The Nintendo Play Station, that legendary prototype of a console that came along before Sony pounced on the idea of console gaming, has a unit up for auction. It’s not cheap though, not by a long shot. As of now, the unit is up for sale on Heritage Auctions. The listed price at the time of writing is set to pass $50,000 and keeps going up. So if you’re in the market for a unique piece of gaming history, this is your chance.
The Nintendo Play Station first appeared in 1992, when console gaming was first moving into the 16-bit era of the Sega consoles, and 3D graphics were just starting to be explored as a medium for video games. With this prototype, the Nintendo Play Station was being shopped around as a collaboration between Nintendo and Sony, as an attempt to capitalize on the growing home console market. The idea was to blend burgeoning CD-ROM tech with the library of the Super Famicom and similar Nintendo products by creating a hybrid console, something that retro gamers have certainly latched onto in recent years, with the consoles from Retrokin and other makers.
This particular project never made it past the design and prototype stage, with only a handful of prototypes ever produced. With only around 200 in circulation, it’s a small wonder that this unit was even found. There’s no indication that there are unique Nintendo Play Station games out there, as of now, no evidence of Nintendo Play Station games has been found. This unit does work with Super Famicom carts and can play music CDs thanks to a recent repair.
The official name of the console is the Super NES CD-ROM System, colloquially known as the SNES-CD or Nintendo Play Station. This particular unit was first spotted online back in December 2019, when Heritage Auctions first announced the upcoming listing. The auction is scheduled for March 5-7, 2020, but interested buyers can start bidding online now. “We don’t have any sample as to what this could possibly sell for,” Heritage Auctions consignment director Valarie McLeckie said. “The market’s going to have to dictate the value on this one.”
The prospect of owning the legendary electronic device will set you back a fair bit of cash though. Many are speculating that the unit could sell for more than $500,000 based on the overall trend of current bids.
