Is the Astro City Mini Sega's next coup in the retro gaming scene?

The releases of the two mini consoles Genesis last year and Game Gear this year don't seem to be enough for the Japanese. With the Astro City Mini, Sega is launching another miniature version of a retro classic on the market. Since the video game and hardware manufacturer withdrew from the console business, the game aficionados from Tokyo have decided to try their luck in the retro gaming industry. The Astro City Mini, a small arcade game machine, is set to contain 36 Sega titles and will be launched at the end of 2020.

A gaming machine with a five-inch screen diagonal

The Japanese gaming site Game Watch reveals further details about the upcoming retro handheld that Sega had originally planned to present. Experts from the gaming community assume that there was a minor mishap in communication between Game Watch and Sega, which led to the information being unintentionally published too early. Mistake or no mistake, Sega is really going retro with its latest mini console. After the Game Gear Mini, the Astro City Mini is the second miniature retro console from Sega that the Japanese company is planning to launch on its 60th birthday.

According to Game Watch, the Sega Astro City Mini will be launched in Japan towards the end of this year. For a price of 12,800 yen - the equivalent of around 112 francs - you get a retro console that measures just one-sixth of the original arcade game machine. That's exactly 13×17×17 centimetres. The LCD screen is thus reduced from 29 to around 4.8 inches. The buttons and joystick are only shrunk by half so that comfort is not lost when playing. The joystick will also be an eight-way digital switch, which would be a big improvement on the cumbersome analogue stick of the Neo Geo Mini.

36 arcade classics in mini retro format

Ten titles that you can play on the Astro City Mini have already been finalised. The 26 remaining games will be announced over the course of the summer, so that retro fans will be able to enjoy a total of 36 games. These are the first ten known games:

• "Alien Storm"
• "Alien Syndrome"
• "Altered Beast"
• "Columns II"
• "Dark Edge"
• "Fantasy Zone"
• "Golden Axe"
• "Golden Axe: Revenge of Death Adder"
• "Tant-R"
• "Virtua Fighter"

The whole thing is powered via a micro USB port. If the almost five-inch screen is too small for you, you can connect the Astro City Mini to your TV or PC monitor via an HDMI cable. The mini handheld also supports basic emulator functions, such as saving save states. With separately available controllers that you connect to the Astro City Mini via USB, you can play with two other friends on the same device.

Retro and mini dominate at Sega

The original arcade machine Astro City was launched in 1993 and was the successor to Aero City, which was released in 1988. The arcade machine was very popular in the gaming scene at the time and is still extremely popular today. One of the reasons for this is the fact that the universal design works with numerous interchangeable JAMMA boards. This is why it is still used in many Japanese arcade machines today.

It is not known if and when Sega plans to bring the Astro City Mini to the European market. Either way, it's likely to be a tough nut to crack to get the game into our shop. Nevertheless, we are leaving no stone unturned to get hold of a few copies. If it should be available in our shop, you will find out. If you don't want to miss any more mini retro console and other gaming news, then follow me by clicking on the "Follow author" button. <p