Ultra-rare Sony PlayStation SNES standalone console spotted & photographed

[parallaxscroll]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-07-03-ultra-rare-sony-playstation-snes-console-spotted-pictured


Ultra-rare Sony PlayStation SNES console spotted, pictured
What might have been.

By Tom Phillips

A prototype Sony PlayStation SNES - an ultra-rare piece of gaming history - has been discovered and photographed.

http://i.imgur.com/Q30xv6X.jpg?1



The console, never released to the public, only exists in early prototype form.

Only a couple of hundred were known to be manufactured, the result of early plans for Nintendo and Sony to team-up on a version of the Super Nintendo Entertainment system with a CD-ROM drive.

But the plans fell through - famously, Nintendo opted to partner with Philips instead. And while that deal faltered, Sony continued with the development of its CD-compatible PlayStation as a separate device.


The photographs below show the console prototype with its CD-ROM drive, plus ports for both SNES cartridges and controllers.

Each pad is labelled with the Sony PlayStation branding on the front, but with a Nintendo Super Famicom Controller logo on the back.

The images appeared on Reddit yesterday (thanks, Nintendo Life). The user claimed that the console was discovered in a box of items received from a friend of his father who used to work at Nintendo around the time that the Nintendo-Sony deal was being discussed.

Here it is, in all its yellowing glory:

http://i.imgur.com/s0AL5pS.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/01gZYyX.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/dRZ3ROQ.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/PAYB63d.jpg

[parallaxscroll]

Note #1: Previously, this was probably the only known picture (or mock-up) of the 16-bit Sony PlayStation SNES system:

http://i.imgur.com/xcuVhey.jpg


Note #2: The 16-Bit Sony Play Station SNES console was only one version of the SNES CD-ROM. There would've been an add-on for existing SNES with the same specs.

Then there was also the 16-Bit Philips CD-ROM announced in June 1991, where Nintendo went behind Sony's back to make an agreement with Philips for a CD system.

Finally, the more powerful, joint Philips-Sony-Nintendo CD add-on with 32-Bit co-processor and other RAM in a system cartridge was announced in 1992 and canceled in 1993 just before the 64-Bit Nintendo Project Reality with Silicon Graphics was announced.

http://i.imgur.com/0EnYfF3.png

http://www.n-sider.com/contentview.php?contentid=231

[Greg2600]

WOAH! Can't believe it's taken so long, but we finally see one. As for games, honestly it may not have deviated far from what SegaCD released, and perhaps frighteningly into what Philips released on CDi. Some of which is being done by fans with the SD2SNES MSU1 chip.

[The Adventurer]

Can it actually play anything?

[parallaxscroll]

The guy posted a video.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCV6RusogAk

[JSoup]

Can it actually play anything?

Can a system that never launched and had no software developed for it play anything?
There's probably a tech demo or something out there, somewhere.

[Scotterpop]

Yeah, my jaw dropped when I followed the link to the article and saw the pics! Holy shit, talk about a rare console, this has to be one of the rarest in existence. And it's historically significant in that it's an awesome what-might-have-been prototype that would've taken gaming into a completely different timeline. I can't believe this thing actually exists. It's like looking at a yeti!!! It's quite difficult to imagine what the current gaming landscape would look like today had this thing been mass produced. Anybody care to speculate? Perhaps it would've been Nintendo and Sega still duking it out today with Microsoft still only a PC presence. At any rate, it's very exciting to see some detailed pics of this incredibly cool piece of history.

[kupomogli]

Good thing this never actually became a thing, because we'd probably be running Gamecube graphics on the PS4 if it did. Nintendo really does deserve what they got though, being greedy conniving bastards doing what they did. Other than the stranglehold they had on publishers in the past, not much has really changed all these years when it comes to how Nintendo does business. Even today they're still screwing their own fans again and again to push their own agenda, pretty much completely dropping Wii U support other than a few shovelware first party titles and previously announced titles to push everything to the NX, the amount of 3DS hardware releases while lying repeatedly about not having certain revisions, just to get people to buy the full priced system two or even three times, going to $199 each time a new revision is released, on top of the ridiculous $250 price point that even they stated they overpriced to get more money.

You guys know I hate Nintendo as a company, and I'm sure many of you can see that I'm completely justified in my opinion, some of you only recently getting pissed off with their anti consumer tactics. I'll play their games and the exclusives that come out of their consoles, but it's one company that I don't respect for how they treat the community.

[Tanooki]

You know this has for an odd reason always eaten at me. My best friend (still friends too) since 10th grade prior to me meeting him, family friend was with Sony or Nintendo (don't recall) and they ended up with one of those few hundred units with some prototype games, it all worked, but it was shelved away in a box in a dark closet because they scurried it away with the deal failed wanting to keep it and not get sued so it was never left out. He got to see it in action a little and it was a phenomenally cool loss I always wanted a crack at or to see other than some stupid pictures/mock up art.

The thing is I am not entirely certain it's 100% fair to say Nintendo went behind Sony's back. The damage there was a very two way street. Even then I knew the real story that didn't get published because it was better to call Nintendo the backstabber. Only in more recent years had it come out that Sony tried to manipulate Nintendo and squeeze them with a horrible contractual deal where Nintendo would have lost a fortune in licensing and publishing fees. They had no issue with Sony's Playstation SNES-CD system, it was the contract, so they went to Philips which bungled their end of the deal so Nintendo closed the book on it and doomed themselves with N64 carts. It makes no business sense to allow Sony to write a contract saying any game that plays on Nintendo's Playstation to have the game licensed by Sony, publishing fees going to Sony too and royalties. Nintendo would have got nothing unless the games were still on carts and that did them no good and Sony wouldn't budge off it so they buried them for backing out with the PS1. I mean I can't blame Nintendo for telling them to screw off for that kind of shady deal, and I can't blame Sony for being mad they couldn't take advantage of the situation and not wanting to lose all that dough so they converted it into a stand alone system which dominated Nintendo badly as a result. They were both at fault. I wish Sony would have been reasonable and split the licensing and publishing fees equally with Nintendo but greed won out on that one which is a shame as it would have made for a very different picture going forward. N64 would have arrived as a CD system, Sony may or may not have ever struck out with a system of their own, who knows!

[Tupin]

Wasn't it Sony demanding money from games Nintendo made by themselves that caused them to think this? Regardless, this belongs in some sort of museum.

[celerystalker]

This is neat.

I'll never understand the Nintendo hate being so firm. We take urban legends, rumors, and "historian" conjecture and act like we were all there behind the scenes watching in disgust. Nintendo is fiscally responsible and has gone to great lengths for exclusive content. What's so strange about that? Their practices over time have both helped and hurt them, but they're tough decisions somebody had to make. It's not kids on the playground refusing to share toys.

They may be complete bastards. They may be unfairly villified. I don't know. I haven't been into much of what they've done in a very long time. Can we stop pretending we sat in on board meetings and watched money be exchanged in back alleys? We are justified as consumers in spending money as we see fit, but getting incomplete information from the internet and magazines does not make us industry pundits.

[parallaxscroll]

Nice interview up on Polygon: (http://www.polygon.com/2015/7/3/8889237/Nintendo-Play-Station)


HOW MISFORTUNE AND A BIT OF LUCK LED TO THE DISCOVERY OF THE FABLED NINTENDO PLAY STATION

[Tanooki]

Wasn't it Sony demanding money from games Nintendo made by themselves that caused them to think this? Regardless, this belongs in some sort of museum.

I think that was part of it too with the publishing bit. Sony wanted to control the pressing of the games entirely at their own disc factories, so Nintendo would be not the publisher of a single game but Sony would. Basically you'd have the SNES with that thing attached (or the full unit with Sony's name prominent on it) and when a game would boot, instead of Licensed by Nintendo, it would be Licensed by SCEA like on PS1 games, and since Sony published games for people like Nintendo did with their cart making monpoly for years, they'd end up also being the soft publisher as well. That's now NIntendo would be having money demanded from them basically in a back handed way. Sony was demanding money (indirect) from Nintendo by taking all the publishing costs of the media off Nintendo's hands, and they'd take all the money due to Nintendo for the CD (licensed by Sony) messages on each game too. It was a double sucker punch by Sony to try and dominate Nintendo. Nintendo basically got pissed off at them and went with Philips and Sony was like f u dudes and took the system and made it a stand alone Playstation to teach Nintendo a lesson. Mind you it was a lousy lesson to be teaching, which would be.

Sony was saying, You Nintendo, let us screw you and take all the licensing and publishing processes out of your hands and the money that you get from them for the CD system, and you just collect what you get from cartridge games on SNES and be happy with it, and if you don't like it tough!

[parallaxscroll]

I'd just die if it's discovered he or his dad has the CD Secret of Mana.

[Aussie2B]

Very cool. I didn't know they were making a standalone unit. I always thought it'd be like a Sega CD and require a regular SFC/SNES attached to it. It's also cool that you can use standard composite and s-video cables, considering Nintendo has always insisted on forcing people since the SNES to use their proprietary cables, which of course leaves you shit out of luck if they go missing or break (especially when it comes to their official s-video cable, which isn't the easiest thing to acquire these days).

It wasn't too many years ago that I read all the coverage of the CD add-on in Nintendo Power, and it was pretty fascinating stuff. But it did sound like they were kind of going in the same direction as the Sega CD, pumping up FMV games like The 7th Guest and what have you. It's funny how at some point they just completely stopped acknowledging it, as if it had never existed or been planned in the first place. Between the difficulties with their partnerships and witnessing the Sega CD tank and the so-called future of gaming being FMV games not panning out, I can't really blame them for abandoning ship, though the knowledge Sony gained in the process sure bit them in the ass later on. Of course, who's to say Sony wasn't interested in getting into the video game business regardless, even if they hadn't been working with Nintendo. For all we know, history may have not changed much either way. The SNES add-on could've just as well flopped like the Sega CD, prompting Nintendo to return to carts and Sony to strike out on their own.

[Tanooki]

They were going the SegaCD route. Sony decided to play the field and part of the end deal they wanted was to make a stand alone system that was what you see this guy has where Nintendo would have not seen a shiny penny from anything but their own proprietary parts inside the system since it had to be a SNES too to read the carts. Again a reason Nintendo got pissed and walked on them. I doubt the SNES CD would have failed really. Nintendo with all its mascots even in that day and their other publishing agreements and so on would have guaranteed a decent run of games. I think it would have stalled but probably not removed Sony from the fight, PS2 generation would have been their first with whatever they would have come up with (maybe even the PS2 itself still.) They would have started from a point of weakness and not the N64 crushing dominance though.

[celerystalker]

I was thinking the same thing; I didn't expect to ever see a standalone unit pop up. It's pretty fascinating. Easily one of the coolest prototypes ever.

It's funny to think about Nintendo-branded FMV content. Dragon's Lair gameplay with Zelda cartoon footage? Something like the CD-i Zeldas, but super polished? Maybe updated Famicom Detective Club interactive films? Could've been intriguing.

[The 1 2 P]

So if I find one of these can I get it graded by VGA and sell it for a million Ngage games?

[WCP]

How much do you think that thing is worth, if genuine ?

[Tanooki]

Total guess, but I bet it would be in the running to top into the 5 figures area if it's all there and fully functional, not missing parts or being a mock up. His is that, minus the power cord but being that it's the sony made system and has the similar back and power requirements a normal off the rack sony power cord for ps1 should work. That system too is also the Sony sabotage system where Nintendo wouldn't see crap from it, so it would have overlap with Sony playstation historians/collectors, but they're nothing as rabid as the Nintendo fans or insane with their wallets. IF this were the SNES CD unit that docked into the system like I was aware of my friend saw I'd put it even higher. What would really help would be if it were like the one my friend had showed off to him in the earlier half of the 90s because they had some real early test build games on some burnt discs. Imagine if there was some early test build of a few Mario stages running on the hardware. My friend said that was some test content on a disc, at least that's what the friend told him who flashed the junk with words written on the discs.

I guess you just have to take it at face value and hope the story was honest as this is pre-internet area stuff when most people wouldn't froth over throwing a bank balance at stuff and brag about it. I only believe him not just because we're friends, but he grew up in a very very strict home as his father was a JAG, one star general who would put the hurt on anyone in the house for breaking rules of conduct as the military madness didn't switch off at home one bit.

[SparTonberry]

but they're nothing as rabid as the Nintendo fans or insane with their wallets.
I thought PlayStation was the first console where people went nuts over label variants (hence "black label" becoming the standard collecting term for "original release print")?

[Niku-Sama]

I had wished some one with genuine collecting experence had gotten the thing. I watched that video and I just felt like this system isn't going to get its just deserts.

when the guy said something about not opening it or not jamming power cords into it because he didn't know if it would hurt it, hurt my head. dude read the back, you can see in the pics its a barrel connector positive center 7.6v.
opening it up and making sure there isn't something in there causing a short before turning it on would be the BEST idea ever really because one shot.

frankly I think some one with some know how and a good way to document should try and get ahold of it. I'd love to take a crack at it but all my money is wrapped up in a house and I imagine its probably gotten legitimate offers of way more than what my house is worth, that's approx. $150k (US).

that is incase it is legitimate, I have my doubts of course, ya know internet and all

[Tanooki]

I thought PlayStation was the first console where people went nuts over label variants (hence "black label" becoming the standard collecting term for "original release print")?

True but Nintendo fans have the larger lack of good sense throwing money at stuff. Also sure you have label variants, but Nintendo has them and more first, and cart color variants, people collecting extra cart labels, manuals, and boxes because of a -1 version, region, a star on a booklet, and even some psychos trying to fiigure out the 2 digitstamp code on the back so they can charge people more lining up a complete package. You have a lot of console and system variants and the SNES carts some have both the moldson some SNES games.

[Greg2600]

Well, again the guy who got it did so because his father was on a cleanup crew, not a programmer or anything like that. I'd also love to know what else is in his attic, as it sounded like he kept everything from Olaf's office! The kid lives in Denver, so hopefully someone "important" contacts him and convinces him of the significance. They really should sell it, it will fetch a good amount of money which it sounded like his father could definitely use. As for what this is, I'm not sure how much SNES this thing really is? Maybe not at all.

[PreZZ]

You can see the required psu in the back, the guy needs to power it up and see IF there is a disc inside and play it! and also check whats on the cartridge! Who knows, maybe its a cross over game of super mario and twisted metal!!

[Jorpho]

Only a couple of hundred were known to be manufacturedA couple of hundred? That makes it pretty surprising one is only turning up now. Keeping tabs on that many units seems unfeasible. Someone else is bound to have one but is probably keeping it under wraps. (The news seems to be all over this one.) It also probably means there's bound to be at least some software.


I'll play their games and the exclusives that come out of their consoles, but it's one company that I don't respect for how they treat the community.Yeah, keep playing their games! That'll make 'em learn their lesson!

[kupomogli]

I'll never understand the Nintendo hate being so firm. We take urban legends, rumors, and "historian" conjecture and act like we were all there behind the scenes watching in disgust. Nintendo is fiscally responsible and has gone to great lengths for exclusive content. What's so strange about that? Their practices over time have both helped and hurt them, but they're tough decisions somebody had to make. It's not kids on the playground refusing to share toys.

They may be complete bastards. They may be unfairly villified. I don't know. I haven't been into much of what they've done in a very long time. Can we stop pretending we sat in on board meetings and watched money be exchanged in back alleys? We are justified as consumers in spending money as we see fit, but getting incomplete information from the internet and magazines does not make us industry pundits.

You think Nintendo hasn't did anything that we wouldn't or haven't clearly noticed? The Nintendo hate isn't there because what they've did behind the scenes, it's because of their actions affecting the consumer, something that has directly affected me.

When the Gamecube was a year or two off the end of its life, a lot of games Nintendo was developing received massive delays, only to later be cancelled and ported over to the Wii. The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess is the only one that was released on both Wii and Gamecube, but a massive slap in the face to the community was that it was released on the Wii first, and then a full month later released to the Gamecube. They first stated that they delayed to add extra content when it was delayed to the end of the year, then they delayed it to the end of the year, and when people speculated it was because it would be on the Wii, they stated it won't come to Wii because the Wii can play all Gamecube games. Later on it was in an interview that Miyamoto came up with the idea of pushing it as a Wii launch title.

What about the last two to three years of the Wii's life where there was practically no support? How about Nintendo overpricing the 3DS because of reaction towards unveiling of the system? How about Nintendo being so focused on making the max amount of profit for everything that they release, that instead of ever dropping the price of the game $10-$20 they will completely stop printing the game the second sales start to decrease(and accessories?) How about Nintendo stating the 3DS will not have an XL version during a conference, only to announce the XL a week later(I purchased my 3DS because of that announcement thinking XL has atleast another year or two.?) Before the release of the XL they announced the additional analog, but you know they knew they were going to release yet another revision, and on that. How about that New 3DS and Nintendo making the announcement of there being many other games in development for the system other than Xenoblade Chronicles? It's been 11 months since the announcement, seven months since release and there's been no word on any other game for the New Nintendo 3DS, even from Nintendo themselves despite having many in development at the time of its announcement, when in reality that was a ploy to get all the suckers to yet again upgrade their system, a system which jumped back up to $199 because of the newest revision.

All of the above and more affect me as a consumer, so the hatred towards Nintendo is entirely justified. The attacks towards Nintendo's past is to just shit all over their reputation as I do not respect the company.

[celerystalker]

Nintendo's job as a company and its responsibility to its shareholders is to be profitable and responsible. Not selling consoles at a loss and controlling print runs to meet demand is good business sense, and has allowed them to remain competitive when their competition has outmatched them in terms of console power and third party relationships. Really, though, every console cycle sees titles moved up a generation to build hype for the new system and take advantage of new resources. Shenmue was supposed to be a Saturn game. Dinosaur Planet was supposed to be an N64 game, as was Eternal Darkness. Too Human was supposed to be on a couple of systems including Gamecube befor ending up on Xbox 360.

Complaining about corporate changes in direction is just unrealistic, as they are necessary. The company I work for has so many times put out new programs, processes, scheduling formats, and pay scales only to go in another new direction or revert to an old one when things don't go as planned. It's adaptation, and it's a necessity. They aren't stupid for selling a 4 year old Mario game at near full price if people are still paying it regularly, and it isn't stupid to cut off a print run because five years later you're still thinking about it. It is what has kept them profitable with a reduced market share and stronger competition than ever.

Every system gets price drops, delays, and changes to future plans. If every company announcement was set in stone, just about every company would be out of business due to unforeseen changes, and we don't always know the exact reasons, especially coming from the more secretive Japanese business world that is very concerned with saving face. I'm not saying at all that everything they've done was right, or even that it was done with best intentions. I am saying that these aren't flippant decisions being tossed around to prove a point or to trick people, because bad PR hurts companies (hence the attempt to soften the 3DS price drop with the ambassador program, which I thought was garbage and did not use). What I'm saying is that being profitable for shareholders and employees while trying to please customers is a tightrope walk, not some bully taking your lunch money.

[kupomogli]

^So with everything that was said, you cherry pick two statements and ignore everything else.

Yes. Games do get delayed and pushed back due to technical difficulties, but that's not why these games were delayed. Super Paper Mario was announced years before the release of the Wii and even included gameplay on the Gamecube only to be cancelled on the Gamecube and released four months after launch on the Wii. With Twilight Princess we knew the game was done and as I said in an interview with Miyamoto, he stated that he asked Iwata if they should delay it for the game to launch with the Wii. Not only did they delay it for over a year, they further delayed the Gamecube version to a full month after the Wii release.

Stating one week before the announcement of the Nintendo 3DS XL that there will be no Nintendo 3DS XL, only to announce the 3DS XL. They should have posted their usual no comment, as a definite no answer would be taken that it won't before atleast another year, not a week later. I raged on this very forum when it was announced and even pointed out that he said it wouldn't only a week before, as that was what got me to purchase the 3DS instead of continuing to wait for the XL. Unforseen instances? This wasn't unforseen, this was lying through their teeth to the fanbase to get as many sales from the old version before the new version is announced.

New 3DS. As I stated, when it was announced 11 months ago, Iwata stated that there were "several" games being worked on for the system. 11 months later and no word. They announced and released Majora's Mask remake in less than that amount of time. They've announced that Metroid Federation Force and the Animal Crossing games for Wii U and 3DS, two games that release at the end of the year. Again, this was just to siphon money from the gamers, a ploy to sell the system full price to the consumer base.

Here's such and such I didn't mention before.

How about squeezing as much money from your player base as possible. Nintendo is the only company I know that's sold a rechargeable electronic device and forces another $20 to be spent in purchasing a charger. Something that costs less than $1 and should be in the box to begin with, the consumer is forced to pay Nintendo's ridiculous mark up.

Nintendo openly bashed Microsoft, Sony, and many others last gen because they couldn't do it on their consoles. Now that DLC is possible, Nintendo is one of the worst of them. Fire Emblem has three different versions. Two different retail releases and one DLC, and Fire Emblem is nothing but enemy placement as the game is nothing more than a toolset that reuses textures. I pointed out in the Fire Emblem thread how I created an Advanced Wars version of Sharom from Ogre Battle as a stage, something that took me less than an hour with the included toolset. Mario Golf has day one DLC that has more than double the content that's in the box. Fantasy Life has a huge chunk of day one DLC.

Nintendo fans brush all this off like it's a minor inconvenience because Nintendo can do no wrong, but if EA pulled this shit, oh hells no. WORST COMPANY EVER FOR 97 and 1/2 YEARS RUNNING.

[Greg2600]

A couple of hundred? That makes it pretty surprising one is only turning up now. Keeping tabs on that many units seems unfeasible. Someone else is bound to have one but is probably keeping it under wraps. (The news seems to be all over this one.) It also probably means there's bound to be at least some software.

Yeah, keep playing their games! That'll make 'em learn their lesson!

Well there might not have been hundreds. So a former Imagesoft employee named Brian has provided a lot of information regarding this. He feels it is authentic, and that Olaf DID have it in his office before offices were moved out west. They worked on demos for Hook (SegaCD release) and Forteza (never released). The CD inside could be one of those or a utility disc. There are at 3 more units at Sony Japan, in addition to one which is owned still by a Sony person. He's offered the owner assistance form engineers as well.


You can see the required psu in the back, the guy needs to power it up and see IF there is a disc inside and play it! and also check whats on the cartridge! Who knows, maybe its a cross over game of super mario and twisted metal!!

True but we don't want it to get fried. As I said, "Brian" offered the assistance of engineers, probably those who made the prototype in the first place.

[Jorpho]

All of the above and more affect me as a consumer, so the hatred towards Nintendo is entirely justified. The attacks towards Nintendo's past is to just shit all over their reputation as I do not respect the company.FFS, dude. Neither Nintendo nor their shareholders will care about "hatred" or "attacks towards Nintendo's past" as long as you keep buying their games. Do you just want everyone else to stop buying their products? Maybe you want them to stop releasing stuff you want to buy?

[Tanooki]

You know what Kupo is right, but also wrong to a point in caring. As stated, as filthy as some of the comments may be, they don't give a shit about me, about you, or any other consumer on an independent scale nor how happy or pissed off we'll get. Why? They're Nintendo. They're the family company all the parents who were kids with them at one point or another, or those kids having their kids will run to for safe games they won't have to worry about, and because they're cheaper systems to get too. Same same on the handhelds. They know they can keep making the same crap over and over which is fine for some teens and adults, and isn't fine for a lot more, but they're not the audience, they're the kids each generation who grow up with that box being their 5-15 age group stuff before they move on to being 'cool' with Sony or MS or just getting a booty call in HS or college and being more interested in non-tv based stuff. They got my money and parents with the NES, SNES as a pre-18 kid, Gameboy variants too. On my own I went into the GBC-GBA DS/3DS and the N64->Wii and unfortunately the hard lesson with the WiiU.

I know they used to always take the high road of no comment and now they just lie to cover their tracks, it's shitty. There was no excuse even for stock holder sake to say no 3DSXL would happen, but they did, and could have said no comment. They could have very well had the time (and did) to make the Wii, but still did a rush job with issues Zelda game to launch and held back the finished superior controlling GC game a year (and a month beyond Wii) too which wasn't right. But again they don't give a crap, they're after another generation of gamers and if some old fart by their kid friendly area of expertise rolls along with it, good, if not, so damn what? I knew buying the New3DS would be an exclusive game gamble, and honestly I only did it because I could nail it down for $100 out of pocket and because I love playing with 3D on and the pre-motion head tracking camera style I could not as it was always double vision as i'm not some rigid robot when I play. It was worth it. WiiU was a disaster because they knew what they had to do to get games from other people and told them to essentially suck it. Had I known that I would have never bought the thing, but I did, just didn't learn my lesson from how the back half of the Wii life turned out, yet going forward if that NX is a new console I won't buy it until it's supported to my satisfaction, yet if it's a handheld I'll grab it because the 3DS has never bored me as it gets it from all over. Nintendo I used to just have a love for, now it's a plain mix of seething hatred and love of their stuff depending on the platform and their willingness to do the right (enough) thing.

I will add this though, the fact I had to pony up online for cheaper sake another $5+shipping from them (7.50 total) for a 3DS charger they can go F themselves with a hot poker, total cheap ass stunt move. What's next, not selling a console with a power cord? Perhaps the next handheld you buy one screen, but to have optional (or in a few games mandatory) two screen mode you pay up for another? Perhaps they'll start charging for OEM batteries at launch for the next handheld? Total dick move. You don't see Sony charging for their TV power cords or on their PS4 do you? No.

[Greg2600]

Eh, can we maybe stay on topic?

[bb_hood]

Eh, can we maybe stay on topic?

No, let em fight

[Jorpho]

You know what Kupo is right, but also wrong to a point in caring. As stated, as filthy as some of the comments may be, they don't give a shit about me, about you, or any other consumer on an independent scale nor how happy or pissed off we'll get. Why? They're Nintendo.Can you name one corporation – any corporation, never mind video games – that does "give a shit about me, about you, or any other consumer on an independent scale nor how happy or pissed off we'll get"? Because if there is a company that makes you feel that way, odds are it is just a carefully-constructed facade erected by the marketers.

[Gentlegamer]

I just hope all the proper documentary steps are taken in the event it is confirmed genuine.

[celerystalker]

This is the last I'll say about this, as it is getting too far off topic, and we should start a different thread if we want to keep going on this. The thing is, I don't disagree that some of Nintendo's decisions have been off-putting. That's why I haven't bought a 3DS XL or a Wii U. What I'm getting at is that we get way too judgemental and opinionated on this stuff, getting on our soap boxes like we know everything. Get realistic in your expectations, though.

Have you been in a position to be responsible for large scale, long term financial goals and execution? Have you stared down a P&L statement with a month to go in a quarter and had to decide on cuts to mitigate a profit gap with your controllable expenses? Sure, you can save a ton on payroll by shaving a couple of hours off of thousands of employees, but is that doing right by then? If you aren't going to do that, what plan do you have to generate sales to cover the losses you wouldn't cut?

Nintendo, like every other company, faces these kinds of decisions daily, and they will analyze consumer and sales data to make amendments to their business plan. It's very easy to read a couple of articles, call bullshit, and throw out complaints for which you have no viable, fiscally responsible solution. For instance, cutting the charger from the new 3DS. I hate that move. However, if it costs them a dollar, with all of the logistical pieces factored in, for each unit, and they sell 20 million units, they saved 20 million dollars, plus created new revenue from individual charger sales. They didn't just dream that up on their own, either. I'd bet my own money that they analyzed the recent trend in the last couple of years where many tablets and phones that use micro USB chargers started leaving out the chargers, and how sales were affected in order to arrive at that decision.

I'm saying outright that the way it's happened has caused me not to purchase Nintendo's most recent two systems, because that's my right as a consumer. However, I'm not going to spit vitriol because some executives made the hard decisions. I respect it, and responding as I see fit. It's consumer economics, and complaining without doing anything or offering productive solutions is childish.

[Kwyjibo]

Incredible. Is there any console more valuable than this one?

[Greg2600]

Incredible. Is there any console more valuable than this one?

I would put the Nintendo AVS higher, IMO.

[SparTonberry]

I will add this though, the fact I had to pony up online for cheaper sake another $5+shipping from them (7.50 total) for a 3DS charger they can go F themselves with a hot poker, total cheap ass stunt move. What's next, not selling a console with a power cord? Perhaps the next handheld you buy one screen, but to have optional (or in a few games mandatory) two screen mode you pay up for another? Perhaps they'll start charging for OEM batteries at launch for the next handheld? Total dick move. You don't see Sony charging for their TV power cords or on their PS4 do you? No.
I can't remember if Nintendo actually stated the obvious: they were probably expecting a lot of sales to upgraders that already had an older 3DS AC to reuse with the N3DS.
I think they might've somewhere.

[Tanooki]

I think they said something about it retroactively after there was some complaining. The thing is, they're right, people upgrade, but how large of a percent sell, trade, (or even stupidly dispose) of an old system and the power cord when they get a new one? A lot I would imagine, so it's not really a fair argument whoever made it first.

Sure it probably save them a dollar in parts, but that doesn't make it right. They've done it for quite a few handhelds in Japan, not sure what the reaction over there was as we don't really see it.

[Kwyjibo]

I would put the Nintendo AVS higher, IMO.

How many AVS are in existence today?

[Greg2600]

How many AVS are in existence today?
Good question. I think maybe just the one that was displayed at Vegas CES 30 years ago, later Nintendo World Store for awhile too.

[Jorpho]

Incredible. Is there any console more valuable than this one?There's probably something in the Assemblergames vaults that might qualify. (I wonder if anyone ever managed to salvage a Nintendo Gateway System?)

[Ogreatgames]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-07-03-ultra-rare-sony-playstation-snes-console-spotted-pictured



http://i.imgur.com/Q30xv6X.jpg?1



http://i.imgur.com/s0AL5pS.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/01gZYyX.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/dRZ3ROQ.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/PAYB63d.jpg


The biggest question is "what if"? These two companies could have had a beautiful system if they worked out the details clearly. The future is foggy, the present clearer to see and the past is the clearest.

[bb_hood]

The biggest question is "what if"? These two companies could have had a beautiful system if they worked out the details clearly. The future is foggy, the present clearer to see and the past is the clearest.

Probably would have been SNES-type games with cd audio. Snes games already have pretty damn-good audio for a cartridge based system that was released back then.
This system was destined to never happen. Neither Sony nor Nintendo needed the other. Especially Sony. Sony has always been a huge company and never needed Nintendo's help to produce another electronic gadget. Nintendo is a brand name that sells for sure, but Sony probably just realized they can make their own quality games and get good 3rd party support without Nintendo.

[Tanooki]

You're probably right which is why they went in later with the garbage demands to get 100% of the profit off each game license on a CD and the profits from people paying them to make their retail discs too. NO one in their right mind no matter how desperate they were would agree to that, and coming off the NES and SNES Nintendo wasn't hard up at all for help or cash. It's a shame though. I think Sony went in after doing their audio chip seeing potential, then after getting help from NCL's R&D department and seeing their ideas, they wanted all the control and action for themselves and set it up to fail so they could further make what they did do into what was the PS1 in the end. I don't like it, but at the same time I can understand it, and to a far lesser degree respect it too.

[Gentlegamer]

Probably would have been SNES-type games with cd audio. Snes games already have pretty damn-good audio for a cartridge based system that was released back then.
This system was destined to never happen. Neither Sony nor Nintendo needed the other. Especially Sony. Sony has always been a huge company and never needed Nintendo's help to produce another electronic gadget. Nintendo is a brand name that sells for sure, but Sony probably just realized they can make their own quality games and get good 3rd party support without Nintendo.

This is sort of the Atari-Nintendo story, in reverse. Nintendo had approached Atari about marketing and distributing the Famicom in USA, Atari wasn't interested, so Nintendo started NoA and went it alone.

[Haoie]

I saw it and wondered if it was real! Must admit I'm a bit skeptical.

[Niku-Sama]

agreed.

any more news on it or is it just going to fade away again without some one who knows what they are doing to take a crack at it?