Very rarely do we ever get to see console prototypes, showing off how they originally looked before they were put onto the market. Even rarer is actually owning one, yet one such individual is selling off a prototype of the Super Famicom, the Japanese equivalent of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) from the 90s.
As spotted by The Verge, the prototype has been put up for auction over on Yahoo Japan. The listing has been shared on e-commerce website From Japan and while it doesn’t seem that much different at a first glance, this does feature a headphone jack and volume wheel on its side, which neither the Super Famicom or SNES had. Its power button is also a bright red compared to the final version’s simple grey, and it looks like it has an expansion port on its front instead of its bottom.
Still, it seems Nintendo was otherwise happy with its design since it overall isn’t dissimilar to how the final product looked. I am curious as to why the colour of the power button was changed since it being red helps it stand out more as opposed to it being another shade of grey. Even so, both designs are honestly more appealing to the more blocky design Nintendo settled on for the SNES
Whether this prototype actually works and can play games is another question entirely, but that’s not going to be why anyone would put money down for it. Ideally, given its rarity and place in video game history, whoever wins the bid will donate it or make it part of a museum for posterity’s sake rather than horde it for themselves and keep it buried in a closet or something.
Bidding began at only 5,000 yen (roughly $32 / £26) and is scheduled to end on Sunday, May 12, so it’ll be interesting to see how much it finally goes for. It may be tempting to put down a bid of your own, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this wound up going for thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of dollars. By comparison, a prototype of a cancelled Nintendo PlayStation hybrid console prototype was found and sold in 2020 for $360,000, according to CNN.
