The Super NES CD-ROM, or SNES CD, was a proposed video game platform developed by Nintendo via joint ventures with Sony and Philips that would have added compact disc (CD) support for the cartridge-based Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES).
The two collaborations led to two separate projects that would have used different formats based on CD-ROM; the Sony project was a dedicated all-in-one unit under the name "PlayStation" using the Super Disc format, and the Philips project was an add-on unit for the SNES that used the Nintendo Disc (ND) format. All of these projects were cancelled shortly after Nintendo backed out of both collaborations a few years into development, which consequently made Sony develop its own console using the PlayStation name afterwards, and Philips gaining licenses for some Nintendo properties for its CD-i platform, many of which were unsuccessful and poorly received. Nintendo would not release an optical disc-based console of their own until 2001 with the GameCube.
History Background Released in 1990, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) was Nintendo's entry into the fourth generation of video game consoles, also known as the 16-bit era. It became a major success worldwide, outselling its competitors, the TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine and the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, becoming the most popular console of that generation.
By the early 1990s, compact discs (CDs) had started to gain traction as a storage medium for music and video games. CDs provided an alternative to the traditional cartridge format that was the norm in the video game industry at the time, offering features such as a larger storage capacity, full-motion video (FMV) playback, and the inclusion of high-quality audio (including audio CD playback). NEC was the first to use CD technology with its TurboGrafx-CD/PC Engine CD-ROM² add-on in 1988, followed by Sega with their Sega CD/Mega-CD add-on in 1991. In response, Nintendo sought to create their own take on the concept to combat its competitors, and entered negotiations with Sony, who had previously designed the sound chips for the SNES, to create the project.
Conception Sony engineer Ken Kutaragi became interested in video game development after observing his daughter play games on Nintendo's Famicom video game console. Without full corporate approval, Kutaragi secretly designed the S-SMP audio chip for Nintendo's upcoming Super NES console. At the time, Sony was uninterested in the video game business, so most of his superiors did not approve of the project (and he was nearly fired for doing so), but Kutaragi received support from Sony executive Norio Ohga, who allowed the project to proceed.
Encouraged by the collaboration, and convinced that CD-ROMs (which Sony had co-developed with Philips) would eventually supplant cartridges, Kutaragi proposed a CD-ROM drive for the Super NES. Although Nintendo was initially skeptical, concerned about the slow load times of CD-ROM drives of the time, it permitted Sony to begin development after Kutaragi claimed the drive would be used for multimedia purposes rather than games.
Development began in late 1988. The resulting project was a Sony-branded console called the PlayStation, designed to support both Super NES cartridges and a new CD-based format known as the Super Disc. Contemporaneous plans also reportedly called for the integration of the Super FX coprocessor developed by Argonaut Games for 3D graphics acceleration, which was used in games such as Star Fox. Jez San of Argonaut recalled that Nintendo and Sony initially wanted to add the Super FX chip into their new console, which would have allowed for rudimentary 3D graphics out of the box, and said that the chip was discussed as part of early technical proposals during negotiations with Sony and Nintendo.
Under Sony's proposed agreement, the company would retain control over the Super Disc format and its software licensing, as well as reap the exclusive benefits from music and movie content on the platform—areas where Sony was aggressively expanding. Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi found the terms unacceptable. He was already wary of Sony who had demanded game developers to use its expensive, proprietary audio tools for the S-SMP audio chip. He was also concerned by Sony's growing influence across music, film, and software. Yamauchi began to suspect that Nintendo was being used to advance Sony's ambitions of launching its own console. He soon began seeking an alternative partner.
Turning to one of Sony's main rivals, Philips, Yamauchi dispatched Nintendo of America president Minoru Arakawa and executive Howard Lincoln to the Netherlands to negotiate a more favorable deal. As chronicled by David Sheff in his book Game Over, "[The Philips deal] was meant to do two things at once: give Nintendo back its stranglehold on software and gracefully f--k Sony." Unbeknownst to Sony, Nintendo's intent to go with Philips for the CD-ROM add-on was publicly announced two days before Consumer Electronics Show in a May 1991 Seattle Times news report.
CES 1991 and aftermath
At the Consumer Electronics Show in June 1991, Sony publicly unveiled its hybrid SNES-compatible console, the PlayStation, which supported both cartridge and CDs. The next day, Nintendo revealed its partnership with Philips at the show, which came as a surprise to the audience, and is now referred to by many journalists as "the greatest ever betrayal" in the industry.
Despite the events at CES 1991, negotiations between Nintendo and Sony continued, and during this period, two to three hundred PlayStation prototypes were produced, and software development was underway. In early 1992, the companies reached a deal allowing Sony to produce SNES-compatible hardware, while Nintendo retained control and profit over the games. However, the strained relationship between the two firms had already taken its toll. Although Sony executives still believed that partnering with the more experienced Nintendo was the safer path, Kutaragi ultimately persuaded the company to abandon the Super NES CD-ROM and instead pursue development of a standalone console for the next-generation of video games, which would become the PlayStation in 1994. This new console dropped compatibility with the SNES and contained more powerful hardware specifications than any other consoles available at the time. In order to refocus their efforts on the new console, Sony cut all ties to Nintendo in May 1992.
Meanwhile, the partnership between Nintendo and Philips led to the development of an add-on based CD-ROM peripheral for the Super NES, featuring additional hardware such as a 32-bit coprocessor and a new CD format based on CD-ROM XA technology known as the Nintendo Disc (ND). However, before any prototypes are produced, Nintendo reportedly canceled the project quietly as late as September 1993, effectively ending development of all CD-based Super NES hardware.
Proposed devices Sony PlayStation (SFX-100)
The PlayStation was a proposed standalone console co-produced by Nintendo and Sony that used its own proprietary CD-ROM format designed and solely licensed by Sony known as the Super Disc while retaining compatibility with Super NES Game Paks via an included cartridge slot.
Initial plans for the unit called for the integration of the Super FX coprocessor chip to allow for support of rudimentary 3D polygonal graphics out of the box, however this is not present in any of the prototypes that were produced.
Prototypes At least 200-300 units of the SNES-based PlayStation prototype were produced until they were scrapped in favor of the next-generation PlayStation project, with each of the units bearing the model number SFX-100. Photos of these prototypes resurfaced in the 2000s, which were subsequently shared online as well as it being featured on an article published by Edge in April 2009 about the original PlayStation's history, showing what the unit would have looked like.
, there have been two known examples of these units in existence. In July 2015, one of the original Sony PlayStation prototypes had been reportedly found; this particular unit was abandoned by former Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson during his time at Advanta. A former Advanta worker, Terry Diebold, acquired the device as part of a lot during Advanta's 2009 bankruptcy auction. As shown in Benjamin Heckendorn's tear-down video of the unit in 2016, the prototype featured two Super NES controller ports, a cartridge slot, a tray-loading dual-speed CD-ROM drive, RCA composite jacks, S-Video, RFU DC OUT (similar to the PlayStation SCPH-1001), a proprietary multi-out AV output port (the same one featured on the Super NES, Nintendo 64, and GameCube), headphone jack on the front, a serial port labelled "NEXT" (probably for debugging), and one expansion port under the unit. The system was later confirmed as operational, however it was missing its original power supply as Diebold likely never received the one specific for it when he first received it in 2009, and so he had to use a third-party power supply for it in the meantime. The unit plays Super Famicom cartridges as well as its included test cartridge, although the audio output and CD drive were non-functional. It came with a Sony/PlayStation-branded version of the standard Super Famicom controller (model number SHVC-005).
Some groups have attempted to develop homebrew software for the console such as Super Boss Gaiden, as there were no known games that used the CD drive. In March 2016, retro-gaming website RetroCollect reported that it (and influential members of online emulation communities) had received (from an anonymous source) a functional disc boot ROM for the SNES-based PlayStation.
Diebold gave the unit to hardware hacker Benjamin Heckendorn in 2016 to examine its contents. In doing this, he posted a tear-down video of the system that same year, which also included some technical specifications of the prototype that he published and compared it to the other two CD-based add-ons released for the TurboGrafx-16 and Sega Genesis. He said that the system would have probably been as powerful as a standard Super NES, but not as powerful as the Sega CD. Heckendorn later identified faults in several on-board components which he subsequently replaced in 2017, resulting in fixing the audio and CD drive issues indirectly. To get around the issue of a missing power supply, Heckendorn created a custom power supply for the unit based on the original PlayStation and modified the unit to use a power connector from a Sony Walkman to match the one that was used on the custom power supply unit to ensure that it would be powered on without the need for its original power supply. Heckendorn then showed Super Famicom games (and SNES games via an adapter) working on the system and also showed audio CDs working on the system as there were no known game CDs, but affirmed that homebrew games worked.
This prototype was auctioned off to Heritage Auctions by Diebold in February 2020 with an initial price of , but the auction quickly exceeded within two days. It eventually sold for to Greg McLemore, an entrepreneur and founder of Pets.com who has a large collection of other video game hardware and plans to establish a permanent museum for this type of hardware, gaining a Guinness World Record for the "most expensive videogame console sold online";
In March 2025, Kutaragi showcased one of the prototype units that he has kept inside his closet for storage, which is identical to the first known prototype unit that was discovered nearly ten years prior but in a much better physical condition.
Super NES CD-ROM System