Nintendo Playstation Prototype Console (Photo : Twitter)
In July a Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) PlayStation prototype hybrid device featuring a SNES cartridge slot and CD-ROM drive made technology headline news. In fact, Sony executives would not confirm that the "Nintendo PlayStation" product resulting from the gaming giants' teaming up was valid. However, tech reporters have confirmed that the extremely rare console is the real thing and functions.
Sony's original plan was to brand the PlayStation for a SNES CD-ROM console that it had designed with Nintendo. The deal fell through.
However, a few SNES/PlayStation prototypes were produced. Engadget tracked down one unit featured at a retro gaming expo in Hong Kong.
The game was purchased by the father-and-son owners Terry Diebold and Dan Diebold, according to Kotaku. Terry Diebold bought the Nintendo PlayStation prototype at a bankruptcy auction for a company where Sony Interactive Entertainment ex-CEO Olaf Olafsson was employed.
Diebold explained that he was at the auction because he wanted to buy certain items in various lots at the auction, and ended up winning the one containing the Super Nintendo/PlayStation prototype. He paid $75 for the vintage console.
Engadget tested a few Super Famicom games in the unit's cartridge port. They played OK.
Pictures of the device's motherboard show the Nintendo and Sony logo. However, the CD-ROM was not functioning, and it might have been disabled on purpose.
If it were working then any prototype games discovered later could be played on the SNES/PlayStation prototype, according to Wired. That would include Squaresoft's development of the classic SNES game "Secret of Mana" for the CD-ROM platform. The cartridge game was a truncated version.
Here is the history of the Nintendo Playstation:
