It is not clear what happened with the remaining 199 prototypes, but sources suggest that all units were destroyed.
The story is well known. At the time of the 16 bits, SNES and Mega Drive competed for hegenonia in the market. SEGA's console was far from beating Nintendo's, but Mario's company had lost ground with respect to its previous machine. With an eye on the future, the Kyoto allied with Sony to produce a machine with a CD-ROM drive, the Nintendo PlayStation. However, the agreement was broken and everyone went their way. Now, that prototype has gone up for auction. Your current price? $ 350,000
200 units of this prototype were manufactured, although at present it is believed that only one of them has survived, which has been put up for sale. The fate of the remaining 199 seems to have been its destruction, although it is not 100% confirmed. “At one point, the existence of this prototype manufactured by two brands was a simple myth, and this is the first time it has been offered in public auction. It is said to be the last prototype of the 200 that were supposedly created, ”says the auction page.
Nintendo PlayStation, on the auction page.
How was Nintendo PlayStation?
The prototype has features of Super Nintendo and PlayStation, "but it has its own unique features too." It has a cartridge slot for NES and SNES games, as well as a CD-ROM drive, which was intended for video games and multimedia features. "Although the CD-ROM drive didn't work when (the console) was found in 2009, it has been repaired by Benjamin Heckendorn, a YouTube celebrity known for his console repair videos." So, the machine has the ability to play music on CD as advertised by PlayStation, but it is known that software was also developed during the prototyping phase.
The command is similar to SNES, although it already comes with the name of PlayStation. In addition, the console has a small screen that informs about the music theme that is being played on the CD, which allows the player to listen to his music while playing SNES cartridges. One of its mysteries is a port named "NEXT", but as of today it is unknown what its main functionality would be.
When Nintendo and Sony broke their agreement, Mario's company decided to opt for the cartridges again. Nintendo 64 changed the initial idea and abandoned the CD-ROM, which however was used in PlayStation, already as Sony's own console. From then on, the optical format became a standard. Sony PlayStation may not have seen the light, but the prototype symbolizes what one day was and finally could not be, an alliance that is written in history.
