Taito Egret II Mini.

I want one but I just have too many other ways to play these games right now 😂. It's a very cool little unit and some of the shmups are great on this one.

I wonder if M2 is involved with the emulation on this unit since they've handled the Genesis mini and turbographix mimi tuxedomarty. It would make sense to throw them on there if they're publishing all of the toaplan library anyway. I'm not sure how so that works though.

Oh boy. I definitely won't have space for the Egret II on my set up if I did buy one. And I never was able to get the Astro City Mini yet either.

Neat! The vertical screen would be great for Rayforce.

And wait... there's a game called Cameltry? I can just guess what genre that falls into.

There's a vertical Astro City Mini coming out soon - just for the vertical games.

The full-size Egret II has a rotating screen so I guess that's why they included that feature here. I think it does add some cost on to the Mini but it might be something all arcade minis have in future. Now someone has done it - maybe more will follow

I always sincerely wonder how much experience you have on such a small screen. Surely it can be a bit bigger than this and still remain handy? Why so tiny? It is true that you can connect such consoles to a TV, but I don't expect many people to eventually do this.
Plus you have to buy an extra controller. The price to import these was also way too expensive as far as I'm concerned.
The rotating screen is certainly cool and has raised the bar for future mini consoles. However, I think the upcoming Evercade XP, with the two extra buttons for the Tate mode, is also clever designed and gives much more bang for your buck.

Some more Taito Egret II Mini news : the first pack of extra games will be available in Japan in December and there is a firmware update which fixes some minor issues (paddle control issues are fixed, and any lag is fixed)


Price works out at about $50/£50 which is quite expensive for 10 games 


Something interesting I found out - the extra games (Arkanoid, Cameltry etc) that come on the SD card with the paddle controller - are already on the console. The SD card just makes them available. The firmware update makes it so all you need to do now is plug the paddle controller in and you will get those games available.

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My Verdict :

I did cave in and get one of these in the end and got it a few weeks back now. I have to say I really like it! It feels like getting an official Taito console. It was probably the most excited I've been opening a console since I got my Dreamcast. I got the pack with all the extras (3 extra controllers, one of each type) which I think was a good (although expensive!) move.

The screen is very good, and the controls on the unit are excellent for a mini, especially the stick which feels nice and solid + clicky. As usual playing on the unit itself is not ideal because the screen is right above the controls so it's an odd viewing angle. But I plugged the arcade controller in and sat back a bit and that was perfect.

The rotating screen works very well and makes sense since it's based on the real Egret II that had that feature BUT I did think a better idea could be to put a larger screen in and then just rotate the image on the screen

If you can afford it, I'd recommend it but otherwise it is on the expensive side. But on the other hand it does feel like a quality unit - even the plastic feels good quality.

Negatives : Sadly no official console can ever be as good as an unofficial solution. Licensing issues will mean games have to be altered slightly. For example the original Rainbow Islands (only Rainbow Islands Extra is included here which seems odd) will most likely never be included with the original tune in place. And Chase HQ may be another international no-show with it's copies of Western cars.