Tearing Apart The Nintendo PlayStation

[Megalith]

Ben Heck goes inside the add-on for the Super Nintendo that never made it past the prototype stage. This teardown shows that the “Nintendo PlayStation” was really just an SNES with a CD-ROM add-on, and it was probably meant to be a competitor to the Sega CD.

The CD drive is completely self-contained, and the numerous random leads say this is most certainly a prototype unit. Surprisingly, the PCB for this prototype unit isn’t much different from a standard Super Nintendo. The RAM chips are laid out the same, the architecture of the system is pretty much the same, and even some part numbers are the same. This means the Nintendo PlayStation wouldn’t have enough RAM to make full use of the CD-ROM. To fix this small shortcoming, the designers of this system put 256k of RAM on the cartridge. Yes, a cartridge would have been required to use the CD drive, and the cartridge itself would have been fairly expensive.

 

[DukenukemX]

Looks easier to fix than a RRD Xbox 360.

 

[Damar]

Looks easier to fix than a RRD Xbox 360.

My N64 was bought on release day and is still going strong today. That thing is tough as nails.

 

[Bees]

Cringed at reading the title, because WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO THE ONLY KNOWN EXISTING PROTOTYPE?!

Then I watched the video and found the unit wasn't working properly, then realized Ben Heck would be attempting a repair. Definitely worth a watch.

 

[cyclone3d]

"This means the Nintendo PlayStation wouldn’t have enough RAM to make full use of the CD-ROM. To fix this small shortcoming, the designers of this system put 256k of RAM on the cartridge. Yes, a cartridge would have been required to use the CD drive, and the cartridge itself would have been fairly expensive."

So the TurboGrafx 16 CD-ROM and the TurboDuo were better in that respect.. at least the Arcade cards which gave an additional 2MB of RAM.

I am guessing that the "playstation" could have implemented the same type of different carts to add more capability.

It is really a shame that it was never released as it would have been quite the system for the time.

 

[pendragon1]

was the thread I started yesterday not good enough I hope ben gets it going and tries the one game that is supposedly for it.
Nintendo-Playstation Prototype Pt 1 Teardown

 

[Ehren8879]

Looks easier to fix than a RRD Xbox 360.

Thank you RoHS!

Early days of leadless solder were very problematic.

 

[Quix]

This teardown shows that the “Nintendo PlayStation” was really just an SNES with a CD-ROM add-on

That's what everyone thought it was, Nintendo announced the joint venture publically.

 

[NeoNemesis]

My N64 was bought on release day and is still going strong today. That thing is tough as nails.

Ya, those old Nintendo consoles were invincible. My 1991 SNES (best Christmas ever) is still going strong and still sees a ton of use. Only problem is that saved games occasionally get erased.

I can't believe I've had that console for 25 years......