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The Nintendo PlayStation<\/a> was Sony\u2019s first attempt to break into the gaming market. It was more or less a Super Nintendo console upgraded with a CD-ROM drive, allowing games to incorporate more multimedia content from Sony\u2019s proprietary Super Disc format.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The collaboration collapsed after Nintendo announced a partnership with Philips in 1991, and the 200 prototypes of the Nintendo PlayStation were thought to have all been destroyed \u2014 at least until one surfaced in 2015 and was eventually sold at auction<\/a> to the founder of Pets.com and Toys.com.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Heritage Auctions<\/a> hasn\u2019t shared the provenance behind this second Nintendo PlayStation auction but describes the prototype controller as having \u201cthe familiar casing of a Super Nintendo controller but branded with \u2018Sony PlayStation\u2019 in dark gray on the front.\u201d Despite a \u201cfew little dings on the back,\u201d the prototype is in \u201cvery nice condition,\u201d but Heritage Auctions can\u2019t confirm if it\u2019s functional given the extreme scarcity of the console it\u2019s designed to work with. As a result, there will be no returns for the winning bidder.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n An even bigger question than where this prototype was discovered is how much it will sell for. In 2020, a sealed copy of Super Mario Bros.<\/em> sold for $114,000<\/a>, and less than a year later, another copy sold for $660,000<\/a>. But spending that much money on a game you never intend to play seems like a bargain compared to the copy of Super Mario Bros<\/em>. that sold in 2021 for a staggering $2 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Demand for retro collectibles hasn\u2019t cooled since then, and while this controller may not go for as much as the Nintendo PlayStation console did, it\u2019s still incredibly rare hardware that may never turn up again. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n