Lost Levels Forums

The time now is Thu Mar 28, 2024 10:12 pm

Ultra-rare PlayStation SNES console spotted & photograph

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Lost Levels Forum Index -> Unreleased Games
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
parallaxscroll



Joined: 27 Mar 2008
Posts: 34

PostPosted: Fri Jul 03, 2015 12:55 pm    Post subject: Ultra-rare PlayStation SNES console spotted & photograph Reply with quote

Related thread on assembler forums:
http://assemblergames.com/l/threads/nintendo-snes-playstation-finally-uncovered.57166/

It's actually out there "in the wild", incredible! Someone has the system. Read through the thread.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-07-03-ultra-rare-sony-playstation-snes-console-spotted-pictured

Quote:
Ultra-rare Sony PlayStation SNES console spotted, pictured
What might have been.

By Tom Phillips

A prototype Sony PlayStation SNES - an ultra-rare piece of gaming history - has been discovered and photographed.




Quote:

The console, never released to the public, only exists in early prototype form.

Only a couple of hundred were known to be manufactured, the result of early plans for Nintendo and Sony to team-up on a version of the Super Nintendo Entertainment system with a CD-ROM drive.

But the plans fell through - famously, Nintendo opted to partner with Philips instead. And while that deal faltered, Sony continued with the development of its CD-compatible PlayStation as a separate device.


The photographs below show the console prototype with its CD-ROM drive, plus ports for both SNES cartridges and controllers.

Each pad is labelled with the Sony PlayStation branding on the front, but with a Nintendo Super Famicom Controller logo on the back.

The images appeared on Reddit yesterday (thanks, Nintendo Life). The user claimed that the console was discovered in a box of items received from a friend of his father who used to work at Nintendo around the time that the Nintendo-Sony deal was being discussed.

Here it is, in all its yellowing glory:





Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
parallaxscroll



Joined: 27 Mar 2008
Posts: 34

PostPosted: Fri Jul 03, 2015 6:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCV6RusogAk
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
DarkTetsuya



Joined: 05 Sep 2003
Posts: 80

PostPosted: Sat Jul 04, 2015 4:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I admit I haven't been around here in a while, but after this story broke over the weekend I decided to come see if anyone had posted about this!

There was like a brief point yesterday where that french modder made a statement and shoddy translators made it sound like she cooked it up, but that eurogamer article got to the bottom of it and turns out it was just bad translation work.

Interesting find though, I hope he can find a way to power it on (though I could understand being leery of just using any old power cord, you fry that thing that's it you'll probably never see another one so long as you live.)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Evan



Joined: 17 Mar 2004
Posts: 948

PostPosted: Sun Jul 05, 2015 1:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The guy sounds like he isn't going to do something that will damage the unit. Hopefully he passes it to a hardware expert for examination.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
DarkTetsuya



Joined: 05 Sep 2003
Posts: 80

PostPosted: Sun Jul 05, 2015 1:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

well now i'm hearing all these people begging to see the inside to 'confirm that its real' I just don't know how easily something like that could be faked, honestly.

but I'm not sure how willing he would be to do that, either so...
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
neomerge



Joined: 12 Feb 2006
Posts: 351
Location: Woodstock GA!

PostPosted: Tue Jul 07, 2015 3:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'll be shocked if this guy does anything more than just show it off. No hopes in any more info unless someone purchases it from him for an insane amount that knows their shit.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger
ICEknight



Joined: 15 Dec 2003
Posts: 569

PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 4:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I hope he gets in contact with somebody from the MAME/MESS project, even if there's no known games for it (yet?).
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
ICEknight



Joined: 15 Dec 2003
Posts: 569

PostPosted: Fri Nov 06, 2015 10:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey, the SNES CD is on tour: http://www.engadget.com/2015/11/06/nintendo-playstation-is-real-and-it-works/

Also, can EEPROMs get erased by doing this?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Evan



Joined: 17 Mar 2004
Posts: 948

PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 1:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

LuigiBlood has a good assessment of the hardware:

http://luigiblood.tumblr.com/post/132730812143/here-are-my-research-about-the-snes-playstation

Looks like the console is nothing more than a SNES with a CD attached to it, and some additional RAM. By all indications, this is well before they diverged to make the PS1.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
neomerge



Joined: 12 Feb 2006
Posts: 351
Location: Woodstock GA!

PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 1:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

An x-ray to see if there was anything that would self destruct? Very Happy
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger
DarkTetsuya



Joined: 05 Sep 2003
Posts: 80

PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 6:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

neomerge wrote:
An x-ray to see if there was anything that would self destruct? Very Happy


well you never know, I mean CPS2 had the 'suicide battery' so if it was left unattached for more than an hour the board is toast...

but I could see them wanting to be extra careful before they go tearing it apart.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Evan



Joined: 17 Mar 2004
Posts: 948

PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 11:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Apparently the dump of the cart is out, so we might see it emulated soon.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Tongueman



Joined: 27 Feb 2004
Posts: 631
Location: Japan

PostPosted: Wed Nov 11, 2015 12:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

There aren't any photographs of the left hand side of the Playstation SNES, are there? The X-ray shows another connector on that side snaking to the back of the unit.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
DarkTetsuya



Joined: 05 Sep 2003
Posts: 80

PostPosted: Wed Nov 11, 2015 12:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Evan wrote:
Apparently the dump of the cart is out, so we might see it emulated soon.


I had heard that the firmware on the cart was bad? or did they conclude that it was just the drive didn't actually work/wasn't connected?

But still great to see something so historic be preserved like that.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Evan



Joined: 17 Mar 2004
Posts: 948

PostPosted: Wed Nov 11, 2015 2:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

DarkTetsuya wrote:
Evan wrote:
Apparently the dump of the cart is out, so we might see it emulated soon.


I had heard that the firmware on the cart was bad? or did they conclude that it was just the drive didn't actually work/wasn't connected?

But still great to see something so historic be preserved like that.


No, it looks like the drive was not working. The cart seems to be fine.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
KingMike



Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 898

PostPosted: Wed Nov 11, 2015 5:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It sounds like one problem was that they couldn't open disc tray (at least not easily).
I'm guessing it's not like PC drives which usually have a pinhole to manually open the tray?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
DarkTetsuya



Joined: 05 Sep 2003
Posts: 80

PostPosted: Wed Nov 11, 2015 5:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Evan wrote:
DarkTetsuya wrote:
Evan wrote:
Apparently the dump of the cart is out, so we might see it emulated soon.


I had heard that the firmware on the cart was bad? or did they conclude that it was just the drive didn't actually work/wasn't connected?

But still great to see something so historic be preserved like that.


No, it looks like the drive was not working. The cart seems to be fine.


actually yeah that makes sense, since they had the pictures of the BIOS screen with the word 'SuperDisc'.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Lost Levels Forum Index -> Unreleased Games All times are GMT
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

RSS


Powered by phpBB 2.0.23 © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group