Over
on
the
Japanese
Yahoo
Auctions
site,
someone
has
listed
an
apparent
pre-production
version
of
the
Super
Famicom
—
the
Japanese
counterpart
of
the
Super
Nintendo
(SNES).
It’s
similar
to
the
console
Nintendo
eventually
released
in
1990
but
with
some
stand-out
differences,
like
a
headphone
jack
and
volume
wheel
on
the
side.
Video
game
collector
and
historian
Chris
Kohler
called
it
“god-tier
Nintendo
collector
bait.”
Some
other
variations
include
a
big
red
power
switch
and
the
fact
that
the
controller
ports
are
on
the
left
side
of
the
console,
rather
than
centered
as
they
were
in
the
eventual
production
model.
There’s
also
what
looks
like
the
console’s
expansion
port
on
the
front,
rather
than
the
bottom
where
it
lived
on
the
final
design.
The
panel
surrounding
the
controller
ports
looks
yellowed
—
it
wouldn’t
be
part
of
the
SNES
family
without
that
though,
would
it?
Here’s
a
gallery
of
the
images
from
the
auction:
Compare
that
to
the
final
release:
The
final
version
of
the
original
Super
Famicom.Image:
Evan
Amos
And
the
terrible
thing
we
ended
up
with
in
the
US:
This
is
what
passes
for
a
Super
Nintendo
around
these
parts.Image:
Evan
Amos
The
prototype
looks
a
lot
like
one
pictured
in
magazine
scans
from
a
1989
Nintendo
press
demonstration
—
see
below
—
as
well
as
other
prototypes
from
the
era
shown
in
pictures
published
by
Time
Extension.
Those
design
touches
went
out
the
window
for
the
SNES
released
in
the
US,
which
ended
up
with
a
chunky,
boxy
design
that
had
purple,
sliding
switches
on
top
instead
of
the
round,
sloping,
compact
design.
Nintendo
released
a
revised
SNES,
the
New-Style
Super
NES,
in
1997
that
came
a
little
closer,
but
with
a
pill-shaped
power
switch
and
circular
reset
button.
Another
lost
Nintendo
prototype
showed
up
a
few
years
ago
in
the
Nintendo
/
Sony
PlayStation
that
Pets.com
founder
Greg
McLemore
bought
at
an
auction
—
which
also
had
a
headphone
jack.
Two
years
before
that,
an
unreleased,
wired
version
of
the
Wiimote
that
connects
to
the
GameCube
was
sold
in
a
Japanese
auction
for
$660.
The
Super
Famicom
prototype
being
auctioned
today
is,
as
of
this
writing,
sitting
at
just
over
one
million
yen
(just
shy
of
$7,000
USD),
with
more
than
five
days
to
go.
Original author: Wes Davis
Comments