Mini Arcade PRO - Review
When I was at PAX Australia, I talked with a number of folks about a lot of things and one of my favourite booths to stop by each year is Bluemouth Interactive and for one simple reason, they often have the coolest things. Yes, other booths might have the most powerful PCs or the biggest games, but Bluemouth have fun tech, things like the Backbone Pro or the new 8BitDo 64 controller. One item that stood out for me though was the Mini Arcade PRO from iMP Gaming and Bluemouth were kind enough to send me one. Does this little arcade offering deliver, or is nothing more than a fun toy?
First, I should probably explain what the device is. The Mini Arcade PRO is a case for your Switch or Switch 2 to sit in, enabling you to enjoy an arcade experience, that is it. There is nothing you need to do, no wires to connect, no pairing of controllers, as long as your Switch or Switch 2 is set to allow wired controllers, you plug and play. The main panel contains all the buttons you would normally expect to see, but with the Switch button labelling. As you might expect, instead of a control stick or a d-pad, you get an 8-way joystick and it feels great to put into motion. For those who are interested, there is also a turbo function that you can make use of, if you so desire.
Ok, so that was the what, but now is the how, as in how does it feel to use. Well, before you can get to the playing, you have to assemble it and thankfully there are only a handful of parts to snap together. This was something I was a little worried about, would it just click together or would I need to force parts into place. Thankfully it was the former, a little push and everything popped into place. What I liked about the build was that even when I took it apart and put it back together, multiple times, everything just clicked each time. Under the bottom of the unit there are a pair of locks you need to pull together in order to begin to break the unit down, so you don’t have to worry about it falling apart at random. Also on the bottom are some very grippy rubber feat, so the unit won’t slide around on you, if you get into a chaotic game. You will also find a USB-C port for power, letting you keep your console charged while you game.
Once you are ready to game you have one final step to complete, inserting your console of choice. The unit comes with two inserts one for Switch/OLED and one for Switch 2, you just need to open the one you need, place your console into it and then slide it in the grooves. I have found with both an OLED Switch and the Switch 2, it does take a little nudge to get it to drop down onto the USB-C adapter, but once it’s there, it does not move. At this point you are just using a wired controller on your console, no different to connecting any other controller.
Now in my testing the first game I booted up was Ultra Street Fighter II, because Street Fighter and arcade sticks go hand in hand. Now ignoring my lack of actual skill in playing the game, I was able to win a few matches, though I ultimately lost. I also tried some side-scrolling beat ‘em ups as well, again from Capcom and all worked great. I then figured why not try some 2d platformers, so both New Super Mario Bros U and Super Mario Bros Wonder were tested and again both were fantastic to play. Now for the Mario games, I did need to play around with the button layout in the game, but that was a simple swap in the games respective pause screens. As I was on a testing roll, I kept it up by throwing in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2, which I knew would not work and I was right. But I was game to test as many games as I could, so next up was Mark of the Ninja Remastered, a personal favourite of mine. It did not work, so I thought what about another favourite, Lumines Remastered. Lumines worked and that kicked off a puzzle game testing marathon, including Tetris and Yoshi’s Cookie inside the Nintendo Classics: Nintendo Entertainment System app.
What I have found is that the device works perfectly for 2D games, where the d-pad is used for motion. It was at this time that I actually paid attention to a switch, pun not intended, that lets you swap between the d-pad and either the left or right sticks. This works somewhat ok, booting into Hades, I was able to make a solid run through until the end, but did not managed to get past the final boss. Given that Hades is isometric, I wanted to know how it would work in a fully 3D game, so I booted into Darksiders II and it was not great. Don’t get me wrong it was technically playable, but Death ran in only 8 directions, which was not great in a fight and even worse when attempting to platform over large lava filled pits. Now I am sure games like Mario Kart could work with it, especially Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, but I never tested that or any racing game really. I also went back and tested Tony Hawk and Mark of the Ninja and both were ok, the latter more than the former.
The usability of the arcade stick is fine, almost all 2d games worked with it in d-pad mode and for those that didn’t worked ok, when I swapped it to the left stick option they generally worked. You are of course missing two input methods, no matter which option you select, so just be aware of that. Getting to the power of the console or the volume controls is a little awkward as they behind the main body and then recessed even further by the console case, so you just need to be aware of that. But right now, the only major complaint I have for the unit is that the art applied across it is made with AI. When I first started using the device I noticed the colours, but was more concerned about its function than decoration, but in taking photos of it, I spotted it. Now the use of AI is a divisive topic, but where it should never be used is in a product of your own design. If you have the money to mass produce something like this, you have the money to pay an artist to create something fun for your product. The art does not impact the use, but if you are someone who is anti-AI, then just be aware of that going in.
The Mini Arcade PRO is a great little unit, especially when you play games that are built for 2D. Arcade collections on the Switch, of which there are countless of them shine, but any platformer in the vein of Mario also does great. While the unit does technically support left and right stick functions, it is not as successful as replicating the d-pad. While the unit is fine, the AI art across is not ok and is a big slap in the face to the thousands of arcade cabinets over the years that feature amazing art. If you are someone who loves their arcade titles, this is a great way to embrace that feeling, without the need of buying one of those full-size units.
The Score
8.0
Review unit provided by Bluemouth Interactive
The Pros
Being able to drop either generation of Switch in and just start playing is fantastic
The feel of the buttons and joystick are great, with no delay in their use
The Cons
While it does work with 3D games, due to that selector, it is not the best way to play them
AI art on the unit just cheapens the entire product
