Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

The only known prototype of the ‘Nintendo PlayStation’ is now fully functional

By

super nintendo playstation prototype fully funtional
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Benjamin Heck, the modder who previously turned the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 into stylish laptops, has rebooted one of the most curious retro gaming mysteries in existence: the Super Nintendo PlayStation prototype (Super NES CD-ROM).

The prototype platform was the result of a short-lived partnership between Nintendo and Sony in the late ’80s to early ’90s. At CES 1991, Sony revealed the system, but at the very same event, Nintendo announced that it was linking up with Philips instead. The hybrid system was canceled, thus dismantling a product that would’ve undoubtedly changed the course of gaming history. Heck revealed the back story behind the project on the latest episode of The Ben Heck Show.

Recommended Videos

Terry Diebold, a former employee of Advanta Corporation, found the prototype of the defunct collaboration in a junk box after the banking company filed for bankruptcy. The story goes that Olaf Olafsson, the president of Advanta Corporation at the time, served as CEO at Sony Interactive Entertainment when the Nintendo/Sony partnership was formed. Diebold eventually passed the prototype onto his son Daniel, and to this day, it is the only one that has been found in the wild.

The Diebolds met Heck at the 2016 Midwest Gaming Classic, and soon after Heck began work to fully restore the console. While Heck was able to surmise the system’s specifications by July 2016, it’s been a challenge for the retro gaming community to approximate what the hardware can actually do without the PlayStation side of things running.

To get it fully functional, Heck replaced a plethora of faulty capacitors in addition to other small fixes to get the disc drive operational. Now, both the Nintendo and PlayStation portions of the prototype function as intended. Previously, the cartridge slot played SNES games, but the front disc drive didn’t work at all, effectively rendering it the oddest looking SNES around.

Homebrew games have been created for the prototype, but now developers can start to really understand the full power of the machine.

Many official games started their development for the Nintendo PlayStation, including what would become an SNES classic, Secret of Mana, but none of the canceled projects have surfaced.

It’s interesting to think about what would have happened had the console reached market. After Nintendo spurned Sony, the latter went on to start its own video game empire with its PlayStation brand. Would that have happened if Sony’s first foray into the industry was a partnership with Nintendo? We’ll never know, but it’s certainly a fascinating “what if” to ponder.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Steven Petite
Steven Petite
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Steven is a writer from Northeast Ohio currently based in Louisiana. He writes about video games and books, and consumes…
You can play this 2018 open-world hit for free if you have PlayStation Plus
Arthur Morgan walks into a burning house in Red Dead Redemption 2.

If you somehow haven't played the 2018 open-world classic Red Dead Redemption 2 yet and you have a PlayStation Plus subscription, we have good news. PlayStation announced in a blog post Wednesday that the game will be available for free for the Plus program's Extra and Premium tiers.

Subscribers can play this massive hit, along with 12 other games, starting on May 21.  Users will also get access to Red Dead Online, the game's multiplayer experience that allows players to create their own character and mess around inside the world as they see fit -- from forming a group of outlaws to rob people on the road to hunting animals.

Read more
PlayStation has a secret weapon up its sleeve: the Hero Project
Three colorful PS5s float together in a line.

The video game industry is changing. As financial growth stagnates, companies like PlayStation have experimented with ways to adapt as markets and trends change. Where it was once able to rely on its first-party blockbusters to build and maintain an audience, it is looking more likely that it will need to invest in new strategies to prepare for the ways the industry is shifting. We see this with a bigger push into live-service and mobile games, but there's another initiative that isn't going to pay dividends in the near future but could set the groundwork for future success: the Hero Project.

Sony's Hero Project isn't a widely publicized or highlighted initiative -- even by PlayStation. Still, it's something every PlayStation owner should be aware of. It has the potential to be its secret weapon in the long run.
The world needs heroes
PlayStation's Hero Project is currently in its fourth iteration. Beginning in 2016, it kicked off with three rounds of the China Hero Project and has currently expanded to include the India Hero Project. The goal of these initiatives is to allow game developers from said countries to pitch their games directly to a special PlayStation committee. If accepted, Sony will then offer the team support with finances, technologies, marketing, and occasionally publishing.

Read more
PlayStation trophies are finally coming to PC with new overlay
The PC version of Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut.

Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut is arriving on PC on May 16, and it's coming with a new PlayStation overlay. This will allow PC players to log in or create a PlayStation account and access many features found on the console, including earning trophies.

Announced via the PlayStation Blog, Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut's PC release will be the first PlayStation game that implements the PlayStation overlay feature. This optional screen can be accessed through an in-game menu or keyboard shortcut to view your existing friends list, trophies, settings, and profile. This will be the first game in which PC players can earn PlayStation Trophies in addition to Steam and Epic Games Achievements.

Read more