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Heritage auctions
It may look like a 1992 Super Nintendo controller – except that it’s for a Sony Playstation
The only “Nintendo PlayStation” ever sold at auction sold for $ 300,000 (£ 230,700).
The ultra-rare prototype was the result of a short-lived collaboration between Nintendo and Sony, and was supposed to add CD-ROM support to the Super Nintendo.
Sony then created its own resoundingly successful PlayStation brand.
Heritage Auctions said it could be the last remaining Nintendo prototype, as the others were likely destroyed.
The online bidder will end up paying $ 360,000 (£ 276,900) once the “buyer’s premium” of the auction house is added.
Its mysterious history led the prototype to acquire an almost mythical status in the history of the game.
“People had sort of heard of this story – Nintendo and Sony are teaming up to create the next or the sequel to the Super Nintendo,” said Conor Clarke of the National Videogame Museum in Sheffield.
“But nobody really confirmed its existence. So it was mythical.”
This status, he said, could explain why it is now the most expensive gaming object of all time.
Cash in the attic
Made in 1992, the Super NES CD-ROM was modeled after the success of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Snes) – but with a disc player in the base.
There are rumors that he is playing both Snes cartridges and CD games, although no official game has been released using the CD player.
However, the console works. The auctioneers tested it with a Snes Mortal Kombat cartridge and “played a few tricks”. In addition, the disc player plays audio CDs.
Most players had never seen the console until it was fished in the attic of Terry Diebold by his son.
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Heritage auctions
Diebold bought several boxes at an auction when his employer, Advanta, went bankrupt.
He once said in an interview that he bought some plates and cutlery from the company – but the lot contained other boxes, including the ultra-rare game console.
He paid $ 75 for everything.
It is believed to have come from the office of Olaf Olaffson, a former senior executive at Sony Computer Entertainment, who had worked at Advanta.
The revelation that someone had found evidence of the myth was met with skepticism, said Conor Clarke. This is until it is repaired, made functional and begins to appear in gaming conventions around the world.
“The discovery of this object opened up this whole story, this whole story around the Nintendo and Sony partnership – which previously was relatively secret.”
“A game myth”
The history of the Nintendo PlayStation dates back to a time when Nintendo was building on its success with the Super Nintendo, and there were still a few years before its next major console release.
Several console manufacturers were convinced that CDs were the future of the game, intended to replace the large plastic cartridges of the 80s. Sega had the 32x and Sega CD systems, while Atari released a CD add-on for the Jaguar.
Nintendo’s collaboration with Sony ended badly. One day after Sony announced the deal to the world in 1991, Nintendo announced a new partnership with Philips.
This decision changed the entire landscape of the gaming industry in the 1990s.
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The Philips console, known as CD-I, was a critical and commercial failure, the four Nintendo games released for it being considered among the worst in the company’s catalog.
However, Sony has released a completely redesigned Sony PlayStation. It has become a global sensation, selling more than 100 million consoles – more than double Nintendo’s own offering in the mid-1990s, the N64.
“I don’t think anything really takes off until the PlayStation arrives and makes the game really cool,” said Conor Clarke.
As for the Nintendo prototype, Mr. Clarke said it would be “fantastic” to have it in a museum – even if it isn’t his. And the story behind it is more important than the machine itself.
“The provenance of a video game object is really what is at risk of being lost,” he said. “The human stories behind it, or how it came about.”
