Back in 1991, when Sega was helping Energizer and Duracell achieve record profits, probably, the company released Waku Waku Sonic Patrol vehicle , a Japanese arcade game targeted at children.

The effort to resurrect Waku Waku has been something of an global affair, with Sonic Paradise finding a partially-working model in the dark recesses of a Spanish shopping mall.

You can see Gavin Hugh’s video of one of Waku Waku machines being played in Japan. Why exactly Sonic, who runs at super-sonic speeds, needs a vehicle isn’t exactly explained, but the arcade game was playable in a sweet patrol auto arcade cabinet. An arcade-only Sonic experience thought to have gone forever.

Previous year during the summer doldrums, we made a quick list of some of the most interesting arcade games that were still unavailable to play via MAME emulation. Waku Waku Sonic Patrol vehicle was never released in any format other than its original… until now.

It’s a cool little piece of Sonic history that is rarely seen outside of Japan. The 8-bit program also marked an early instance of a fully voiced Sonic-albeit in Japanese. It was played in a booth shaped like a vehicle and was played with a steering wheel. You can check out gameplay of the title at the bottom of this post.