The Nintendo PlayStation exists: this is the story of the hybrid console that never hit the market

In the world of video game consoles we find overwhelming successes such as the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS, that sold more than 150 million units each. AND dismal failures Like Apple’s Pippin. But the thing does not end there, the most interesting concepts were also developed that never saw the light of the Sun.

One of them stars Nintendo and Sony, not in the role of bitter rivals (at least at first), but as partners in a fledgling video game industry. To dive into the origins of this interesting story we must go back to the 1980s, long before the arrival of the PlayStation and the Nintendo 64.

Nintendo PlayStation, the console that succeeded (in a parallel universe)

As Unrealitymag tellsAfter the worldwide success of the NES, Nintendo made a substantial leap in the audio capabilities of its next-generation console, the SNES. This achievement was made possible by hardware developed by Sony, specifically the SPC700, an 8-bit chip that had been designed by respected engineer Ken Kutaragi.

Sony’s corporate philosophy at that time rejected the idea of ​​the company getting involved in projects related to video games as it was considered a passing fad. Kutaragi, however, saw a promising future in that industry and, although the board of directors rejected this collaboration with Nintendo, he found the support of Norio Ohga, the company’s boss.

The house of Super Mario, however, wanted to go one step further. The SNES was already a great product, but they thought of adding an adjunct to it: CD-ROM support. It was an idea that, once again, would require the collaboration of Sony, who had extensive experience in the sector and whose previous association had proved fruitful.

So, in 1988 a contract was signed between these Japanese companies. On the one hand, Sony would develop the necessary technology to provide the SNES with support for CDs, in what would be known as SNES-CD. The hybrid system would allow playing with traditional SNES cartridges and with new games released in the Super Disc format.

On the other hand, Sony would retain control over its disc format and could launch a console under its own brand with support for SNES cartridges and CDs. The agreement was put in place and the companies began to work, but the president of Nintendo, Hiroshi Yamauchi, according to VGChad begun to distrust his partner who was the sole supplier of the SNES audio chip.

Yamauchi made a move that can be considered smart or a blunder, but he did establish talks with Philips. If the negotiations went well, it would finally be the Dutch who would be in charge of contributing what was necessary to bring the SNES-CD to life, leaving Sony out of the equation. This agreement finally prospered and went its way quietly in parallel.

But Sony had not stood idly by either. As edge-online points outduring the 1991 CES, the manufacturer announced a playstation console with compatibility for SNES cartridges and CDs. Until then, everything was within the limits of the agreement, which allowed the manufacturers of the Walkman to launch a hybrid console.

In any case, Nintendo decided to break relations with Sony, a company with which it had also been having conflicts related to the distribution of profits from the joint project. Wasting no time, rather than ironing out the rough edges, Nintendo announced a partnership with Philips to develop the SNES-CD.

The directors of the companies, however, tried to resume collaboration. And they finally got it But not for long. In 1992, Nintendo allowed Sony to produce hardware compatible with the SNES on the condition that they retain control of the revenue from the games. But the following year, Sony pulled out entirely.

Sony, which at first had not been interested in the video game market, focused its efforts and resources on developing its own console, which excluded cartridge support and provided CD as the only option. That console later became the original PlayStation, which hit the market in 1994 in Japan, and later other markets.

The wound of that whole situation lasted for years at Nintendo, which did not dare to launch a console compatible with optical discs until 2001, the famous gamecube. To all this, during the time that the association lasted, several prototypes of consoles were created under the Sony brand, unofficially known as “Nintendo PlayStation”.

Little was known about this story until one of the original prototypes of this curious console appeared in 2015. As we can see in the images, it even has a SNES controller, but with the “Sony PlayStation” brand, a detail that is very striking. And even more striking for a collector who in 2020 paid $360,000 for it.

Images: Heritage Auctions

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