Taito Egret II mini arcade console review – all 40 games reviewed from Space Invaders to Bubble Bobble
GameCentral reviews the mini-console from Taito that puts 40 of their best arcade games onto one replica coin-op.
It used to be a widely acknowledged fact that Taito’s Rainbow Islands is one of the best video games ever made. Since the early 90s though, memories of the game have slowly faded, since it’s rarely ever referenced or re-released by creator Taito. But then Taito itself has also largely disappeared from history. Once recognised as one of the powerhouses of the golden age of arcade games, as soon as they were bought by Square Enix, in 2005, the entire brand and all its games were all but mothballed.
There have been signs of life lately though, such as the surprisingly good Bubble Bobble 4 Friends, a remaster for The Ninja Warriors, and a Darius compilation, and yet still the Taito name is all but unknown to younger gamers. Last year we spoke to Taito producer Toyama Yuichi about how this could be addressed and while a £165 mini-console is clearly not going to do anything for Taito’s mainstream recognition it is a wonderful way to demonstrate why they’re worth remembering in the first place.
The mini-console is shaped like the Egret II coin-op cabinet, which was first released in 1986 and can still be found in Japanese arcades today. The replica stands about 21cm tall and includes a light-up display above the screen and a proper eight-way arcade joystick. It’s very similar in concept to the Sega Astro City Mini, except Sega games get re-released all the time and it’s a long while since many of these Taito games have seen the light of day – in fact one of them never has at all.
Like Nintendo and Sega, Taito actually predates the video games industry and can trace it roots back to 1953. Also like Sega, its founder was
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