History Platform / SNESCDROM

On December 4, 1988, NEC and Creator/HudsonSoft released the CD-ROM[[superscript:2]] System. An add-on to the [[Platform/TurboGrafx16 PC Engine]] (which was a massive success in its native Japan despite poor market performance elsewhere), the system pioneered the idea of video game consoles using the [[UsefulNotes/CompactDisc CD-ROM]] format for games, and managed to push enough units to catch the eyes of competing console developers.

Back at Nintendo, the contract with Philips was scrapped. Instead, it was replaced with a new one in collaboration between Nintendo, Sony and Philips. The day before the Sega CD's formal release, the trio announced that they would be working together this time with a more favorable licensing deal for Nintendo, who would retain final royalties and oversight over video game software, with the rest going to Sony. The resulting model would use [=CD-ROMs=] and sport further enhancements over the two preceding models. However, the project would still not come to full fruition. Reportedly, a major issue with the project that also stretched back to the initial Sony deal was complications with finding a way to combat piracy of CD-ROM titles: on all occasions, Nintendo asked to enclose the discs in a locked plastic caddy (similarly to what Sony themselves would do for the Platform/PlayStationPortable's UMD format years later, and to an extent, what RCA had done for the UsefulNotes/{{CED}} home media format) with a built-in lockout chip, while both Sony and Philips were adamant on using the bare discs (indeed, the sole surviving Play Station prototype uses a standard tray-loading drive without the need for a caddy). The reason for Sony and Philip's pushback on this idea comes down to a few things:

It has also been revealed through hacking that [[https://www.isbrad.com/sfx/sfx.html the drive]] [[https://forums.nesdev.org/viewtopic.php?t=17156 bore similarities to]] the Sony Data Discman, which was released in the summer of 1990, and read a special CD book format compatible with the SNES CD drive, in a WhatCouldHaveBeen on the other use cases of the format had the deal not been canceled. Indeed, Sony, in addition to never being too different in wanting to own the means of production in their media, and thus royalties from Nintendo, already had their own history of media patents, many of which took off as standards and helped grow the company, though some, like the CD, were co-developments with companies like Philips. They were also known for notable past, present and future failures or [[PyrrhicVictory partial successes]] at their own proprietary media (Betamax, [=MiniDisc=], [=MemoryStick=], UMD, UsefulNotes/BluRay) in hopes of major royalties from those that became dominant. Needless to say, creating the first to cash in on the biggest new entertainment industry in decades would be a real golden goose, and Ken [[CrazyPrepared must have had that as a trump card]] to pique Sony's interest.

# At the time, CD burner technology was still prohibitively expensive to typical consumers, and the significantly higher capacity of discs made it impractical in theory to try and copy the content to floppy disks[[note]](which were the most commonly used format for pirating video games at the time, thanks to the proprietary nature of cartridges)[[/note]] anyway, provided that games actually made sufficient use of the extra space. CD-ROM itself was a relatively niche format as well, so implementing such an elaborate anti-piracy system was considered overblown. It would take until UsefulNotes/TheFifthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames for CD-ROM piracy to become a cause for concern.

Finally, back with Sony, the team there used what they had learned from working with both Nintendo and Sega to continue work on the Platform/PlayStation, which launched at the end of 1994 in Japan (and the end of 1995 everywhere else). Thanks to {{Killer App}}s published by both third-parties (''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''[[note]](though Sony would publish it internationally)[[/note]], ''VideoGame/TombRaiderI'', ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'') and Sony themselves (''VideoGame/GranTurismo'', ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'', ''Franchise/SpyroTheDragon''), the system quickly trounced all rivals during UsefulNotes/TheFifthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames by a wide margin. Its successor (the Platform/PlayStation2) would do even better and currently stands as ''the'' most successful console of all-time at over 155 million units sold. And while they initially stumbled with the Platform/PlayStation3, it still went on to be the second-most successful console of its generation, followed by the Platform/PlayStation4 which would put Sony back on top for a while, and become the fourth best-selling console of all-time. And yes, the Platform/PlayStation5 is doing pretty well for itself too.

In short, '''Nintendo and Sega indirectly created one of their greatest rivals'''. A rival that actually ''killed'' Sega as a console developer; Sega only avoided total bankruptcy after the failure of their Saturn successor, the Platform/SegaDreamcast, thanks to an especially generous shareholder giving them the $695 million USD needed to transition into third-party game development. Nintendo fared rather better. They're still a major player in the gaming industry, and while they have spent the years since Sony's entry into the market zig-zagging between trailing far behind them (Platform/Nintendo64, Platform/NintendoGameCube, and ''especially'' the Platform/WiiU), briefly reclaiming the top spot by a wide margin (Platform/{{Wii}}), to finally overtaking them again (Platform/NintendoSwitch) they continued to keep a stranglehold on the portable gaming market that [[Platform/PlaystationPortable both of]] [[Platform/PlaystationVita Sony's attempts]] have failed to make a dent in.

On December 4, 1988, NEC and Hudson Soft released the CD-ROM[[superscript:2]] System. An add-on to the [[Platform/TurboGrafx16 PC Engine]] (which was a massive success in its native Japan despite poor market performance elsewhere), the system pioneered the idea of video game consoles using the [[UsefulNotes/CompactDisc CD-ROM]] format for games, and managed to push enough units to catch the eyes of competing console developers.

On December 4, 1988, NEC and Hudson Soft released the CD-ROM[[superscript:2]] System. An add-on to the [[UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16 PC Engine]] (which was a massive success in its native Japan despite poor market performance elsewhere), the system pioneered the idea of video game consoles using the [[UsefulNotes/CompactDisc CD-ROM]] format for games, and managed to push enough units to catch the eyes of competing console developers.

That same year, after a favorable partnership that resulted in the UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem's [=SPC700=] sound chip and Sony's NEWS Workstations being selected to be used as part of the official development environment for the SNES, Ken Kutaragi, sole brainchild of the chip, got the idea to produce a CD-ROM add-on, one that would eventually result in two disc-based systems in response to NEC & Hudson's move: a CD add-on for the SNES called the "Super NES CD-ROM" and a SNES/CD hybrid console entitled the "[[HilariousInHindsight Play Station]]" (two words). Nintendo at first didn't really warm up to the idea of games on discs, noting that [=CD-ROMs=] had load times. [[https://kotaku.com/the-weird-history-of-the-super-nes-cd-rom-nintendos-mo-1828860861 Kutaragi, according to an interview with Shigeo Maruyama, insisted that Sony would create CD-ROM software]] for everything (i.e. karaoke, informational software, etc.) ''but'' video games. (As of this time they were mostly an electronics company.) Nintendo signed off, telling him "Alright. We don't think it will be successful, but you can do your CD-ROM thing."

An oft-forgotten part of this whole affair is the role that Sega played. After their relationship with Nintendo crumbled, Sony proposed a deal for Sega to assist their developer Creator/SonyImagesoft in developing games on optical discs, which Sega of America accepted while also convincing Sony to finance Creator/DigitalPictures alongside them, on the basis that said developer had made the most progress on programming games on discs (both Sony and Sega would eventually each publish three games from Digital Pictures). This led to a close relationship between the two parties, with Sony even assisting Sega on development of the UsefulNotes/SegaCD, which in turn led to the idea of a standalone optical disc-based console to be jointly marketed by the two companies, with Sega and Sony splitting any losses made. Sega of America loved this idea and pitched it to Sega of Japan for their approval, only for it to get shot down as the head of Sega of Japan [[ItWillNeverCatchOn was unwilling to believe Sony was capable of developing hardware or software for video games]][[note]]This despite Sony Imagesoft being around since 1989, and Sony manufacturing UsefulNotes/{{MSX}} computers, a very popular gaming platform in Japan, for several years by then. It's commonly agreed that Sega of Japan shot the proposal down less on Sony's lack of experience and mostly because it was Sega of America's suggestion, as there was [[RightHandVersusLeftHand very fierce in-fighting]] [[WeAreStrugglingTogether between the two Sega divisions]][[/note]]. Sega and Sony would go their separate ways as a result, and Sega would go on to make their own disc-based console, the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn. The Saturn's development and marketing ended up being an utter mess that doomed it to complete failure in the West, but this isn't the place to discuss that entire debacle.

Back at Nintendo, the contract with Philips was scrapped. Instead, it was replaced with a new one in collaboration between Nintendo, Sony and Philips. The day before the Sega CD's formal release, the trio announced that they would be working together this time with a more favorable licensing deal for Nintendo, who would retain final royalties and oversight over video game software, with the rest going to Sony. The resulting model would use [=CD-ROMs=] and sport further enhancements over the two preceding models. However, the project would still not come to full fruition. Reportedly, a major issue with the project that also stretched back to the initial Sony deal was complications with finding a way to combat piracy of CD-ROM titles: on all occasions, Nintendo asked to enclose the discs in a locked plastic caddy (similarly to what Sony themselves would do for the UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable's UMD format years later, and to an extent, what RCA had done for the UsefulNotes/{{CED}} home media format) with a built-in lockout chip, while both Sony and Philips were adamant on using the bare discs (indeed, the sole surviving Play Station prototype uses a standard tray-loading drive without the need for a caddy). The reason for Sony and Philip's pushback on this idea comes down to a few things:

All of this said, the old guard at Sony was still keen on sticking with Nintendo, wishing to stick with the latter's expertise. Kutaragi, however, still had his own ideas, convincing them to [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere go it alone]] and [[StartMyOwn start developing]] the future UsefulNotes/PlayStation. More on that a little later.

Several months after Sony's departure from the project, Nintendo concluded that CD-based consoles just weren't worth the hassle following the failure of the past add-on attempts, and so their next home console (the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64) would end up being the only cartridge-based system of that generation. This is generally seen as a boneheaded move, as it gave the excuse that third-party developers such as [[Creator/SquareEnix Squaresoft]], who were already frustrated with Nintendo's business practices, needed to pledge support for Sony's console instead.[[note]]As a side note, Squaresoft was likely the one outside developer hurt by the cancellation of the SNES CD-ROM the most, as ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'' was intended to be a launch game for it. The death of the system meant much of the work done for it had to be scrapped.[[/note]] So began the trend of Nintendo home consoles struggling to regain the support of many major third-party developers for the next two decades. As for Philips, despite the failure of their two contracts, were still given access to two Nintendo properties of their choice to develop for the UsefulNotes/PhilipsCDi, a multimedia system best known today for some of its odd gaming software. These ended up being ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' which got [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDiGames three games]] made, and the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' franchise, which got [[VideoGame/HotelMario one]].[[note]]Another two were planned, one conceived as a sequel to ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' called ''Super Mario's Wacky Worlds'', and another called ''Mario Takes America'', but neither got very far.[[/note]] These games are best left [[CanonDiscontinuity unmentioned]] in discussions about their parent franchises, but still managed to be the most successful games released for the device ([[DamnedByFaintPraise for as much as that means]]).

Finally, back with Sony, the team there used what they had learned from working with both Nintendo and Sega to continue work on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation, which launched at the end of 1994 in Japan (and the end of 1995 everywhere else). Thanks to {{Killer App}}s published by both third-parties (''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''[[note]](though Sony would publish it internationally)[[/note]], ''VideoGame/TombRaiderI'', ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'') and Sony themselves (''VideoGame/GranTurismo'', ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'', ''Franchise/SpyroTheDragon''), the system quickly trounced all rivals during UsefulNotes/TheFifthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames by a wide margin. Its successor (the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2) would do even better and currently stands as ''the'' most successful console of all-time at over 155 million units sold. And while they initially stumbled with the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3, it still went on to be the second-most successful console of its generation, followed by the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 which would put Sony back on top for a while, and become the fourth best-selling console of all-time. And yes, the UsefulNotes/PlayStation5 is doing pretty well for itself too.

In short, '''Nintendo and Sega indirectly created one of their greatest rivals'''. A rival that actually ''killed'' Sega as a console developer; Sega only avoided total bankruptcy after the failure of their Saturn successor, the UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast, thanks to an especially generous shareholder giving them the $695 million USD needed to transition into third-party game development. Nintendo fared rather better. They're still a major player in the gaming industry, and while they have spent the years since Sony's entry into the market zig-zagging between trailing far behind them (UsefulNotes/Nintendo64, UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube, and ''especially'' the UsefulNotes/WiiU), briefly reclaiming the top spot by a wide margin (UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}), to finally overtaking them again (UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch) they continued to keep a stranglehold on the portable gaming market that [[UsefulNotes/PlaystationPortable both of]] [[UsefulNotes/PlaystationVita Sony's attempts]] have failed to make a dent in.

Based on Ben's findings, the Play Station was no more powerful than the standard Super Nintendo; though it would have boasted superior audio quality and a faster disc drive than its competitors. Website/TheOtherWiki lists its specifications in comparison to the Sega CD and [[UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16 TurboGrafx-CD]] on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_NES_CD-ROM its own page]] concerning this scrapped system. That said, power boosts could've come from game cartridges with co-processors, a technique Nintendo had already been using with a fair number of SNES games via various iterations of the "Super FX" and "SA-1" chips, [[EpilepticTrees which opens up the possibility]] that some Play Station [=SuperDisc=] games (as its format would have been called) could have required the purchase of a special cartridge in order to play them (ala the [=N64=]'s Expansion Pak) had the system come to market and shown success. The ROM for the prototype test cartridge and the CD-ROM portion of the device was dumped in 2016, giving people a good idea of how the SNES CD-ROM could have worked in action and the information needed to create emulators and a slew of homebrews.