Super Rare Sony SNES CD-ROM Controller On eBay Again, Still Looks Uncomfortable

If you’re in the market for an extremely rare piece of gaming history, that crazy joint Sony-Nintendo prototype controller has hit eBay once again. It probably costs a boatload, but its owner would be the top nerd on his block.

First, a little history, so you know why we’re writing about this upside-down-looking controller that never got released. Before the PlayStation, Sony and Nintendo teamed up to create a CD-ROM add-on to compete with Sega, who was experimenting with their own (destined for failure) add-on. This would have been the controller to that system. Unfortunately for Nintendo (and Sega, really), the partnership broke up and Sony went and created the PlayStation, which promptly conquered the world.

I love seeing this kind of remnant of how things might have been, even though I’m glad Nintendo and Sony didn’t release a likely-disastrous Sega CD competitor. The last eBay auction of this controller ended at over $US3,000, so the reserve is probably pretty high. Still, this would be a prize item for any game collector. [Thanks, Ben!]