What Goes Around Comes Around…
Posted on September 20, 2006 by Alex Donaldson In many ways, this story begins as many stories of new consoles begin – rivalries. Sega was at the stage in its lifetime where it was a distinct leader in Europe. In Japan and America they were also doing fantastically, if falling a little short of Nintendo and their SNES. The Genesis – aka the Mega Drive in Europe and Japan was pulling in the profits thanks to heavy hitters such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Shinobi and Streets of Rage.Sega decided it was time to move gaming forward. However, they decided – in a decision that was the first of many fatal ones to the company – not to release a new console. Instead, they were to release add-ons for the Mega Drive, boosting the console’s power. The Sega Mega CD (or Sega CD in the US) was released in Japan just in time for Christmas 1991. While it is irrelevant to this article, it should also be noted Sega launched the 32X system, so they had both a powerful cartridge and CD system on the market.
The Sega CD, ill-fated Mega Drive add-on.
Of course, Nintendo needed to compete with their rivals. It was clear early on in 1991 that rivals were heading down the path of the CD-ROM, believing it to be the way forward for a better quality gaming experience.
With Nintendo President at the time Hiroshi Yamauchi admitting that the new CD-ROM technology was definitely the way forward for video games, Nintendo needed a plan. Nintendo decided to approach Sony, who had much more experience with the CD format, to develop an add-on that had a tentative title of the “SNES-CD.”
The SNES-CD console would sit underneath the SNES as the Mega CD did in certain models. It was toted that it would be able to do many things the SNES alone could not – playing movies and music, all of course thanks to the inclusion of the CD-ROM drive. However, the path to the creation of the SNES-CD was not a simple one, and a major disagreement led to Nintendo snubbing Sony.
Sony’s deal involved them owning all rights to games published on the SNES CD. They would be the sole licenser and distributor. Essentially, this meant Nintendo would have surrendered all control of games made for the console add-on to Sony. For example, if they’d made Ocarina of time for the SNES CD, distributing rights would’ve belonged to Sony. Forever. Imagine that. Yamaguchi, known for his iron-fisted rule of his company instantly cancelled the deal, calling it unacceptable.
By this time, the gaming press had caught wind of the Sony-Nintendo deal. It was known that Sony was also planning an “all in one” console with a SNES port and a CD-ROM all in one – this was known as the “Play Station.” At the 1991 CES, which would later become the E3 Expo, Sony were ready to show their new console to the world. But at the then-equivalent of the Pre-E3 conferences, Nintendo was set to make a shocking announcement.
A terrible magazine scan depicting the original Play Station - complete with SNES cartridge port and controller.
Sony somehow found out what Nintendo was planning the day prior to the conference, but all calls and enquiries were left ignored and unanswered. Press readied for the press conference, and were anxiously waiting for the official Nintendo confirmation of the Sony/Nintendo alliance.
Nintendo announced that they were partnering with Phillips. Sony’s biggest rival. Sony was naturally shell-shocked. Nintendo cited the Phillips technology as being better. The repercussions were clear by October that same year. With the Sega CD out, the Phillips CD-I hit stores. The Phillips CD-I was a console mainly built by Phillips, had none of the SNES connectivity of the SNES-CD and Playstation and was very expensive. Phillips’ partnership with Nintendo ensured some Nintendo brand games made it to the console, with a single Mario title and several (terrible) Zelda games arriving on the console. However, at a price mark of $1000, the console was never going to succeed to a wider market, especially a few short months after release, by which time the Sega CD was on the market for $300.
Zelda on the CD-i
Meanwhile, Nintendo were still planning the SNES-CD, but this time with Phillips as the driving force behind the console. At the then-equivalent of the Tokyo Game Show, the Tokyo Electronics Show, also in October, Sony struck back. They weren’t about to give up on their plans to enter the game business so easily, and their Play Station was shown to be alive and kicking without Nintendo support. The console was CD-based, but interestingly still had a port for SNES games to thanks to certain clauses in the deal with Nintendo. They promised it would be a console that allowed for gaming and education, but didn’t show off any games – put simply, none were ready.
At the beginning of 1992, Nintendo officially announced they were putting a stop to their deal with Sony, as if it wasn’t obvious enough. They then reaffirmed their support for Phillips, announcing they would be licensing games and Phillips making the console. The console was set for a 1993 launch date. At the same 1992 electronics show, Sony stuck a blow back at Nintendo, announcing they would be making games for the Sega CD, which had just launched in Japan in the hind end of 1991.
The proposed SNES-CD addon, attached to it’s mother console.
At this time, there were many CD formats – just like HD-DVD vs BluRay. There was a distinct need for an Industry Standard – one format everybody would follow. Nintendo, Sony and Phillips met and agreed on a deal so that there would be a standard format everybody agreed on. In this deal, Nintendo got the rights to the games for both the SNES-CD and the Playstation, and now Phillips, Sony and Nintendo were all working together on the consoles.
At this point the console was changed from 16bit as the Sega CD was to 32bit. This would prove to be instrumental in creating the Playstation. Later in 1992, the revolution that was Star Fox was announced to the world with the Super-FX chip and 3D graphics. This caused the CD add-on even more trouble, as it was demanded that the CD console meet the Super FX in quality.
Starfox, the game that showed the world the SNES could do 3D.
By Mid-1993, Nintendo’s plans were beginning to falter, and their interest in the console waning after poor sales of the Sega CD. However, they stayed the course, at least for a while – releasing specifications and promising to announce new gamers later in the year. This never happened. By the end of 1993, the console was delayed to 1994 and then cancelled. At the time of cancellation, Nintendo was already working on the N64, which would come to be a cartridge based, 64-bit console.
The N64, Nintendo’s first fully 3D console
With the SNES-CD scrapped, Sony and Phillips were left out in the cold and slightly out of pocket from the development costs. The Play Station was quickly scrapped, development cancelled, and Phillips continued with the CD-I, which was already close to breathing its last.
As we all know, Sony continued producing a console under the Play Station name, and their experiences with Sega and Nintendo taught them a lot about the industry. This was then put to great use when they announced their own, new console, still called the PlayStation – except this time the space was dropped making one word. The Playstation was CD based, 32 bit, and allegedly used none of the technology of the original CD/SNES hybrid.
Squaresoft decided they would develop for only the CD based console, EA snubbed Sega for Sony, Nintendo chose to stick with carts, and the rest, as they say, is history…
The original Playstation… the final product.
IDIOT !!!