Lost Sega arcade classics born anew in cute, $130 Astro City Mini [Updated]

This miniaturized arcade cabinet is modeled after the popular modular arcade cabinet of the same name, one that you'll find at any Japanese arcade worth its weight in yen, and it comes packed with 37 original Sega arcade games—some of which have never been ported to consoles or PCs. At an Amazon JP cost of ￥13,511, or $130, that's a somewhat steep per-game cost compared to other recent miniaturized retro consoles—though it also includes a built-in screen, arcade-caliber controls, and HDMI-out capabilities.My hardware arrived late last week, and in great news, it's a perfect fit for the primary reason I bought it—as a new centerpiece for my retro-mini console collection, to be positioned on my toys-and-dolls shelves. Quite honestly, I didn't expect horizontal shmup classics like Fantasy Zone and Cotton to feel so awesome (though if you care, know that the joystick is set up with a square gate, not octagonal).The system includes two USB Type-A ports for additional controllers, for players 1 and 2, but sadly, as of press time, these only appear to work with Sega's brand-new, licensed Astro City Mini controllers. Sega built some of these games for international sales, including classics like Fantasy Zone and Space Harrier, so they're already full of English text, while the plot of games like Wonder Boy in Monster Land and Arabian Fight and the instructions in mini-game collections like Puzzle & Action are made up entirely of Japanese text.Ultimately, these are arcade games, meant to be instantly playable after inserting a quarter, so don't fret too hard about the language barrier.