The National Videogame Museum Obtains One-of-a-kind Nintendo PlayStation

The National Videogame Museum (NVM) has announced the acquisition of a wildly uncommon and unusual artifact of video crippled history: a Nintendo PlayStation.

And not conscionable immoderate Nintendo PlayStation. The oldest one, the "original improvement system" that was erstwhile utilized to prototype the unusual collaboration strategy that yet ne'er made it to release.

This comes from a Twitter/X station shared by the NVM yesterday, which included photos of the machine. "The NVM has acquired the mythical Nintendo Playstation!" it reads. "This Sony MSF-1 is the OLDEST known existing Nintendo Playstation hardware artifact, and is the archetypal improvement strategy for Sony’s planned Super Nintendo CD attachment. It is the ONLY known portion to exist! One of the biggest 'What Ifs' of each clip present lives present astatine the NVM!"

The Nintendo PlayStation was the unusual merchandise of an aboriginal 1990s partnership, led by Sony's Ken Kutaragi, betwixt Sony and Nintendo to make an attachment for the Super Nintendo that would play CD-ROMs. Only a fewer 100 prototypes were produced, earlier Nintendo's ongoing concern with Phillips for a akin instrumentality astir the aforesaid clip caused tensions, and the 2 split. Phillips and Nintendo's concern for a CD-ROM attachment besides fell isolated sometime after, but Sony's enactment connected the prototype helped spark the company's eventual improvement of the PlayStation 1.

A fistful of the prototypes person popped up successful assorted places implicit the years, and Kutaragi inactive has 1 arsenic well. But this mentation astatine the NVM is adjacent much special, arsenic it's the archetypal improvement system, and the lone 1 of its kind. As a result, it looks rather chiseled from the fewer different Nintendo PlayStations that we've seen – it's each relation and nary form, good earlier designers had gotten astir to smoothing retired those corners.

With the NVM acquiring this strange, uncommon relic, that hopefully means much radical volition person entree to this spot of video crippled history. It will, hopefully, extremity up connected show successful the depository itself and well-cared for – an betterment aft astatine slightest 1 prototype was recovered stashed and yellowing successful a container of random items.

Rebekah Valentine is simply a elder newsman for IGN. Got a communicative tip? Send it to [email protected].