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A Look At the Rare Hybrid Console Built By Sony and Nintendo

Posted by Soulskill on from the not-a-case-of-hybrid-vigor dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Long before Sony and Nintendo were rivals, the two companies were partners for a brief time. In 1988 the duo started work on SNES-CD, a video game media format that was supposed to augment the cartridge-based SNES by adding support for higher-capacity CDs. In 1991 at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Sony introduced the "Play Station" (yes, with a space) but it never saw the light of day. Now, more than two decades later, Imgur user DanDiebold has uploaded images of the unreleased console. This particular model (about 200 Play Station prototypes were created) confirms that the system was supposed to be compatible with existing SNES titles as well as titles to be released in the SNES-CD format. In other words, it would have been the world's first hybrid console: game developers and gamers alike would be able to use both SNES cartridges and CDs. If you want to learn more about this particular prototype, check out the following thread on Assembler Games.

23 of 37 comments (clear)

  1. Year Typo? by shadowknot · · Score: 3, Insightful

    In 1998 the duo started work on SNES-CD, a video game media format that was supposed to augment the cartridge-based SNES by adding support for higher-capacity CDs. In 1991 at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Sony introduced the "Play Station" (yes, with a space) but it never saw the light of day.

    I think the first year should read "1988" no?

  2. Re:Worlds first Hybird Console? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The TurboGrafx-CD was a peripheral add-on for the TurboGrafx-16. They weren't integrated until the Turbo Duo (1992)

  3. What space? by frovingslosh · · Score: 3, Informative

    Sony introduced the "Play Station" (yes, with a space)

    In the pictures there is no space between play and station in the name.

    --
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    1. Re:What space? by alexhs · · Score: 1

      You didn't look at the correct picture (assuming this one is not a fake... link straight from wikipedia, by the way).

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  4. Re:Worlds first Hybird Console? by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 2

    The TurboGrafx-CD was a peripheral add-on for the TurboGrafx-16. They weren't integrated until the Turbo Duo (1992)

    For what it's worth, Wikipedia states: When the PC Engine Duo launched in Japan on September 21, 1991,

    AKA TurboDuo in North America.

  5. Appears to be Fake by aitikin · · Score: 4, Informative

    Per page 7 of the forum, it appears to be a fake:

    http://assemblergames.com/l/threads/nintendo-snes-playstation-finally-uncovered.57166/page-7

    from a French modder that does custom cases.

    --
    "Don't meddle in the affairs of a patent dragon, for thou art tasty and good with ketchup." ~ohcrapitssteve
    1. Re:Appears to be Fake by rasmusbr · · Score: 1

      It sure doesn't look anything like the concept art that Nintento released back in those days. I'm pretty sure the SNES had an expansion port on its bottom. The idea was that you would mount your SNES on top of the SNES-CD / Play Station unit.

      Console ad-ons have rarely had much success, which makes me doubt that that either company was ever very serious about launching the product. If they were serious about it they would probably ultimately have launched a standalone console that could play both CD and cartridges instead of a CD ad-on for the SNES.

    2. Re:Appears to be Fake by Anubis+IV · · Score: 1

      Yup, reading through that forum, it sounds as if the person who posted it up has admitted that it's a custom fake design. Plus, there's the fact that we know roughly what the actual device originally looked like, and it was quite a bit different. The original device was an add-on to the SNES, not a single-product hybrid console like this fake.

    3. Re:Appears to be Fake by aitikin · · Score: 3, Informative

      Okay, the video evidence is a little more convincing. Still waiting on an internals snapshot or video of it working, but I'm back on the fence.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

      --
      "Don't meddle in the affairs of a patent dragon, for thou art tasty and good with ketchup." ~ohcrapitssteve
    4. Re:Appears to be Fake by aitikin · · Score: 1

      Console ad-ons have rarely had much success, which makes me doubt that that either company was ever very serious about launching the product. If they were serious about it they would probably ultimately have launched a standalone console that could play both CD and cartridges instead of a CD ad-on for the SNES.

      Except Nintendo did launch a CD ad-on that they developed initially with Sony and then put out with Phillips.

      --
      "Don't meddle in the affairs of a patent dragon, for thou art tasty and good with ketchup." ~ohcrapitssteve
  6. TROLLED!!! by JoeDuncan · · Score: 1

    I see even Slashdot isn't immune to getting suckered into posting fake news?

    1. Re:TROLLED!!! by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 2

      "I see even Slashdot isn't immune to getting suckered into posting fake news?"

      That statement doesn't make any sense at all. It implies that Slashdot has some very well respected reputation for vetting their news.

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
    2. Re:TROLLED!!! by JoeDuncan · · Score: 1

      LOL

    3. Re:TROLLED!!! by jones_supa · · Score: 1

      No, the sentence is correct. Read it again. Notice that the word "immune" means "resistant to something".

  7. FAKE by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 2

    and lame

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
  8. The story about it being fake is fake. by Cowclops · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The message board post saying it was a fake was a fake. It was in French and they were joking about how they're so good at making repros that its theirs and its a fake. Except they were joking.

    This doesn't prove its real, but I wouldn't be quite so quick to jump to the conclusion that its a fake.

    The guy who has it seems to be worried about plugging into the "7.6V" power input, but its pretty obvious that a 7.5V psone power supply will run it just fine.

    In cases like this, skepticism is to be expected, but the "proof" that its "fake" was an admitted joke, so lets roll it back to "maybe fake" instead of "definitely fake" until more info comes out.

    1. Re:The story about it being fake is fake. by pr0fessor · · Score: 1

      My brother built a few classic arcade games from scratch and ordered decals and some parts for them from a game vendor. After playing them for awhile he sold/gave them away, I'm sure after they change hands a few times someone who knows nothing about them might think they are something else since they look professionally built but not like the original. Are they fake? No, just my brother's hobby when he was in college.

         

    2. Re:The story about it being fake is fake. by nintendoeats · · Score: 1

      That is compelling but I don't feel entirely convinced by it. However, that piece of info combined with the fact that it differs notably (including in the spelling of play station) from the unit posted here (http://playstationmuseum.com/history/) does give me very VERY serious doubts. It looks cheaper in a few key areas than the museum image which I presume is from the 1991 reveal (of course that itself would need verification from somebody with a very old magazine collection). I doubt that they would announce it and then release something that appeared cheaper a la the Jaguar XJ220. If it was a prototype which was created BEFORE the reveal, how did it get out of the Sony lab? That stuff only leaves the office in briefcases chained to executives. Bascially, we could use a little more information about the original announcement. Maybe we can find some archives from a magazine that covered CES that year.

  9. Prius by nintendoeats · · Score: 1

    I'm not really sure what is meant by "the first hybrid console". It isn't the first dedicated games machine to have multiple formats in one box (I believe that honor goes to the Sega Master System) and it isn't the first system to be backwards compatible (I'm pretty sure that was the Atari 7800, but there may have been something earlier). Yes I AM being pedantic.

    1. Re:Prius by nintendoeats · · Score: 1

      Yes, but I was trying to stick to examples of a single box that covered two systems without an add-on. A SNES will play gameboy games with an adapter.

    2. Re:Prius by Black+LED · · Score: 1

      It's not exactly backward compatibility, but Atari VCS games could be played on the ColecoVision if you had the adapter for it.

  10. Welcome to the new Slashdot by NDrinks · · Score: 1

    Getting an article posted on Slashdot recently is as easy as getting to the front page of Reddit. Is anyone even editing submissions anymore?

  11. It's real. I worked there at the time. by ThinkPad760 · · Score: 1

    It's looks real. I haven't seen that device since it was sitting in the design center in Tokyo. Last time I saw it, it was in the Aoyama Twin Building on the 15 floor where we shared offices with Epic Sony which became Sony Music Entertainment). BTW, in the video the guy has since posted, there is a mark on the back that he says looks like a Z or a 5. It7s neither. It's the Japanese character often used as a quality control signoff.