Astro City Mini

[roots.genoa]

1 hour ago, Steven Pendleton said:

ask the Sega dude if they are planning on making more arcade sticks

Can you ask if they will make more pink controllers too, please? ?

[Steven Pendleton]

20 minutes ago, roots.genoa said:

Can you ask if they will make more pink controllers too, please? ?

lol I will if I go. I haven't decided yet, but at least it's basically stopped raining. I just realized that I won't be able to make it there in time to see the R-Type Final 2 presentation in person, but in person it's basically impossible to see anything because of the way it's set up and it's basically impossible to hear anything over the noise of the arcade, so it's honestly probably better to watch it online anyway.

[Steven Pendleton]

Yeah, I think I'm going to stay home for this one. After 9 hours of work yesterday followed by immediately going straight from the office to Mikado and staying there until midnight, I don't really feel like going anywhere now. I do hope they make more arcade sticks, but...

[Tanooki]

@Steven Pendleton Is that on the 2nd one for shooters or the original?

[Steven Pendleton]

32 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

@Steven Pendleton Is that on the 2nd one for shooters or the original?

You mean with the apparent 7 frames of lag? The old one. New one doesn't release until end of July, I think.

 

Well, he posted it 8 minutes ago, it seems.

 

This is a review of the Egret II Mini, but he does compare it to the original Astro City, so it's still relevant to watch for that, I think, even if you have no interest in the Egret II Mini.

Edited April 3, 2022 by Steven Pendleton

[Tanooki]

Oh I thought it was just the 2nd Astro that lagged up.  I really hadn't noticed.

[Steven Pendleton]

All of these mini consoles have lag. I expect the Astro City Mini V to be within the same 6~8 frames of the original Astro City Mini. It has an incredible selection of games, though, like Out Zone, V-V, Out Zone, Armed Police Batrider, Battle Bakraid, Out Zone, Tatsujin Ou, Out Zone, and Out Zone. It also has Out Zone, so don't miss it.

[Zoyous]

I think there's a cottage industry of social media nitpickers trying to insinuate major lag on these devices because they know they'll get views doing just that. It's one thing when you have the device in hand and you can use controlled measurements to get an accurate count. But some joker analyzing a livestreamed video of an event where you have one camera on the player and another image of the feed coming from the mini console through the livestreaming software and then analyzing that as if we're assuming that those disparate video sources are all calibrated and there are no framerate variances introduced by the stream itself... and bearing in mind social media "content" "creators" have every motivation to put out negative hot takes... I just don't put any stock into that stuff.

[roots.genoa]

Also it seems that there is only (significant) input lag on the Egret II mini if it's badly supplied. And I remember that I had crashes with the Astro City Mini with a bad power plug, but it happened in only one game and it worked most of the time, so a lot of reviewers may test these systems that way unfortunately.

[Tanooki]

Underpowering would make sense, but probably that post there nailed it... arm chair critics and whiners injecting what isn't there enough to matter.  These devices have a specific clientele and if they piss them off they're going to lose, lose money, lose reputation to do more.

 

My astro I have running off an ANKER made 5in1 USB block that plugs right into a power strip, never had a problem.

[wolfy62]

Any word on when the Astro City mini v may be available for preorder in the USA?

Really would love to purchase one!

[0078265317]

https://www.gematsu.com/2021/12/astro-city-mini-v-announced

 

[+jgkspsx]

3 hours ago, wolfy62 said:

Any word on when the Astro City mini v may be available for preorder in the USA?

Really would love to purchase one!

The only localization they did for the first one was the outer box, so I am just buying the Japanese release again.

[Steven Pendleton]

I got my Astro City Mini V in the mail yesterday morning. It has significant lag that is enough to affect gameplay in some games, but some seem to be better/worse than others. Playing Tatsujin Ou on this thing is very awkward, and the game is already stupidly difficult as it is. The awesome V-V, which you absolutely need to play, fortunately seems pretty okay! Out Zone, which you also absolutely need to play, also seems pretty decent.

 

Same! Same! Same! is the 1P version, which most regular humans find to be almost completely unplayable due to its truly insane difficulty, so yeah, have fun with that one if you've never played it before. Just surviving the first 3 stages will automatically put you in the top 50 on the global leaderboard on the Switch version, regardless of your score, so definitely play this game if you like pain or if you just hate yourself.

 

No pictures until Monday... you'll see why then~

[+jgkspsx]

I saw the photos elsewhere, @Steven Pendleton, but get them in here too!

 

I am enjoying Same! Same! Same! and Tatsujin despite the difficulty and possible lag.

 

 

 

Is there any way to play with P2 in Same! Same! Same!?

 

Man is that a wimpy speaker/sound system. It might be quieter than my GBA SP and it’s tinnier than anything I’ve recently played including Tiny Arcades.

[Steven Pendleton]

Alright, here you go:

 

 

13 hours ago, jgkspsx said:

Is there any way to play with P2 in Same! Same! Same!?

Most people refer to the original version of the game as the 1P version, but it's actually a multiplayer game. You have to take turns, though. 1P side gets red plane and 2P side gets blue plane, alternating. You should still be able to play on 2P side by holding D as you start the game, or by plugging your controller into the 2P side controller port. Nope, can't. Disregard. Need a controller in port 2 to play on 2P side.

 

Toaplan later released what is referred to as the 2P version, which actually has simultaneous multiplayer, an unbelievable reduction in difficulty that makes the game actually playable for normal humans, and many other changes, like the item table, more item carriers, and special enemies (usually white/grey turrets on the ground) that now drop speed. This version is not included as far as I know. Notably, 2P side does more damage in this version than 1P side does, although the specifics are unclear and it might be limited to just the wide shot. This mechanic was later modified and used in Raiden.

 

Same! Same! Same! has exactly 1 home port: the awesome Mega Drive version. It is a highly playable and heavily rebalanced version of the 1P version with the originally intended difficulty level, and it's a hell of a lot of fun to play. The only way to play the excellent arcade 2P version is to either find a PCB (not likely) or buy this glorious collection, which has every version of the game included and is how I play it: https://m2stg.com/hisho-same3/

 

Anyway, yeah, the speakers in this thing are not great, the scaling sucks unless you rotate your screen, the sound emulation is not great (Same! Same! Same! has very harsh audio when you put the coin in; it's not supposed to sound like that at all), it has the worst fake scanlines I've ever seen in my life, and it has like 9~10 frames of lag. Disappointing, but legally obtainable Out Zone and V-V for the first time without having to spend about a thousand dollars on a PCB, so it's not a complete waste.

 

Speaking of V-V, don't forget V-V Bomber Ver. is here, too. On the title screen, insert a coin and enter the code

 

right, left, B, left, down, A, up, left

 

and it will turn the game into V-V Bomber Ver..

 

Oh yeah, and don't forget that Dogyuun has Lock-On Technology^TM 2 years before Sonic & Knuckles existed. Plug your controller in, insert 2 coins, but only play by yourself. Use the C button to attach the 1P ship to the 2P ship and have fun with greatly increased firepower and no checkpoints. Also turn the volume way up so Dogyuun Magic, POWER ON, and HIGH SPEED QUEEN can melt your face off. Dogyuun has one of the best soundtracks Toaplan ever made.

Edited August 13, 2022 by Steven Pendleton