An SNES CD Drive Controller is Up On eBay.

the controller pictured went with the prototype RISC based Playstation, NOT the SNES version. It was at the time Sony was experimenting with a variety of designs. One of the other 'popular' if you will designs had dual d-pads.

 

I haven't seen any evidence close to suggest that this isn't a possibilty. Certainly, nothing strong enough to overturn a first hand account.

So we have a collage of 100 prototype controllers and its possible those left over from the canceled snes cd dev kit were used for a ps1 dev kit. The controller in the auction is different from the ps1 controller. In fact it looks much closer to the SNES cd controller than to the ps1 conbtroller. To suggest it was ok for a ps1 dev kit seems reasonable to most so why not ok for the Snes cd dev kit.

I have a 1st hand account so I need some evidence which I have yet to see.

 

Since the Playstation project is a re-use of everything developed for the SNES CD addon there is no reason to suggest that your controller was not used during development of the SNES CD.

Knowing Sony they must have had their IP protected in their contract with Nintendo when that one was broken, Sony was free to go to develop their system. You don't waste millions of dollars in R&D if you can use it and make it one of the most incredible videogame success story in history. (Yes sometimes I do praise Sony :thumbsup

The technology in the controller must have been the same as in the PSX so we might be just debating over a plastic shell however rare and nice looking.

The fact is BuyAtari got the controller and indeed you don't get these by chance or in bins, most of the info we got on the SNES CD are based on rumours and old magazine scans. It does have a DTL reference on it but we don't know if both Sony and Nintendo were not using that for the project.

So I believe him!!! And it would be great to know more indeed...

 

I know I'm a bit vague but I'll say this in 2002 there were no pictures or discussion on such things. There really were no other Playstation collectors yet. No one else was going out gathering up these items back then which is why I ended up with so many cool items. The person I got this from would never be swayed by anything posted on the net anyway.

This didn't come from just some random guy and his word means more to me than any I have seen posted on the subject so far. Sometimes people do make small mistakes in recalling this info but he was very specific and it was a gift so he had no reason to lie to me.

I'm not close minded thou and discussion is a good thing. If you can prove things otherwise I'd love to see it but don't shoot down what I'm saying like I'm only saying so to make a quick buck. At the very least its a serious possibility until proven otherwise. Like many of the auctions I post I never expected this one to sell yet I believe the words I posted. Well except for the Q&As lol

 

h: I didn't know you were a member of assembler

 

Anything is possible...we can only speculate...

Bottom line is that it's nice to see some images of things that never were...

I don't think we will ever get the whole truth behind the Sony/Nintendo relationship, it became a mess and certainly a highly political one. So MESS + POLITICS + 15 YEARS AGO = :shrug:

BuyAtari is the only one who's got the hardware and a lead on information and it's better than nothing and nothing should be what we should have get on this project... so much for NDAs...

Console makers should really start to share more on their projects released or unreleased, as the lack of information divides our community!!! I blame Sony/Nintendo :110:

S.

 

You have a picture of what 100 prototype controllers? What does that prove? I'm not being sarcastic. Tell me how a picture of 100 prototype controllers tells us that the plannesd SNES CD dev kit controller was NOT the one I have up for auction. The controller I have up for auction doesn't look much like the released PS1 controller. It looks closer to the released SNES controller. If what I am saying is the truth then it fits together very well you must admit.

What do I have to back it up? For one I've had this before those pictures were made available and it came first hand with the information. I'm not going to be more specific just to win an argument in the end you can believe me or not but if you don't believe me then lets dig up some concrete info. Everyone here would love to hear more info on the project.

 

Basically, find some evidence, and Buyatari will be more then glad to believe you. My guess is this is from the time where the products were near identical, theres no reason for Sony not to use their own internal numbering system really.

 

It doesn't disprove that it once was related to the SNES CD, none in here could probably disprove that.. but it do prove that it at one point was used when developing for the PSX.

 

All im gonna say is thats alot more evidence to back up the fact that this is infact related to the sony PS1 project alot more then its to the SNES. Even if it had been used or developed for nintendo theres no evidence so far that i can see apart from "My mate told me so". Now if i were to spend $3k i dont think i would be too happy with that...

 

I wouldn't recommend spending 3k on any controller.

 

This is correct.

The controller in the auction was used with the original PlayStation dev kit.

If you want proof, connect it to a kit and fire it up.

-hl718

 

Does that prove it wouldn't work with the SNES CD kit?

 

Considering that it is impossible to prove a negative, no. Someone could always rig up a way to adapt the cable output. After all, the SNES controller isn't designed to work with a PC, yet it still works just fine when plugged in with a proper USB adapter. Sega Saturn controllers were *never designed* with Windows in mind, yet they work just fine under Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 with the proper nVidia hardware in the system.

The short version is that you have:

1) A fairly well known example of a PlayStation (PS-X) dev kit controller.
2) It looks no different than the PS-X version.
3) It bears the proper product code and label markings identifying it as a PlayStation controller.

I've read your postings for quite awhile on this board and most of the time your stuff is spot-on. In this case though, the information you're presenting is slightly off.

If you want to attempt further verification, I'd suggest opening the controller and checking the date codes on the PCB.

Either way, it's still a wonderfully historical piece of kit and I don't think the value diminishes in any way.

-hl718

 

interesting but insanely priced in my opinion

 

No but its not going to do your credibility any good when you have clearly been provided with alot more evidence that this is clearly closely linked with the Playstation project (All your evidence as to this being linked with the SNES CD kit seems to be "My mate told me so") and yet you still dont seem to accept this.

 

Let's be honest here, engineers are lazy and new "exploratory" R&D projects are typically budget constrained. It is entirely feasible that upon the dissolution of the SNES-CD project, the remaining hardware, software and other resources were repurposed for the new PSX project. It is possible that the controllers, which are perfectly suited in design for both machines, could have been used to start with because there was already a significant investment in their design and engineers will use what works.

You can believe buyatari's story or not. The simple fact is that unless you worked on the SNES-CD project, you can neither confirm nor deny that this controller was used. Everything else is secondhand, incomplete or possibly incorrect information.

 

Given the option thats who I choose to believe.

 

All i can say is that Buyatari has always proven to be an honest and helpful member here and I have no reason to disbelieve him and his source.

If he is willing to believe what he was told by the generous donator then I think that should speak volumes as he has no real reason to care what it was intended for. It is a valuable item that he has already stated he is wishing to keep in his collection for some time to come. Regardless of where it came from it is a nice and rare.

There are obviously things here that we are not going to know about his source, but isn't this almost always the case regarding things of this nature?

Maybe opening the controller and checking for fab dates would be a good idea, but it is not my item and BuyAtari has no real obligation to do so just to satiate our curiosities.

 

"My mate told me so" - That mate provided BuyAtari with the proto controller. Don't you think that by virtue of actually owning that controller his friend would also know the purpose of the controller? Considering BuyAtari's friends and what he has obtained in his time as a collector, I would not be so quick to reject it. That seems a pretty credible source, if you ask me. Far more reliable that speculative dismissals based on second hand information and guess work.