Waku Waku Sonic Patrol Car, an arcade game once released in 1991, is making a comeback and will be available in PC soon.
Waku Waku Sonic Patrol Car is part of the popular Sonic the Hedgehog Series by Sega. Sonic is a 15-year-old anthropomorphic hedgehog gifted with the ability to run at the speed of sound and beyond. The champion of peace has traveled from the ends of the world to the far reaches of space and time.
In Waku Waku, Sonic is a police officer, patrolling the streets of a city and keeping it safe from Dr. Eggman.
During its initial release 24 years ago, the game featured a kid-size police patrol car with a steering wheel and a screen inside. The player can sit in the car to drive the steering wheel, surpass traffic and hunt for Eggman.
While the game is not necessarily unique, it is important in arcade history since it is the first to feature full-length voice-acting.
In the next release of Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator (MAME), enthusiasts can enjoy the interesting Sonic games from the past, thanks to the efforts and donations of some fans to secure the board and revive the game.
MAME attempts to remake original arcade games in formats compatible with modern general-purpose computers. It can currently emulate thousands of different classic arcade video games from the late 1970s through the modern era. The effort is done to educate people and preserve significant games which may disappear once their original hardware stops working.
A Waku Waku fan named Will contacted Kotaku to share the revived board came from his sonic patrol car. During a fund-raising event to restore the game, the cabinet (car) where the revived board came from was sold to him. The fan paid $350 for the game, $3,000 for shipping and around $2,000 in additional costs.
Photo: NYCMediaMix | Flickr
