SNES PlayStation
Image: Engadget

A few years back, a pretty incredible event occurred: a SNES PlayStation prototype was discovered in the wild.

Owned by Terry Diebold (and discovered by his son in a box of junk that was about to be thrown out) the unit is the only known example outside of Sony's archives and dates back to the time when Sony and Nintendo were working together on a CD-ROM drive for the SNES. The deal fell apart in spectacular fashion, but not before Sony created prototype units of its first 'PlayStation' system – an all-in-one unit which fused the SNES and the proposed CD-ROM drive together.

As we all know, the PlayStation that was eventually released would not be based on Nintendo's 16-bit system, but would instead be an entirely Sony-driven affair, and one which helped the electronics giant enter the games hardware arena in style.

Anyway, that's enough history. Shibuya Productions' Cedric Biscay has revealed via Twitter that Diebold is about to sell this incredibly rare (and working, it should be added) SNES PlayStation unit – an event which is sure to attract considerable interest in the world of retro gaming.

Diebold himself then confirmed the news, even going as far as to supply his email address for interested parties:

https://twitter.com/terry51d/status/1179396196558888963

Diebold has been showing off the unit at events and conventions all over the globe, but it would seem that he has finally decided that it's time to cash-in on his prized possession. As for how much this extremely rare item will sell for, that's anyone's guess; we would hope that the person who does eventually buy it donates it to a museum so it can be properly preserved and seen by many, rather than few.

[source twitter.com]