Preorders for Taito EGRET II mini Western version open—and they’re limited

As I talked about last month, the good news is that Taito’s super cool EGRET II mini all-in-one system is coming to the West. The bad news, however, is that supplies are going to be rather limited.

Outside of Japan, we’ll be getting the EGRET II mini – Limited Blue Edition, a new variant of the console that swaps the original pink buttons and joystick for blue hardware. Thankfully, beyond the color swap, everything else about the Western version the EGRET II mini seems to remain the same, including the system’s diverse games line-up.

There is, of course, that bad news I mentioned above. The Limited Blue Edition will indeed be limited, as only 5,000 units are set to be produced. And, to be clear, that’s not 5,000 units for us here in the States, but for us, Canada, the UK, and a list of countries in the European Union. I don’t know how much demand the EGRET II mini is going to see, but that’s not a lot of systems to go around worldwide.

In talking to a representative for the companies involved in bringing the hardware to the West, there is the chance that more units will be produced depending on the demand shown for the Limited Blue Edition. If that does happen, though, there will be modifications made to the color scheme of the hardware, as not to step on the toes of this limited edition variant.

If you’d like to preorder your own Taito EGRET II mini, you can now do so through Games Rocket. The cost on the Limited Blue Edition Bundle is $229.99, with the various additional controller options also now available for preordering.

And, in case you missed it, here’s a full list of all of the games featured on the EGRET II mini.

• Space Invaders 1978
• Lunar Rescue 1979
• Steel Worker 1980
• Lupin the Third 1980
• QIX 1981
• Pirate Pete 1982
• Adventure Canoe 1982
• Elevator Action 1983
• Chack’n Pop 1983
• Outer Zone 1984
• The FairyLand Story 1985
• The Legend of Kage 1985
• Bubble Bobble 1986
• Halley’s Comet 1986
• Kiki Kaikai 1986
• Scramble Formation (Tokio) 1986
• Rastan Saga (Rastan) 1987
• Kyukyoku Tiger (Twin Cobra) 1987
• Rainbow Islands Extra 1988
• The NewZealand Story 1988
• Ramais 1988
• TATSUJIN (Truxton) 1988
• DonDokoDon 1989
• Violence Fight 1989
• Cadash 1989
• Volfied 1989
• Mizubaku Adventure (Liquid Kids) 1990
• Gun Frontier (Gun & Frontier) 1990
• Runark (Growl ) 1990
• Hat Trick Hero (Football Champ) 1990
• The Ninja Kids 1990 Horizontal Metal Black 1991
• RayForce (Gunlock) 1993
• Kaiser Knuckle (Global Champion) 1994
• Bubble Symphony (Bubble Bobble II) 1994
• Elevator Action Returns (Elevator Action II) 1994
• Darius Gaiden 1994
• Dan-Ku-Ga 1994
• Puzzle Bobble 2 (Bust-a-Move Again) 1995
• Bubble Memories 1995

And then, the games that come with the Paddle and Trackball Game Expansion Set (as they’re specifically designed to be played with either paddle or trackball controls):

• Marine Date 1981
• Strike Bowling 1982
• Birdie King 1982
• Arkanoid 1986
• Plump Pop 1987
• Arkanoid: Revenge of DoH 1987
• Syvalion 1988
• Cameltry 1989
• Arkanoid Returns 1997
• Puchi Carat 1997