In a fascinating revelation, former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida recently shared insights into his experience with the Nintendo PlayStation prototype during an interview with MinnMax. Yoshida, who joined Ken Kutaragi's team in February 1993, reminisced about his early days at Sony, where he was introduced to the original PlayStation that eventually made it to store shelves. However, his team also had the unique opportunity to explore the Nintendo PlayStation prototype.
Yoshida described the prototype as already functional when he joined the team. "Everybody who joined [Ken Kutaragi]'s team around that time, the first thing they showed us was that Nintendo Sony PlayStation, like a prototype already working," he said. He also revealed that he got to play an "almost finished" game on the system on his very first day. The game, which Yoshida compared to the Sega CD title Silpheed, was a space shooter that streamed assets from a CD. Although he couldn't recall the developer or the exact location of its creation, Yoshida hinted at the possibility that this game might still exist in Sony's archives. "I wouldn't be surprised," he noted, suggesting the game was stored on a CD.
The Nintendo PlayStation, a product of an unrealized partnership between Nintendo and Sony, remains a coveted piece of gaming history. Its status as an unreleased console adds to its allure, making it a fascinating "what-if" scenario in the gaming world. This prototype has garnered significant interest in auctions and among collectors, highlighting its significance as a relic of gaming history.
The prospect of revisiting Sony's space-shooter game for the Nintendo PlayStation is intriguing, especially given precedents like Nintendo's release of Star Fox 2 years after its cancellation. This raises hopes that this particular piece of video game history might one day be unearthed and shared with the gaming community, offering a glimpse into a different timeline where the Nintendo PlayStation could have thrived.
The Nintendo PlayStation prototype console. Photo: Mats Lindh (Flickr/CC BY 2.0).
