Nintendo Play Station prototype goes up for auction

A prototype of the 1990 Nintendo Play Station goes up for auction. It is the first time that the device can get into the hands of enthusiasts. The console never came out and was a collaboration between Sony and Nintendo.

According to the auction house that offers the console, this is probably the only remaining copy. Two hundred of these were said to have been made, but all other copies were destroyed when it turned out that the partnership between Nintendo and Sony was not going ahead.

The prototype can play both CDs and SNES cartridges. However, no games have ever been released on CD for the console. The original plan was for Sony to make a CD expansion for Nintendo’s SNES. There would also be a new console, the Play Station, which already combines all functionality. The prototype that is now up for auction is one such example.

The console up for auction is the same one that came to attention a few years ago after YouTuber Ben Heckendorn posted a teardown. He got the device working and later also managed to get the CD-ROM drive to work.

The rare example was owned by Sony CEO Olaf Olafsson. After his time at Sony, he joined the company Advanta, which he left a year later. He left the prototype with Advanta, and when that company went bankrupt, the console was auctioned off in a box with other items.

The Nintendo Play Station will go under the hammer in March 2020. Interested parties can already bid online from February. The auction house has no idea what the console will fetch, because no comparable item has been auctioned before.