Nintendo SNES PlayStation finally uncovered! [READ THE FIRST POST BEFORE POSTING!]

Same way the SegaCD/MegaCD did: onboard BRAM + optional backup cart.
To be fair the SuperCDROMROM/PCE Duo already supported BRAM a couple of years earlier.
By the time of this prototype I guess memcards were not finalized yet.

Funny how memcards were popularized by PS1, then used by N64, Dreamcast, PS2, Xbox, Gamecube then disappeared completely (Xbox360 had them but limited success is an overstatement).
Once pre-installed hard-drives were in memcards were out (they were already of limited utility on the original Xbox which happened to have a pre-installed hard-drive). All in all memcards spanned 10Y of videogaming.

Now for being real, modern memcards were actually introduced in videogame history by the Neogeo in 90 (MVS) and 91 (AES) but nobody remembers that. They were simple battery backed SRAM in PCMCIA format.

 

I honestly can't say for certain, but I highly doubt there were discussions from Sony with 3rd party publishers. Remember, Sony was doing a joint venture with Nintendo and wanted in on the royalty action. But it wouldn't be controlling licensing agreements with third parties per se. So I doubt it.

I am aware there were plans, but (and I can only speak high level here), trying to get distribution set up and a partner at the time was a challenge.

Thanks happy to share what I can. I worked in first party development, and my knowledge of third party is kept to a minimum. Sony really enforced a wall dividing first party and third party development. First party wasn't aware of the latest deal terms for an exclusive (nor privy to builds) and vice versa. That's how it should be.

I certainly got to see a lot of cool things, and work with cool people including Teri Tokunaka and Ken Kutaragi, not to mention Olaf whom I enjoyed working with and respected.

 

This is unreal that someone found one of these and posted it, thanks for sharing! If this thing is real we're not talking hundred thousand dollars this thing could be worth a million or more it's the rarest of the rare, I hope this is real and we get to see a video of it working ahhhhhhh!

 

The NEXT port is for connecting it to the next system for port-to-port link play. It's authentic. Though a later prototype just prior to the contract dissolution.

 

Basically, after the contract fallout, Sony just redesigned proprietary Nintendo ports for their own design. It remains fairly similar on the playstation architecture portion, aside from that. More so, very early prototypes of the sony-only PSX still had famicom code in the firmware, albeit disabled.

 

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I signed up specifically because of this thread. What an incredible find! I hope this doesn't land anyone in hot water with Sony or Nintendo though, although that could end up being incredibly bad PR for then, given how much attention this is now getting.

 

In regards to that, I was curious about the legalities on the background of the machine ownership are, so I had a chat with a buddy that's a attorney for intellectual property rights. He stated that if how the device was obtained is true (based on how the OP described it), it's still "technically" Nintendo and/or Sony's property as it was never authorized via written approval, certification, or even clarified by a EULA for consent to release. He also mentioned that while most legacy stuff like this comes from defunct companies where it's too harmless to cause to much concern (even if the company is still in buisiness), that in this case, due to high visibility it's receiving & that both parties are still very much alive and are still competitors with a not too pretty past of collaboration, that it may be very well drawing their unwanted attention, especially considering their history on this, the fact it was to be destroyed (as originally stated by OP) and very much likely still under NDA's that likely had no sunset dates, more so copyrights & patents that may still exist (though some have probably expired). They could technically claim it as "stolen property" against anyone who was employed or contracted in its development.

He suggests the best course of action, if you wish to retain or sell it, is to simply consult with a attorney who can reach out Nintendo and Sony's legal team, and request written approval and consent to release ownership to you. He notes, however, that in doing so... they can demand the device back and they are not obligated to pay you for it (and any attempt to request payment to release could be considered blackmail/ransom/bribery). However, as long as you can get written certification from them, you can pretty much do whatever you wish with it after that

He humorously reffered to it as a Mogwai situation... Father takes a Mogwai without permission from old wise Asian guy, gives it to his son, son unleashes it.. causing much international chaos, though old wise Asian man will probably find him and demand it back for safe keeping and to keep it low profile, lol.

 

I highly don't think that's going to happen. That was about 23 years ago. People dug up prototype hardwares this rare, and never ever had a problem. In fact, Nintendo should buy back all 64DD development hardware by your logic. But they don't. Same can be true with Sony's consoles. The SNES CD development addon was shown a long time ago and Sony & Nintendo didn't even care.

Bringing back a story that's 23 years old means nothing to them. If they do react badly to this, that's bad publicity.
(edit) And bad publicity for this kind of news? That will spread faster than usual.

 

I can almost 100% guarantee that Nintendo/Sony don't give a shit about this unit. I wouldn't worry about the lawyers coming out.

That said, thank you to Dnldbld for publishing these pictures. You certainly have a treasure there, and as a Super NES fanatic, this is definitely one of the holy grails of the SNES. I hope you are able to get this working, and keep us updated on the contents of the cart. I'm even more interested to see if there is still a disc within the unit. And of course, I would love to see the insides, though I can certainly understand if you are uncomfortable opening it.

 

Well, this is the newest pic of the SNES PlayStation: https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/3c5rtt/i_got_a_picture_with_uanalogueboys/
You think it's worth asking what happens if you put the cartridge on a normal SNES?

 

SFX-100

Thank everyone for contributing to this thread. This truly is an exciting time in video game history. I don't remember being this excited in a long time! What worries me doh, is lack of replies from Dnldbld. I'm sure he's being bombarded with emails from all over.

I'd like to see more close-up pictures of the console from all sides. I've managed to quickly crop some images from what's available online & YT.







One more thing, I'm not sure if anyone had noticed it, but this unit HAS A MODEL NUMBER below the PlayStation logo. It says SFX-100 !! I'm guessing S stands for Super, F for Famicom, but X? X-tra? And the 100 number? Does it have any meaning? Perhaps Brian could weigh on this? BTW, the cartridge seems to be painted, as paint seems to be chipped off in few places.

 

The yellowing is normal. Even the original SNES did that back then, and I have a nice yellowed PAL SNES here. It's because of something that does prevent fire to spread or something that like that, that comes out of the plastic.

 

These are awesome. If nothing else, we can now make our own cardboard models of the thing

 

I am very interested in this console, it seems a lot of it was used on the later Sony PS, I wonder if it can read it's games and what is the technical data. Btw can't we find something on the serial numbers? The owner shoud really find this Olaf guy, it's kinda like solving a mistery... I'm so excited about this, my PS1 is here next to me and it feels kinda like finding the revelation !!

 

I'd wager "experimental", much like the original internal code for the Playstation; PSX.

This is incredibly exciting for me! Ive always wanted to build a replica of this thing, and now that there are some decent images of one, there will be less guess work involved with regards to making accurate measurements

 

https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/pdfs/USD349519.pdf

In the PDF, the machine seems to have a load-in slot (for encased CDs) instead of a tray (for regular CDs). It also has additional inputs at the front side.

It's slightly different of the one presented in this topic.

 

Don't forget the prototype SF controller (SFX-003).

 

I know, I was wondering when you were going to chime in on this.

I know your intentions are noble, but I would refrain from PMing him. Remember he's likely receiving a massive amount of attention from not just this community and we're coming off a big holiday for Americans. Ultimately, he's likely to go with his personal decision of taking it to his buddy.

 

Nintendo don't need to buy the 64DD development hardware back, in most cases it's stolen property and they are the rightful owner. To legally own development kit the company who had leased the hardware would have to go bankrupt and the manufacturer didn't contact the liquidators to ask for it back before it got sold at auction. It usually isn't worth their time pursuing you as if it turns out that it did get sold by a liquidator then they've wasted time and money. However about ten years ago Sony were reporting ebay auctions for development hardware and software and getting them taken down.

I think it's unlikely Sony will be interested, but if two millionaires end up bidding on it then it's not impossible.

It a SNES with the add-on built in to the same case, circa 1991. The "Play Station" was the name of the combined unit to be sold by Sony and there was also a separate add on for SNES/SFC customers. We don't know what it would look like or what it would be called.

Sony then went on to start the PSX project in secret while Nintendo were busy with their superfx based CD add-on. It's unknown whether the superfx was designed for the SNESCD and cartridge games were a back up plan or if the superfx came first.

I believe Nintendo lied about why they cancelled the SNESCD. We can only speculate which of the two events that "coincidentally" happened around the time of the cancellation actually sealed it's fate.

1 Sony approached game developers with prototype PSX hardware.
2 SGI knocked on their door desperate to sell them their new console chipset.

If Sega had scrapped the Saturn and bought the Ultra 64 then Nintendo might have panicked and launched the SNESCD anyway.