News Insanely Rare Sonic Arcade Game Crops Up On Japanese Resale Site

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Back in 1993, Sega released SegaSonic the Hedgehog in Japanese arcades. Controlled using a trackball, it is notable for featuring Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel, and was developed by Sega's AM3 arcade division.

It's also one of the only Sonic titles to not have been re-released in some form or another, which makes it a very rare find on the second-hand market – especially with all of its original paperwork and manuals.

That's why a recent listing on the Japanese marketplace Mercari is so interesting. A copy has been listed for sale at $3000 USD, and includes the ROM board, motherboard, original trackball, art assets and service manual.

It would appear to from the collection of a private collector, who, in the listing's description, claims to have done some repairs on it after the suicide battery died. They have also fashioned a custom board to connect the trackball to the motherboard.

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"Board labelled 834-6180 is a homemade one," says the seller. "It is necessary for connecting the trackball to the motherboard. When I purchased the ROM board, IC17 and IC19 had dead batteries, rendering the game unplayable. I repaired it myself and removed the need for the batteries. Let me know if you require the original IC and battery."

This is an incredibly rare find; most copies of SegaSonic are conversions, and the game rarely appears for sale with all of its original assets.