Sega and Sonic the Hedgehog
My journey into the world of Sonic the Hedgehog.
It started in a hotel in Turkey, they had a Sega All-Stars Racing arcade machine featuring Sonic the Hedgehog. I didn’t play it, but it looked interesting — I used to love Sonic on my Game Gear.
A month later, while walking along the seafront in Great Yarmouth, I headed into Williamson’s Victorian Penny Arcade. A member of staff pointed out a fruit machine: a 1950s Sega Bell made by the same Sega that produced the Sonic games I played as a child.
Back home, I read up on Sega and the fruit machine, and discovered I lived only a short distance from Sega’s European office in Brentford. I had to see it and the giant Sonic the Hedgehog mural on the side for myself. (Sadly that is gone now since they moved offices to Chiswick)
The Sonic bug bit me. It led to me playing as many 2D Sonic platform games as I could find on iOS and Nintendo Switch. But I wanted more. I regretted not playing Sega All-Stars in Turkey, and I started wondering what other Sonic arcade machines are in existence. Before long, I had a list of machines I need to try:
SegaSonic The Hedgehog
Status: Played
Released exclusively in Japan as an arcade-only title around the time of Sonic 2. It is a 3D game, and because it uses a trackball control it has never been re-released for home systems.
I assumed I’d never get to play this. There are a few known cabinets in the USA, but thankfully as of June 2025, The Heart Of Gaming in Croydon has the only publicly available machine in the UK. I went there as soon as I could. The quirky 3D trackball gameplay is really fun. As it is on free play I managed to reach the final stage before the timer beat me.
Rad Mobile
Status: Played
This is Sonic’s first appearance in a computer game; a cameo role as a hanging car ornament. It was released eight months before Sonic 1.
I read a social media post saying that Pixel Bunker in Milton Keynes doesn’t have any Sonic games, so I was ecstatic to find this one there while visiting in May 2026 along with Brickz and the Sci-Fi Museum.
Segasonic Popcorn Shop
Status: Unplayed
How brilliant is this? A Sonic mini-game where you get real popcorn. The only confirmed location I can find is from this YouTube video in Tokyo’s German Village.
Sonic the Fighters / Championship
Status: Unplayed
Although available on consoles, this was originally an arcade game so remains on my list. So far I haven’t been able to locate one in the UK.
New UFO Catcher
Status: Unplayed
Not a Sonic game, but these machines use the same audio chip as the Mega Drive / Genesis and play a selection of songs from the first Sonic games. ClawMachineWiki lists a few locations, but none in the UK.
Sonic All-Stars Racing
Status: Unplayed
I’m kicking myself for not trying this out when I first saw it in Turkey, so it’s now firmly on the list. This page says there is one in Bournemouth and Rotherham, and Zenius I Vanisher suggests a few more locations. I visited Bournemouth in 2026 and the machine wasn’t there, although I was happy to find this Sonic ride-on from the All-Stars era.
If you do know the locations of any of the unplayed games, ideally in the South of Englad please get in touch - my hunt is far from over.