A lost Sonic game has been found and emulated

Even if you’ve played every single Sonic the Hedgehog game released, you probably haven’t played Waku Waku Sonic Patrol vehicle.

Until now! An original arcade board has been obtained by a fan and dumped, meaning that with the next release of MAME pretty much anyone can play and…well, if not enjoy the game (it’s very much a kid’s title), then at least experience it. Instead, Sonic is a Japanese policeman who drives his squad auto around to protect his animal friends from the nefarious Dr. Robotnik/Eggman.

Game preservationists from the online collective The Dumping Union recently pooled their money to purchase a Waku Waku Sonic Patrol auto machine and copied its contents to a format readable by modern PCs.

According to a report from Kotaku, the playable version of Waku Waku Sonic Patrol auto is coming from collector Will Medved, who found a machine and had it imported from Japan. While the game itself cost only $350, importing the massive cabinet from Japan pushed its total price to over $5,000. It’s one of the first instances of Sonic having a full voiceover. He has preserved a part of video game history, had he not perhaps this game would have been lost forever.

In the past, the folks over at Sega have kept us entertained with their fair share of gaming titles, and Sonic the Hedgehog happened to be one of the more popular characters that came out of Sega’s stables.