Sega Toys' Satoshi Shimokawa and Yuichi Aoki talk about the just-announced Astro City Mini game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/interview…🇯🇵 (the link's dead atm, I think they accidentally jumped the gun, give it a few hours)
plans for Astro City Mini began in 2018, in anticipation of Sega's 60th anniversary and prior to & independent of MD Mini; they also planned a mini replica of Sega's first jukebox, the Sega 1000, but those plans were scrapped
they decided on Astro City Mini for two reasons: one, their individual & collective passions for arcade games, and two, they had the unique skills & expertise within Sega Toys to make it a feasible project, including the fact that the OG Astro City designer is still at Sega
they were able to get cooperation from all elements of the company, of course, including classic devs—Hiroshi "Hiro." Kawaguchi wrote the system's menu music, and Takenobu Mitsuyoshi narrated their promo video
why Astro City Mini in particular, and not Aero Table, Blast City, Aero City, etc? basically, because Virtua Fighter's a marquee title and thus most ppl would be familiar with Astro City
the Astro City Mini is 130 x 170 x 160mm, so around 1/6 scale to a regular Astro City; for the sake of playability, the buttons weren't scaled down so much (precisely 56% as big as regular buttons) & they've maintained 8-way microswitches, a metal stick, screw-off ball top, etc
they've built the mini-cab with the same resin as a real Astro City & replicated all the surface designs; the speakers also work with stereo output, and there are functioning LEDs in place of the fluorescent lights
how'd they decided on the 36 included games? they asked around for suggestions in consultation with Sega's Yosuke Okunari but the list kept growing, not shrinking
they're picking games based on must-haves, surprising picks & games that weren't done justice with prior home ports
they're picking games based on must-haves, surprising picks & games that weren't done justice with prior home ports
(they're still finalising the lineup btw)
on the 10 announced games, it might look as if they're anchored around certain hardware that's relatively easy to port, but they say that's not the case & eliminating games that were tough to emulate would make the product pointless
on the 10 announced games, it might look as if they're anchored around certain hardware that's relatively easy to port, but they say that's not the case & eliminating games that were tough to emulate would make the product pointless
one of the difficulties in porting these games is that they're particular about getting them directly from the PCBs, but tracking down hardware hasn't always been easy—oftentimes the ROMs are too old to read, some games have unmarked revisions that need to be analysed, etc
they're planning four more announcements concerning the remaining 26 titles, one per month
they're confident it's worth the ¥12800: on top of the 36 games, it has a high-quality LCD, HDMI out & will be playable with new Astro City Mini arcade sticks & pads, sold separately
they're confident it's worth the ¥12800: on top of the 36 games, it has a high-quality LCD, HDMI out & will be playable with new Astro City Mini arcade sticks & pads, sold separately
the pad will be MD-ish, stay tuned on that
you'll be able to have one person on the Mini butttons + one with an external controller, or both players on external controllers, but unfortunately, 3/4-player games like Revenge of Death Adder will be limited to 2 players
you'll be able to have one person on the Mini butttons + one with an external controller, or both players on external controllers, but unfortunately, 3/4-player games like Revenge of Death Adder will be limited to 2 players
they considered dipswitches for the included games but the final product will have the games locked to certain settings
there will be save states
...and that's pretty much it, but because I haven't mentioned it yet, the 10 confirmed games so far (cont'd):
there will be save states
...and that's pretty much it, but because I haven't mentioned it yet, the 10 confirmed games so far (cont'd):
Alien Storm
Alien Syndrome
Golden Axe
Golden Axe Revenge of Death Adder
Columns II
Dark Edge
Tant-R
Virtua Fighter
Fantasy Zone
Altered Beast
...which leaves 26 more. place your bets!
Alien Syndrome
Golden Axe
Golden Axe Revenge of Death Adder
Columns II
Dark Edge
Tant-R
Virtua Fighter
Fantasy Zone
Altered Beast
...which leaves 26 more. place your bets!
oh right, they changed the url game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/interview…
btw, the version that went up yesterday said there's both a stick and a pad coming, but the version published today only mentions the pad... another gun-jump?
btw, the version that went up yesterday said there's both a stick and a pad coming, but the version published today only mentions the pad... another gun-jump?
