Fan Builds His Own SNES x PS1 Hybrid

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Illustration for article titled Fan Builds His Own SNES x PS1 Hybrid — Photo: LASTFANTASY

We’ve recently taken a very detailed look at the “Nintendo PlayStation”, perhaps the most notorious of all unreleased consoles, but something from the same era that’s even rarer is Nintendo’s repeated efforts to create a CD-ROM add-on for the SNES, which ultimately came to nothing.

As Chris said at the conclusion of his feature, “the real Holy Grail of SNES CD-ROM hunters has yet to be found: a prototype of the 32-bit add-on that Nintendo was planning to release. Should that, or games that run on it, ever be found, that would be a fascinating glimpse at a long-lost Nintendo game platform.”

That add-on was supposed to clip underneath an existing SNES console, just like Sega went and did with its Genesis/Mega CD combo, and while we still haven’t found one (if any prototypes ever existed in the first place), LASTFANTASY (via Attract Mode) has gone and built a pretty good likeness of one using a SNES, its Satellaview attachment and the guts of a PlayStation 1.

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I like how by cutting away at the Satellaview and dropping a CD-ROM door in there it ends up looking pretty close to one of the only images we’ve ever seen of the SNES CD-ROM:

In terms of how it works, it’s pretty easy! Here’s a video showing him playing the SNES component, attaching the PS1 drive then jumping straight into it:

I love the detail he’s put into the presentation of it just as much though. Like the original Sony x Nintendo PlayStation logo on the controller, and the fake spine art for a Super Famicom CD release of King of Fighters 98.

You can see more pics and videos at LASTFANTASY’s Instagram page.

Luke Plunkett

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Luke Plunkett is a Senior Editor based in Canberra, Australia. He has written a book on cosplay, designed a game about airplanes, and also runs cosplay.kotaku.com.

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DISCUSSION

Randy Randerson

7/08/20 10:53AM

So cool, although frankly I’m more excited by that awesome TV.

Also, while most discourse around the SNES Playstation revolves around its failure leading to the creation of Nintendo’s biggest platform rival, it’s also compelling to imagine thinking about what could have been if it had been completed successfully:

Would Nintendo follow in Sega’s ridiculous footsteps and use add-ons to extend the life of the SNES? Would this have pulled crucial development resources and games from the N64, pushing that release further back?
Would Nintendo’s earliest 3d games have been far less groundbreaking and fully-formed than the eventual Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time, instead more likely being evolutionary half-steps into 3d as seen on other consoles at the time? Would they have used the popularity of Star Fox and the extra storage capacity of CD-ROMs to continue exploring the rudimentary 3d that the SNES was capable of?
Having experienced the benefits of CD-ROMs, would Nintendo still opt for cartridges for the N64? Or would they decide that slower loading and a chance of piracy were worthwhile tradeoffs in favor of maintaining their third party support (Squaresoft remains loyal, meaning their PS1 renaissance instead happens on the N64)?
Without Sony being spurned and developing their own rival platform, do Sega’s Saturn and Dreamcast survive and thrive as the only major competitor to Nintendo in this era? (although much of their failures were due to their self-defeating decisions, so maybe this happens either way) Does Microsoft eventually step into the arena without Sony’s domination and Sega’s failure? (the two companies had some level of partnership, as Dreamcast used a Windows variant OS and many of the Sega properties lived on through the Xbox)
Without Sony’s domination through the PS1 and PS2 generations, does Nintendo ever experiment with their more interesting and popular concepts such as the DS and Wii? Or do they remain content as the primary console, sticking to more traditional gameplay experiences? Does a dominant Nintendo ever merge their home and handheld consoles into the Switch?