The BEST Mini Arcade Cabinet - Taito Egret II Mini, Sega Astro City Mini or NeoGeo Mini [Roundup]

[@MyAthlinks]

I have all 3. They are good to look at but since I have a cocktail cabinet, all three are for casual quick gaming only. - Neo Geo Mini is a toy but since it has Neo Geo games and it's cheap, so value is good if you don't mind that plastic feel. - Astro City is probably the best among the three in terms of the unit itself as well as the games. - Egret II is probably too big in size and expensive, but I like the rotatable screen which is an innovation, and it has some good games there. I did not spend any additional money for any accessories since all of them are way too expensive. I will leave all three mostly as display units so all good, I probably don't even want to mod the Egret.

[@TeamPandory]

Yeah agreed. Revisiting the mini cabs I found the astrocity to have a worse stick than even the neogeo mini. Feels like it's going to break.

[@Studeb]

The Egret II is famous for its excellent 29" screen which is the easiest to rotate of any cabinet, so probably why they did that. I've got two of them, and also two cocktail cabinets, not sure how you prefer playing on them considering how bad my neck feels after a session.

[@dariusq8894]

1:09 The Neo Geo Mini was modeled after the cabaret style cabinet from Japan. It looks very much like the model cabinet it's based on.

[@RetroGameCorps]

Great video, loved the different use cases at the end.

[@TeamPandory]

"inspired" :)

[@Larry]

I've got the stand & stool for the astro mini, it comes with a back plate too. Also the main body also doubles as a piggy bank!

[@TeamPandory]

It does WHAT? Awesome! I didn't get the stool/stand because back then, I thought it was expensive. Then the Egret II Mini bundles happened :-o

[@Larry]

@@TeamPandory Haha, I think Play-Asia still has them for sale if you ever change your mind.

[@TeamPandory]

@@Larry Something tells me the Sega Astrocity stock moved all to the Astrocity Mini V section of Amazon Japan. Bets are on that it's the same product

[@Larry]

@@TeamPandory Quite likely, I don't think I'll be getting one, as I'm not really interestd in any of the games.

[@TeamPandory]

I'm pretty bad with remembering game names. Same goes for song titles.... And work colleagues.

[@MisterMaster4life]

Great little comparison. Very informative. Enjoyed watching. Thanks for sharing.

[@TeamPandory]

@@MisterMaster4life Cheers for watching 😁 🍻

[@lady1kaka]

Would love to have one of these Mini arcades slightly bigger than these. Yet smaller than Arcade1Up.

[@SIPEROTH]

The biggest of the three is not that bad. The screen seems clear and little bigger.

[@dwightdixon8508]

I choose the NeoGeo mini over the other two due to the games regardless of picture quality when using HDMI out. I actually prefer the “muddy” picture as opposed to heavily pixelation that you’d get if the filter wasn’t used. Just my opinion

[@TeamPandory]

The games on the NeoGeo mini REALLY is THAT GOOD. Each title screams quality. You don't even need HDMI out if you use the little cab.

[@moonboyd6199]

I have the European version because it had more metal slug games. But I must need my eyes tested because I thought the HDMI was fine. Maybe some cabs are better than others? And at least you get full intros (I love the little snk tune) unlike my pandora cx.

[@TeamPandory]

@@moonboyd6199 Yeah, the cx inserts coin on game start. We've managed to fix the DX versions with pandory though.

[@SIPEROTH]

@@moonboyd6199 European version? As I know there is international and Asian version not European one.

[@wickedportablegaming]

Awesome overview of all the mini arcades 🦾

[@TeamPandory]

Hope it made sense 🤣

[@wickeddutchgamer]

@@TeamPandory ja hoor

[@BeeJay91]

gotta love how the Robotic voice tells the ugly truth fast enough

[@TeamPandory]

You mean John Luke? Yeah, some people make this mistake due to his very manly, monotone voice

[@Shinobi33]

Thank God I've been blessed to have all 3. The best build design and hardware. By far the Taito. The best games goes easily to the SNK mini. The best overall mini goes to the Astro City mini. Though my personal favorite is the Taito Egret II Mini.

[@TeamPandory]

I think you understand now why we had to close this video with "it depends totally on the person playing" - they're all good in their own right

[@Shinobi33]

@@TeamPandory exactly. Whatever floats your boat, tickles your pickle, or is your cup of tea.

[@RedRanger2001]

Hmm... Both the Astro City and the Egret II mini both have clicky joysticks... Plus the Egret II mini has a faux curvature and rotatable screen to go from yoko to tate (horizontal to vertical)... But all three mini cabinets all need one thing --- two of the Mayflash Magic Stick. However, some people like me just stick with MAME, since the Astro City and the Egret II mini all have Japanese ROMs for some games (i.e. Bubble Bobble)...

[@pommedapi3847]

nice touch with all these "ECHE D M AII OUT" voices :D

[@TeamPandory]

It's a struggle, battling AI ... I tell ya! :D

[@pommedapi3847]

the egret II should be able to play all the titles of his brothers soon + it has the best screen and controls + SD slot, it´s actually a no brainer. The astro with it´s 16/9 screen for 4/3 games is a bummer and it struggle running VF even in 720p. Still the Astro is the only unit having an official virtua fighter arcade running as model 1 is still not emulated yet. As you mentioned in the review of the egret there is space for mods, that would make it the ultimate mini cab. Let´s hope and enjoy what they are for now.

[@TeamPandory]

The Egret is still expensive, and as is has by far (IMO) the worst games at stock. If or when the Egret can have added games, and some aspect ratio problems fixed, it'd totally whip the llama's ass

[@ianjacka469]

Agreed, which I why that is my choice.

[@speedvr829]

I was told batocera runs on taito machine. With the rotating screen, that's my choice for Christmas this year. Just need to keep dropping those hints and links to amazon.

[@TeamPandory]

A modding team are working on porting it over, it's looking very nice but not quite ready

[@Openreality]

Honestly even buying the Christmas edition neo geo mini, that has 48 games, the downside is possible censorship of some games. I think I'll stick with the neo geo mini Christmas edition with 8 extra games and all the necessary cables and controllers. I'm still keeping the other one i have for a guest or to give to a friend.

[@TeamPandory]

For what they are, they're great. Not the definitive best thing for neogeo, that's for sure - but its the next best thing that's affordable and easily obtainable on Amazon.

[@agemoth]

the Egret 2 Mini is a clear winner to me because you can play ARKANOID with the SPINNER! i have not much income but i'm gonna blow my next cost of living money on it!

[@TeamPandory]

Yeah, they all got their pros/cons- one thing to add- the Egret 2 Mini also has Batocera available :o

[@wickeddutchgamer]

Geweldige video .. dank U !

[@TeamPandory]

Danks for the komment :D

[@wickeddutchgamer]

@@TeamPandory whahaha graag gedaan.

[@andromedaone3640]

The Astro City mini for me as a Sega fanboy has the best game's and look, but the Egrett 2 mini is bigger and does have the likes of Rainbow Islands Extra and Rastan like the other two machines arcade version's of the game's witch is good at last. If the price wasn't so inflated i would probably get one but I'll get at A500 mini because it's cheaper, has the ability to add games and i am an Amiga 500 fanboy so the Egrett 2 mini has came at the wrong time for me.🧐

[@SIPEROTH]

Got the Amiga Mini just recently. Checked the games and functionality a little and now gonna I am get into putting games on it. Love that it comes with a mouse and controller.

[@GAMERTAGVR]

Seemed very normal till the end 😂

[@Irukangi7]

Спасибо за видео. Интересное сравнение мини аркадных автоматов :)

[@dancero643]

If someone can hack the Taito arcade and install retroarch, the Egret II will be the winner

[@TeamPandory]

Apparently it's already fully hacked. Just need to wait for the installer etc

[@MarcGee]

How about a hackability section? I could find myself going for an Egret if I thought I had a chance of playing MAME stuff in TATE mode…

[@TeamPandory]

We were going to add it, but didn't. Egret II Mini has promise re: hacking though (see our other video on that), but it'll probably take a few months to see any real results as a consumer.

[@ianjacka469]

The Taito is sold to me alreas...in 6 pay-packets time. Love schumps and the rotating screen is to die for...not gonna bother with extras, get a laptop fixed X box fixed too.

[@oldcarguy700]

I couldn’t afford NeoGeo anything as a young man in the nineties as I spent all my money on car parts for my 67 Camaro. As an adult I can’t justify that kinda cash on the NeoGeo stuff now. So the mini was perfect and I’m not a video game snob, just want to play different stuff. And I like having the different consoles so a raspberry pi was not gonna do it for me.

[@Dadedrums]

B is my guy!

[@gilavalos2400]

You won't regret with an egret

[@ThunderFist1978]

Good video, but I can’t believe you didn’t mention that the trackball and rotary knob controller comes with an SD card that has an additional 10 games on it, so the Egret II’s library can be expanded to 50 titles, while the other two cabs are stuck with what is built in.

[@krowland7584]

Neo Geo Minis been hacked. The hacks are almost impossible to find but I got lucky and got a guys updated fw.

[@byronportillo5767]

I like the design of the arcade machine, but the NEOGEO mini was weird and bizarre in my opinion. First I thought this thing can play the arcade versión, but instead they chose the console versión. I assume why they chose the AES mode it's because it has several mode and difficulty options, which the MVS doesn't have (Unless you can access the hidden menu by watching a tutorial.) I like this concept, but if they're gonna use the console versión, why not make an AES mini instead of a mini arcade, which is crazy, although I believe SNK will release another variation of the mini with a MVS design that plays the arcade versions. Speaking of the arcade, there is something that I worried about is the lack of in-game options. The Astro City mini doesn't have that, which means you can't change the time, difficulty, score to earn extra lives, etc…, and I really don't know if anyone could access the hidden menu. SNK also tried to use the MVS versión on the Arcade Stick Pro Christmas Edition, which also lacked in-game settings. The Egret II mini is the only one to have this setting and you can even adjust the spinner of the controller.

[@TeamPandory]

Thing is, the AES version of these games are pretty much the MVS game with an options screen. It gets around having to explain what dipswitches are, and is probably more accessible to the masses. What we didn't mention in this video is that you can flip in the MVS versions, and even unibios with the hack. Sega and Taito shot themselves in the foot regarding languages. They obviously didn't think of the worldwide market when developing this machine... Or forgot to run it through QA.

[@Retrotoys80]

I have them all,and for me the taito egret mini is the best one

[@stevendurrant1724]

I got the NeoGeo for novelty and display because it's cheap. That's scratched most the itch for these things, for now. Other stuff to spend money on. But the next Sega vertical schmup thing looks very tempting, and way better than these 3. I'm pleased to have been introduced to Shock Troopers by the Neo Geo though .The Astro City games, I just have loads of them anyway. The Taito is way too expensive.

[@stuntz0rZ]

The bezel on the top keep falling off the egret mini because you have it in the wrong way. The hole faces the front.

[@Gladson]

"The Neo Geo mini doesn't look anything like the cabinet it's based on", you definitely never saw a Japanese MVS cabinet.

[@IsaacGabriel-kh5ds]

Sound like dirty Picard is proving narration as well 😅

[@gdashafe1001]

Great comparisons. I wish that I could have the Taito hardware with the best games of the three combined but, with the price of the Neo Geo mini. I have the NG and AC minis. I am passing on the Egret II mainly because of price but, also because I feel that it has the weakest game selection overall even though it has Truxton.

[@TeamPandory]

Definitely a combination would be best. I'm good without Truxton tho 🤣

[@stephendalzell763]

What about the Capcom Retro Station?

[@TeamPandory]

Yeah, there is that... But it's more expensive than the Egret ii mini and... Ugly is giving it a compliment.

[@gamernix5329]

Today I learned that I am a hyperactive monkey.

[@TeamPandory]

You are an awesome one, at that!

[@raphaelalpers1255]

I am very fine with my Neo Geo Mini.

[@Ishin69]

huh? how does the neo geo mini in your words "not look anything like the cabinet it's based on" ?

[@TeamPandory]

Did we say that ? Damn. I must be an idiot... Or thinking of the stick/ button layout... :o

[@kcadventures1454]

I can't even find the egret 2 mini.

[@TeamPandory]

amazon jp, or I think you can get it from playasia, or sites like that. Check the googles.

[@kcadventures1454]

@@TeamPandory thank you.

[@Ytmpvsr]

POPGOES ARCADE

[@acdan4140]

Metal slug, kof > le reste

[@TeamPandory]

You're not wrong 🙂

[@TwilightArts]

I see what you did there, Ahoguma. BTW, "aho" means idiot in Japanese 😂

[@TeamPandory]

Yep! I think you're the first to have noticed ^-^/

[@BOTzerker]

You didnt specify the winner of HDMI out.

[@TeamPandory]

Well spotted! Winner: Taito Egret II Mini for that one.

[@BOTzerker]

@@TeamPandory Thx!

[@TeamPandory]

@@BOTzerker neogeo mini has also been hacked, but it's rather low spec so you'd only be able to play cps2 at a push

[@ecco222]

tate = tahtay

[@TeamPandory]

That is correct. 🙂

[@rodrigor1992]

Neo Geo best game

[@mikegyver1967]

There is no best mini cab. Mini cab is an absurdity, a false good idea, so Next !!!

[@Ishin69]

that's just your personal opinion, don't speak for everyone, a lot of people enjoy collecting those little cabinets.

[@-.-.-.-.-.-.-..-.-.------.-.-]

They all have the absolute worst and tinty audio. Even the Gameboy SP has more bass.

[@ytyndale3643]

The egret is the worst of the bunch here, you'll almost certainly egret your purchase.

[@ianswift3521]

whats with the gay music bro.

[@gorebish7950]

do you think they would be insane enough to make a female arcade cab like PXN 8x, Honestly I would enjoy it if the firmware is unlocked and I can add my own games. 🕹

[@TeamPandory]

Maybe? It'd certainly be interesting to see something like this. I mean, at first I thought the Egret II Mini had interchangeable plates - one for spinner, one for trackball etc- that'd have been VERY interesting. - One for mixbox :D