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Old July 3, 2015, 05:56:56 AM
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Yoshi648 Yoshi648 is offline
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Default Protype SNES CD / PlayStation discovered!

Wow, a rare magical unicorn of gaming history finally revealed itself! An actual prototype of the SNES CD!

For those who need a little background, during the Super Nintendo days Nintendo partnered with Sony to develop a CD add-on for the Super Nintendo (like the Sega CD for the Genesis). Development came long pretty well until Nintendo discovered Sony would get basically all the rights and profits from every game on the system so they broke up. Nintendo then joined Phillips for the CDi (wonderful move...) and Sony with their new-found gaming knowledge went on to create the legendary PlayStation 1.

Not much else has been known about this large bit of history, no one has ever actually seen pictures of a prototype unit. That is until today.

GoNintendo article and image gallery
AssemblerGames thread where the discover joins in on the conversation later.

Wow, that looks like a pretty nice system once you get past the classic SNES yellow discoloration. Interesting how it is both SNES and CD together in one unit instead of a add-on so you'd basically have to buy another SNES if you already had a regular unit (of course this is a prototype so anything could have happened). Judging by the buttons and small LCD screen on top, looks like it would be for the audio CD playback that the actual PlayStation also featured. Also interesting note (going back to how Sony would have full control of everything), notice how every logo on the system is Sony and PlayStation, only mention of Nintendo is the standard Super Famicom controller back.

Last edited by Yoshi648; July 3, 2015 at 05:58:20 AM.
  #2  
Old July 3, 2015, 11:51:04 AM
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Cat333Pokémon Cat333Pokémon is offline
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Apart from the highly-amateurish camera work and presentation, it looks like a pretty interesting unit. Glad to see proof of its existence, and I'm curious to know how intertwined the two portions are. I'd bet, if it actually came out, it'd be also sold as an add-on like the Sega CD was.

Now, can we get this to someone with knowledge of the schematics of classic gaming systems rather than this guy who looks like he's liable to drop the thing by accident? It seems like half the time these things get discovered by people who have no idea what they're doing and waste time answering questions they cannot answer before finally handing it over (selling it) to someone who knows a thing or two about it. I know it's happened quite a few times with prototype cartridges for various systems. Expect to wait a month or more before we get serious details on its inner workings.
  #3  
Old November 6, 2015, 06:13:30 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cat333Pokémon View Post
Expect to wait a month or more before we get serious details on its inner workings.
Welp, here we are.

The system was given to some professionals in Hong Kong who have done a lengthy teardown and look over the system. Yep, it's legit.

Engadget has an interview with the owners of the system.

Last edited by Yoshi648; November 6, 2015 at 12:39:01 PM.
 
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