A very rare prototype console which was co-developed by Sony and Nintendo has been discovered during a routine office clear-out in the United States.
Do you remember the ill-fated Sony CD add-on for the old Super Nintendo Entertainment System? Well, it seems that Nintendo and Sony also developed a prototype console as well. Some guy in the United States called Dan Diebold was helping his dad clear out an old when he came across the device, thought to be a testing kit co-developed by Sony and Nintendo.
Though there is no footage of it working, the system is clearly a gaming relic from the past and should probably be in a museum somewhere. Should the guy bite the bullet and list it on Ebay, I wouldn’t be surprised if it fetched several thousands from collectors. It will be interesting to see if Nintendo or Sony themselves comment on the device, as very few if any have been lucky enough to get their hands on such a rare piece of gaming memorabilia.
Back in 1991, Nintendo were looking to get a piece of the newly launched CD format which was co-developed by Sony and Phillips. Nintendo approached Sony for a collaboration on a peripheral known as the SNES-CD, which would be an add-on for the original SNES console allowing it to play the new format. The idea was then scrapped in favour of a full console, which would be created by the two firms in tandem. Somewhere along the line, things turned sour and Sony went alone to design the original PlayStation which released in December 1994.