This Extremely Rare Sonic Game Will Soon be Playable

[Lizzy Finnegan]

This Extremely Rare Sonic Game Will Soon be Playable


Waku Waku Sonic Patrol Car is coming to a PC near you.

If you've never played Waku Waku Sonic Patrol Car, that's probably because you never visited an arcade in Japan in 1991. The extremely rare title is the first game in the franchise to feature voice acting, and was playable in a car shaped cabinet. Waku Waku Sonic Patrol Car was never released in any format other than its original... until now. The game, long thought to have been lost, MAME [http://www.sonicretro.org/2015/09/waku-waku-sonic-patrol-car-coming-to-mame/] arcade emulator.

According to a report from Will Medved [http://kotaku.com/super-rare-sonic-the-hedgehog-game-once-lost-now-play-1731979530], who found a machine and had it imported from Japan. The cabinet was only $350, but shipping and other costs brought the total cost to over $5000.

So whether you have a strong desire to be Officer Sonic or just experience a little taste of once-forgotten video game history, you'll have a chance to get your hands on Waku Waku Sonic Patrol Car with the next release of the MAME emulation software.

Below you can check out Medved's video from a cancelled fundraising campaign, which gives you a look at his cabinet.



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[PsychicTaco115]

Sonic's a police officer? Never a better time to play this then


Also, why is it always Sonic that gets these weird as hell spin-off games?

 

[Weresquirrel]

Is this gonna be like the Sonic Dreams Collection? I still wake up in a cold sweat thinking of that... Thing...

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I was about to ask, is this "extremely rare" like how Sonic Dreams Collection is "extremely rare"?

 

[Kenjitsuka]

Yeah, and even before that Waku Waku was a Dutch TV show!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbgjKwWCi58

 

[Jakabotch]

Wow.. that game looks horrible... Sanic following the speed limit just doesn't feel quite right..

That's because this isn't an arcade game in the way you're thinking. It's a kiddie ride, like those little cars you drop a few quarters in that pogo up and down for two minutes, that also has a little game of defeating Eggman.

 

[Hawki]

If you've never played Waku Waku Sonic Patrol Car, that's probably because you never visited an arcade in Japan in 1991.

Hah, I played it at a mall when I was a kid. Heck, I've even played SegaSonic Cosmo Fighter!

 

[Charli]

The only 'rare' sonic game I had the opportunity to play was that one with Sonic, Ray and Mighty... I was visiting the Studio in London so I got to play it while I was there. Forget the name of it, but apparently it never saw the light of day outside arcades and the studios.

Googled it. "SegaSonic the Hedgehog" that was it. It was ...amusing enough. But this looks like it should have been buried.

 

[Jakabotch]

Wow.. that game looks horrible... Sanic following the speed limit just doesn't feel quite right..

That's because this isn't an arcade game in the way you're thinking. It's a kiddie ride, like those little cars you drop a few quarters in that pogo up and down for two minutes, that also has a little game of defeating Eggman.

So just because it's a kiddie game, that makes it ok to make terrible games?

Well, it has to be a game that you can play in about two minutes, that a child that is young enough to be the target audience can complete reliably, while also having a control scheme simple enough that it can be handled by one or two buttons, and maybe a steering wheel.

So, considering the limitations, yeah, it's pretty good for what it is.