Likely not a hoax: Nintendo/Sony Playstation prototype found!

[Kitsunexus]

I don't think this is a hoax, ASSEMbler doesn't do that childish SonicCult-esque shit.

Anyway, this is a GREAT day in gaming history, there are actually 2 PROTOTYPES!:

http://assemblergames.com/wiki/dogatemysnes/pmwiki.php?n=Topics.SNES-CD-ROM

This one IS real also, according to GameRave, but he has no information on it:

[grahf]

Pretty cool. Oh what could have been.

[Seldane]

Pretty cool. Oh what could have been.

Yeah. It could have been a Playstation. Oh wait, they DID make a Playstation. Nothing changed.

[SignOfZeta]

Yeah. It could have been a Playstation. Oh wait, they DID make a Playstation. Nothing changed.

That is so not true. A SNES with CDROM would have been so great. The actual Playstation that came to be was pretty nice, I guess, but it has hardly a single SNES-like game to its credit.

[termis]

Yeah, a SNES with a CD-ROM add-on would've been bitchin'.

[grahf]

Pretty cool. Oh what could have been.

Yeah. It could have been a Playstation. Oh wait, they DID make a Playstation. Nothing changed.

For better or worse, the playstation pretty much sealed the deal in ushering in the "3d age" of consoles. It was bound to happen eventually in any case, but a SNES w/ cd addon would have given us a couple more fantastic 2d games. (as well as a bunch of starfox-esque 3d ones).

[Keranu]

Awesome, awesome stuff! I'll have to read more of that article later.

[GUTS]

Yeah. It could have been a Playstation. Oh wait, they DID make a Playstation. Nothing changed.

That is so not true. A SNES with CDROM would have been so great. The actual Playstation that came to be was pretty nice, I guess, but it has hardly a single SNES-like game to its credit.

HAHA!  Awesome man, thanks for the laughs.  Unless you were serious, in which I would point out that the Playstation's library completely and utterly slaughters the SNES's library in every category except Mario games.

[Keranu]

HAHA! OH MY GOD! GUTS IS LAUGHING AT SOMEONE FOR HAVING A DIFFERENT OPINION AS USUAL! Strangely enough there were no racist Mexican comments in there either!

[Turbo D]

Great work Kitsune  I had a feeling that there was another prototype. This one is even cooler! haha, that nintendo sure screwed itself when it went with the cd-i instead of the playstation 

[GUTS]

Keranu people around here are big boys, they can stick up for themselves.

[Tatsujin]

concerning the 2nd proto, it looks really phoney to me. there's super famicon as well as playstation written on it, plus sony but no nintendo. owns a SFC-cart port and no CD? or where ist the cd- port? and then the backpanel?!? ey c'mon. that's a hoax for sure.

[Kitsunexus]

concerning the 2nd proto, it looks really phoney to me. there's super famicon as well as playstation written on it, plus sony but no nintendo. owns a SFC-cart port and no CD? or where ist the cd- port? and then the backpanel?!? ey c'mon. that's a hoax for sure.

At first it seems like that,  but there really are some logical explanations. Lemme break this down for you.

1. Much like the Panasonic Q isn't the Panasonic Nintendo Gamecube Q, this system would be the Sony Superfamicom Playstation. Nintendo licensed the hardware to Sony for them to manufacture.

2. The CD drive is external because this is a proto. See the cable in the pic of the backside? That's a serial cable designed for hooking up to a development drive. The box that you are seeing simply houses the Super Famicom and the Playstation internals.

[OldRover]

It may be a hoax, it may not be a hoax. The fact that no prototype pictures have shown up until now is highly suspect though, because history records that no prototype was ever even created...the project never got off the developer's drawing table because a final design could never be decided upon. Though both companies certainly had money to sink into frivolous prototypes, knowing the financial policies of both companies tells me immediately that such a prototype was unlikely to be created until a final design decision was made.

Knowing all of this information, I am leaning towards "hoax". But there is also the possibility that the knowledge we have available to us as the public might be wrong...it wouldn't be the first time and it won't be the last time, so it could also be legitimate. Still though, the fact that no prototype shots have ever appeared until now, 15+ years after the project was abandoned...well...

[Kitsunexus]

But there is also the possibility that the knowledge we have available to us as the public might be wrong...it wouldn't be the first time and it won't be the last time, so it could also be legitimate.

That's what I'd LIKE to think. The sources that could provide said information (Nintendo and Sony) have a grudge against one another. Plus it's the Philips/Nintendo deal that we know never made it to proto form, not Sony.

This is why I said "likely not a hoax", because I don't know for sure and I'm not sure we ever will. But I do know that if this IS real, it's insanely cool. 

[grahf]

HAHA!  Awesome man, thanks for the laughs.  Unless you were serious, in which I would point out that the Playstation's library completely and utterly slaughters the SNES's library in every category except Mario games.

Ive been sitting here scratching my head, trying to figure out your statement. Ive come to the following 3 possible conclusions:
1] Playstation was your first console, (or at least the first console you had once you hit puberty). Nostalgia applies.
2] Your playing devils advocate, and just bashing the SNES because...  well just because  
3] You have bad taste. Very, very bad taste.

Cmon, it has more of a variety for sure. But the crap-to-good ratio on the original playstion was horrible. Sure you get a nice tasty sandwich once in a while, but you have to wade through a overflowing septic tank to get to it. UGGG...

[Kitsunexus]

Look, this flamewar is getting stopped before it goes any further. This thread isn't about "OMG I <3 PLAYSTATION OR SNES".  This thread is about the sudden surprising discovery that MANY of us have been waiting to see, and whether this IS in fact a hoax or not. So please, let's just keep the bickering out of this? I assume we're all old enough to continue on.

Anyway, here's the site with the pics of the black one:

http://www.game-rave.com/

They also have a section on the other one, the white one (not NEARLY as extensive as ASSEMbler's though):

http://www.game-rave.com/psx/playstation_perfect_guide/snes_psx/index.html


Btw, is that...BLOOD on the white prototype? 

[Tatsujin]

2. The CD drive is external because this is a proto. See the cable in the pic of the backside? That's a serial cable designed for hooking up to a development drive. .

that seems again suspect for me. watch the cable, looks like a 2 adder DIN plug, but never as a cd-rom cable. since for the dataspeed you need in minimum a 16-bit adressed parallel cable . but who knows

[grahf]

I think its real.

While it may not be a prototype of a working system, Sony was AT LEAST in the experimenting stages. Probably testing i/o at the least. Even if it didnt have a cd drive yet, they would need to work this out.

[Kitsunexus]

2. The CD drive is external because this is a proto. See the cable in the pic of the backside? That's a serial cable designed for hooking up to a development drive. .

that seems again suspect for me. watch the cable, looks like a 2 adder DIN plug, but never as a cd-rom cable. since for the dataspeed you need in minimum a 16-bit adressed parallel cable . but who knows

You have a point there. The bright light on the plug isn't helping any deduction work.

A friend on AIM is also thinking that this isn't real.

I think its real.

While it may not be a prototype of a working system, Sony was AT LEAST in the experimenting stages. Probably testing i/o at the least. Even if it didnt have a cd drive yet, they would need to work this out.

Another good point. I WANT to believe this is real, and not just a SNES backup device and a clever Photoshop.

[Tatsujin]

the other strangeness is, the volume regulator on the front. what's written there exactly? CD Adaptor? so what could this really be for, if all the cd-rom issues are deplaced outside the case? but again, who knows?

and why it is such dusty on the pic? if i'm the owner of that gamma-rare piece of history, i wouldn't make some pix of it, just it looks like i grabbed it down from grandma's old house storage.

[Kitsunexus]

the other strangeness is, the volume regulator on the front. what's written there exactly? CD Adaptor? so what could this really be for, if all the cd-rom issues are deplaced outside the case? but again, who knows?

Looks like it's the entire system audio to me, but I dunno.

[Tatsujin]

btw: have some good prototypes as well, let's have a look on



and some proto soft for:


and the planed cd-rom add:

[Nazi NecroPhile]

While these things are certainly cool, I think that they are a hoax.  These prototype units (especially the black one) just look too 'finished' for something that supposedly never made it very far.  These things look more like something that was ready for extensive testing.  The linked article shows the white prototype being shown at Classic Gaming Expo '02, yet no additional information has come out on the beast since then.  Fishy, fishy, fishy, says my pessimistic side.

[Seldane]

The white, bloody "prototype" is obviously a hoax. Why would it be on some expo in the USA in 2002? Because someone in USA made it himself in 2001 and just sorta put it there to get some attention. Nobody cared, so he threw it in the trash. Someone found it there and posted pics on the internet.

As for the other one... well, it's probably a hoax too. I don't believe ANYTHING related to the Nintendo CD thing. Some people claim Secret of Mana was originally developed for the CD unit, and when they scrapped it, Square had to cut 40% off from the game in order to make it a cart-based game instead. I say bullshit.

[Turbo D]

I'm just mad that they never translated secret of mana 2 to the super nintendo 

[Seldane]

I'm just mad that they never translated secret of mana 2 to the super nintendo 

Yeah that pretty much sucks. But at least they actually translated Chrono Trigger anyway.

I just had to thoroughly enjoy SD3 in English, so I bought a flash cart just so that I could play the translated ROM on a real SNES. Of course, this flash cart turned out to be extreeeemely useful and one of the best things I've ever bought.

[Keranu]

Keranu people around here are big boys, they can stick up for themselves.

Sticking up for what? Wasting your time trying to convince someone that you have a better opinion?

[guyjin]

I'm also calling hoax. If the guy who had shown it thought it was genuine, it would have been the prize of his collection, and would have been hyped a lot, not stuck in a corner nobody cares about.