Ben Heck's Nintendo-Playstation Prototype Pt 1 Teardown

[@Jamesterjim]

"Sony Nintendo PlayStation" sounds like something that my mum would call the Wii

[@PSP1S0]

+Jad Ibrahim well it's Nintendo 's fault

[@Hai_da]

Sony forced their hand though. They wanted a majority (if not all) of the marketing and branding regarding it which caused Nintendo to retract.

[@ObiTrev]

Well, it was also because they wanted to be able to produce their own games on the system without Nintendo's involvement, and retain the IP rights on the CD media. Nintendo took pride in having control of their IP rights since the suit made against them by Universal in the Donkey Kong case. Also to be of note, was how the Videogame crash was the result of anybody being able to make games for the ATARI 2600 and play ATARI games on their systems. Nintendo having changed the fate of the Videogame industry, did so by their strict publishing policies (as well as their innovative gameplay). If Sony retaining control of IP rights, they could have just turned around and built a "Playstation" with a back catalog of popular IPs if they so wanted. In fact, Sony had talked about the possibility of making their own CD-Only console, which prompted swift action by Nintedno.

[@Linkclouds.]

+thehaxfactory Well to be honest I didn't think that partnership was going to last anyway but I can see your point nintendo wasnt careful enough when signing that contract with Sony. But when you wont renegotiate to benefit both parties its sony fault as well. Remember Nintendo came to sony first not the other way around. If sony felt They could have made a console themselves they should have not sign the original contract with nintendo. But that was before Yoshiba Step up and help sony with PS.

[@Linkclouds.]

+thehaxfactory ahh I see... I guess it was bad management then... oh well.. "the more you know" Lol

[@BrightSpark]

Wow, it's a *heck* of a privilege to be allowed to fix the only known Nintendo-Sony PlayStation.

[@BrightSpark]

scroeffie They said in the episode that it doesn't show a video signal anymore, the CD drive isn't spinning up and something else wasn't working, so it's broken.

[@leisergeist]

5/7 pun well played

[@leisergeist]

+Tn_Gamer_Jr Really? Heck?

[@BrightSpark]

Tn_Gamer_Jr "Heck" is both the shortened version of Ben Heckendorn's last name and part of his nickname (hence the title "Ben *Heck* Show"), and also a word that is commonly used as an intensifier like "hell" and "damn" when for example it's not enough to just say that a coffee was good, but that it was *damn* good. In this case it's not just a privilege that Ben is allowed to take the system to bits and fix it up, but a *heck* of a privilege because - as I said - this I believe is the only publically known prototype of the pre-breakup Nintendo and Sony Play Station that still exists.

[@matthew-h]

+Tn_Gamer_Jr "Thanks" my ass-- you better wash his car or something for spending that much time on you.

[@terrydiebold2284]

If any of you ever get invited to be on "The Ben Heck Show" I Highly Recommend It! Thanks for everything that you have done Ben so far for us in this Video. Can't wait too see Part 2

[@classicmail8239]

This is simply unbelievable. So rarely do you get to see a tear down and such an in depth and thorough analysis of a video game relic. The guy got it for less than a dollar but it's probably worth thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars to collectors, depending how many more machines are out there in the wild. Most people would be afraid to crack a dev prototype open incase they scratched the screws, but this went the whole nine yards. Thank you graciously for sharing this with us, the Nintendo PlayStation has been such an enigma for decades and now we finally have it and it actually has a BIOS and works! Truly amazing.

[@mileskosik472]

I know this comment is ancient, but I looked it up and it sold for $360,000. So a bit more than you thought.

[@LUCKO2022]

As for the eject button on the SNES. I used it all the time. I wouldn't dare take a SNES cart out of the original SNES hardware without using the eject button and I won't let anyone do it to my console.

[@ThunderDragonRandy]

I also always used the Eject button for SNES games. I never would pull out SNES games manually.

[@LUCKO2022]

***** I do as well.

[@ydooWoody1]

Though AKAIK, the button is only needed on early games with the cartridge lock. Other games can just be pulled out.

[@Nukle0n]

The button doesn't disengage any electrical circuits or anything, it's just a lever that pushes the cartridge out, exactly the same as pulling it out. Just always turn off your system before doing anything, that's the only thing that matters.

[@tetsujin_144]

Well, one potential benefit of using the lever is that pushing the cart up from below may put less physical stress on the system than pulling it out (possibly pulling it at odd angles to loosen it) I don't think removing carts by hand is especially likely to damage the system, but the eject button is a nice system and I'm glad it's there.

[@RigbyIsTheMan]

GameStop: we'll give you five dollars in store credit

[@vornadopro6502]

P o o p e r S c o o p e r ' 9 9 top meme

[@gamesbeforedames]

Underrated and quite the ultimate comment. Sir, you win the internet for a day in 2017!

[@RigbyIsTheMan]

@@gamesbeforedames Thank you sir

[@furrymessiah]

This is quite literally the Holy Grail of video gaming. It's an amazing honor to be able to handle it, and take it apart.

[@PatTheNESpunk]

Trade you a copy of Super Mario/Duck Hunt AND Bases Loaded for it!

[@bobrocks79]

At least throw in a gem like Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat to sweeten the deal!

[@PMSJordans]

That sounds like a very fair trade. 😂

[@anirangoncalvesbr]

Hey Pat, I´m waiting for an AVGN episode ft. you and James challening each other to see who´ll be the first to play on this gem.

[@65oh7]

Only if you include...uh....Combat on Atari!

[@JC-qu5lv]

I bet he'd trade for the NWC Gold Cart ;).

[@Nukle0n]

The bottom port of the Super Famicom/SNES was also used for the Satellaview, that might be why there's also a port on this combined system so you could daisychain several addons together.

[@NeptuneSega]

10:34 "Don't turn it on, take it apart!" Who else caught that EEVblog reference?

[@cognetic]

Ha! Dave Jones for the Win!

[@someguy3032]

me :-D

[@Rj-tz5kb]

epic, nice to know Ben watches Dave also, love that aussie as much as Heck

[@TortureBot]

Yep, caught it myself.

[@stonent]

Ben also made a Dave Jones childrens toy where you pull the string and it spins around and says something.

[@thecaptain2281]

Ben, admit it, you had FUN on this one. And I'm in the camp that loves Starfox 2. The most advanced version of it can be played start to finish. Starfox 1 was excellent but 2 was still great. The SNES-PS was not brought to market because of Sony's royalty clause in the contracts which Nintendo was unwilling to tolerate. The SNES-PS was never finished because Sony was going to use the system to enter the game market and destroy Nintendo in the process. And Nintendo knew this. The SNES-PS system itself was a marvel to behold. I'm one of the few people to have seen the prototypes in operation running actual software. The raw specs don't look as impressive as the SegaCD, but we all know that it's not always the parts you use to build something but also HOW they are used. Nintendo is famous for getting more out of less. The load times were still there but less annoying than TG16CD and SegaCD. And FMV looked so much better than anything NEC, Sega or anyone else was doing at the time. Because the SNES video hardware was superior[and going to get better], video quality was comparable to TV broadcast of the time. And one of the programmers working on it showed off a digitized version of a "Real Genius" VHS tape running completely off the CD drive. It was watchable, but the quality was not great. Still it was the first movie I had ever seen running off a standard CD which was a fun novelty. And on the SNES no less! I can also tell you the that the unit you're testing out was not the final incarnation of the proposed system. There were actually two more prototypes after. One further sub-version to this one and the last official[on books] prototype that was intended for game devs. The finished system specs were to include a 4X CD drive, 256K CD buffer, 512K expanded RAM[on firmware cart], a specialized version of the FX chip running at 18Mhz, as well as a newer[and completely backward compatible] update to the base system specs. Those specs were up in the air but at one time included greatly expanded instruction sets for the CPU and both PPU's, increased operating speeds[12Mhz and 6Mhz respectively] and increase in system RAM to 1024K and 512K for the PPU's. The sound processor was to get a massive[for the time] upgrade to 128K and and increase to 16 channels. The expansion port was to be used for possible modem/networking functions which were becoming a thing at the time and Nintendo saw a possibility for market growth in.

[@4610kazu]

そんな契約はありませんよ 任天堂アメリカ社長が、任天堂の社長に自身の被害妄想によって乗っ取られると警告したことにより契約は破棄された ソニーは常識外れな任天堂の対応にブチギレたが訴えることもせず。ファミコンに音源チップを最後まで供給し大人な対応を行なった

[@lobsterbox20]

This is my first time watching this show.. Impeccable is all that I can say! Love the camera angles, seamless editing, easy explanations and Ben's wonderful persona.

[@Harmaakettu]

2:27 The expansion port is actually for an existing add-on. It's for the Satellaview, which was only sold in Japan. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellaview

[@Mr.Carrot]

That is the ad-on the video is about the twin system

[@TheMonyarm]

This is awesome, when i saw the video title i didn't read it completely and just thought "oh hes gonna combine a snes and ps1 into 1 console or something"

[@kushshah4554]

Same

[@ImTheKingOfHyrule]

He should.

[@Jocaju3]

Me too. Like Tim said, me he should.

[@cabbusses]

7:25 Something to add to the thoughts of the expansion port: the Super Famicom in Japan eventually had an add-on released called the Satellaview. Perhaps the Ext. port here was planned for the PlayStation to be compatible with it, if one assumes Nintendo was working on the idea during the Playstation's development. (the Satellaview was a very quirky and experimental Sega Channel-esque add-on that provided satellite game, news and magazine downloads as well as streaming satellite radio.)

[@lect0n7]

I’m an electrical engineer, I watched this & I asked my dad _(who’s a long-retired electrical engineer & worked on surface mount electronic troubleshooting all his adult life)_ “he was taking apart a Sony Prototype which is from the very early 1990s, and he’s getting the numbers of the chips & looking them up on the internet or in a database, how would you have done that research without the advantage of the internet?!” And he said “the hallway of the house you grew up in…remember all of those 3-ring binders on the bookcases that lined the entrance hallway? Those were reference books from Texas Instruments, Motorola, NEC, Toshiba, Hitachi, Intel, Panasonic, Samsung, and other Semiconductor Industry Giants of the time…”

[@ArCgon]

Waiting for the "Nintendo Mini classic: Nintendo Playstation" to drop in 2017. With all 0 games included!

[@UselessDuckCompany]

Yellowing is caused by a fireproofing agent in the plastic. The uneven yellowing is probably due to different levels of that agent.

[@lyceon_.0]

Hello

[@SPac316]

I'm gonna see this thing in person in Seattle this weekend at the Seattle Retro Gaming Expo!

[@DanDiebold]

Come say hi!

[@NukeOTron]

7:28 While that little port may be planned to use with the CD add-on, it was actually used for the Satellaview in Japan. That was the closest thing to an online function at the time, and it involved St. GIGA's satellites. It's complicated.

[@JJC1138]

I love how detailed this is. Fantastic job!

[@Igamikun]

The help explain why the bottom port remained. In Japan they had the Satellaview peripheral which used an internet service for the SNES that had some downloadable games like Radical Dreamers (Chrono Trigger sequel.... kinda), BS Zelda and Mario, and it also used this port. So it was probably to retain the usage of that peripheral.

[@Rymdkakor]

This makes a lot of sense if you know your gaming history. The Famicom disk drive was basically just an add-on that made Famicom games cheaper for the consumers since disks were cheaper to manufacture than cartridges. If the CD-ROM add-on/system for the Super Famicom didn't add any new functionality besides the delivery medium it would essentially have been the same kind of product, but updated for the CD-ROM era.

[@mikauanaki4866]

also larger games and possibly music that isn't midi

[@Rymdkakor]

I don't remember now but didn't he say it basically didn't have any additional capabilities over the regular SNES? Then it probably wouldn't be able to play cd audio.

[@oldguy9051]

It's great that some legendary stuff is coming to light in the last years like the Atari dig up, the prototype of the 64DD over at Metal Jesus and now this. Thanks and two thumbs up, guys, for publishing this!

[@CaptNRetro]

I was a SNES lever user...

[@Takomaster87]

same

[@SirRobertDole2]

I was afraid I would break the game if I didn't use the eject button, lol.

[@Takomaster87]

+Brad Tyler the snes had a lever to pop the cartridge out of the system

[@BrySkye]

You didn't have much choice with the PAL SNES or Super Famicom. Those locked in so firmly you could almost pick the whole console up by the cartridge if you didn't use the big, chunky Eject button.

[@bennieblanks5129]

Everyone I know who had a SNES used it, myself included. I always assumed not using it was bad for the system in some way.

[@kanpaifighto]

Ben, the expansion port on the bottom was for the Satellaview, a modem-like peripheral for the Japanese system that used a sort of subscription service to deliver exclusive games and variety content. a few of those were popular enough to receive cartridge releases as well! (I'm sure others have already commented this, but there you go)

[@electronash]

It could also have been used with practically any other expansion device that the SNES could use - since this unit is essentially a SNES. :p

[@kanpaifighto]

there weren't any others, though...! the only accessories that took advantage of the expansion port was the Satellaview, to my knowledge. But yeah, in theory, it could have been for any potential peripheral.

[@electronash]

It's a bit weird that the SuperDisc proto is already listed on that page too though - I never noticed that before. I wonder if it had been recently updated?

[@Turbanator44568]

I like EEVblog reference. Don't turn it on, tear it apart.

[@cognetic]

Take it Apart

[@TadRaunch]

You're tearing me apart, Lisa

[@AltimaNEO]

Even did the Aussie accent and everything

[@Ben2D]

+TadRaunch hey mark

[@j.f.8502]

I love how thorough Ben does his teardowns; the spec comparison he did near the end was great!

[@tednelson5574]

metal Jesus rocks found a CD add-on for the Nintendo 64. go check it out

[@Sheepy007]

Those unofficial Doctor64 drives were "relatively" common, and unofficial.

[@tednelson5574]

His was ana American n64dd

[@ericbazinga]

Yes teardown that! See if you can fix the blue disk it came with!

[@Jamazon]

+ericbazinga The disk wasn't broken. Metal Jesus just didn't have the dev kit required to use it.

[@pxpin89]

thats because it isnt a dev model, he said that in the video

[@sabin1981]

I'm sure you've already been told this by a dozen different people right now, but on the off-chance you haven't; The PAL and JAP models of the SNES actually had the mechanical lockout on the cartridge eject system too. Unlike the US carts, the PAL/JAP ones had little tongue grooves in the front of the cart - when you push the heavy on/off switch into the "on" position, it also pushed a lever into that groove and prevented the cart from being forcibly removed during play. That might explain why the similar method was used on the JAP prototype of the Sony-Nintendo PlayStation :)

[@TrashPandamonium]

What a great idea, to give this to Ben Heck! There's few people I would trust with something like this and Ben is definitely one of them! :o)

[@MoiDj22]

This is just awesome, I just found out there's a Nintendo 64 that never made it officially to America market, this Nintendo use a floppy disk. I keep founding crazy stuff about Nintendo. I think they are doing a big come back.

[@CallumHurley]

"SFX" makes me think this could have had a Super FX chip built in!

[@Lightblue2222]

That would make sense. Otherwise we couldn't have Star Fox on CD.

[@ABlackFalcon]

Pretty awesome stuff! It's really great you're fixing it. One little correction though -- the PC Engine CD / TurboGrafx CD has a 2KB capacitor-backed save chip in it, so the PCE should say 2 instead of 0 on your table in the save-memory entry. Also the PCE has two RAM expansion cards, a 256KB card (the Super System Card) and a 4MB + 256KB card (the Arcade Card), which some games support. Otherwise though, good work. It's very interesting that the system would have only 8KB save memory and 256KB added RAM; that's not much on either point. The Sega and PC Engine CD systems both have save-memory addons to help with the limited amount of internal save memory, but with the required addon RAM and such on the cart, you couldn't do that with the SNES... being stuck with only 8KB and that's it would be awful. And for main CD RAM, 256KB is enough, but it's still less than a PCE with Super CD (once you remember also the RAM in the main CD addon is also available), and way less than the Sega CD. Also... no enhancement chip onboard, not even the basic one used by Mario Kart and such? That would limit graphics indeed.

[@coffeepot3123]

"Good to know there are still some mysteries left to discover in this world" Ben knows more than he is willing to share!

[@TylerSteven9]

Cool video, and the production value is really high too. Can't wait to see it working!

[@jetjazz05]

WHOA WHOA WHOA, BUDDY. I *always* used the lever on the SNES to eject the cartridge.

[@daly7258]

There is a lever??

[@StiffAftermath]

I cannot imagine the stress of fixing something like that...one-of-a-kind hardware.

[@emma-rb4sp]

this thing went up for auction really recently and i just got this i my recommended... i was VERY concerned for a second there

[@Esteban_LeGrafx]

For the chart comparing hardware specs @22:00... The PC Engine/TG-CD had an upgraded System Card (with 4x RAM) for the Super CD format introduced in 1991...this was the new standard and shipped in new hardware (and folks with older hardware could upgrade as well). Then, by the time the time the SNES CD would have been released, NEC released the beefier PCE Arcade Card in 1994 with even more RAM... the stock PCE/TG-CD RAM from 1988 did not remain static... :)

[@Kaos1989]

You should do Metal Jesus Rocks Nintendo 64 DD next, another Nintendo product that almost came to be in the US.

[@chasefive5]

Maybe to see if there is any way to boot the floppy he got with it

[@MrGrunge88]

"Massive success". Must be why they discontinued it just over a year after it was released with more than 80% of their production units left unsold.

[@chasefive5]

Daniël's Tech & Music Channel Exactly. I am just wondering if Ben could find some sort of workaround

[@imacg5658]

Chasbris He partnered with another you tuber with a development 64DD and, it was a tech demo

[@ericwood3709]

It's a pleasant surprise to see this thing on this show! Been hearing about this mysterious prototype from Pat and Ian on the CU Podcast, and I've been following this channel for a while. And now, suddenly, Ben Heck meets the PlayStation prototype! Great stuff.

[@StephenButlerOne]

I think you have voided the warranty!

[@conor20118]

it's a prototype it was probably void warranty at least 5 years ago

[@StephenButlerOne]

Minecraft Monster it never had one! That was the joke.

[@f1ggyc]

It probably didn't even HAVE a warranty

[@conor20118]

+George Brooke oh okay I was confused I was thinking what prototype would have a warranty :-o

[@conor20118]

No I just don't understand sarcasm as well as others I'd appreciate if you did not call me "mental retardation" and I find it even more difficult to tell when it's on text or paper because I don't know what tone it's said in I'm not stupid at all just a bit difficult at Reading sarcastic comments

[@WhoNeedsNormal]

It's amazing that you got to do this Ben. I've been hearing about this story all week.

[@RamblinVan]

Bummed they didn't get it running and play something on it.

[@element14presents]

Stay tuned for part 2! ;)

[@shdwghst457]

I keep hitting refresh but it's not working. I scrolled forward on my apple watch it's supposed to travel through time wtf

[@StevenCusic]

+The Ben Heck Show hey Ben, that's pretty awesome you got your hands on one, how many are out in the wild?

[@mewimi]

@Kevin Weber should of went with an android smart watch.

[@dizzle521]

+stevacus Just one

[@speedwolf]

You have no idea how excited I am to watch this.

[@opsimathics]

it belongs in a museum

[@lovelorn88nick]

Your mom belongs in a museum

[@Nukle0n]

The PC Engine CD didn't add much ram, but that's why there were System Cards. The Super-CD card added 256kB and the Arcade Card added 2048kB.

[@augustwest5356]

i have no damn idea what you are talking about 90% of the time but I really like the show. i subscribed so maybe I'll learn something!

[@dan_loup]

The PC Engine CD-Rom memory actually varies. Just like this snes-CD solution, it had separate cartridges with the CD-ROM bios and embedded memory, and you got from like 64KB to the insane gigantic Arcade card with whooping 4MB of memory (!). And this last one was used to port neo geo games almost flawlessly for the PC Engine system. Maybe the snes-CD would follow the same route? Also on the part where you said the 8bit bus would slow down the loadings, you're not exactly correct, given the fact the bottleneck on the system would be the CD-ROM read speed by itself rather than the system. The CD-ROM max reading speed is around 300KB/s, which even using just the CPU to copy off, you still go faster, and well, you don't need to do that on SNES, as it has the DMA unit that copies data over 3MB/s easily, which is well more than enough to deal with the drive.

[@egormatuk3786]

About that thing that companies don't hate each other: Samsung makes the proccessors for iPhones.

[@Mars0War]

And I'm pretty sure Sony makes the cameras.

[@egormatuk3786]

Simon May Sometimes

[@oldguy9051]

Soon only for legacy devices: The A10 and A11 SOCs will be produced exclusively by TSMC: - A10 will be used in iPhone 7 (launch in September) - A11 in the gen after that (10-nm-FinFET-process). See the digitimes article from today (Monday 18th).

[@Don-h4d]

Producing 'processors' and designing them are two completely different things.

[@bulletproofair]

Fun fact: The plastic that turns yellow is called ABS and since it is combustible, it has chemical flame retardants added. And those turn it yellow when exposed to UV light. 👍

[@Blood-PawWerewolf]

SFX? That's probably the Super FX chip. I could be wrong though.

[@Sauraen]

Good idea, but then where's the audio chips?

[@electronash]

+Sauraen 12:28 - right there. ;) (the two Sony chips next to the expansion port.) The SFX thing was probably just an internal dev name more than anything. There's no Super FX in the system. It's literally a SNES with a CD extension.

[@Sauraen]

ElectronAsh That was my point. I thought he said the chip which we thought was an audio chip was labeled SFX. Maybe not, I had a bit of a hard time following the details, I wish he would just put up hi-res pictures of the boards somewhere.

[@DinnerKing]

Super FX chips were on cartridges not the console.

[@Blood-PawWerewolf]

SargeSparta thanks! I didn't know about that! I always thought it was inside the system.

[@ShinJohnpv]

Great video as usual you guys! Just a note about the chart at the end. The PCEngine had system cards that could increase the amount of ram it had. There was the SCD System Card, and the Arcade card. The SCD System Card added 192KB of ram, and the Arcade Card added 2MB of ram.

[@PanosDCC]

You know if you manage to fix this system, you'll make some sort of gaming history, right? Fingers crossed you'll make it though...

[@Corristo89]

I would've been surprised if the Nintendo Playstatio (still really odd to say and write...) had been this mythical beast of a console. In many regards it was like the Wii, which was originally going to be a Gamecube with the motion controllers added on as an accessory. But then Nintendo decided to make an entire console out of it, even though it was still a Gamecube underneath. The Sony Playstation on the other hand was a completely different console made for 3D gaming, while the SNES was still very much a 2D system.

[@littlefreak3000]

I wanna replicate the case and put a SNES and Playstation inside (system on a chip equivalents). Then it can play SNES games or PS1 games.

[@knedy]

The name Super Famicon X(SFX) sounds reasonable since the Playstation's codename during development was PSX. Neat!

[@sfgeometrydashryu4750]

That expansion port on the Nintendo PlayStation, maybe it's for connect the Satellaview.

[@ryanmassey1441]

Maybe although i think the satteliview came later.

[@sfgeometrydashryu4750]

yes but ninendo had it planned several years before the us launch like the 64dd.

[@dratinijoga]

Hey Ben! The port under the console is for the Nintendo Satellaview, a satellite modem peripheral that was only released in Japan. Hope I helped, awesome video!

[@Vondruke]

This is so amazing. Thanks for doing this guys, and thanks Ben Heck... the new science messiah.

[@DanDiebold]

No problem!

[@wazzal7]

Quite a treat to see a tear down of the proto here. Looking forward to the next part!

[@jesondag]

I'd never thought about it before, but I always ejected SNES carts with the eject button. Am I the only one?

[@Alyson_The_Meta]

nope

[@TheRealAlpha2]

I used it every time... Sorry, Ben.

[@ryanspengler4877]

Yeah, I've never heard of anyone NOT using the eject button.

[@donskiver]

Nope, I always used the eject button too. In all my life, I had never met anyone who owned a SNES to *not* use that eject button.

[@sonikku1011]

Nope I've always done so myself. I remember one time I was hanging out with some friends when I was about 9 or 10, I didn't own a SNES but they did and we were playing some games. They went to switch the game out with another one and was trying to pull the cartridge out, without ejecting it. I quickly got up and said "no that's not how you get those games out, you can break it!" :V And it wasn't even my console or games...

[@four-en-tee]

I'm so glad i found this show. Where has this been my whole life? c:

[@HaVoXUnleashed]

Ben can you make one of these in theory from scratch

[@someguy3032]

yeaaa then other people can make more replicas!!!!!!!

[@BazookaTooth707]

+Hackeras 32 that's what I'm hoping for

[@Alexanification]

Hey, what's that laptop thingy on your thumbnail? I want one!

[@someguy3032]

it's called zipit z2 it's a palm-sized computer that meant to be an instant messenger back in 2007 with AOL and stuff but people hacked Linux on it! now you can run openWRT or Debian and some other custom made OS.Btw don't expect a full GUI on it, you can just run Fluxbox as GUI but you can use bash! also, the CPU is arm so you can't run windows on it.

[@someguy3032]

Alexanification what do you think about it?

[@IanBarclay]

Great work, it was really interesting to see what this device really could do. Many people assumed it was going to be a Playstation 1, just with a Nintendo label. But you've shown very clearly it's not even close to that. It really looks like it would just have been bigger and better SNES games, and not as big an improvement the SEGA CD did for the Genesis. I can see why Nintendo might not have moved forward with this idea now. I can't wait to see the next part.

[@MariusMerchiers]

It's amazing that the Playstation letters (font) on the controller are the same as the current Playstation. How come Sony could take the Playstation name and font with them? Didn't Nintendo own the name?

[@purplefreak3]

Looking up the history of it will help you understand as this video pretty much gives no history about the device or how Sony created the Playstation because Nintendo essentially betrayed Sony.

[@EPCOTFan82]

originally it was gonna be the play station, but then they decided to get rid of the space between the words and just call it Playstation.

[@marcelbonatelli]

Nintendo freak out when find out the original contract with Sony gave them control over licencing (Nintendo first and main income revenue). Nintendo tried to pull Sony out by substituion, bringing Phillips, which didnt work. So Sony got everything (trademark, patents, ....) and walk away. There ia a LOT more who happened... but the trademark "PLAY STATION" was Sony's from start

[@THEzTROLLlz]

This video featured on the front page of Yahoo. Man, this channel is getting big. Just wish the videos still had the same feel as the older ones.

[@Turtle_1976]

Woot! Been waiting for this one!

[@TheRealAlpha2]

As I recall back in the day when they were first talking about this thing, reports on the SNES CD drive was supposed to use something called HANDS as a system that would pull data from the disc to off load into the processor while simultaneously loading more data. Presumably this was something they were doing to either speed up load time or allow it to handle more data at one time.

[@ShamanNaoYuki]

To the owners of the Nintendo Playstation: Would you please consider taking the console to a 3D modeling company and allowing them to scan it and provide complete 3D printed models of this console. Since it's your console you could sell the prints and make money from it, and sell copies of the schematics. 100's of people would love to have a replica of this console!

[@danieldiebold4691]

It has already been modeled. I don't have the file at the moment, but when I get it, I will put it online for free.

[@Q8illusions]

+Daniel Diebold hi Daniel! Awesome stuff, how can we know if it's posted? And thank you for sharing info on your awesome machine with the world

[@genkiadrian]

Well, the design of the case and the schematics are still property of Sony, so you may violate their copyright if you make money selling the design. Might be a better idea just to upload the designs for free, this won't activate any lawyers.

[@danieldiebold4691]

I never had any intent of selling it for profit.

[@genkiadrian]

I was not implying that but I was referring to what Chris Hicks said. That said, it would be pretty rad to have STL files for all the plastic parts of the SuperDisc case so that people can print their own replica of it. Might be an idea to start a Kickstarter and collect money for making replica cases yourself, similar to what the people behind the A1200 case Kickstarter did.

[@Tall_Order]

I admit I'm surprised to see this being worked on. I heard someone found one of these. Holy heck they went to get it fixed by ben heck. XD

[@thedjkire]

Ben! Contact Metal Jesus so you can do the same thing with the Nintendo Ultra 64 aka the US Disk Drive system.

[@shaggymotionless4269]

You mean the 64 DD

[@dirtyharry1844]

This device represents the exact point of the timeline where videogame history could had been changed forever.I'm surprised that no one has yet gone to interview Olaf Olafsson about this prototype origin.

[@ryanmassey1441]

Wasn't NEC the people who made the turbo graphx/ pc engine

[@LyamOfficial]

yes

[@ryanmassey1441]

+H then why are their chips inside a super nintendo.

[@LyamOfficial]

Ryan Massey perhaps you missed what Ben said about companies manufacturing stuff for their "rival" companies , profit , you are selling them you hardware , not your IP , just like there was Microsoft hardware in old Apple computers or like how Samsung used to make stuff for Iphone even when they have their own devices , you are not going to lose money over petty "fights" , the only reason why they stop doing stuff is when there is a change of profit being lost or losing better oportunities

[@zenowing]

And NES carts.

[@ryanmassey1441]

+H yeah I've heard of samsung making iphone screens.

[@SharifSourour]

This is an amazing episode! I love how you are fixing prototype electronics from well-known companies. It's very engaging to see if and how you can do it.

[@Red_the_IT_Guy]

SFX could also be the super Fx chip, seen in the cartridge of games like Star Fox and Donkey Kong Country. Maby this was planned to be in the console for the disc ports of these games.

[@spawnlink]

The PC Engine CD + the System 3.0 BIOS card (which the TurboDuo had built in) provided 192KB of additional RAM (on top of the 64KB of the base CDROM system) for a total of 256KB. The Arcade card which was released in Japan added 2MB on top of that.

[@JasonSpiffy]

No more battening down the hatches :(

[@hakachukai]

He just wants to live in a World with Starwars again!

[@matthew-h]

The hatches have been battened down as far as they'll go, Captain.

[@JC-qu5lv]

Love that you've gotten a hold of this and are doing a breakdown!

[@DrTune]

What did he say at 3:47. a "mul-timmiter?!" lol. "Multi Meter"? Never heard it pronounced like that before...

[@ClericsRose]

Pronouncing it "Multi Meter" is like pronouncing speedometer as "Speedo Meter".

[@SwagmanMcGee]

I think it's a better way of pronouncing it. Like how we don't call a thermometer a "thermo-meter", it follows the same vein and, IMO, makes it roll off the tongue easier.

[@DrTune]

Everyone I know (and I do electronics for a living fwiw) says "Multi Meter", shrug. Tomayto, tomahto.

[@CognitiveDissonance]

True, but a speedometer measures speed. A multimeter doesn't measure multis.

[@SwagmanMcGee]

Yeah, but neither does an odometer measure odors.

[@ivanospasiva8414]

As i see it, PC engine and Sega CD needed more updates than the Snes CD because they needed to match the better audio and video quality of the Snes. Just compare graphics and audio of both Road Blasters ports, that's how the Snes CD would've worked. Something remarkable is the cd double speed reading, cause it was made to be helped by the cartridge's chips expansion, as the Snes did with chips like the FX chip. This means that with the proper expansion chip, the Snes would've been updated almost indefinitely. Remember all those badly or incomplete ported Arcade games?.

[@googleboughtmee]

Can you do the Coleco Chameleon next?

[@izzc2506]

I don't think he would be able to do much with a capture card.

[@MAYERMAKES]

if you want to see a counterfeit snes in a hacked up jaguar shell....

[@Alyson_The_Meta]

how about the one that was just some random card chucked in? lol!

[@Ben2D]

if he does... it's just a snes mini board

[@genkiadrian]

The idea of the disassembly arrows on Sony units is not just showing you were the screws are, but which screws need to be removed to be able to open the case. Screws not marked with an arrow don't have to be removed for disassembly.

[@nathantron]

And me and my friend had to build one from scratch. Fuckers...

[@ASkilledRoy]

?

[@n2n8sda]

Hey there, the SNES Satelleview system used the expansion port so it will probably work on this console too. If you don't know what that is it sat under the SNES and you hooked it up to your Satellite TV to play some games.

[@CamelliaSinensis]

I'm guessing Redditors still don't know about this video yet, cus If they knew, they'd freak out like boyband fans again...

[@SquirrelJME]

This was posted on Reddit about an hour ago.

[@gaveroid418]

The existence was originally revealed on Reddit, watch the video.

[@SpeedDeamon95]

Hell ya! I'm glad you got to take this rare piece of gaming history apart and tried to fix it!

[@sonikku1011]

The Genesis is capable of pulling off tricks that the SNES can do, giving though if you have the tools and knowledge. There's a homebrew Sonic racing game that is similar to Super Mario Kart, that pulls off Mode 7 without the need of a extra chip. Also some Sonic hackers have made sound drivers capable of playing back PCM audio, which allows other hackers to use actual songs if compressed. Check out Markey Jester's Sonic 1 the Next Level hack, it contains samples of actual songs that are slightly remixed but are high quality samples. Overall though, I'm more of a Genesis fan boy than the SNES. :P Still I like the SNES, but technically the SNES is "better" because it came out a few years after the Genesis did, and you know how fast technology evolves... Still I look forward to the next video, hopefully the console can be brought back to life. This is truly a interesting piece of video game history.

[@dsuess]

Great breakdown!! No joke, by far the best breakdown i've seen in years. Great job guys and good job taking car of this piece of history.

[@JamesCoyle95]

3:20 yeahhh probably best not to do that if you ever visit the UK...

[@piplup2009]

did you just flip me off?

[@towys007]

+Daniël's Tech & Music Channel jajaja cammon xDD thats sound soo stupid

[@SproutyPottedPlant]

You're on the Internet.

[@NukTap]

so the reason that the proto had a port on the bottom of it was because it is supposed to work with non disc addons just like the snes, such as the excersize bike. That prototype is actually part of the contract where sony got to sell their own console, like panasonic did with the panasonic Q. Nintendo's own branded addon was just an addon and not a standalone console like this.

[@Alyson_The_Meta]

with as poor as the hardware was, do you think its possible they intended it to simply have a add-on to upgrade the consoles performance and nothing else?

[@NukTap]

yes, or more specifically, to be able to enhance the size a game can be.

[@Lavagemstomacal]

No wonder why Nintendo rejected it, there's sony everywhere on this thing!

[@keloing923]

Yeah and the sony stuff doesn't work unless you repair it lol

[@NintendoCollecting]

Really an amazing find that keeps every collector hopeful. Great idea trying to get it working again. I look forward to Part 2! #NintendoSonyPrototype

[@Goreface69]

"Do you have Half-Life 3 too?" I died

[@Joliie]

The Coloring of plastics was a due to Fire Resistant Plastic Compounds they used back then, it will changed under UV light, so even with the Retr0Bright it will yellow again over time.

[@gtabro1337]

Gamestop will be like "Best I can do is $15 and a keychain on the house"

[@theblackdeath8933]

gtabro1337 those grumsy bastards! They are like the grinch lol

[@bmameli]

Child of the 80's turned computer engineer chiming in. This was awesome to watch. Almost as good as debugging and reprogramming Zelda, but not quite. I remember hearing about this, but never seeing it come to the life. Can't wait to see part 2.

[@vincenzovieri3743]

Why does this man have orange fungus growing around his forehead

[@HockeyCrab]

It's hair you moron

[@jamesbond9975]

Ate too many Cheetos.

[@vincenzovieri3743]

Cal Miller No, it can't be hair goes on top of the head

[@HockeyCrab]

+Vincenzo Vieri Perhaps eyebrows

[@t.williams5018]

I love how he touches the chips and circuitry with his fingers without so much as an ESD wrist strap.