The discovery of the SNES PlayStation sent shockwaves through the gaming community back in 2015. A collaboration between Sony and Nintendo, the unit was intended to meet the challenge of CD-based systems like the Mega CD and TurboDuo, but it was never released; Nintendo infamously left Sony at the altar and signed a deal with rival Philips (which ultimately led to nothing more than a few Nintendo games on the ill-fated Philips CD-i).
Despite the failure of the venture, prototype SNES PlayStations were made by Sony, and the one discovered in 2015 has since been sold for $360,000 USD. That's a lot of loose change for a system which doesn't have much in the way of unique software, so gamer_lafan / LASTFANTASY created his own take on the project. He's even gone as far as to print bespoke spine art for games; check out his copy of King of Fighters '98.
So how did it pull this off? He's taken a Super Famicom Satellaview attachment – the Japan-exclusive device used to download data to the console via satellite – and transformed that into a working CD-ROM drive complete with PlayStation innards. While this isn't exactly the same as the all-in-one SNES PlayStation prototype (it looks different for starters, and that machine wouldn't have featured the increased 3D power which made it into the eventual PlayStation), it closely resembles the proposed bolt-on unit that Nintendo was due to release as part of its deal with Sony (the combined SNES PlayStation was very much Sony's baby).
Mock-up images of this bolt-on unit appeared in games magazines in the '90s during the height of CD-ROM fever, but no one has ever actually seen what it looks like in the flesh (if indeed it even exists at all).
And yes, this fancy mod does work – you can see it in action below.
[source instagram.com, via blog.attractmo.de, blog.attractmo.de, kotaku.com]
Comments 18
I still remember what could have been in 1994 in Nintendo Power showing this and Cosmic Osmo as an example of what could be there with Nintendo and Sony...
Can it run Super Boss Gaiden from the CD-rom drive though? That's the real test.
The Satellaview didn’t connect to the Internet, it streamed data via Broadcast Satellite. That’s why the initials for a lot of games were BS. Satellite is in the name!
Come on, Nintendo-centric website, I thought you’d know this.
Gutted to this day the snes CD-Rom never seen the light of day. The snes would of been capable of even more. Sadly it was never meant to be.
That is one cool as f*** TV. Not very impressed or interested in the "not really a SNES CD-ROM" add-on, though.
@Axelay71
As we later learned from the SEGA CD, the 32X, and the Nintendo 64 Disk Drive, this was probably for the best.
Addons for existing consoles are just not a sensible business venture. The added cost of entry usually does not justify the expanded feature sets or storage capability.
@SCAssassin Oops, fixed. What a terrible, terrible mistake to make, eh?
So he gutted out a Satellview and just stuck a regular playstation in it? I would only be good if the SNES controllers actually played the games on it too but obviously that wouldn't be possible in fact I can't see how you would actually play the playstation on this as I can't imagine all of the ports are around back and they don't seem to be on the sides.
@RupeeClock We need more games with naming schemes like Super Boss Gaiden.
But does it run at 120fps? Hmmmm?
If you had a PS2, just duct tape it underneath your Super NES and viola you got the SNES PlayStation right there. No need to waste lots of money on it really.
@ThanosReXXX Looks like something straight outta Animal Crossing
@Antraxx777 Haha, yeah. Indeed.
On your right you'll see an amazing genius
This guys effort deserves more than 15 comments
@Zenszulu actually, it shouldn't be too mush of a problem, tons of PSone games have mappable controls, and most don't use all the buttons of the controller. I'm sure you can play tons of PSone games just fine.
@Zenszulu It does. https://www.instagram.com/p/CCYjJobHR3u/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
@RupeeClock atleast some add-ons were successful, such as the Super Game Boy for SNES and the Game Boy Player for GameCube. Makes me wish Nintendo would make an add-on for playing DS & 3DS cards on Switch. It could be an add-on that connects to the dock and the handheld mode could emulate the touch screen, though i suppose it wouldn't be fully compatible with every DS/3DS games due to the microphone & cameras... still, i think is a neat idea (highly doubt it will ever happen)
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