There was a time when both Nintendo and Sony shook hands and made a deal to work on a video game console together. The console was supposed to be one of the most powerful consoles of its time, dubbed the Nintendo PlayStation. However, the console never hit the market because Nintendo parted ways with Sony, and the entire project was scrapped. Luckily, around 200 Nintendo PlayStation prototypes were created, and one lucky guy got his hands on a Nintendo PlayStation prototype when sifting through junk. Now, the owner is putting this rare find up for sale.
According to a tweet by Cedric Biscay, the owner of the Nintendo PlayStation prototype, Terry Diebold, is looking forward to putting the console up for auction. “Terry Diebold that we have invited several years ago at @MagicMonaco just informed me that he wants to sell his Nintendo PlayStation official prototype,” Mr. Biscay said on Twitter. “I am very curious to know about the final price for this! I guess a crazy World Record will happen…” tweeted Biscay.
The proper name for the Nintendo PlayStation prototype is Super NES CD-ROM, and this console marks the first time Nintendo tried to use an optical drive in one of its home consoles. This project failed because Nintendo had a falling out with Sony, and both companies went their own way. Nintendo partnered with Philips for its project while Sony went ahead and released its own PlayStation console. This soured relationship did change the course of gaming history; if it hadn’t, then there’s a high probability that Sony PlayStation consoles wouldn’t even exist today and games like God of War, The Last of Us, etc. might not have been a part of the gaming world. Fortunately for gamers, this break up gave the world PlayStation consoles and the plethora of exclusive games and features along with it.
In his tweet, Cedric Biscay also claims that a world record price might be achieved since this prototype is one of the rarest consoles of all time. The console itself is fully functional and plays Super Nintendo/Super Famicom games with ease. The front plate of the console says Sony PlayStation, but all the controller ports are the same as Super Nintendo’s. It remains to be seen what kind of price the prototype manages to fetch, but it’s safe to assume that the console will go for a record-breaking bid since this is the only physical example of Nintendo PlayStation in existence. It wouldn't be a surprise to see the original manufacturers also bidding on their failed project.