Taito Egret II / II Mini¶
The Astro City's great rival: the Taito Egret II candy cab (1996), with its recognisable rounded design and a 29″ tri-sync rotatable monitor. A collector favourite. Reissued in 2022 as the Egret II Mini (a tabletop cab).
Identification¶
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Taito |
| Year | 1996 (Egret II) |
| Type | Candy cab |
| Screen | CRT 29″, tri-sync 15/24/31 kHz, rotatable (TATE/YOKO) |
| Controls | 2 players, interchangeable panel |
| PCB format | JAMMA (+ JVS possible) |
⚡ Connector & power¶
| Aspect | Value |
|---|---|
| PCB connector | JAMMA (56-pin edge) + JVS support |
| Monitor sync | tri-sync 15/24/31 kHz, rotatable (TATE/YOKO) |
| Power | 100 V AC (Japan) |
| Consumption | 125 W (rated), 2.2 A max |
| Dimensions | 750 × 903 × 1450 mm (W×D×H, cabinet only) |
| Dimensions incl. panel | 750 × 903 × 1765 mm (インスト含む高さ) |
| Weight | 105 kg (flyer) / ~110 kg (manual) — see below |
Correction: 1764 was never the cabinet height
This page published 1764 mm as the cabinet height, after the archived manual (folio 12), which gives 外形寸法 750 (幅) × 903 (奥行き) × 1764 (高さ) — without saying what the height includes.
The 1996 Taito sales flyer splits the two lines in its SPC. table:
| イーグレット29 (Egret 29) | イーグレット II | |
|---|---|---|
| 幅 (width) | 700 mm | 750 mm |
| 奥行 (depth) | 952 mm | 903 mm |
| 高さ (height) | 1600 mm | 1450 mm |
| インスト含む高さ (incl. instruction panel) | 1892 mm | 1765 mm |
| 重量 (weight) | 126 kg | 105 kg |
| 消費電力 (power) | 110 W | 125 W |
The cabinet is 1450 mm. The manual's 1764 is therefore the height including the instruction panel — within 1 mm of the flyer's 1765, two Taito documents rounding differently.
Direct consequence: the Egret II was drawn 31 cm too tall in the footprint comparison, next to an Egret 3 at 1450. The two machines actually have exactly the same envelope: 750 × 903 × 1450, and ~1765 with the panel.
Two Taito documents, two weights
The flyer says 105 kg, the service manual 約110 kg. Both are from the manufacturer and neither is obviously wrong: the flyer precedes production, the manual describes the machine as shipped. Both are published here rather than an arbitrary pick. For a floor loading or a transport, take 110.
A bonus from the flyer: the Egret 29
The same table documents the イーグレット29 (Egret 29), the cabinet the Egret II replaced: 700 × 952 × 1600 mm (1892 with panel), 126 kg, 110 W. Narrower, but 5 cm deeper and 15 cm taller — the Egret II really is the compact version the flyer's own slogan advertises (「スリムなボディ」, "a slim body").
(Sources: 1996 Taito sales flyer, archived here, for the cabinet/panel heights, weight and consumption; archived Taito service manual for the maximum current, voltage and the panel-included height. Arcade Otaku for the rest.)
→ Detailed wiring: JAMMA (+ JVS) → JAMMA wiring, JVS wiring and Control panels.
Technical notes¶
- Tri-sync monitor: accepts 15/24 kHz (classic PCBs) and 31 kHz (Naomi, VGA, HD superguns) — like the Blast City, without swapping the chassis. TATE rotation for vertical shmups.
- Control panel interchangeable; Ø 30 mm buttons, Japanese standard.
- I/O: JAMMA (56-pin edge). Wiring close to candy cabs — see the JAMMA convention on the Astro City.
- Power: a dedicated candy brick (maintenance like the Sega PSU, same principle).
- Screws: JIS (a JIS screwdriver is advised).
Monitor chassis¶
The Egret II uses the Nanao MS9-29 — the same chassis as the New Astro City (15/24 kHz). In practice many cabs get a tri-sync chassis to gain 31 kHz (Naomi/VGA).
Egret 3¶
Successor to the Egret II: a JAMMA candy cab with a 29″ multi-resolution (15 → 31 kHz) rotatable monitor with no rotation mechanism. → dedicated Egret 3 page (specs, Wei-Ya chassis, manuals, year-by-source).
Egret II Mini (2022)¶
Taito reissued an official tabletop cab: a 5″ rotatable screen, ~40 built-in Taito games (Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands, Darius…), HDMI out, expansions (SD, control panels). A modern collectible — not to be confused with the real Egret II.
Common faults¶
| Symptom | Likely cause | Lead |
|---|---|---|
| Unstable image / colours | Tri-sync monitor chassis, recap | Geometry adjustments + recap (Nanao MS9-like) |
| Monitor rotation stuck | rotation mechanism | Check/grease the rotating frame |
| No power | candy brick | Check +5 V at the JAMMA edge |
| JAMMA contacts | oxidation | Clean the card edge |
Procedure — a cabinet that will not start ✅¶
There is a CRT in this cabinet
The tube stays charged with the cabinet unplugged, and the anode cap is the first thing your hand meets behind the monitor. Discharge it, work with one hand, and never alone if you can help it. → CRT safety
This cabinet is documented as 100 V
It does not go straight onto a European socket. It needs a step-down transformer rated for the whole cabinet, monitor included — not a travel adapter. Feeding 230 V to a cabinet built for 100 V destroys the supply, and usually the monitor with it. → Cabinet power
What this adds
Ordered for a cabinet, not for a board: mains, low-voltage supply, loom, monitor, then the game. The overwhelming majority of "dead cabinets" are dead for a reason that has nothing to do with the PCB — which is why the board comes last here.
1. Mains, and what sits between it and the cabinet. The switch, the fuse or breaker, the isolation transformer if there is one. A cabinet that shows no sign of life at all is almost never electronic.
2. The low-voltage supply — measured under load. Aim for +5 V where power reaches the board — the JAMMA edge, or the JVS power connector, depending on the cabinet — with the game running, not on an idle bench. If the supply has an adjustment (most candy and JVS bricks do; the ATX brick in a PC cabinet does not), do it then and not before: set off-load, it leaves a board that boots and then glitches. With no adjustment the measurement still earns its keep — it tells you whether the supply holds. Check +12 V too, and −5 V if the board uses it: many do not, and an ATX brick does not provide it. → Cabinet power
3. The loom and the connector. Reseat, and check the grounds — a cabinet with a poor ground gives rolling picture, phantom inputs and noise, all at once, and none of it looks like a wiring fault. Connector on this cabinet: JAMMA (+ JVS possible). → Wiring
4. The monitor. This page describes the monitor as: CRT 29″, tri-sync 15/24/31 kHz, rotatable (TATE/YOKO). CRT: no picture but the tube is warm and there is EHT — that is sync or video, not the tube. No EHT at all — chassis. A picture that shrinks, wanders or shifts colour is a chassis recap, and on these monitors that is a scheduled job, not a repair.
5. Scan rate — the mismatch that breaks nothing. If the board's rate is not one the monitor accepts, you get no picture and nothing is faulty. Check what this cabinet takes against what the board puts out before opening anything. → Modernising a cabinet
6. The control panel. Microswitches and the loom, in that order. A single dead direction is a switch; a whole player dead is the loom or its ground. → Control panels
7. Coin mech and sound. Last, because they hide nothing: a mech that no longer registers is usually dirty or misadjusted, and silence with a good picture points at the amplifier and its supply rails.
Repair¶
- Recap + adjustments of the 29″ tri-sync chassis (close to the Nanao MS9).
- Power: see Candy cab PSU.
Manuals (archived)¶
- 📄 Taito sales flyer (© TAITO CORP. 1996) — front · back, SPC. table ← cabinet height vs height with panel
- 📘 Service manual — part 1 (PDF) — §1-2 製品仕様, folio 12
- 📘 Service manual — part 2 (PDF)
- 📗 Parts manual (PDF)
- 📗 Egret 3 — parts list (PDF)
- 📐 Egret 3 — Wei-Ya monitor schematic (PDF)
(Source: Arcade Otaku Wiki, archived locally for preservation.)
Photos / assets¶
(To add: Egret II, control panel, tri-sync chassis, Egret II Mini.)
Repair & maintenance
Modernise (video, PSU, JVS, upscaler, PC/FPGA) → Modernising a cabinet. CRT monitor (discharge HV!) → CRT safety (Nanao MS8/MS9 or equivalent chassis) · recap → Recap · diagnosis → PCB fault-finding.
Sources & attribution¶
- Taito — EGRET II sales flyer, © TAITO CORP. 1996, SPC. table — archived here (front · back) — cabinet height and height with panel, weight, consumption, plus the Egret 29's figures. Found via The Arcade Flyer Archive
- Taito — イーグレットⅡ 取扱説明書, §1-2 製品仕様 (folio 12), archived here — voltage, consumption, maximum current, weight, and the 1764 figure (panel included)
- Arcade Otaku Wiki — Taito Egret II (candy cab, 29″ tri-sync rotatable, JAMMA) — https://wiki.arcadeotaku.com/w/Taito_Egret_II
- Taito — Egret II Mini (2022 reissue, 40 games, HDMI) — https://www.taito.co.jp/egret2mini
Image:
-
egret-2-borne.jpg— catalogue view, source Hard*Candy (⚠️ no licence statement anywhere on the site) — https://www.hard--candy.com/wiki/candy/EgretII
Review & corrections
How this space is used
Spotted a wrong value, an outdated procedure, a chip reference that does not match your board? Say so here, with what you observed (model, board revision, serial number, measurement). Every report is cross-checked against a source before anything changes — an unverifiable correction is published as “reported by …, not cross-checked” rather than silently applied.
Reading is open to everyone; posting requires signing in with Discord. Reports from the wiki's declared reviewers are handled first; anyone else's are read too, but go through a human before anything is changed.