Extremely rare video game console gets sold at auction for US$360,000

You would know these two big names in the gaming industry, but did you know that Sony and Nintendo partnered 28 years ago to develop a gaming console together? Now, Super NES CD-ROM—or Nintendo Play Station as it's been called—has been sold at an auction for a staggering US$360,000 (around CA$490,768). 

This rare piece of gaming history was co-developed by Sony and Nintendo with the idea of bringing CD-based games with longer animations, improved soundtracks, and better sound effects with longer voice samples to the Super Nintendo through a format called Super Disc. The console was supposed to be an add-on peripheral for the SNES and Super Famicom consoles. It was also meant to be a standalone Sony-branded machine called the Play Station that was capable of playing Nintendo cartridges or games via the Super Disc format.

But the console never made it past the prototype stage when the relationship between the two companies turned sour. Nintendo announced at the 1991 Consumer Electronics Show that it was working with Philips (which is a Sony competitor) the day after it unveiled the Nintendo Play Station was launched. Sony and Nintendo tried to work things out with deals in place, letting Sony manufacture SNES-friendly hardware, but the partnership eventually ended. However, there were two to three hundred prototype machines built.

One of the working prototypes was discovered in an attic in November 2015. It came with a controller that looked similar to the Super Famicom's gamepad, but with Sony branding. The console was initially owned by Olaf Olafsson, the first president of Sony Computer Entertainment. He took it with him when he left Sony for the Advanta Corporation. The company went bankrupt, and that's how the prototype was discovered. It was part of a Chapter 11 auction in 2009 won by Terry Diebold, and he had it up in his attic for six years.

The auctioned off Nintendo Play Station has begun showing its age with yellowing of the ABS plastic the older consoles were made from. At some point, the console made its way to Ben Heckendorn, who repaired its CD-ROM drive. While no games were made for it, the drive could play music just fine, and it could still play SNES cartridges. And because it's in good working order, plus the fact that its rare and storied, the console sold for that much money. 

A few weeks ago, the top bid for the Nintendo Play Station was at US$350,000 (around CA$478,283). But according to a representative from Heritage Auctions, the highest offer wasn't "bona fide," and the bid was cancelled.

Source: Gizmodo