Explode!

Akira is recognised as one of the breakthrough hits which really pushed anime in the west during the early '90s, and it perhaps surprising that it didn't get more video game adaptations at the time.

That's not to say there weren't any planned, of course; a Famicom version never saw the light of day outside of Japan, and later on western publisher THQ was working on SNES and Genesis editions which were canned before release.

THQ also had plans for handheld Akira titles, and until now there has been little news on these. However, video game personality Patrick Scott Patterson appears to have unwittingly stumbled across not one but four prototype cartridges in a haul of games he recently purchased.

He streamed himself opening the box of games live on Facebook and has posted the footage below.

Finding just one of these carts would be an amazing event, but finding four is nothing short of remarkable.

Patterson plans on holding a "Let's Play" session of the game the Portland Retro Gaming Expo next weekend, so if you're attending that then you're going to be in for a treat.