SEGA’s next mini gaming console is a teeny tiny Astro Mini City arcade unit

If there’s a console that SEGA has had a hand in over the years, chances are looking pretty solid that it’ll live once again. Only smaller! Cuter! More justified expensesier! After releasing the Sega Terrible Phil Collins Band/Mega Drive Mini and announcing a new Game Gear Micro, SEGA has another bit of retro kit on the way: The Astro City Mini. Sadly, it’s not an interactive box of the best chocolates ever made.

And now for the history lesson! The original Astro City was a uniform arcade cabinet design that owners of ye olde interactive gaming venues in Japan could have customised to show off specific games and flavours. SEGA’s 1993 City cabinet was especially iconic, surviving across the decades to still be a welcome sight in arcades across Japan to this very day.

Naturally, the Astro City Mini will come packed with plenty of SEGA arcade classics and Altered Beast. Here’s the full list, via The Verge and Game Watch:

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

According to SEGA, proper micro-switches are embedded within the tiny console, which means that hammering the micro-buttons will result in that fantastic clicky-clacky feel. For me, it’s going to feel like I’m playing on an arcade unit that’s just the right size for my incredibly tiny hands. The package also has HDMI-out on the back, two USB-A ports, a Micro USB port and a headphone jack.

For now, it appears to be a Japanese exclusive with a price tag of around $120. You of course know what this means: TO THE IMPORTER’S-CAVE ROBIN!

Last Updated: July 9, 2020