Ultra-rare Nintendo PlayStation prototype sells for just $360,000 at auction after owner turned down $1.2 MILLION from a private buyer ‘because he thought he could make more money out of a bidding war’
- The console never went to market and this prototype is one of 200 that existed
- The console combines Nintendo’s characteristic cartridge slot with a disc drive
- The artefact is the result of a failed collaboration between Sony and Nintendo
- The owner of the console reportedly rejected a $1M offer to put it up for auction
A prototype of the unreleased ‘Nintendo PlayStation’ console has sold for $360,000 (£273,096) at auction – nearly $1 million less than an earlier rejected offer.
The super-rare console, which was sold with a Sony-branded SNES controller and cartridge that enables CD-Rom functionality, was sold by Dallas-based auction house Heritage Auctions on Friday.
The collector’s item is a rare artefact from a brief collaboration between Japanese gaming giants Sony and Nintendo before they took separate paths in the video game market.
The winner bidder was entrepreneur and video game collector Greg McLemore, who beat out other bidders including Palmer Luckey, founder of Facebook’s Oculus VR platform.
The previous owner of the prototype had reportedly turned down $1.2 million to put it up for auction – meaning he’s missed out on nearly $850,000.
The rare ‘SNES-PlayStation’ was one of 200 prototypes made – and the rest are thought to be destroyed. The item comes with a PlayStation-branded controller and cartridge that enables CD-Rom functionality
McLemore, the new owner of the prized console, who founded successful retail sites Toys.com and Pets.com, told Forbes that the Nintendo-PlayStation will eventually be part of a video game museum.
‘I’m looking to not have this machine just buried in a closet somewhere,’ McLemore said.
‘I’m interested in sharing my passion for gaming. One of my areas of focus is the evolution of gaming, including how earlier arcade games inspired video games and how early video games influenced later innovation.
‘I believe the Nintendo PlayStation fits in well with this focus.’
McLemore also said that the console seemed ‘inexpensive’ compared to a near mint copy of Super Mario Bros. for the Super Nintendo System that recently sold for $100,150 (£76,057).
The prototype was designed to support both Nintendo’s preferred gaming format – the cartridge – and PlayStation’s preferred CD-ROM drive
This particular prototype was originally owned by the founder and first CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc, Olaf Olaffson, who later became a member of the board of directors at Advanta, an American bank.
When Mr Olaffson left Advanta he left the prototype behind, and it was later acquired by former Advatna worker Terry Diebold when the company went bankrupt.
Though the CD-ROM drive was not working when Mr Diebold acquired the console in 2009, it was repaired by Ben Heck, a YouTube personality known for his console repair videos.
Mr Diebold had had the SNES PlayStation in his possession ever since, and toured it at vintage game conventions worldwide before finally deciding to put it up for sale.
Mr Diebold told Kotaku back in December that he turned down $1.2 million (around £1 million) from ‘someone in Norway’ to be able to put it up for auction.
This means Mr Diebold may have lost out on about $840,000 by rejecting the original offer had it gone through.
Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey put in an offer for the console before being outbid. The video game enthusiast seemed disappointed to lose out on the console, which sold for $360,000
Palmer Luckey, 27-year-old millionaire, video game enthusiast and founder of Facebook’s Oculus VR platform, had also previously bid on the priceless device.
After missing out on the console, Luckey tweeted: ‘Do you imagine there are rich people out there who are better than me at preserving videogame technology?’
Luckey – who wasn’t even born when the SNES-PlayStation prototype was originally revealed in 1991 – also previously tweeted: ‘Who are the other nutters who keep bidding against me?’
‘The Nintendo PlayStation is very, very cool, but I can only think of a handful of other people who think it is $300k worth of cool.’
The unreleased console, which features Sony branding and the first use of the word ‘PlayStation’, marks the first chapter of Sony’s foray into the home console video game market.
Nintendo had approached Sony to develop a CD-ROM add-on for its upcoming Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), but the idea didn’t come to fruition before the console’s release in 1990.
The companies continued their collaboration nevertheless, culminating in this SNES-PlayStation prototype, which was revealed at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in June 1991.
Potential buyers will need a spare $350,000 (£268,000) in their pocket if they want to bid as of Friday morning – although the price is expected to rise to more than $1 million
But disputes caused the cancellation of the project shortly after, and Sony went on to launch its wildly successful PlayStation in 1994.
This particular prototype is thought to be the last out of about 200 that were made, as the remaining 199 were reportedly destroyed when the partnership soured.
The Nintendo PlayStation has a game cartridge slot and a CD-ROM disc drive, both of which are in working order.
While no games were officially made for the SNES-PlayStation, the prototype does play CDs and the cartridge slot works for SNES games.
A small screen on the top of the console shows the user which track is being played on the CD next to buttons, allowing the user to skip to the next track and and play a cartridge game at the same time.
It also has a headphone port and independent volume dial on the front of the console, to the left of the two controller ports.
The plastic and flame retardant that were used to make the console have gradually given it a yellowish tinge after 30 years.
To the right of the top of the SNES-PlayStation is very retro a set of controls that allows users to play CDs while they’re playing games
‘By far, this is arguably one of the most notorious, mysterious, and controversial artefacts of the video game industry,’ Heritage Auctions said on its website.
‘At one point, this dual-branded prototype’s existence was mere myth, and this is the very first time it will ever be offered at public auction.
‘We at Heritage can attest the prototype is working, as we’ve played a couple of rounds of Mortal Kombat on it using a Super Famicom cartridge.’
THE HISTORY OF PLAYSTATION
1988: Sony and Nintendo originally began discussions to develop a CD-ROM add-on for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The idea didn’t come to fruition before the SNES was released in 1990.
1991: At the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago, Sony revealed a prototype SNES with a built-in CD-ROM drive – now known as the ‘SNES PlayStation’. However, only the next day Nintendo announced it had broken its deal with Sony, opting instead to partner Philips, Sony’s rival in consumer electronics.
1994: The original PlayStation launched in Japan on December 3 and in the US and Europe the following year.
2000: Sony launched the PlayStation 2 a year before its other competitors, Microsoft’s Xbox and the Nintendo GameCube, and became the most successful home console in the world, selling 155 million units by 2012.
2005: The original PlayStation became the first video game console to ship more than 100 million units.
2006: Sony released the PlayStation 3, the first console in the series to introduce the use of motion-sensing technology.
2013: Sony released the PlayStation 4 (PS4), a next-generation console designed to compete with the Xbox One.
2016: Sony entered the expanding virtual reality (VR) market with the release of the PlayStation VR (PS VR).
2020: Sony plans to release the PS5 around Christmas next year.
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