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YouTube video shows possible long-lost Nintendo-Sony Super Disc

A video of what seems to be a prototype of the unreleased CD-ROM/cartridge hybrid console taunts gamers with the console that could have been part of their childhood.

Danny Gallagher
CNET freelancer Danny Gallagher has contributed to Cracked.com, Mental Floss, Maxim, Break.com, Mandatory, Jackbox Games, Geeks Who Drink and many, many other publications in his never-ending quest to bring the world's productivity to a screeching halt. He lives and works in Dallas. Email Danny.
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Danny Gallagher
2 min read

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Is this unholy hybrid of classic gaming the Holy Grail of Nintendo consoles? Video screenshot by Danny Gallagher/CNET
Ever since the 1980s, video game companies have waged a never-ending console war. Every new console that companies like Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft ship to the stores is like the launching of a new battleship fleet toward enemy waters.

That's why it's nice to hear about a fabled console like the Super Disc from Nintendo and Sony. It's a very rare console from gaming's history that shows what two companies can do when they try to work on something together before their mutual corporate mistrust causes it to completely fall apart.

Reddit user analogueboy on July 2 posted what appear to be photos of one of the rare Super Disc prototypes, which he said belonged to his dad.

It attracted a lot of interest, and a reporter for gaming site Polygon requested a video of the console, which was posted Friday on the account dizzle521. In the video, a man shows off the main console, which has a cartridge-based console welded on top of a CD-ROM disc drive, and a controller that looks almost identical to the Super Nintendo's controller except for the "Sony PlayStation" logo painted on it.

The history of the Super Disc is quite a sordid tale. According to PC Magazine, its failure actually helped launch the famed Sony PlayStation that would mark Sony's first successful move in the home video game business.

Just after the launch of the Super NES in 1990, Nintendo started looking for ways to make the leap from cartridge-based games to CD-ROM and it teamed up with Sony to develop a console that could do just that. Unfortunately, the two companies didn't trust each other much, PC Mag says. Suspicions were confirmed when Sony unveiled its own similar console in 1991 dubbed the "Play Station" and Nintendo said it was working with Philips to develop a CD-ROM drive for the Super NES.

So really, this guy should thank Sony and Nintendo for their blatant paranoia and mutual mistrust that led them to only produce a handful of these Super Disc consoles. If it weren't for their inability to trust each other, he wouldn't have his hands on what appears to be a super-rare console.