User:Shadowboxer2005/Arcade games in the Sonic the Hedgehog series

Since the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise has grown in popularity, Sega and its development teams have produced a number of arcade games for the series beginning in 1991. Waku Waku Sonic Patrol Car and SegaSonic Cosmo Fighter were both released as children's rides in 1991 and 1993, followed up by SegaSonic the Hedgehog in October 1993, as well as two Sonic-themed vending machines in SegaSonic Popcorn Shop and SegaSonic Cotton Candy Scramble. The last major arcade release was Sonic the Fighters in 1996, a 3D fighting game in the style of Virtua Fighter. SegaSonic Bros., a falling block game designed by Fukio Mitsuji, was planned for release in 1992, only to get cancelled due to failing its location test.

The Sonic arcade games have been described as obscure by many writers, nor have many seen official releases outside of Japan; only Cosmo Fighter, SegaSonic, and Fighters saw official, albeit very limited English releases. Fighters also remains the only Sonic arcade game to be re-released, both as part of Sonic Gems Collection (2005) and a standalone HD port for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Waku Waku Sonic Patrol Car (1991)
JP: 1991
 * Release date:


 * Developer: Sega AM1
 * Hardware: Sega System C2

Waku Waku Sonic Patrol Car (わく わくソニックパトカー) (titled in-game as Harinezumi Sonic no Omawari-san (はりねずみ ソニックのおまわりさん)) was the first Sonic arcade game, as well as the first Sonic game to feature voice acting. It was released in 1991 as a children's ride where players would sit in a physical miniature car, and gameplay has Sonic driving in a police car as the player attempts to patrol the streets to keep it safe from Doctor Eggman.

SegaSonic Bros. (1992, canceled)

 * Release date: Unreleased
 * Developer: Sega
 * Hardware: Sega System C2

Designed by Bubble Bobble creator Fukio Mitsuji, SegaSonic Bros. (ソニックブラザーズ) was intended to be a falling block puzzle game released in 1992, but ultimately canceled after it failed its location test in Japan, and allegedly due to being deemed to lack the "specialness" of the Sonic series. The gameplay has 2x2 squares in various colors (red, yellow, and blue initially, with white introduced at level 30) falling to the bottom of the screen, with the player only able to erase them if they surround a group in another square of colors, or create a line across the screen. The name "SegaSonic" was chosen for the game, as well as other arcade titles, due to Sega having lost the Sonic trademark after failing to turn in their paperwork on time.

SegaSonic Bros. was virtually unknown to the community until Koji Kendo, director of the Custom Robo series, tweeted about it on his account in June 2014; in 2018, two years after a working PCB of the game was discovered, it was dumped online and soon made playable in a special version of MAME. Notably, the game contained an early renditions of songs that would appear in other games, particularly Blue Spheres in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994).

SegaSonic Cosmo Fighter (1993)
JP: 1993
 * Release date:

AU: 1997


 * Developer: Sega AM1
 * Hardware: Sega System C2

SegaSonic Cosmo Fighter (セガソニック・コスモ・ファイター) (also known as SegaSonic Cosmo Fighter Galaxy Patrol) is a top-down vertical space shooter where the player, as Sonic, shoots down enemies and avoids attacks. Like Waku Waku, it is a children's ride ride. SegaSonic Cosmo Fighter was believed to have never been released outside of Japan until 2021, when a Twitter user announced he had recovered an English board that had used at the Sega World Sydney amusement park, before having its ROM image dumped online in 2023.

SegaSonic Popcorn Shop (1993)
JP: 1993
 * Release date:


 * Developer: Sega AM1
 * Hardware: Sega System C2

SegaSonic Popcorn Shop (セガソニック ポップコーンショップ) was a vending machine that would dispense popcorn (either salted, buttered, or curry), and while it was preparing, the operator could play a small minigame where they would turn a crank to prevent Eggman from hitting Sonic with a hammer.

A second vending machine, SegaSonic Cotton Candy Scramble (セガソニック わたあめ スクランブル) was also in development and was presented at the Japan Amusement Expo 1994; its patent, released in July 2000, suggested it would've started distribution after August 25, 1993, however it is unknown if it ever saw any release.

SegaSonic the Hedgehog (1993)
JP: October 1993
 * Release date:

Having been designed after the gameplay of Marble Madness (1984), SegaSonic the Hedgehog (セガソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ) is an isometric platform game with up to three players controlling Sonic, Mighty, and Ray through seven levels to escape an island after Eggman trapped them on it. Unusually, the game is controlled with a trackball, as well as a single button used to jump. A port to the 32X was reported in late-1994, but nothing came of it. Yuji Naka also stated that SegaSonic was intended for inclusion in Sonic Gems Collection (2005) for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube, but was removed due to difficulty emulating the controls.
 * Developer: Sega AM3
 * Hardware: Sega System 32

Like Cosmo Fighter, it was unclear if SegaSonic saw an official international release until 2024, when an English board appeared online; prior to its discovery, dataminers had previously discovered translated English dialogue and sprites for Eggman using his design from the American television series, which were presumed to have been used in an international release.

Sonic the Fighters (1996)
JP: May 1996
 * Release date:

NA: July 1996


 * Developer: Sega AM2
 * Hardware: Sega Model 2

Sonic the Fighters, (ソニック・ザ・ファイターズ) known as Sonic Championship for its arcade release outside of Japan, is a 3D fighting game developed by Sega AM2, the development team of the Fighting Vipers series. Conceived during the development of the first Fighting Vipers game, the game saw a release in Japan in May 1996, as well as a limited launch in North America later on; a port to the Sega Saturn was conceived for release in late-1996, but never did,  with Yoijro Ogawa of Sonic Team theorizing its cancellation was likely due to issues recreating the arcade experience on the console. It was later ported to the GameCube and PS2 as part of Gems Collection, as well as a standalone HD port for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2012, which added in characters that had previously been cut from the game due to time constraints.

The gameplay mechanics of Sonic the Fighters are simple, with players able to punch, kick, or spawn a defensive barrier with a wide variety of special moves with certain buttons pressed; players can also spend their defensive barrier in favor of a "Hyper Mode" allowing for significantly faster inputs.