"...my dad found it in a box of 'junk' he was supposed to throw out"
July 3, 2015 8:33 AM Subscribe
A prototype of the Nintendo Playstation/SNES-CD may have been located. Photos are here. The ongoing forum thread is here and there is a reddit discussion as well but it in a private group. But a question remains: Is this all a hoax?
I lusted over that machine when glimpses or snippets about it were published in the pages of Nintendo Power.
posted by msbrauer at 8:47 AM on July 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by msbrauer at 8:47 AM on July 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
Wait, back up. He got this from his father and not his uncle? I'm having trouble processing that.
posted by ODiV at 8:48 AM on July 3, 2015 [9 favorites]
posted by ODiV at 8:48 AM on July 3, 2015 [9 favorites]
The yellowing plastic makes me think it's legit. My SNES is so ugly due to this flaw.
posted by Harpocrates at 8:58 AM on July 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Harpocrates at 8:58 AM on July 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
It's no hoax, and I should know. I've got an uncle who works for Nintendo.
posted by GameDesignerBen at 9:04 AM on July 3, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by GameDesignerBen at 9:04 AM on July 3, 2015 [8 favorites]
The IAMA excitement at reddit has hidden the /r/gaming thread.
posted by One Hand Slowclapping at 9:08 AM on July 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by One Hand Slowclapping at 9:08 AM on July 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
There's a reddit discussion? Is that site still around?
posted by sexyrobot at 9:09 AM on July 3, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by sexyrobot at 9:09 AM on July 3, 2015 [5 favorites]
I'm pretty skeptical. Why would an unreleased prototype made by two Japanese companies have all its ports labeled in English? And for that matter, how on earth did it end up in Colorado?
posted by crazy with stars at 9:16 AM on July 3, 2015
posted by crazy with stars at 9:16 AM on July 3, 2015
On the back of the JP Super Famicom, the ports are labeled in English.
posted by griphus at 9:18 AM on July 3, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by griphus at 9:18 AM on July 3, 2015 [6 favorites]
Well that puts my objection to bed pretty definitively.
posted by crazy with stars at 9:26 AM on July 3, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by crazy with stars at 9:26 AM on July 3, 2015 [6 favorites]
My only observation is that it has never been easier to fabricate things like this (both the object and the story)
posted by Nomiconic at 9:45 AM on July 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Nomiconic at 9:45 AM on July 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
It's possible the original "owner" of the prototype moved from Seattle to Denver. It's not like the prototype, if real, didn't have enough time to move around.
I'm finding the "if it's fake, then why so much work" discussion at assemblergames funny. If someone wants to do good fakes, the last thing they need is to be half-assed. This from someone who learned a lot on Corel from bootlegging Sega Mega Drive covers for games I bought cart only and then slightly wearing them down to the point even people who were VERY good at picking up details couldn't tell the forgery from the real cover unless they were side-to-side. (Never tried to profit from it, before anyone asks)
posted by lmfsilva at 9:56 AM on July 3, 2015
I'm finding the "if it's fake, then why so much work" discussion at assemblergames funny. If someone wants to do good fakes, the last thing they need is to be half-assed. This from someone who learned a lot on Corel from bootlegging Sega Mega Drive covers for games I bought cart only and then slightly wearing them down to the point even people who were VERY good at picking up details couldn't tell the forgery from the real cover unless they were side-to-side. (Never tried to profit from it, before anyone asks)
posted by lmfsilva at 9:56 AM on July 3, 2015
Console aesthetics have come a long way haven't they.
posted by echocollate at 10:29 AM on July 3, 2015
posted by echocollate at 10:29 AM on July 3, 2015
If there's one thing I've learned from anime, it's that prototypes are much more powerful than mass manufactured models. Can we assume that when operated by an angsty teenaged boy this can outperform even modern consoles?
posted by happyroach at 10:38 AM on July 3, 2015 [23 favorites]
posted by happyroach at 10:38 AM on July 3, 2015 [23 favorites]
I thought this referred to the add-on that had been developed for the expansion port, but apparently this was actually a full standalone.
I remember being very mad about the cancellation of the promised CD add-on, simply because they had previewed a ST:TNG game for it, which of course never happened. Stupid politics.
posted by wierdo at 10:52 AM on July 3, 2015
I remember being very mad about the cancellation of the promised CD add-on, simply because they had previewed a ST:TNG game for it, which of course never happened. Stupid politics.
posted by wierdo at 10:52 AM on July 3, 2015
I thought this referred to the add-on that had been developed for the expansion port, but apparently this was actually a full standalone.
Well, there were going to be two models - the addon unit, and an all in one standalone unit manufactured by Sony. The problem for Nintendo was that Sony had gotten in their agreement the rights to royalties for games on CD, which would have left Nintendo in to position of slowly being pushed into a third party position. Hence their aggressive retaliation - which ultimately backfired.
posted by NoxAeternum at 10:59 AM on July 3, 2015
Well, there were going to be two models - the addon unit, and an all in one standalone unit manufactured by Sony. The problem for Nintendo was that Sony had gotten in their agreement the rights to royalties for games on CD, which would have left Nintendo in to position of slowly being pushed into a third party position. Hence their aggressive retaliation - which ultimately backfired.
posted by NoxAeternum at 10:59 AM on July 3, 2015
Pretty good job of simulating aging if it's fake. I only read the last couple of pages of the forum thread, but I found the criticisms of some things as being different than the promotional video a sign that it may be real. Someone who was putting in that kind of effort to make a fake would presumably hew as closely as possible to what documentation existed.
posted by tavella at 12:18 PM on July 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by tavella at 12:18 PM on July 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
Have to see a picture of the circuit board to be sure, but it looks kosher to me. If it is a fake, it won't withstand two minutes of critical evaluation. There's stuff that went into that kind of prototype (pre-production e-beam custom chips, for example) that there may have been maybe a hundred of in the world ever, if that, and which absolutely could not be made now.
posted by Devonian at 12:37 PM on July 3, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Devonian at 12:37 PM on July 3, 2015 [2 favorites]
Yeah, it's the inside that will tell the tale. The outside could be faked with a 3d printer and some careful handwork. Serious amount of skill and effort to do it that convincingly, but certainly possible. Insides that would fool anyone with expertise even in a photo, nearly impossible.
posted by tavella at 1:06 PM on July 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by tavella at 1:06 PM on July 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
Also, if it does turn out to be a fake, the reverse aging-shadow around and underneath one port, as though it sat in the light for years with one cable plugged in, is damn near artistry.
posted by tavella at 2:08 PM on July 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by tavella at 2:08 PM on July 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
The yellowing plastic makes me think it's legit. My SNES is so ugly due to this flaw.
Awhile back some internet folks came up with a fairly easy process they call Retr0bright which will deyellow the plastic. (Though note that the yellowing will once again occur over the years- Retr0bright isn't a vaccine or whatever.)
posted by Pope Guilty at 3:06 PM on July 3, 2015 [6 favorites]
Awhile back some internet folks came up with a fairly easy process they call Retr0bright which will deyellow the plastic. (Though note that the yellowing will once again occur over the years- Retr0bright isn't a vaccine or whatever.)
posted by Pope Guilty at 3:06 PM on July 3, 2015 [6 favorites]
Pope Guilty, you just changed my life
posted by DoctorFedora at 4:18 PM on July 3, 2015
posted by DoctorFedora at 4:18 PM on July 3, 2015
Well I'm glad I could help!
posted by Pope Guilty at 5:55 PM on July 3, 2015
posted by Pope Guilty at 5:55 PM on July 3, 2015
the reverse aging-shadow around and underneath one port, as though it sat in the light for years with one cable plugged in, is damn near artistry.
Yes ... but the reverse-shadow is around the right port. In the bottom photo we see that the controller is plugged into the left port. A slip? Was the controller removed for the reverse- shadow picture, and then plugged into the wrong port? Or is it a subtle clue to the truth?
WAKE UP SHEEPLE!
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:19 AM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
Yes ... but the reverse-shadow is around the right port. In the bottom photo we see that the controller is plugged into the left port. A slip? Was the controller removed for the reverse- shadow picture, and then plugged into the wrong port? Or is it a subtle clue to the truth?
WAKE UP SHEEPLE!
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:19 AM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
No one has to believe me, but i own the GBA version of a system like this buried in a box somewhere. And yes, i got it from my dad(who worked with one of the senior NOA guys on an unrelated project). It's functionally identical to a retail model, but the back just says "gameboy" instead of "gameboy advance". I got it approximately 6 months before the retail launch of the system in the US as a birthday present.
The origin story is completely plausible to me. Other people i know have unreleased/prototype hardware from apple, microsoft, sega, etc. It's all in someones closet/basement/garage somewhere and often it ends up at a thrift store.
I also second that if this is a hoax, it's a fucking amazing masterful hoax. It really does look like an incomplete version of the images shown of the "final" system in magazines and stuff way back when.
Yeah, it's the inside that will tell the tale. The outside could be faked with a 3d printer and some careful handwork. Serious amount of skill and effort to do it that convincingly, but certainly possible. Insides that would fool anyone with expertise even in a photo, nearly impossible.
I think people are overthinking that part. You could kitbash something like this just from parts of an SNES and various existing consoles/computer hardware.
The power button and stuff especially looks quite similar to a certain model of maybe... 3DO i think? I can't come up with the right string to google, but it's quite familiar.
I really doubt this will ever be proven fake if it is though. Either we'll never hear from this guy again, or someone at assemblergames will get ahold of the thing and prove it's definitely real/etc.
posted by emptythought at 8:47 PM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
The origin story is completely plausible to me. Other people i know have unreleased/prototype hardware from apple, microsoft, sega, etc. It's all in someones closet/basement/garage somewhere and often it ends up at a thrift store.
I also second that if this is a hoax, it's a fucking amazing masterful hoax. It really does look like an incomplete version of the images shown of the "final" system in magazines and stuff way back when.
Yeah, it's the inside that will tell the tale. The outside could be faked with a 3d printer and some careful handwork. Serious amount of skill and effort to do it that convincingly, but certainly possible. Insides that would fool anyone with expertise even in a photo, nearly impossible.
I think people are overthinking that part. You could kitbash something like this just from parts of an SNES and various existing consoles/computer hardware.
The power button and stuff especially looks quite similar to a certain model of maybe... 3DO i think? I can't come up with the right string to google, but it's quite familiar.
I really doubt this will ever be proven fake if it is though. Either we'll never hear from this guy again, or someone at assemblergames will get ahold of the thing and prove it's definitely real/etc.
posted by emptythought at 8:47 PM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I've been through office relocations with a couple of companies with access to this sort of thing, and I find the kids story completely plausible. Failed, or just horribly early prototypes often end up in random cardboard boxes that get left behind when the last employee to stash them leaves.
The mystery cart probably contains a custom boot loader. The hardware itself is most likely a standard SNES motherboard mounted above a standard CD ROM drive. The only difference between this and the add on version being the case. So anyway, in that configuration, you need somewhere to store a rudimentary OS, so the cart is a natural. Maybe in the finished model it would be on the motherboard, but you don't need to do that to prove the concept.
I expect the thing will boot, play CDs, SNES carts, and bugger all else. There were games in development for this thing, after all, it's really just a SNES with a CD-ROM drive. We did a Ren & Stimpy license, that ended up being severely trimmed to fit on a cart. I doubt any bootable images let alone actual discs survived. Even if they did, they likely be labelled with indecipherable programmer scrawl, indistinguishable from any other random CDR. Then you've just got two decades of disc rot to luck out on.
That said, the cart is probably readable, and of the scale where it could be reverse engineered, the image format deciphered, and maybe, just maybe, someone will port Doom to it.
Oh wait, there already was a SNES Doom.
posted by inpHilltr8r at 12:24 AM on July 7, 2015 [3 favorites]
The mystery cart probably contains a custom boot loader. The hardware itself is most likely a standard SNES motherboard mounted above a standard CD ROM drive. The only difference between this and the add on version being the case. So anyway, in that configuration, you need somewhere to store a rudimentary OS, so the cart is a natural. Maybe in the finished model it would be on the motherboard, but you don't need to do that to prove the concept.
I expect the thing will boot, play CDs, SNES carts, and bugger all else. There were games in development for this thing, after all, it's really just a SNES with a CD-ROM drive. We did a Ren & Stimpy license, that ended up being severely trimmed to fit on a cart. I doubt any bootable images let alone actual discs survived. Even if they did, they likely be labelled with indecipherable programmer scrawl, indistinguishable from any other random CDR. Then you've just got two decades of disc rot to luck out on.
That said, the cart is probably readable, and of the scale where it could be reverse engineered, the image format deciphered, and maybe, just maybe, someone will port Doom to it.
Oh wait, there already was a SNES Doom.
posted by inpHilltr8r at 12:24 AM on July 7, 2015 [3 favorites]
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