A prototype Sega Saturn with a Netlink built in
A forum poster over on Assembler Games has revealed something that’s been in hiding for the last 14 years. Super Magnetic, as he goes by, was a former Sega employee that through a series of unfortunate events, came into the possession of the Sega Pluto, which is basically a Sega Saturn with a Netlink built in.
“This thing is a beast, and definitely the heaviest console I’ve ever held in my hands,” Super Magnetic described. “The front features two controller ports, and on top you have a flip-top drive bay, a cart slot, a Power button, and the venerable Reset button. Note that the logo still says Saturn, so I’m guessing the Pluto codename was simply that, and they were thinking of branding it with the Saturn name … The left and right sides feature beautiful-and-exotic vents, while the back is standard Saturn, save for the Netlink ports.”
Only two of these prototype units were ever made, and the one Magnetic owns is the second one. The unit still works, but since it’s a USA NTSC Saturn and Magnetic lives in Japan now he couldn’t see if the system would boot up a game.
In any case, this is some cool bit of gaming history to add to the books.
The Real Sega Pluto [Assembler Games]
