Snes Playstation prototype story

[imstarryeyed]

I think this looks like a hoax to me. Not being able to boot it up and see it going has me very suspicious, much like those yellow "test carts" of the legend of Zelda. Hoax and a money grab ugh.

[Austin]

It looks pretty legit to me. The fading, the curves of the hardware, the expansion port on the back, the weight to it (you can hear as he puts it on the counter). It would be particularly hard to fake something like this without the proper tooling and I doubt someone would go out of their way to do that. If Nintendo was working on this with Sony for quite some time, I don't see why prototypes wouldn't exist. Like with other prototype consoles, there could be several out there.

[TheObscureGamer]

Anymore news on this? Seems as if he does not want an easy 30K+in his pocket, I mean how hard is it to buy an power cord that not only fits but works or even easier without spending money, using a screwdriver and open it up. It's not like(I'm assuming) it uses a screw type the average person does not have like the Tri-wing screw that Nintendo uses on it's handhelds. Even if he works all day, I would imagine it would only take 2 minutes to open it up...

[cimerians]

Engadget asked the man who was there:

 

http://www.engadget.com/2015/07/07/sony-shuhei-yoshida-nintendo-playstation/

 

 

Wish he could confirm it but he (Shuhei) actually played games on it. If this thing doesn't even boot up then I'm fairly skeptic. He should open it up and let people see. My first gut reaction was that its fake but after a while it SEEMED real as I watched him flip it around. I don't know though, I'm still highly skeptical of it.

[Crazy Climber]

Prototypes come in MANY phases, up to and including models that do not actually do anything. This could be anything from a complete working unit to a design model used for an initial presentation.

 

The different aging patterns on the plastics is nothing unusual, just two different types of plastic, most likely made from two different manufactures. This is common as not all parts are always made in the same facility. At least not in the prototype phase, you are still experimenting and shopping around in these stages.

 

Is it real? In my opinion Yes...but does it actually do anything is the question. I would be surprised if it did anything at all on the CD end of things... I would guess a design/presentation model but basically just a functional SNES system.

[Lost Dragon]

It might simply be an earlier/later prototype, but it looks a bit too different from images i've seen in likes of Edge magazine at the time (out There-Reportage:Playstation evolution laid bare) issue 76/Oct'93 P146 if anyone has the scans...

Machine shown there had what looks like extra port under the power button on top unit, what looks like composite connections on front, plus cart slot looks to be covered with a plastic cover in Edge photo.Plus screen printing done on casing playstation in different colours etc.

I'm personally of view it's a hoax at this moment in time, be fantastic if it was'nt, but too many things don't seem to match up.

[Crazy Climber]

 

but too many things don't seem to match up.

 

Honestly, it will be hard to EVER prove this is not a hoax, I believe it to be legit but this was probably made by a very small team of engineers for nothing else than showing what they "could" be capable of doing for a presentation. It was likely made with no special tooling, just what was already available to them and as stated probably doesn't do anything outside of playing SNES games and maybe CD's, lol. Somebody with enough basic knowledge could do this now with a little trial and error, so yes, it will be near impossible to convince it's 100% authentic.

 

The only possible way would be to get in touch with somebody on the original engineer team and hope that they even remember it or possibly there are some answers on the the alleged cartridge....

 

No, the cartridge with out a doubt will NOT have some unreleased mario/etc.. that is a pipe dream, two completely different departments. Now what it could have is a SNES menu driven presentation. Just showing some sort of informational test text to "wow" people at the meeting. (basically you could just select and highlight features that will be available when the green light is given to make a working build) Example...

 

Project X test menu

- Run SNES cartridge

- Run CD Drive

- Test output A

- Test Output B

- Run Demo

 

Engineers at this point are expected to produce "something" but not "everything"

Every system ever made has without a doubt had some initial Jalopy like this but since they are garbage after the presentation, thats where they end up...in the trash (or most likely stripped for parts since every design lab has one of those "thrifty" guys)

Just my guess of course

[Lost Dragon]

It's even harder to prove something like this is/is'nt a hoax, when in cases like my own, all i have to 'reference it again'st' is an image supplied in a UK magazine from the time with a history of using 'faked' shots itself for promotional material from everything from Jaguar to Xbox :-)

 

Mags i appreciate will use the images supplied to them, even if they do appear suspect, as it makes for a far better presentation than just a wall of text, but it does add another layer to cut through to get to the truth :-)

 

 

Given there were supposed to be over 24 different joypad mock-ups created along with over 50 variations of the Playstation logo, chances are there were numerous protypes of the hardware itself.

 

Maybe after so much lost games research i've just become over-cynical and almost expect claims made to turn out to be false these days?.

 

We'd really need engineering team to step forward and confirm or deny on this.Someone drew the mock ups, someone else built them etc.Sources should be somewhere out there...

[Crazy Climber]

It's even harder to prove something like this is/is'nt a hoax, when in cases like my own, all i have to 'reference it again'st' is an image supplied in a UK magazine from the time with a history of using 'faked' shots itself for promotional material from everything from Jaguar to Xbox :-)

 

Mags i appreciate will use the images supplied to them, even if they do appear suspect, as it makes for a far better presentation than just a wall of text, but it does add another layer to cut through to get to the truth :-)

 

 

Given there were supposed to be over 24 different joypad mock-ups created along with over 50 variations of the Playstation logo, chances are there were numerous protypes of the hardware itself.

 

Maybe after so much lost games research i've just become over-cynical and almost expect claims made to turn out to be false these days?.

 

We'd really need engineering team to step forward and confirm or deny on this.Someone drew the mock ups, someone else built them etc.Sources should be somewhere out there...

Well, you do have to remember...by the time pics were posted in magazines there were likely 10+ design builds that never made it out of the lab

 

Sony "might" have been a saving grace in the case of this specific prototype because they currently have a museum, and something like this would fit well in it...but since this was a "flop" that left Sony butthurt I doubt they want to include anything to do with it since there museum is less "historical" and more of a shrine to themselves and their awesomeness, lol

[jhd]

Sony "might" have been a saving grace in the case of this specific prototype because they currently have a museum, and something like this would fit well in it...

 

 

 

Where is this Sony museum? Japan?

[Crazy Climber]

 

 

 

Where is this Sony museum? Japan?

If memory serves I believe it is on the 4th floor of the Sony Building in japan and is open to the public. I just caught a little news blurb about it a few months back though so I may be wrong...

[Lost Dragon]

The earliest reports/mag screens i saw here in UK were early '92, with mags doing articles on upcoming CD based machines:Things like CDTV and that Planetside demo, CDI ,PC CD, Wonder Mega, Mega CD etc etc. Plus, talk of SNES CD drive using CD-Rom/XA etc and utter speculation SNES CD might be able to 'work' with CDi etc and images were pure artists impressions Sony Playstation then looked almost like a black version of a moddified SNES CD artists impression with a green LCD display in bottom right hand corner...

 

Quotes were thrown around by Minoru Arakawa (Nintendo) 'Our new compact disc accessory will launch the next generation of video games'

 

Nolan Bushnell:

 

'CDTV is a unquie source of information and entertainment.If you know how to change a TV channel with a remote control, you can take full advantage of it'.

 

Looking back at it..all that hype....

[CatPix]

Well they weren't wrong. Tho, the technology wasn't mature enough at the time. But the Playstation really launched a new way of gaming (also by loosening control and censorship on games.)

 

For the cartridege, I'd bet it's simply a SNES CD BIOS.

As I said, all CD machines usually have a menu to boot on CD, but if that prototype is made of a SNES with a CD drive glued on it, you need an add-on cart to access the CD drive.

 

This wouldn't be unheard of :

 

[Lost Dragon]

I did spot an early CDi unit in ACE's supplement ACE Technoguide:Take A Trip To The Future.

 

White unit, no LCD display etc etc.Early prototype perhaps? Supplement has a copyright Emap images 1991 on it.

[CatPix]

1991? That was probably the professionnal units.

 

Philips started to sell those units in 1990 to professionnal, and shipped them in 91. They aren't prototypes, but they can look like because they had add-on, floppy drivers and all kind of extensions.

[Lost Dragon]

That's the one.

Much appreciated the info.

[Shawn]

The CD loading bay on that really reminds me of my Sony 1x cdrom drive that took caddy cd's.

This one below is a 2x but you get the idea.

 

[Greg2600]

The unit is legit. This was confirmed by a former Sony Imagesoft USA higher up on assembler games. That person also said at least 5 units probably exist in Japan, either residing with Sony or personally with major Sony development officials.

[Crazy Climber]

The unit is legit. This was confirmed by a former Sony Imagesoft USA higher up on assembler games. That person also said at least 5 units probably exist in Japan, either residing with Sony or personally with major Sony development officials.

Well there we have it (although I already believed it to be real)

Now the real question...did he confirm it does anything besides play SNES games?

[Greg2600]

Well there we have it (although I already believed it to be real)

Now the real question...did he confirm it does anything besides play SNES games?

 

Yes! He said two games were in development at the time in-house. One was Hook, which was released on SEGA-CD. The other was Forteza, a rail shooter with pre-rendered CG over FMV backgrounds, that went unreleased. Probably looked a lot like some of the Pioneer Laser-Active stuff. We're not sure what is specifically on the SFC cartridge or the CD inside this particular system though.

[Crazy Climber]

 

Yes! He said two games were in development at the time in-house. One was Hook, which was released on SEGA-CD. The other was Forteza, a rail shooter with pre-rendered CG over FMV backgrounds, that went unreleased. Probably looked a lot like some of the Pioneer Laser-Active stuff. We're not sure what is specifically on the SFC cartridge or the CD inside this particular system though.

Nice! NOW things have got interesting! Thanks

[7800fan]

ok now that's good. Now if only that guy would have the balls to find a suitable power adapter and test it. Can it even play SNES games?

[Greg2600]

ok now that's good. Now if only that guy would have the balls to find a suitable power adapter and test it. Can it even play SNES games?

 

I would prefer he's extra careful. I would assume that the internals do contain a fully functional SNES, that was sort of the point.

[Crazy Climber]

Now that it is verified legit it could almost be worth more untested since it includes a disc game and cartridge. The "possibility" of what might be on them could be worth more than if they are just blank...

[Lost Dragon]

Did'nt they also convert some of PC CD The 7th Guest to SNES CD to see how it handled the FMV? (Answer a lot better than the grain-fest of the Sega CD).

 

Seem to recal it being mentioned in an Edge article years ago...