The news team at retrocollect.com got an anonymous screenshot and link to what appears to be the Super Nintendo CD Boot ROM. While this may prove to be the missing link between Nintendo and Sony's rumored disc-based system, chances are it may just be an elaborate homebrew hoax.

You can check out more info and what they found when the BIOS was viewed in a hex editor by following the source link.

Source

 

[DogParty]

i mean this would be very cool, but i HIGHLY doubt the snes was THAT similar to the the console that itd be able to run any of the new content from it, it wasn't an add-on for the snes it was a brand new console. sure it could run snes games but that means nothing since that's nothing but backwards compatibility. theres no way the snes could run anything built for the super discs firmware

Um, that's not really how it works. If this were to play SNES games, then it most likely was a modified SNES board. Back then, "backwards compatibility" meant the device was the same architecture/processor as the previous machine. None of these machines were powerful enough to emulate another system. The SNES could play NES and GBC colors through the use of console-on-a-chip accessories.

 

[Myria]

A hoax would be easily distinguishable by a real ROM containing code to interface with the CD-ROM drive.

 

[cdoty]

The fact that bsnes doesn't throw up some sort of error when the ROM should be throwing unknown code at it trying to load something that doesn't exist is suspicious.

It was supposed to be a SNES add-on, so the base system would run on the SNES and pull data from the CD. The SNES uses data ports, so it would appear as normal data to a SNES emulator. The emulator probably ignores data written to the previously unused bits.

This is how the PC Engine CD unit worked. The System Card contained a HuCard rom and RAM.

 

[Pain]

When it was shown that they actually found a prototype of the so called Nintendo Play Station, i was surprised. But this..this just goes to a deeper level of gaming history, if its proven to be truth, then a chapter of gaming history has been discovered.

 

[sounreal]

I'd like to know why a gaming relationship 25 years ago is news today...

 

[enarky]

I'd like to know why a gaming relationship 25 years ago is news today...

Registered since 2010 and that is your first comment?

 

[Fishaman P]

I can smell this phony from a mile away.

 

[loco365]

I can smell this phony from a mile away.

It's legit. I have a copy of said BIOS from the site, and there's an entire YouTube video showing it, but it has a link to said BIOS file so you'll have to find it yourself.

 

[Fishaman P]

It's legit. I have a copy of said BIOS from the site, and there's an entire YouTube video showing it, but it has a link to said BIOS file so you'll have to find it yourself.

Just because it runs on a SNES doesn't mean this is the lost BIOS.

 

[smf]

Just because it runs on a SNES doesn't mean this is the lost BIOS.

It could be a hoax but the original Play Station was just a SNES with a CD drive attached, so it could be real. There was a different CD system that was going to include a superfx, if any software for one of those turns up then it will also be pretty simple to get that running too

Don't expect any prototype SNES hardware that is wildly different from what was sold. Apart from the CD drive itself, but this is just like the unofficial carts that allowed you to load games from floppy disks. There was no half way house between a SNES and PS1 for example.

If you're lucky then the Play Station may have had this patent implemented in hardware.
https://www.google.com/patents/US5285275

It appears the decoding is done by a general purpose DSP, which technically may have an internal rom that needs dumping. Without a game that uses it, or access to the hardware then good luck figuring that out.

 

[EntermateStar]

Um, that's not really how it works. If this were to play SNES games, then it most likely was a modified SNES board. Back then, "backwards compatibility" meant the device was the same architecture/processor as the previous machine. None of these machines were powerful enough to emulate another system. The SNES could play NES and GBC colors through the use of console-on-a-chip accessories.

nobody actually knows how the super disc is built >.> you cant make that claim with any hold to it. just because the nes was like that doesnt mean this is, keep in mind this was supposed to be the original playstation, it had to have some power to it, and i can garuntee the ps1 is at least powerful enough to run snes/nes games natively, nes emulation at the very least wouldn't be far off power wise

 

[FAST6191]

This... looks shifty.

Never seen "programmer art" before?

 

[tech3475]

I don't think we'll really know until someone disassembles the rom and takes a closer look at it where it may become more obvious or not.

 

[spinal_cord]

Regardless, real or not, it'd be useless without an actual 'super disk' to try it out. From what I've read, only the console has been found, no actual disks.

 

[smf]

keep in mind this was supposed to be the original playstation, it had to have some power to it

Keep in mind that the only thing the Play Station and PlayStation share is the name. If you ever expect something like a combined PS1 and SNES to turn up then I can guarantee you'll be very disappointed. What made you think it "had to have some power to it"?

and i can garuntee the ps1 is at least powerful enough to run snes/nes games natively, nes emulation at the very least wouldn't be far off power wise

The PS1 could poorly emulate a nes, but not a snes. But as this has zero to do with the PS1 then it's irrelevant.

The Play Station didn't have a faster CPU, better graphics, better sound etc. The patent for video playback shows that it just decrypted animation to PPU tiles. There is a DSP which we don't know much about, which may have been similar to one of the DSP used in some SNES cartridges. Only when the SNES CD came along in 1993 with a built in superfx did the SNES really get more powerful. When the SNES CD died because of the impending PS1, the superfx was put onto the game cartridge and we've seen what that can do already.

The superfx was started prior to the SNES launch in 1990, but wasn't released until 1993. It's therefore possible that superfx would have been included in the Play Station when it hit retail, but wasn't available when building the prototype in 1992. It's also possible that Nintendo would just keep the superfx for itself because Sony tried to screw them with the Play Station contract.

None of the PS1 hardware existed in 1992. It was all developed after the Play Station project was scrapped.

 

[3DSPoet]

Ah, the old SuperDisc legend.... I remember when this was actually supposed to be a thing. I even remember seeing a magazine spread on it long ago.... the only game I ever saw any information on was The 7th Guest. Given how early the software development was when the system was axed, I'd say the odds of finding any game code is next to impossible.

As someone else stated, this was not a standalone system, it was an add-on device that your SNES sat on top of (remember that ridge around the bottom of the SNES and that oddly placed data port on the very bottom?...that was put there with the SD system in mind).

An unholy partnership between 2 major developers....Nintendo got greedy....arguments happened....feelings were hurt....and instead of an upgrade, we got an entirely new class of console, the PlayStation.

 

[LuigiBlood]

...I released the ROM, I've looked at it, byuu looked at it, we have no doubts about it: It's REAL.

 

[sarkwalvein]

...I released the ROM, I've looked at it, byuu looked at it, we have no doubts about it: It's REAL.

Nice, could you infer something from it?
Commands for usage of the external port?
Access to some aditional RAM or external coprocessor?

 

[LuigiBlood]

Nice, could you infer something from it?
Commands for usage of the external port?
Access to some aditional RAM or external coprocessor?

Additional RAM, B-Bus access, EXTERNAL IRQ REQUIRED. That's actually not emulated because NOTHING uses it.

 

[GOT4N]

Damn.