Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida recently discussed his history with the Nintendo PlayStation prototype, including playing Sony’s “almost finished” game for the canceled console.
In an interview with MinnMax, the longtime PlayStation employee discusses his career at Sony, ranging all the way back to his early days working with Ken Kutaragi, aka ‘the father of PlayStation.’ Yoshida joined Kutaragi’s team in February 1993, when they were developing the original PlayStation. As Yoshida noted, that PlayStation was the one that actually hit store shelves; but team members who joined also got the chance to check out the Nintendo PlayStation.
“Everybody who joined [Ken Kutaragi]’s team around that time, the first thing they showed us was that Nintendo Sony PlayStation, like a prototype already working,” Yoshida revealed. “And also they had almost finished a game on it. And I got to play the game on the system, the day I joined.”
What kind of game was it? Yoshida drew comparisons to a space shooter from around the same time, likely the Sega CD title Silpheed, streaming in assets from the CD. Yoshida said he couldn’t remember who developed it or even whether it was in the U.S. or Japan. But when it comes to whether the game still exists in the archives, though, there’s a glimmer of hope.
“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Yoshida said. “You know, it was like a CD, so… yeah.”
The Nintendo PlayStation is a sought-after oddity, partially because of its unreleased nature, a relic of a “what-if” alternate timeline for the two companies. Naturally, the prototype for the Nintendo PlayStation attracted attention in auctions and collector spaces.
The idea of seeing some version of Sony’s space-shooter made for the Nintendo PlayStation is appealing. It wouldn’t be unheard-of, either. Nintendo released the infamous Star Fox 2 years after its cancellation. Maybe there’s a world in which this particular piece of video game history still sees the light of day.
Photo: Mats Lindh (Flickr/CC BY 2.0).
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
