Log in

View Full Version : Sony/SNES CD/Playstation Add-on Revealed -- Is this for real?


CosmicMonkey
06-07-2007, 07:38 AM
I'm sure we've all seen the pics of the Super Famicom CD drive that would have sat underneath the main unit. And those who are bothered have probably seen several of the artist's impressions of a combined Playstation unit. And there was a supposed SF CD drive proto a few months ago, of which pics showed up on ASSEMbler's forum.

Well, now there's this (http://game-rave.com/).

Discuss....
diskoboy
06-07-2007, 08:49 AM
Didn't Sony develop a 'Playstation' that played SNES/Super Famicom games, in Japan? And managed to release a few thousand of them?

Is that what that is? It also looks like it was gutted.

Either way, pretty neat.
CosmicMonkey
06-07-2007, 09:52 AM
Didn't Sony develop a 'Playstation' that played SNES/Super Famicom games, in Japan? And managed to release a few thousand of them?

Indeed, as well as the SuperFami CD drive peripheral, the original deal with Nintendo allowed Sony to make a unit that played the new 'Playstation' CD games as well as SuperFami carts.

You've probably seen one of the many artist's impressions of such a combined unit. But no, these were never released to the public. Ever
idrougge
06-07-2007, 01:05 PM
Looks like a horrible hack. It doesn't have any CD drive as far as I can see, and the veroboard peeking through the slots in the back makes me suspect that someone – whether Sony or someone else – has just taken the guts of a SNES and transplanted it into a new case.
studvicious
06-07-2007, 01:07 PM
And the award for the biggest eject button goes to....
Porksta
06-07-2007, 01:08 PM
And the award for the biggest eject button goes to....

Super Nintendo?
agbulls
06-07-2007, 10:27 PM
I think the only picture that I've ever seen before this (assuming this is legit) was a mock up drawing in EGM over 10 years ago. I have no real reason to think this is a fake...or do I? After all, why bother now faking this thing? What do you guys think? I'm looking at my SFC right now and it just doesn't look like it would match the color scheme at all. But, considering this is an early prototype, that doesn't really matter. I was under the impression that the original add-on would be like the Sega CD and just attach to the SNES. Yet, this seems to be a stand-alone unit as it has SNES/SFC controller ports. I'm so confused!?!

Fake? Not fake?

http://game-rave.com/
roushimsx
06-07-2007, 10:58 PM
If Dangerboy says it's real, I'd believe him :)

(can you guess what the URL to Dangerboy's site is?)
agbulls
06-07-2007, 11:03 PM
If Dangerboy says it's real, I'd believe him :)

(can you guess what the URL to Dangerboy's site is?)

Uh. C'mon ;)
Jorpho
06-07-2007, 11:36 PM
There's no disc drive on that thing that I can see. In fact, I'm thinking it's just a SNES in a custom shell (even though it might be an official custom Sony-designed shell).

I've read news of a couple of things popping up every now and then that might have been weird proto dev hardware for the SNES CD.
PapaStu
06-08-2007, 12:40 AM
Fake? Not fake?


Not fake. Thats the real deal, however what you see (pic/infowise) is what you get. The source of these pictures is a legit one. Thats what DB was given info wise and he won't be given any more info in the forseeable future on it either, so we're really just left with alot of speculation.

This isn't the first CD add-on that we've gotten ahold of pictures of. The other one (which had its own drama filled thread on ASSEMbler a while ago) was a cd unit that plugged into the cartridge slot of a SuperFami. That one was a real plain jane with just a few labelmaker labels on it and a nondecript squarish metal case.



There's no disc drive on that thing that I can see. In fact, I'm thinking it's just a SNES in a custom shell (even though it might be an official custom Sony-designed shell).

Looking closely at the picture you'll notice an 'Eject' button and part of the top opens up. My guess is that there was a CD-Rom under that hood.
dougman999
06-08-2007, 01:05 AM
I wonder how functional (if at all) that unit is.
XxHennersXx
06-08-2007, 01:09 AM
i wonder how functional it is too.

as for it not having a disc drive, see the pictures on the back? you can see there are what appear to be seriel connectors. it probably had an external disc drive as this was just a prototype.

I would have no doubt it's legit, we have found many other rare prototype items. From M2 hard ware toanother prototype SNES CD Rom, it's been unconvered. Someone even has the prototype NES that Nintendo showed at CES when they were going to have atari sell the NES as the nintendo computer system.
PapaStu
06-08-2007, 08:00 AM
DB has made Kotaku (http://kotaku.com/gaming/dust-strikers/super-nes-play-station-prototype-267000.php) and probably that means theres a Joystiq article out there too.

Webservice boosting Hooooooooooo!
Jorpho
06-08-2007, 08:00 AM
Looking closely at the picture you'll notice an 'Eject' button and part of the top opens up. My guess is that there was a CD-Rom under that hood.

Well, yes, but the original SNES also had an Eject button (and one with similar positioning, too). And if that's a real cartridge slot on top, I don't see any way there could be a disc drive underneath.

(And of course even if it is a SNES CD unit, I doubt there's any software on hand that will work for it.)
Oobgarm
06-08-2007, 12:13 PM
Over on Joystiq, Ben Hack made a pretty knowledgeable-sounding assumption that this is NOT real.

I await more details!
diskoboy
06-08-2007, 01:41 PM
I knew I'd seen this thread somewhere else, yesterday...

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=101699

This is the device that sony put out a few thousand of in Japan, that played SNES games and also would've SNES 'Playstation' CD games. This was developed when Sony and Nintendo were still buddy buddy.
diskoboy
06-08-2007, 01:48 PM
I think this was the original "PSX" I've heard about. Not the big, white PSX media box, that you could buy in Japan. But a sony designed SNES clone that would player cart games and would've played SNES CD games.


This was developed before Sony found out Nintendo stabbed them in the back.
XxHennersXx
06-08-2007, 03:34 PM
I knew I'd seen this thread somewhere else, yesterday...

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=101699

This is the device that sony put out a few thousand of in Japan, that played SNES games and also would've SNES 'Playstation' CD games. This was developed when Sony and Nintendo were still buddy buddy.

no sony never manufactored the any snes/cd device. it was going to be made but never hit retail.
CosmicMonkey
06-08-2007, 03:41 PM
I am intrigued by this. Ok, so it certainly looks 'real', as in, it's not a photoshop job. So, what is it?

I keep coming across this rumor that 200 or so Nintendo Play Stations were manufactured and exist. Can anyone actually confirm this? I was 13 / 14 back then, and got every games mag available. I certainly don't remember ever hearing of this release, and surely there would have been others show up on eBay? If I've managed to find pictures of RCI Halcyons and other ridiculously rare and obscure systems, why not the Ninty PS of which a whopping 200 or so are supposed to exist?

So, it's certainly not a clone. Nintendo would have sued Sony's ass. Any Sony system that was SuperFami compatible would have to be official. Which means a huge release, press and all. And that never happened.

Now, I remember that the original deal would have ended up with Nintendo releasing the CD peripheral that sat under the SuperFami, and Sony were allowed to produce their own machine: Play Station. This is obviously nothing to do with a SF peripheral; and as I mentioned a proto one of these is supposedly 'out there'.

Which leaves us with this being Sony's version of the SFami, the infamous Play Station. And that in itself could mean many things. I'm never sure if Sony's console would have only been compatible with CD games, or would have used carts too. I'm not sure anyone else is overly clued-up on the specifics of that deal either ;) So, theory time:

It's an internal prototype. Possibly quite final. Maybe Sony's design was a two piece unit: a main unit and similarly styled separate CD drive. If the CD unit used a motorised drawer, or those encased CDs (which Nintendo were reported to be considering, iirc) this would allow the units to stack or sit side by side. And notice how the system looks a bit more 'grown up' and less console-like than a SFami (plus CD drive). Maybe Sony were into the whole 'mature gamers' thing back then and were designing a version of the SFami to meet this need?
PapaStu
06-08-2007, 07:04 PM
I knew I'd seen this thread somewhere else, yesterday...

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=101699

Merged....

I knew I saw it too, but last night when I went looking for it, I wasn't seeing it, most likely because of the bad topic title.

Continue on with the babbling.
Lady Jaye
06-09-2007, 09:35 AM
Like PapaStu said, Dangerboy is rigorous with his website. He would not put up those pics if he had any reason to doubt the veracity of the source.

Unfortunately, we don't have any more details about that unit, but that doesn't mean it's not legit.

Go again to game-rave.com -- Dangerboy posted an update on the homepage giving a bit more info about the whole story (as much as he can tell).