Somehow, some way, the production team behind Taito's mini plug-and-play desktop arcade cabinet has found the means to produce a third set of additional games—this unit's a few years old now and was not super successful, and each expansion pack seemed to release to less and less interest, so it's astounding that they're not only still at it but seem intent on honing in on games that ensure only the sunkest of sunk-cost diehards will stick with 'em.
Here's the trailer, click through for the infodump (which includes news of the reprint of a certain USB peripheral):
Arcade Memories vol.3 contains 10 games, distributed via SD card; here's a chronological list:
- Mr. DO! (Universal, 1982)
- Rumba Lumber (1984)
- Wiz (Seibu Kaihatsu, 1985)
- Metal Soldier Isaac II (1985)
- Extermination (1987)
- Dr. Toppel Tankentai (Kaneko, 1987)
- Top Landing (1988)
- Aqua Jack (1989)
- Galactic Storm (1991)
- Akkanvader (aka Space Invaders '95: Attack of the Lunar Loonies)
A significant number of these games have never been ported before and, while they didn't share the results of their most recent user survey, a few of these games (notably Top Land, Akkanvader and Galactic Storm) consistently appeared in the top results of surveys past. They've also gone the extra mile for a few games: Aqua Jack will apparently offer a particular ROM build that was so scarce as to be virtually unreleased, and they've licensed all the copyrighted music for Mr. DO!, in addition to specifically choosing a version of the game that contains a famous 255-life overflow bug.
One part of the user survey that was mentioned was the section on most-requested accessories... and somehow, above racing wheels and loop levers and mahjong panels and a bunch of other junk, was this: Egret II Mini Dedicated Combine Kit, a replica cabinet base + arcade stool, with compartments to store cables, the mini instruction cards/manuals etc or even real coins, as there's a full-size coin slot on the front.
The standard pack follows previous volumes: games + mini instruction cards + 32P strategy guide for ￥8,778:
The Combine Set's available as a standalone for ￥6,578, and there's also a Vol.3 + Combine Set bundle with extra junk like a mini cabinet user manual and replica PCB boxes, for ￥15,356:
There's also one bit of news that might penetrate beyond the dozen people still interesting in buying additional games for their desk toy: Dempa's producing a second run of Cyber Stick USB units (now with the traditional Dempa button colours), which will only be available as part of a one-time, Amazon Japan-exclusive bundle with vol.3 (￥32,978). For the unaware, the Cyber Stick USB is a modern reissue of an old home analogue throttle controller produced by Dempa Micomsoft in the service of a bunch of old arcade ports for X68000, Mega Drive and PC Engine—it's a very high-quality peripheral that was produced in limited quantities in tandem with the Mega Drive 2 Mini, and there's been a lot of demand for a second run from folk who've been using it on PC and elsewhere. The stick's compatible with five Egret II Mini games: two from Vol.2, three from Vol.3.
The producer did stress that the only way this team manages to acquire certain games or production deals on their budget is by binding themselves to one-time, limited-availability, low-print runs, hence why they're unable to reprint any of the older long-OOP volumes or produce more base units.
Lastly, there's a firmware update coming tomorrow that'll update the Cyber Stick drivers and so on, but perhaps the most crucial change is that they're altering Rainbow Island Extra's BGM—for those not in the know, the tl;dr is that Rainbow Island's original BGM quoted a copyrighted tune that has had to be edited or replaces across its many ports, and the Egret II Mini team went about addressing the issue by simply dummying out the offending tune and replacing it with music from Bubble Bobble, which caused a stir among those who expected a more elegant or thoughtful solution, or simply wished they'd been informed upfront. The recent Arcade Archives reissue, on the other hand, offered a more thoughtful alteration of the BGM, as detailed here, and I presume that solution is being brought over to the Mini.
