Ultra-rare Sony PlayStation SNES standalone console spotted & photographed

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http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...otted-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.

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:

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




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://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.

[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:

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.