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This is the Nintendo PlayStation that never saw the light of day

Both Sony and Nintendo had a partnership during the early 90s, but disagreements over licensing saw them go their separate ways.

Imgur Imgur

BACK IN THE early 90s, Nintendo and Sony started working on a console that would play both SNES cartridges and CD-ROM, and put together a number of prototypes.

However, Nintendo abandoned the partnership because of licensing agreements, the console never saw the light of day, but it paved the way for Sony to release the original Playstation. The rest was history.

More than 20 years since that partnership fell through, images and a video of one of the prototypes have emerged. Dan Diebold uploaded photos of the prototype on Imgur and uploaded a video of it to show it was real. Diebold hasn’t turned on the console as there was no power cable with it.

dizzle521 / YouTube

It’s believed that more than 200 Playstation prototypes were created and Diebold says he got his hands on the prototype through his father.

“My dad worked for a company. Apparently, one of the guys he used to work with, I think his name was Olaf, used to work at Nintendo, and when my dad’s company went bankrupt, my dad found it in a box of ‘junk’ he was supposed to throw out.”

[The Olaf in this story is most likely referring to Olaf Olafsson, who was the head of Sony's Interactive Entertainment at the time].

SNES Playstation dizzle521 / YouTube dizzle521 / YouTube / YouTube

The reason why Sony’s partnership with Nintendo fell through was down to licensing agreements. Since the contract between the two companies gave Sony complete control over all titles written on CD format, Nintendo’s then president Hiroshi Yamauchi secretly canceled the partnership.

Instead of announcing the PlayStation at the Consumer Electronics Show in 1991, Nintendo announced a different partnership with Philips.

After considering teaming up with Sega, whose board of directors were against the idea, Sony decided to go it alone and launched the PlayStation in 1994. Nintendo launched the CD-i which was a critical and commercial failure.

When Sony announced the PlayStation at its E3 keynote in 1995, Steve Race took the stage for one of the more memorable speeches in the show’s history. While the console was already available in Japan at the time, it wasn’t released in North America and Europe until September 1995.

SoldierMWS / YouTube

Read: Happy 20th birthday PlayStation! Here are some of the moments that helped shape it >

Read: This robot can build a house in just two days >

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29 Comments
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    Mute Al
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 4:16 PM

    I Love Dublin.

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    Mute Old Gabby Johnson
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 6:30 PM

    Its a kip.

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    Mute Integra-Ted
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 6:33 PM

    Don’t let the door hit you on the way out of Dublin so!

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    Mute john
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 4:22 PM

    Stunningly lyrical piece..very entertaining…

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    Mute Cosmo Kramer
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 4:14 PM

    While Dublin has some brilliant People living in it and is very pretty it has turned into a dump.. The City Centre is full of junkies, drunks and gangs of young lads running riot. Beatings and stabbings are nearly a nightly occurrence and there’s not a Guard in sight.. Open drug dealings and drug taking can be seen all over the city centre..

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    Mute Al
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 4:18 PM

    Slight exaggeration. You always get one….

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    Mute Harry Sheils
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 4:58 PM

    Got goosebumps listening to that. Fantastic.

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    Mute Vicko Aguilar
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 5:49 PM

    Beautiful! I ❤️ Dublin

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    Mute Johnny
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 5:08 PM

    Dublin in a Cultural Jewel of Europe….not many cities have produced the amount Dublin has…U2 Bram Stoker Yeats Shaw Lynott Geldoff O’Hara and on and on the list goes….it took me a while but I love the city…not perfect but us Irish are far from perfect…

    About the controversy in Limerick City of Culture 2014…why feel the need to mention over and over again it when it was completely over amplified across the entire media infrastructure at the time…it was the 1st significant investment in culture in a City whose reputation had been destroyed by media…and it was the first city to expose political interference in Culture and how it is funded!!!

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    Mute joeythelad
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 4:51 PM

    I have been to a lot of European cities and I can tell you , you seldom seen junkies injecting openly on the streets ,mothers and fathers going around with kids in prams strung out , dirt and dog pooh and chewing gum littering the streets ,muggings, pickpockets, shoplifting , loads of stabbings and the frequent murder and theres much more I can add ,but that’s what Dublin is and that’s what I call a dump

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    Mute danielplainview
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 6:22 PM

    You’re what I call a dope

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    Mute Ana Nonymous
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 8:32 PM

    Have to agree with what you have to say beautiful piece though!

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    Mute Diarmaid O'Fionnachta
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    Nov 4th 2015, 1:30 AM

    Joey you;d wanna go to Rome. Very sketchy, much more so than Dublin!

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    Mute Sean @114
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 9:27 PM

    Like every city it has it’s problems but the pros far outway the cons……. The view across Dublin bay from Howth head, the Phoenix Park, shielded by beautiful mountains, great night life, welcoming people, culturally diverse, Croke Park, Guinness Brewery, great museums and gallerys, fantastic georgian areas, beautiful canals etc etc. Does it have drug and crime problems? Absolutely. It needs to be dealt with urgently by those elected to do so. Is everyone full of top o the mornin to you and cead mile failte? No the natives are by and large welcoming and witty but like any city we have our troubles and strifes. Overall though it’s a smashing city, with great characters, lots of variety and is a pretty hip place to live. I’m proud to tell people that I am Irish and I am from Dublin.

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    Mute joeythelad
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 7:02 PM

    If people cant see what I say when they go into town they must be blind

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    Mute Qwerty
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 8:42 PM

    Remove beggers, bucket shakers and buskers. Then it would be much nicer.

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    Mute Catherine Mc
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 9:24 PM

    This it wouldn’t be Dublin !

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    Mute Qwerty
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    Nov 3rd 2015, 9:33 PM

    It would still be Dublin. Just without the harassment on the streets. It’s important to get rid of buskers and street performers too. It’s just begging via proxy. People should be forced to walk on the left on Grafton Street. Very annoying when you just need to get from A to B and Grafton Street is an obstacle course. Ban chewing gum all around the country too.

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    Mute Rathminder
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    Nov 4th 2015, 7:54 AM

    The audio was brilliant. Did the video need to begin with such dismal city scenes? Dublin is a city of golden light and great beauty as well as grey and dismal streets.

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