Has several key differences from the final version
A prototype Super Famicom / SNES console has gone up for auction in Japan.
The system is largely the same as the design which would eventually appear in Japan and Europe, save for the fact that it has a red power switch, an expansion port on the front (rather than on the bottom, as was the case with the final version) and a 3.5mm headphone socket and volume dial on the side.
It’s currently up for auction on Yahoo Japan – at the time of writing, the price is 51,000 yen (around £270), but it’s likely to sell for much more than that. A Nintendo ‘development sample’ sticker is still affixed.
This is just one iteration of the console; three other known variants exist, as seen in various magazines from the period:
The SNES would famously be redesigned for its North American release.
[source twitter.com]
Damien has been writing professionally about tech and video games since 2007 and oversees all of Hookshot Media’s sites from an editorial perspective. He’s also the editor of Time Extension, the network’s newest site, which – paradoxically – is all about gaming’s past glories.