SNES CD development controller on eBay for a mint

Ah, eBay. Home to some of the rarest, most incredible devices known (and previously unknown) to man. On the docket today is a stupendously rare, unreleased development controller for use with the SNES CD dev kit. Yep, a unreleased controller for an unreleased system -- pretty much a collector's dream. Unfortunately, the controller alone won't do you very much good beyond hooking you up with unbelievable bragging rights, but unless you've got $2,999.99 (at least) to blow, the above picture is close as you'll get to this treasure.

[Via NintendoWiiFanboy]

[Jonathan-DBOSS @ Dec 29th 2007 10:17AM]

Does it work with Doom?

[Shane @ Dec 29th 2007 4:10PM]

No. Kind of hard for it to work with a game that was never ported to a platform that was never released...

[Wolfticket @ Dec 29th 2007 10:18AM]

$3000 on buy it now... er... fail.

It even looks like a standard serial port controller.

[madgamer @ Dec 29th 2007 1:35PM]

I was thinking the same thing on what the interface looks like, although it never shows a shot of the end of the connector. If it is, it seems like you could hook it up to work with any PC pretty easily if you wanted.

[JohnTitor @ Dec 29th 2007 2:08PM]

Genesis had a serial port too but there was no where to get proper drivers for the controller

[Alexander @ Dec 29th 2007 3:29PM]

It most likely is a standard serial port. This is a DEV system. Not final hardware. Most likely, this isin't the final design or even the latest design--before it was turned into the Playstation. Look it up.

So yes. Most likely, it was a serial cable with one of the ends (Most likely the female end) cut off and then the wires were soldered up.

The real gold would be the system that this was used for. As it is, it's a hunk of plastic and worthless.

[Shane @ Dec 29th 2007 4:18PM]

Even though the end is terminated with a DB9 connector, it is likely NOT standard RS-232. It could possibly be used with another platform if the interface was reverse engineered (kind of like using PS2 controllers, etc on a PC with an interface box).

More than likely there is some sort of multiplexer chip inside of the controller and a corresponding demux chip inside the game system. Things have become much easier since game systems switched to using USB...

This looks like some sort of strange mutation between a Genesis controller and a Playstation controller.

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Dec 29th 2007 4:45PM]

It sure looks like the guy concocted this thing up in his basement from old parts he had lying around. Also why is there no picture of the CD Dev kit on the auction? Looks fishy to me.

[Kevin @ Dec 29th 2007 10:20AM]

So, would this controller be a prototype for what was planned to be the Super Nintendo Entertainment System CD Drive Playstation X, being developed by Sony? Or, is this a controller for a first party Nintendo CD Drive? If it is the former, that would be crazy!

Either way, I sure do miss the days of the Super NES. That was one great system!

[Ed @ Dec 29th 2007 10:30AM]

I believe it is the former. I'm just glad sony did a redesign on that hideous thing once the project was in their hands.

[Totalfixation @ Dec 29th 2007 10:31AM]

Wouldn't something like this still belong to Nintendo?

I mean the only way he could have got a hold of this is stealing it or brought it home from work(Nintendo is his job i assume) and never returned it, right?

[ssuk @ Dec 29th 2007 10:50AM]

I really don't think Nintendo has much use for it any more...

[Hannes The Hun @ Dec 29th 2007 10:35AM]

well, I just knew I've seen this thing before:
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20040429/scej09.jpg

in case anybody is still doubting: Big N developed the SNES CD platform together with Sony; when Big N just dumped the project, Sony took over and released it as the now famous Playstation. Maybe the biggest mistake Nintendo ever pulled...

[Kamikazetedibear @ Dec 29th 2007 12:54PM]

Hardly. Nintendo has always stayed a thriving profitable company despite the Playstations success. The substandard performance of their home consoles in the market and pressure from Sony is what drove them to search for something beyond raw performance in this console generation. I would say it worked out well for them.

[Flashpoint @ Dec 29th 2007 3:23PM]

You can call it a mistake, but if that mistake hadn't happened, we'd never have seen Playstation or PS2...Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil, Twisted Metal, final Fantasy 7, etc, etc would have been lost in time.

Thank god developers are able to split from larger companies and push forward with their ideas. Gives us more diversity.

[Hannes The Hun @ Dec 29th 2007 3:30PM]

I don't see why these games wouldn't have been possible on another console, say for example the Dreamcast (which Sony killed) or any other system around. square enix, konami, capcom, they all developed for Nintendo before. sony just were the first to use standard CDs and feature 3D capabilities for a reasonable price.
maybe it wasn't so much Nintendo's failure, but it certainly was the near-death for Sega.

[n3rd @ Dec 29th 2007 4:38PM]

just fyi, FF7 was originally for n64 until they decided to switch to ps

[Eric @ Dec 29th 2007 10:51AM]

I sent him an offer of $0.17....man I hope he accepts it.

[octoberasian @ Dec 29th 2007 11:17AM]

Ah! What could have been...

Then Nintendo gave Sony the boot and went solo afterwards. From there we got the PS1, PS2, PSP, and PS3 and Sony got millions of dollars in earnings from the systems. And, we got memorable games from Fighting games to RPGs for many years.

What if in some quasi-alternate universe Nintendo and Sony stayed together and collaborated to the end?

What would Nintendo's next system be like after the SNES? What would their current gen system be like instead of the Wii? We probably wouldn't have gotten games such as Super Mario 64 or Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. We probably wouldn't have gotten a cartridge-based system and the Gamecube would have probably used a standard DVD disc instead of mini-DVDs. The systems would have probably been more powerful yet still fun, innovative and charming in Nintendo's own way.

Yet, in the end, regardless of Nintendo's decision, Nintendo has remained the more profitable company churning out very good first-party titles.

However, it is fun to speculate just what might have happened had Nintendo finished it through to the end.

[Hannes The Hun @ Dec 29th 2007 11:49AM]

chances are that sony would never have gone into console business at all, since the SNES CD was initially just an add-on for the SNES, kinda like the Mega CD but with improved 3D capabilities. when Big N killed the project, these idiots were stupid enough to say to Sony "sure keep the technology, we have no interest" talk about underestimation....

taking Sony out of the equation, I guess the console market would still today be dominated by Sega and Nintendo, since it was the Saturn and especially the Dreamcast that got killed by Sony. ah, you sweet alternative realities....

[mattclarkie @ Dec 29th 2007 11:58AM]

Then you also have to decide whether Microsoft would have jumped into the Market, or was it just to try and de-thrown Sony, if the answer is No, then would Halo have become a big game,or just an unknown Mac game.

I remember seeing a BBC2 programme in 1999 about the Xbox Prototype. I went to school the next day and nobody believed me when I talked about it.

[Emceay @ Dec 29th 2007 2:01PM]

3DO would own us all.

[Ben @ Dec 29th 2007 12:43PM]

Nintendo did not want to be with Sony because Sony wanted all rights to the software. Do a little research next time.

[SteveMB @ Dec 29th 2007 1:26PM]

How long until a person with 0 feedback buys it now?

[DJDevine @ Dec 29th 2007 1:35PM]

this thing looks like a fake... like some cheap gadget knock-off that u plugged into your comp in the days b4 USB to play quake or doom, yawn

[Hamster @ Dec 29th 2007 1:44PM]

where's the free shipping on a $3k price tag?

[Miles @ Dec 29th 2007 1:54PM]

Fake.
I have one of these contollers.
It was some old controller I used back when I still had Windows 3.11.

[Simon @ Dec 29th 2007 2:41PM]

picture, if you please?

[Miles @ Dec 29th 2007 2:57PM]

I tried looking for it, I found it, and it's not the same.
It kind of looks similar though, but it only has a start button and no shoulder buttons.
I still call it fake tough.

[Charlie Calhoun @ Dec 29th 2007 3:40PM]

I'm pretty confused.... The SNES is the "Super Nintendo Entertainment System", and yet, people are talking about, and it is on the eBay page, that it's for Playstation, and it looks like a Stone Age Playstation controller.... I'm lost... Sony? Nintendo????

[OneLove @ Dec 29th 2007 4:25PM]

You can get a chinese replica next week for $10.

[skulldriveshaft @ Dec 30th 2007 5:58AM]

You mean you could have gotten the chinese replica back then, and you can still get it today, but now it has mpeg1, mpeg2, mpeg3, mpeg4, avi, wmv, wma, ogg, rm, divx, xvid, fm tuner/recorder, fm transmitter, composite video out, optical audio in ...

[Buyatari @ Dec 29th 2007 4:27PM]

I am not looking to sell it just show it off for 10 cent listing day. It is the real deal. I've been collecting seriously for 10+ years and have many one of a kind items.

[buyatari @ Dec 29th 2007 5:13PM]

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i107/mark30001/snescd.jpg

A rep from Sony brought the only known unit to the CGE show in Vegas. You can see the same controller in this pic.

[Miles @ Dec 29th 2007 8:13PM]

I'll be damned.

[Fred @ Dec 30th 2007 12:36AM]

The "Start" and "Select" buttons look familiar...

[Meccalangelo @ Dec 31st 2007 10:26AM]

http://www.n-sider.com/articleview.php?articleid=279