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Posted

nintendoplaystation.jpg

 

Someone outside Sony & Nintendo has one! This is huge!

 

If this boots up (he has a cartridge and CD), it will break the internet.

 

More photos here

 

It might seem crazy today, but in the early '90s Nintendo and Sony were working together on a video game accessory that'd add CD capabilities to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. There would also be a separate Sony console that'd play SNES cartridge games and titles for the SNES CD system dubbed the PlayStation. As legend tells it, the deal went sour when Nintendo instead announced a partnership with Sony's competitor Philips for the optical add-on at the same CES that Sony unveiled its Nintendo-centric PlayStation. The rest is history. What you see above might as well be a unicorn, then.

 

Reddit user Analogueboy recently posted pictures of what looks like a prototype of the original PlayStation, saying that it was in a box of his dad's junk. Apparently his pops had worked with someone named Olaf who was employed by the Mario company, who then left the console behind in a box of rummage.

 

As many have reported, this Olaf could possibly be the founder of Sony Interactive Entertainment, Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson. That may or may not be true, but as far as we can tell this device isn't a fake. There's video evidence below and many more photos at the source link if you want to play detective for yourself.

 

 

http://www.engadget.com/2015/07/03/nintendo-playstation-prototype/

Posted

Oh man. This is awesome.

 

I still would love to see a Nintendo-Sony collaboration. Be it Nintendo going 3rd party or them creating a gaming device together.

Posted

Seems a bit suspect to me. It takes a fairly standard power cable, but he hasn't bothered trying to boot it up. Plus it seems odd that's its clearly made of 2 different plastics based on the aging.

 

Not saying it's definitely a hoax, but I'm cynical.

Posted
Seems a bit suspect to me. It takes a fairly standard power cable, but he hasn't bothered trying to boot it up. Plus it seems odd that's its clearly made of 2 different plastics based on the aging.

 

Not saying it's definitely a hoax, but I'm cynical.

 

If he uses the wrong power setup he may fry the whole thing. Also, the plastic thing was a known problem with SNES consoles. I think it had something to do with certain chemicals used in the different plastics. Dreamcasts also suffer from this issues.

 

Like you, I'm a little skeptical about this whole thing, though.

Posted (edited)

It's nice and convincing, but I'm sitting in the bullshit camp myself. How hard would it be to knock up a fake snes looking thing these days? Considering people have made old consoles into toasters etc, this isn't exactly a difficult feat.

 

Why also is it a very similar to snes pad* - and notably one with apparent writing on it when the console has none?

 

*EDIT: Forgot how early on they were working together.

Edited by Rummy
Posted
It's nice and convincing, but I'm sitting in the bullshit camp myself. How hard would it be to knock up a fake snes looking thing these days? Considering people have made old consoles into toasters etc, this isn't exactly a difficult feat.

 

Why also is it a very similar to snes pad* - and notably one with apparent writing on it when the console has none?

 

*EDIT: Forgot how early on they were working together.

 

Yeah I'm with you Rummy. I would absolutely love this to be real, but I'm going to remain on the side of caution. I can't believe we haven't seen any prototypes or anything for all these years until now.

Posted

Would be great if the chap had it working, but it does seem a little iffy that no-one has seen one of these models for years. And how there are two tones of the plastic casing. If it's all legit, then this is history.

Posted

Wish it was real but I'm calling bullshit for now. The original dev kit was labelled Nintendo not Sony. Nintendo didn't want any other branding on the controller, this blatantly says Sony playstation on it...... Also playstation wasn't it's given name until Nintendo ditched them?

Posted
Wish it was real but I'm calling bullshit for now. The original dev kit was labelled Nintendo not Sony. Nintendo didn't want any other branding on the controller, this blatantly says Sony playstation on it...... Also playstation wasn't it's given name until Nintendo ditched them?

 

The branding was one of the reasons Nintendo backed out. Here's an image of it from EDGE issue 200:

 

9fip2h.jpg

Posted
The branding was one of the reasons Nintendo backed out. Here's an image of it from EDGE issue 200:

 

9fip2h.jpg

 

 

That's the Sony version with the cart slot though, I thought the one the guy claims to have is the Nintendo version with the Sony add on? Either way, would be great if it was real, rumour has it there was a Marino game ready for it... Would do terrible things to have that lol

Posted
That's the Sony version with the cart slot though, I thought the one the guy claims to have is the Nintendo version with the Sony add on?

 

No, its definitely that model but probably a later or earlier version going by the slight logo change and cartridge slot cover.

  • 3 months later...
Posted

Its been opened up and switched on.

 

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However, the prototype system was very real, and even came with a cartridge which suggested that the internals were functional. At the time of discovery many skeptics stated their belief that it was nothing more then a very clever hoax, and the fact that it was never shown working seemed to support this claim.

 

Fast forward to the present, and the time for being a naysayer is finally at an end. Dan Diebold and his Father Terry took the unit to the Retro.HK Expo to show it off, and at the same time booted up the machine and played some games on it (not SNES CD games obviously, as none were ever made).

As has already been revealed, Terry at one time worked for Advanta Corporation - the company at which former Sony Interactive Entertainment boss Olaf Olafsson was CEO. When the firm went bust in 2009, Terry bid on some of the firm's items, paying $75 for some cups and saucers. These items arrived alongside the console itself - presumably left at Advanta by Olafsson - which was placed in storage, with its new owner not realising its potential worth, until son Dan decided to post some photos online this year.

Interestingly, the years of being in storage have not impacted the console's ability to power on - it boots up and shows a "Super Disc" BIOS screen, and can play standard SNES games. Sadly, the cartridge discovered with the system appears to be faulty.

 

Despite this, Dan reveals that he and his father have been offered as much as $45,000 for the system. Both father and son are adamant that they will not part with the console for any price - despite previous comments - but may consider putting it on display in a museum.

 

*dreams of what could have been*

Posted

Wow! It actually works!? :o

 

Amazing! I wonder if anything could still be salvaged from that cartridge...

 

Crazy stuff! I really hope that thing ends up in a museum :D

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