Nintendo PlayStation
Image by Destructoid

A brief history of the Nintendo PlayStation

What almost came to be

The history of gaming is filled with twists, a fascinating tale of ‘what ifs’ and ‘maybes’ that has culminated in the current console wars and exclusivity rights. One of the ‘what ifs’ comes in the form of the ‘Nintendo PlayStation’, and it really is a rabbit hole of a story. 

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It’s jarring, isn’t it? To see the Super Nintendo controller with the PlayStation branding that we’ve now all come to know so well. How did it get there, and why? Here’s everything you could ever want to know about the sordid tale of the doomed Nintendo PlayStation.

The birth (and death) of the Nintendo PlayStation

The doomed Nintendo PlayStation hybrid console
Image by Destructoid

Back in the late 1980s (1988, to be precise) Sony and Nintendo were actually working together very well. Sony were working on not only a standalone CD based add-on for the Super Nintendo, but also a hybrid console that would combine both formats. It seemed like a good idea, at the time, and around 200 prototypes of this dual console were created. 

But then things went horribly wrong, and the exact story varies depending on where you get it from. Either way, some things are known for certain. On June 1, 1991, Sony announced that they would be working on a CD add-on for the Super Nintendo at Summer CES. The very next day, in an act of betrayal that must have really pinched, Nintendo announced that the company would rather partner with Philips to create this add-on. 

Nintendo apparently grew concerned that they were being used as a ‘prop’ in Sony’s ambitions for a console release, and had uncovered details that warned of Sony’s intention to take all of the profits, but that’s never quite been entirely confirmed. 

As a result, most of the prototype consoles were destroyed, and others were lost to history for a very long time, but more on that later. 

Whatever happened to the Philips CD-i?

The Philips CD-i entertainment unit
Image by Destructoid

Though the partnership between Philips and Nintendo didn’t actually get off the ground and produce a joint console, Philips were left with the rights to create Nintendo video games. They used these rights to create games for the already existing Compact Disk Interactive, otherwise known as the CD-i. 

Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of it before. While the CD-i itself was around for almost a decade, the gaming aspect was doomed and short lived. Only four games were ever released for the platform (Link: The Faces of Evil, Zelda’s Adventure, Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon, and Hotel Mario) with two further cancelled titles (Super Mario’s Wacky Worlds and Mario Takes America) rounding up the total number of releases for this ill-fated platform to six. 

The rediscovery of the PlayStation Nintendo

Terry and Daniel Diebold demonstrate the working Nintendo PlayStation console
Image via HKGolden.com

This is where the story takes a fortunate and fascinating turn. One of the prototype consoles had escaped being destroyed, and was instead stored away by former Sony CEO Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson when he became a Board of Director member at Advanta. There it remained, until 2009. 

When Advanta filed for bankruptcy, all of the company’s former property was included in a bankruptcy auction and a former worker named Terry Diebold decided to pick up a few lots, mainly because he wanted some tableware that took his fancy. Unbeknownst to him, Terry paid $75 USD for a lot that included a long-lost piece of gaming history

But he had no idea what he’d stumbled upon, and put it into his attic for six years. 

It was only when Terry’s son, Daniel, found the console in his father’s attic that news of its discovery came to light, with Daniel posting a short clip to YouTube shortly after to prove its existence. 

The Diebolds then handed the PlayStation Nintendo prototype off to Benjamin Heckendorn, otherwise known as Ben Heck Hacks on YouTube, trusting his extensive knowledge of console restoration to get the prototype working again. And get it working he did. 

So now we have a PlayStation Nintendo prototype that will run Nintendo Cartridges and Audio CDs, but what happened next?

Where is the Nintendo PlayStation now?

Close up of the Nintendo PlayStation controller
Image via HeritageAuctions.com

After touring the world with their fascinating discovery, the Diebolds eventually decided to put the Nintendo PlayStation up for auction via Heritage Auctions, a well known online collectibles auctioneer. Interest was high, understandably, but the prototype eventually sold on March 6, 2020, for $360,000 USD including fees. Not much, considering the Terry Diebold’s claim that he turned down an offer of £1.2 million a few years before. A bargain, by all accounts.

It was purchased by Californian Greg McLemore, an entrepreneur who is most known for founding both pets.com and toys.com, websites that are now defunct. It seems like an odd choice of purchase for the man, but it turns out that McLemore is an avid collector and cataloger of arcade and video game history, running the online site Arcade Museum since 2000. 

And, as far as anyone knows, the Nintendo PlayStation is still in his hands. You can still see the prototype on the Museum of Obsolete Technology page of the aforementioned website. 

The Nintendo PlayStation timeline

Don’t worry if you’re a little bit confused by this perplexing winding tale. Here’s the full timeline, condensed:

YearEvent
1988Sony and Nintendo began work together on the add-on and hybrid console.
1991Sony announce their collaboration with Nintendo at Summer CES. The next day, Nintendo announce their intention to partner with Philips instead. Most prototypes are destroyed.
2009Terry Diebold inherits the Nintendo PlayStation through Advanta’s bankruptcy auction, stores it in his attc.
2015Daniel Diebold rediscovers the lost prototype, which is then restored by Benjamin Heckendorn.
2016 – 2020The Diebolds tour the now functional Nintendo PlayStation prototype around conventions, drawing attention to its existence. 
2020Greg McLemore purchases the Nintendo PlayStation for $360,000 USD.

Legacy and influence on modern gaming

PlayStation 5
Image via Sony

Despite their disastrous collaboration with Nintendo, Sony persevered and released the PlayStation 1 in 1994. In a turn of events that has probably been a thorn in Nintendo’s side ever since, the console sold more than twice as many units than the Nintendo 64, which was released two years later. 

I think it’s safe to say that PlayStation has had a choke hold on the gaming sphere ever since, and we’re now on the fifth iteration of the console, with no signs of slowing down. This begs the question of what could have been had this collaboration been not doomed to fail?

Without focusing too much on the simple fact that PlayStation exists, I think it’s useful to consider the other influence that PlayStation has had on the gaming industry. Console wars between Sony and Microsoft have driven development of newer, more powerful consoles for decades now, and that shows no sign of changing any time soon. 

While it’s understandable to wonder about what could have been, it’s perhaps a good thing that the Nintendo and Sony collaboration never actually materialized into anything. The gaming industry would likely be a vastly different place if it had, and with all of the incredible releases that have come in the last 30 years, I for one happen to quite like it just the way it is. 


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Image of Jordan Devore
Jordan Devore
Jordan is a founding member of Destructoid and poster of seemingly random pictures. They are anything but random.
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Paula Vaynshteyn
With her first experience of gaming being on an Atari ST, Paula has been gaming for her entire life. She’s 9,000 hours deep into Final Fantasy XIV, spends more time on cozy games than she would care to admit, and is also a huge bookworm. Juggling online adventuring with family life has its struggles, but she wouldn’t have it any other way.