcade versions of ESWAT and Shadow Dancer as well, right? Those never got a home release before as far as I know.
 

DansDans

Member
Holy crap

My Fucking Hero

The worst of the worst (which means I love it to tears, especially the Master System port) is still alive!
 

Miyazaki’s Slave

Gold Member
Arrrgh!!! Didn’t know there was a joystick. I got the arcade from Amazon.jp along with a game pad. That price tag is rough for the joystick.
 
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wondermega

Member
Got mine today.

piccy pics

thanks for the detailed hirez pics! This thing looks nice - I am still not a fan of the actual case design (as compared to the neo geo) but it's not an eyesore so that's fine. I am curious how the joystick and buttons feel? Are they nice and clicky with a real arcade feel as I could only dream? Or slippy and slidy and whatever, like the neo? Damn it, it is hard to not just plunk down some money and order one right now.. If they ever crack this and get an older version of mame running on it, I will be all over it in a second.
 

dave_d

Member
Holy crap

My Fucking Hero

The worst of the worst (which means I love it to tears, especially the Master System port) is still alive!
Nah, My Hero was cool. Admittedly it was weird everything could one shot you except for the big boss who couldn't. I see it's got Ninja as well. (Ok, the arcade version is Ninja Princess but that became Ninja on the SMS.)
 

kunonabi

Member
Arrrgh!!! Didn’t know there was a joystick. I got the arcade from Amazon.jp along with a game pad. That price tag is rough for the joystick.
It's basically a reskinned virtua high grade stick which is super premium and very heavy. It's one of the best sticks you can buy. If converters come out for it and you play enough arcade games it is worth investment.
 

Miyazaki’s Slave

Gold Member
It's basically a reskinned virtua high grade stick which is super premium and very heavy. It's one of the best sticks you can buy. If converters come out for it and you play enough arcade games it is worth investment.
AHH!

I thought it was a mini version, not a real sized one. I have arcade sticks for days so that isn't an issue. I just thought that 120 bucks for mini stick would be crazy.

Looking at the buttons on the arcade stick there do not appear to be enough for switch/ps4/xbox support. Maybe HID for PC support but anything beyond that might be tricky. Gonna try to grab one if possible, thanks for the clarification.
 

kunonabi

Member
AHH!

I thought it was a mini version, not a real sized one. I have arcade sticks for days so that isn't an issue. I just thought that 120 bucks for mini stick would be crazy.

Looking at the buttons on the arcade stick there do not appear to be enough for switch/ps4/xbox support. Maybe HID for PC support but anything beyond that might be tricky. Gonna try to grab one if possible, thanks for the clarification.

Lol, 120 for a mini stick would indeed be quite bonkers.
 
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DansDans

Member
Nah, My Hero was cool. Admittedly it was weird everything could one shot you except for the big boss who couldn't. I see it's got Ninja as well. (Ok, the arcade version is Ninja Princess but that became Ninja on the SMS.)

No I agree with you. I fucking love the game. I just recognise how bad it is!!!
 
Got my Astro city yesterday and I love it! Also, I can confirm that the Sega Genesis mini controller works with the Astro city using the Mayflower magic s-pro adapter directly connected on the usb port!
 

cireza

Banned
The choice of a wide screen is extremely disappointing, leading to a huge black unused area. The Neo Geo Mini actually had a 4/3 320x240 screen, a perfect fit for its games. Pretty sure you get a bigger picture in the end on the latest, despite the fact that it is a smaller object. Weren't 640x480 LCDs available ?

Otherwise the Astro City Mini seems to integer scale its picture which a good point. Outputting 720p is not a great fit for 1080 TV though. Should be fine on 4K TV however.

The biggest problem is the choice of screen in my opinion. With this in mind, I think the better experience will be on TV.
 
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Tarin02543

Member
I've read that Virtua Fighter is being emulated in 720p except the gui. Also there is some slowdown during replays.

Can anyone confirm?
 
The reviews on this seem to be extremely positive. In fact, several seem to note both the build quality and emulation are better than the MegaDrive/Genesis Mini. I had initial doubts since it wasn't exactly Sega directly handling this, but the Sega Toys division (which I knew nothing about), but now I'd love to see these guys do a Saturn Mini.

....and yes, it's possible. Maybe not at $100, but I wouldn't mind a $150 Saturn Mini if it meant having good enough hardware for the emulation. They could have a few games preinstalled even if it's just maybe 10, and have more that are downloadable to user-optional expanded storage on some installed microSD card. That could also open the door for future releases and maybe even translations for games that never got them (Virus, Soul Hackers, etc.) and unreleased demos, maybe even a game or two that was cancelled and almost done but they finally finish it in some way (Sonic Xtreme).
 

cireza

Banned
I've read that Virtua Fighter is being emulated in 720p except the gui. Also there is some slowdown during replays.

Can anyone confirm?
This has been clearly visible on two review videos I have watched (Retro Core and SegaLordX). Still looked pretty good if you ask me (really the highlight of this machine) but this is not arcade perfect. Both noted a small input lag as well.
 

Neff

Member
I've been putting it through its paces since giving it to myself on christmas day, and yeah, it's awesome. The games selection is fantastic, the emulation and responsiveness is on point, and the optional arcade stick is probably the best I've ever used. I wouldn't say it's quite as good as the SNES classic but it's almost up there with it.

The 'scanline' 'filter' (what were they thinking?) and the occasional choppiness in VF1 are really the only bad things I have to say about it.
 

Impotaku

Member
the scanlines do look shit thats true, they don't even line up with where they are supposed to be relating to the pixels, mines still somewhere in the mail in a huge parcel containing one of everything. really looking forward to playing through the content on this thing. There's a lot i have never played as i never gravitated towards most of the sega stuff in arcades.
 

Dazrael

Member
This has been clearly visible on two review videos I have watched (Retro Core and SegaLordX). Still looked pretty good if you ask me (really the highlight of this machine) but this is not arcade perfect. Both noted a small input lag as well.
To me Virtua Fighter has always felt sluggish in the way it’s played so that lag could be accurate.
 
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