No rEgrets
One of the most lucrative businesses these days is anything related to tapping into millennials’ nostalgia. Sure, it’s been a rough couple of decades for those sandwiched between Generation X and Zoomers. Studies show that we’re lagging behind our parents’ financial levels for our age, with two major recessions and ridiculous student loans plaguing this generation. Even so, as we have seen, our childhoods are sold with all sorts of entertainments seeking to capitalize on the love we have for movie, TV showsand Game of our youth. We may not have a lot of money, but somehow we have enough cash to buy expensive tchotchkes and tank tops to let us relive our school days.
Case in point: the mini video game industry. If you’re like me, you’ve probably dreamed of having your own wardrobe throughout your childhood. Now, that dream is becoming a reality, just on a smaller scale than you can remember. Arcade 1Up is easily the biggest name in the field, with a 3/4 scale collection of arcade goodies catering to those with basements that need to be filled. Other companies are even smaller. SNK dropped it Neo Geo Mini a few years ago and Limited Run Games partnered with Sega for Astro City Mini last year. Now, Taito is getting into the action with its Egret II Mini cabinet.
Just over 8 inches tall, the Taito Egret II Mini is the personally sized recreation of the Taito Egret II video game unit that you can still find all over Japan’s arcades today. Attached to the base of the device is the controller, which is only 6 inches long but big enough for people with fatter hands like me. Just make sure you’re using your fingertips and not your entire fist as you’ll want to keep using your device.
The controller has six gameplay buttons, a highly responsive 8-way directional joystick — which you can switch with a knob to a 4-way directional joystick — and three buttons you’ll use to start the game, exit game or add more digital tokens to your game. It’s a great device that feels good to play and seems suitable for extended gaming sessions. I’ve been using my Egret II Mini steadily for the past two weeks, and nothing about the controls feels loose or sloppy. Then again, there really aren’t too many games in this collection that would give me a hard time navigating.
The star of the device is its display. The Egret II Mini boasts a colorful 5” display that you can switch from 4:3 to portrait TATE mode — or landscape to portrait if that’s more familiar to you — with a “click” sound. huge and satisfying when the screen is snap into place. All you do is press on the screen to unlock, rotate and push again to lock into place. As the device boasts a good selection of vertical shooters, I cannot express my appreciation that this small innovation made it into the final product. It just makes playing those games more real than I remember from my childhood video games. Just don’t expect the image to always fill the screen.
Speaking of games, what exactly do you get with the Taito Egret II Mini? It’s actually a lot. The main unit itself comes with 40 Taito titles spanning more than 15 years of the company’s history. Some of the more notable games in the mix are Space Invaders, New Zealand Story, Bobble Bubbles, Elevator action, Tatsujinand Legend of Kage. If you like arcade shooters, they make up about 1/4 of the whole pack.
Also, there are some very cool additions that I didn’t really expect, such as a licensed game (Lupine III) and a trio of fighters, one of which (Dan Ku Ga) is just an updated version of another include header (Kaiser Knuckle). While I don’t see myself being serious Kaiser and Dan Ku—Not much is said about Combat violencethe better — they’re a great reminder of the biggest arcade gold rush of the ’90s when nearly every developer was flooding the market with one-on-one fighters in tow Street Fighter IIof geographic growth.
Easily one of my favorite features on the Egret II Mini, you can save your game with any of the included titles. That way, you won’t lose your place if you have to stop the game, something that has worked in my favor a few times after I was constantly interrupted by work calls.
While I expected to enjoy some of the more recognizable names, there are actually a few lesser-known names that I find myself returning to every time I boot up. Cadash is a completely fun side-scrolling RPG with lots of playable characters to learn and master. Growl is an absurd play that features a group of wildlife conservationists defeating poachers, nationalist stereotypes, and, for some reason, businesswomen in pencil skirts. The most enjoyable thing I have with the pack so far is Ninja Kids, another absurd shot starring a quartet of puppet-like ninjas that chop the guys in half as they battle against a Satanic cult. Nice, silly fun that reminds me a lot of my childhood days at the local Alfy’s play area Batman Baseball Ninja.
If you want to increase the number of games, there is a way to expand your collection. The back of the Egret Mini II has two USB slots for controller accessories (sold separately), as well as an HDMI port and headphone jack. There is also an SD card slot next to the device. One of the optional controllers available for the Egret II Mini is a trackball and paddle controller. Included with this accessory is an SD card with 10 games designed around those input types, including three different versions of ArkanoidDragon up Syvalionand amazing marble game Cameltry.
It would be interesting if more SD cards were on the horizon, but for now, these 40 games represent a dynamic and diverse piece of Taito’s reign in the arcade era. There are some great entities from the corporate heyday that didn’t make it, such as Chase HQ and Gun Buster, but such titles will require further expansion of the controller if players want to experience them as authentically as possible. As for what’s here, though, it’s a great tour of an era that many like me might have missed the first time around.
That said, like with many of these mini-video game units, this is a tough product to recommend for those who haven’t been 100% nostalgic for Taito’s heyday. Despite the efforts the company made in the 90s and 2000s, Taito doesn’t have as much brand relevance as it once did. It’s still Go out there and make games is part of Square Enix and is doing its part to keep the dwindling video game scene alive, but I can’t imagine a large number of players swoon when they hear the jingle of Taito is like how millions of people lost their minds when they heard the Sega logo launch sound.
If you are nostalgic or just have money and lots of counter or bar space, this is a well-matched entertainment unit. Its controls are responsive, the ability to switch the screen to TATE for those vertical scrolling shooters is a genius, and the HDMI port lets you share the fun with others. I always have a special place in my heart for games like New Zealand Story and Puzzle Bobble, so I know this is going to be a lot of play around my apartment once I find the right spot for it. Whether the same holds true for you will depend on how many fond memories you have from plugging each zone into those vintage arcade cabinets.
Taito Egret II Mini is now available for pre-order from Strict Limit and Missile Games.
[This review is based on a promotional sample of the device provided by United Games Entertainment. In addition to the hardware unit, the reviewer also received the trackball and paddle controller accessory.]
CJ Andriessen
Just what the Internet needed: another white guy writing about video games.
