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Super NES CD-ROM

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The Super NES CD-ROM[1][a] (commonly abbreviated as SNES CD) was a series of unreleased devices developed in the early 1990s that would have added CD-ROM capabilities to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.[b] The project was conceived as an add-on device for the Super NES as well as a dedicated all-in-one unit, all of which would support playback of CDs. Games would also be stored on the medium, using two distinct formats based on CD-ROM.

Developed during the fourth generation of video games in the early 1990s, it started as a collaborative effort between Nintendo and Sony to develop a system that could take CDs (including CD-ROM), which led to the development of an all-in-one unit known as the PlayStation[c] that was capable of playing both Super NES cartridges and a new CD-based format named the Super Disc. The two companies worked on the project until Nintendo collaborated with Sony's competitor, Philips, to work on the project as well, with that particular partnership leading to the development of an add-on for the Super NES that can accept CDs and used a different format for storing games on a CD-ROM. Ultimately, both projects fell short due to licensing disputes over the Nintendo and Sony collaboration in the former as well as Nintendo silently canceling the proposed add-on device for their partnership with Philips in the latter.

The fallout of these cancellations had lasting consequences for Nintendo, Sony and Philips. After Nintendo left the partnership with Sony in favor of Philips, Sony continued to develop the project on their own, leading to the development of a brand-new console for the next generation of video games known as the PlayStation in 1994, with the new console solidifying Sony's place in the video game industry. On the other hand, Philips was gained the rights to use a few of Nintendo's properties in their games for the CD-i platform after Nintendo silently cancelled the jointly produced add-on under their partnership midway through its development before a single prototype was even made; the Nintendo-themed CD-i games were poorly received and the CD-i as a whole was considered a failure.[4]

After leaving both partnerships, Nintendo would not revisit the concept of optical disc-based media for their consoles again until 2001 with the release of the GameCube that year, which was the successor to its cartridge-based Nintendo 64.

History

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Sony engineer Ken Kutaragi became interested in video game development after observing his daughter play games on Nintendo's Famicom video game console. Without full corporate approval, Kutaragi secretly designed the S-SMP audio chip for Nintendo’s upcoming Super NES console. At the time, Sony was uninterested in the video game business, so most of his superiors did not approve of the project, but Kutaragi received support from Sony executive Norio Ohga, who allowed the project to proceed.[5]

Encouraged by the collaboration, and convinced that CD-ROMs (which Sony had co-developed with Philips) would eventually supplant cartridges, Kutaragi proposed a CD-ROM drive for the Super NES. Although Nintendo was initially skeptical, concerned about the slow load times of CD-ROM drives of the time, it permitted Sony to begin development after Kutaragi claimed the drive would be used for multimedia purposes rather than games.[5] Development began in late 1988. The resulting project was a Sony-branded console called the PlayStation, designed to support both Super NES cartridges and a new CD-based format known as the Super Disc.

Under Sony's proposed agreement, the company would retain control over the Super Disc format and its software licensing, as well as reap the exclusive benefits from music and movie content on the platform—areas where Sony was aggressively expanding.[6][7][8] Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi found the terms unacceptable. He was already wary of Sony who had demanded game developers to use its expensive, proprietary audio tools for the S-SMP audio chip. He was also concerned by Sony’s growing influence across music, film, and software. Yamauchi began to suspect that Nintendo was being used to advance Sony's ambitions of launching its own console. He soon began seeking an alternative partner.[8]

Turning to one of Sony's main rivals, Philips, Yamauchi dispatched Nintendo of America president Minoru Arakawa and executive Howard Lincoln to the Netherlands to negotiate a more favorable deal. As chronicled by David Sheff in his book Game Over, "[The Philips deal] was meant to do two things at once: give Nintendo back its stranglehold on software and gracefully f--k Sony."[8]

At the Consumer Electronics Show in June 1991, Sony publicly unveiled its hybrid SNES-compatible console, the PlayStation, which supported both cartridge and CDs.[6] The following day, Nintendo revealed its partnership with Philips at the show, which surprised the audience, including Sony.[9]

Negotiations between Nintendo and Sony continued, and during this period, two to three hundred PlayStation prototypes were produced,[10][11] with software development underway. In 1992, the companies reached a deal allowing Sony to produce SNES-compatible hardware, while Nintendo retained control and profit over the games. However, the strained relationship between the two firms had already taken its toll. Although Sony executives still believed that partnering with the more experienced Nintendo was the safer path, Kutaragi ultimately persuaded the company to abandon the Super NES CD-ROM and instead pursue development of a standalone console for the next-generation of video games, which would become the PlayStation in 1994.[12][13] This new console dropped compatibility with the SNES and had more powerful hardware specifications than any other consoles available at the time.

Meanwhile, Nintendo’s partnership with Philips led to development of a different CD-ROM add-on for the Super NES, which had additional hardware such as a 32-bit coprocessor and supported a new CD format based on CD-ROM XA technology known as the Nintendo Disc (ND). However, the add-on was quietly canceled before a prototype was even produced, with the cancellation being reported as late as the summer of 1993.[14]

Proposed devices

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Sony PlayStation SFX-100

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PlayStation (SFX-100)
Recreation of a Super Disc logo used from 1991 until 1993
Photo of the first known SNES-based Sony PlayStation prototype
Also known asNintendo PlayStation (unofficial name)
ManufacturerNintendo, Sony
TypeVideo game console
LifespanCanceled
MediaSuper Disc CD-ROM
"Super Disc" redirects here. For the floppy disk drive, see SuperDisk.
Not to be confused with the original PlayStation console that was released in 1994.

The PlayStation (with model number "SFX-100")[d] was a standalone console that would use its own proprietary CD-ROM format designed and solely licensed by Sony known as the Super Disc[15] while retaining compatibility with Super NES Game Paks via an included cartridge slot.[16][17][18]

Prototypes

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At least 200 to 300 units of the PlayStation SFX-100 prototype were produced[19] before development of the units were scrapped in favor of the next-generation PlayStation project. Only two known examples of the prototype are confirmed to exist as of 2025.

In July 2015, it was reported that one of the original Sony PlayStation prototypes had been found. This prototype was reportedly abandoned by former Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson during his time at Advanta.[20] A former Advanta worker, Terry Diebold, acquired the device as part of a lot during Advanta's 2009 bankruptcy auction. As shown in Benjamin Heckendorn's tear-down video of the unit in 2016, the prototype features two Super NES controller ports, a cartridge slot, a tray-loading dual-speed CD-ROM drive, RCA composite jacks, S-Video, RFU DC OUT (similar to the PlayStation SCPH-1001), a proprietary multi-out AV output port (the same one featured on the Super NES, Nintendo 64, and GameCube), headphone jack on the front, a serial port labelled "NEXT" (probably for debugging), and one expansion port under the unit.[21][22] The system was later confirmed as operational and plays Super Famicom cartridges as well as its included test cartridge, although the audio output and CD drive were non-functional. The unit was also missing its original power supply as Diebold likely never received the original one while he was at Advanta, and so he used a third-party power supply to power it.[18] It came with a Sony/PlayStation-branded version of the standard Super Famicom controller (model number SHVC-005).[23]

Some groups have attempted to develop homebrew software for the console such as Super Boss Gaiden, as there were no known games to use the CD drive.[24] In March 2016, retro-gaming website RetroCollect reported that it (and influential members of online emulation communities) had received (from an anonymous source) a functional disc boot ROM for the PlayStation SFX-100.[25]

Back of the first known SNES-based Sony PlayStation prototype, showing the I/O ports and the power connector

Diebold had given the unit to hardware hacker Benjamin Heckendorn, to examine around 2016. He also posted a tear-down video of the system that same year; that same video, he also published some technical specifications of the prototype, and compared it to the other two CD-based add-ons for the TurboGrafx-16 (PC Engine) and Sega Genesis (Sega Mega Drive). He said that the system would have probably been as powerful as a standard Super NES, but not as powerful as the Sega CD.[21][22] Heckendorn later identified faults in several on-board components which he subsequently replaced in 2017, resulting in fixing the audio and CD drive issues indirectly. To get around the issue of having a missing power supply, Heckendorn also created a custom power supply using the original PlayStation's power supply, and replaced the original power connector of the system with the one from a Sony Walkman to ensure that it would be powered on without the need for its original power supply. Heckendorn showed Super Famicom (and SNES games via an adapter) working on the system and also showed audio CDs working on the system as there were no known game CDs, but affirmed that homebrew games worked.[26][27]

This prototype was auctioned by Diebold in February 2020, with an initial price of US$15,000, but the auction quickly exceeded $350,000 within two days.[28][29] It was sold for $360,000 to Greg McLemore, an entrepreneur and founder of Pets.com, who has a large collection of other video game hardware and plans to establish a permanent museum for this type of hardware.[30][31]

In March 2025, another prototype unit was found to be in Kutaragi's possession, appearing identical to that of the first known prototype unit that was discovered nearly ten years prior.[32]

Super NES CD-ROM System

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Super NES CD-ROM System
SNES CD add-on prototype concept art
Also known asSuper Famicom CD-ROM Adapter
ManufacturerNintendo, Philips
TypeVideo game console add-on
LifespanCanceled
MediaNintendo Disc CD-ROM XA

The Super NES CD-ROM System[e] was a proposed CD-ROM add-on for the Super NES co-produced by Nintendo and Philips that can accept CDs while also providing some additional hardware functionality to expand upon the capabilities of the Super NES. It was developed as a result of a partnership between the two companies that occurred alongside the ongoing development of Sony's SNES-based PlayStation standalone console and the Super Disc CD-ROM format.

As with most other CD-based add-ons, the system can play CD-based games as well as audio CDs via its own built-in CD drive. Instead of using a tray loading or top loading drive as found on other CD-ROM based add-ons (and virtually most optical disc-based game consoles since), The add-on uses a cartridge-based caddy loading drive, which can accept discs placed in enclosed caddy cases. This was designed to protect the discs from damage, and was similar to that of early CD-ROM drives used in contemporary computers of the time[33] such as certain pre-1994 Macintosh computers with built-in CD drives. The CD drive would operate at both single (1x) and double (2x) speeds,[33] with games primarily using the faster speed (2x) while the slower speed (1x) was presumably only used for audio CDs.[16] CD-based games for the add-on would use a new CD-ROM format known as the Nintendo Disc (ND), which was developed separately from Sony's Super Disc format and was based on CD-ROM XA.[2][16] Games for the ND format would also be compatible with CD-i-based hardware.[33]

As Nintendo was convinced that using CD-ROM technology based on a 16-bit processor would not provide consumers with significantly enhanced and unique games, they decided to incorporate a new 32-bit RISC processor into the add-on,[34][2][16] which was reported by some analysts to be an NEC V810 clocked at 21.47727MHz.[35] The new 32-bit CPU, known as the SCCP, was to be included inside a dedicated system cartridge that was required to run the add-on itself, which contains the extra hardware dedicated for the add-on such as additional RAM, ROM, and an additional coprocessor that acts as a decoder for the CD-ROM called "HANDS" (Hyper Advanced Nintendo Data Transfer System), a custom chip based around a single 65C02 8-bit processor clocked at 4.295 MHz. HANDS would have also enhanced the SNES's sound capabilities with up to four channels of audio, complimenting with the add-on's CD audio as well as the Super NES' eight-channel S-SMP audio system.[16] To combat piracy, the add-on would have provided a number of copy-protection measures to prevent the use of illicit copies and burned backups of ND format games.[33][16]

The technical specifications of the Super NES CD-ROM System add-on were reported as early as 1992 by Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) before publishing its specs in its March 1993 issue,[33] which were echoed in an issue of Electronic Games published in April 1993.[16] It was quietly cancelled by Nintendo a few years into the concept phase, and no physical prototypes were ever produced before the project was shelved.

Comparison

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The following table below is based on Benjamin Heckendorn's specs comparison of the first known prototype unit of Sony's jointly produced SNES-based PlayStation console, which was shown on July 2016.[21] The specs of the proposed Nintendo and Philips developed Super NES CD-ROM System add-on published by Electronic Gaming Monthly and Electronic Games in 1993 are also included on this table below.

System PC Engine CD-ROM² Sega CD SNES CD
(SFX-100; Sony)		 SNES CD
(Add-on; Philips)
CPU (MHz) 7.16 7.67 3.58 3.58
Co-CPU (MHz) — 4 2.048 2.048
Bus Width (Bits) 8 16 8 8
Add-on Processor (MHz) — 12.5 — 21
Add-on Video — Present — ?
Add-on Audio CD ASIC+CD
(Ricoh PCM+CDDA)		 CD ASIC+CD
(HANDS+CD-ROM XA)
CD-ROM Speed 1× 1× 2× 2×
Main RAM (KB) 8 64 128 128
Video RAM (KB) 64 64 64 64
Audio RAM (KB) — 8 64 64
Exp RAM (KB) 64
256 (with Super CD)
2048 (with Arcade Card)		 512 256 1024
Exp Video RAM (KB) — 256 — —
Exp Audio RAM (KB) 64 64 — —
CD Cache RAM (KB) — 16 32 1
Save data RAM (KB) — 8 8 32
Total RAM (KB) 200
392 (with Super CD)
2184 (with Arcade Card)		 992 552 1313

Legacy

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After the original contract with Sony failed, Nintendo continued its partnership with Philips. This contract provisioned Philips with the right to feature Nintendo's characters in a few games for its CD-i multimedia device, but never resulted in a CD-ROM add-on for the Super NES due to it being silently cancelled by Nintendo. The Nintendo-themed CD-i games were very poorly received, and the CD-i is considered a commercial failure.[4] Years later, the cutscenes from the Nintendo-themed CD-i games found its way onto the internet and became popular among the modern internet culture in the 2000s, being used in various internet memes.

Meanwhile, Sony continued work on the project after Nintendo left the partnership, and was soon reworked into a standalone console that exclusively used CDs instead of cartridges, and had more powerful hardware than any other consoles available at the time. They also briefly entered into a short-lived partnership with Sega, under the agreement that both companies would share all costs and risk for the new CD-ROM drive (and ultimately the next generation console). Sega would cancel the partnership, however, claiming that Sony knew little of the industry at the time,[36] and resumed development on what would eventually become the Sega Saturn. Kutaragi however became emboldened enough from his experiences working with both Nintendo and Sega, and Sony resumed development of their own console for the next generation after leaving both companies.

The main game in development for the SNES CD platform launch was Square's Secret of Mana, whose planned content was cut down to the size suitable for cartridge and released on that medium instead.[37][38] None of the additional hardware used in the Nintendo and Philips Super NES CD-ROM add-on project ever came to fruition, however the CPU of the proposed add-on, the NEC V810, did eventually make its way into at least two other video game products: NEC and Hudson Soft's PC-FX game console released exclusively in Japan in December 1994, as well as Nintendo's own Virtual Boy tabletop portable game console released in July 1995 in Japan and August 1995 in North America.

Sony released the PlayStation in December 1994 in Japan and September 1995 in North America and Europe, and instantly became a major success worldwide. This next-generation CD-based console successfully competed against other CD-based consoles such as the Sega Saturn, the 3DO, and PC-FX, as well as Nintendo's cartridge-based Nintendo 64, making it a console leader. Sony had sold three times as many PlayStation consoles compared to the Nintendo 64 and the Sega Saturn in the mid-to-late 1990s, establishing Sony as a major player in the video game industry.

The broken partnership with Sony has often been cited as a mistake by Nintendo, effectively creating a formidable rival in the video game market as a consequence of Sony's and Kutaragi's shrewd determination to break into the market. Journalists have argued that if Nintendo had never broken the deal, its position may have been further undermined by Sony.[39][12] Nintendo, still convinced of the faster load times and stronger anti-piracy measures of the cartridge format, did not produce an optical disc-based console until the release of the GameCube in 2001.[13]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ The system was internally known as the Super NES CD-ROM System in North America and the Super Famicom CD-ROM Adapter in Japan.[2][3]
  2. ^ Also known as the Super Nintendo, Super NES and SNES, and as the Super Famicom (SFC) in Japan
  3. ^ Also known as the PlayStation SFX-100 and sometimes incorrectly referred to as the Nintendo PlayStation by fans, not to be confused with the original PlayStation console released in 1994
  4. ^ This device is often incorrectly referred to as the "Nintendo PlayStation" due to its incorporation of Nintendo-compatible hardware, however it was a Sony product, designed and manufactured by said company using SNES hardware licensed by Nintendo.
  5. ^ Also known as the Super Famicom CD-ROM Adapter in Japan[2][3]

References

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  1. ^ "Super NES Technology Update: CD-ROM". Nintendo Power. No. 35. April 1992. pp. 70–71.
  2. ^ a b c d "Super NES CD-ROM System documentation" (PDF). Nintendo of America, Inc. February 1, 1993. Archived from the original on June 19, 2018.
  3. ^ a b "ニューマシン総まくり" [Overview of New Consoles]. Weekly Famitsu (in Japanese). July 3, 1992. Archived from the original on August 19, 2017.
  4. ^ a b Snow, Blake (May 4, 2007). "The 10 Worst-Selling Consoles of All Time". GamePro.com. Archived from the original on May 8, 2007. Retrieved November 25, 2007.
  5. ^ a b Kohler, Chris (September 7, 2018). "The Weird History Of The Super NES CD-ROM, Nintendo's Most Notorious Vaporware". Kotaku. Archived from the original on August 26, 2023. Retrieved September 1, 2023.
  6. ^ a b "The Making Of: PlayStation". Edge. Future Publishing. April 24, 2009. Archived from the original on May 16, 2012. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
  7. ^ "History of the PlayStation". IGN. August 27, 1998. Archived from the original on February 18, 2012. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
  8. ^ a b c Robinson, Andy (February 5, 2020). "The Road To PS5: PSOne's Betrayal And Revenge Story". Video Games Chronicle. Archived from the original on January 18, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  9. ^ "Nintendo-Philips Deal Is a Slap at Sony". The New York Times. June 3, 1991. Archived from the original on April 7, 2016.
  10. ^ "Sony PlayStation". Next Generation. No. 24. Imagine Media. December 1996. p. 48.
  11. ^ Lipshy, Jarrod S. (November 20, 2013). "Why the Super Nintendo CD Would Have Been the Greatest Console Ever". Unrealitymag. Archived from the original on November 9, 2015. Retrieved November 9, 2015.
  12. ^ a b Fahey, Rob (April 27, 2007). "Farewell, Father". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on August 17, 2012. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
  13. ^ a b Cowan, Danny (April 25, 2006). "CDi: The Ugly Duckling". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
  14. ^ "Nintendo CD: The full story". Super Play. No. 11. September 1993.
  15. ^ Sharples, Nick. "SCEE -- Sony History". Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Archived from the original on 26 August 2005. Retrieved 14 April 2025.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g "Nintendo's rocky road to CD". Electronic Games. April 1993. p. 27.
  17. ^ Theriault, Donald (July 3, 2015). "Nintendo Play Station Superdisc Discovered". Nintendo World Report. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
  18. ^ a b Lai, Richard (November 6, 2015). "We turned on the Nintendo PlayStation: It's real and it works". Engadget. AOL Inc. Archived from the original on August 16, 2016.
  19. ^ "Sony PlayStation". Next Generation. No. 24. Imagine Media. December 1996. p. 48.
  20. ^ Brian Crecente (July 3, 2015). "How misfortune and a bit of luck led to the discovery of the fabled Nintendo Play Station". Polygon. Archived from the original on July 6, 2015. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  21. ^ a b c The Ben Heck Show (July 15, 2016). Ben Heck's Nintendo-Playstation Prototype Pt 1 Teardown. Archived from the original on February 13, 2017. Retrieved February 20, 2017 – via YouTube.
  22. ^ a b The Ben Heck Show (July 22, 2016). Ben Heck's Nintendo-Playstation Prototype Part 2 Repair. Archived from the original on July 27, 2016. Retrieved July 23, 2016 – via YouTube.
  23. ^ "Did a SUPER RARE Sony-Nintendo PlayStation prototype just pop up online? Possibly, maybe". theregister.com. July 4, 2015. Archived from the original on December 19, 2018. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
  24. ^ "Someone Has Actually Made A Game Which Works On The SNES PlayStation". Nintendo Life. July 11, 2016. Archived from the original on March 22, 2017. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
  25. ^ Buchanan, Adam (March 1, 2016). "Unreleased Super Nintendo CD "Nintendo PlayStation" Boot ROM Discovered". RetroCollect. Archived from the original on March 10, 2016.
  26. ^ Good, Owen S. (May 6, 2017). "The 'Nintendo Play Station' is working, thanks to Ben Heck". Polygon. Archived from the original on February 29, 2020. Retrieved February 14, 2020.
  27. ^ "Hacker Makes the Nintendo PlayStation Fully Operational". Kotaku. May 5, 2017. Archived from the original on May 5, 2017. Retrieved May 5, 2017.
  28. ^ Philips, Tom (February 13, 2020). "Ultra-rare Nintendo PlayStation prototype up for auction". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on February 13, 2020. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
  29. ^ Smith, Andrew (February 14, 2020). "Auctioned Nintendo PlayStation Prototype Console Will Be the Most Expensive Video Game Item Ever, Current Bid is $350,000". IGN. Archived from the original on February 15, 2020. Retrieved February 14, 2020.
  30. ^ Carpenter, Nicole (March 6, 2020). "Rare Nintendo Play Station sold at auction for more than $300,000". Polygon. Archived from the original on October 10, 2021. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
  31. ^ Zwiezen, Zack (March 7, 2020). "The Man Behind Pets.Com Bought The 'Nintendo Play Station' Console For $360,000". Kotaku. Archived from the original on March 8, 2020. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
  32. ^ Jenkins, Dwayne (March 20, 2025). "PlayStation Co-Creator Still Has a "Nintendo PlayStation" Prototype -- Which Is Wild To Witness". Vice. Retrieved March 20, 2025.
  33. ^ a b c d e "Production Super NES CD-ROM Specs Revealed!". Electronic Gaming Monthly. Vol. 6, no. 3. March 1993. p. 52.
  34. ^ Nintendo of America (27 August 1992). "3 Dimensional Graphics Come To 16 - Bit Super NES". Letter to Kevin Edwards. Retrieved 14 April 2025.
  35. ^ Davies, Jonathan (May 1993). "New Tech: CD-ROM-More Details Emerge". Super Play. No. 7. p. 21.
  36. ^ Williams, Mike (11 July 2013). "Sega and Sony Almost Teamed Up on a Console". US Gamer. Archived from the original on 20 August 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  37. ^ Finnegan, Lizzy (April 7, 2015). "Secret of Mana: A Good Game With The Great Cut Out". The Escapist. Archived from the original on October 4, 2015. Retrieved November 9, 2015.
  38. ^ Schaulfelberger, Frederik (September 2006). "Sanningen om Mana". Level (in Swedish) (6). IDG: 114–121.
  39. ^ Nutt, Christian (September 9, 2010). "Birthday Memories: Sony PlayStation Turns 15". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on February 14, 2011. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
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Media related to Nintendo Playstation prototype at Wikimedia Commons

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