PlayStation co-creator Ken Kutaragi still owns one of the fabled Nintendo PlayStation prototypes, it has emerged.
Photographer Julian Domanski met Kutaragi earlier this month and revealed that he got to hold his Nintendo PlayStation, posting a series of photos on X showing it in detail (as spotted by Time Extension).
“I never thought I’d see something so rare, but today I actually got to fondle a Nintendo PlayStation,” Domanski wrote.
“The last one in existence was believed to have sold at auction for $300,000. Turns out the ex-CEO of SonyCEA has one in his closet. Ken Kutaragi, top bloke.”
It’s said that around 200 units were made of the Nintendo PlayStation, the prototype console created in the early 1990s as a planned partnership between Sony and Nintendo.
The PlayStation was originally envisioned as a CD add-on for the Super Nintendo, which would boost Nintendo’s console with significant processing power and speed. However, Sony’s partnership with Nintendo fell through, which led to Sony further developing the PlayStation as a standalone system and entering the console market alone.
Back in 2020, a Nintendo PlayStation prototype – then considered the only known one still in existence – was sold at auction for $360,000, which included a buyer’s premium of $60,000.
Based on Domanski’s photos, Kutaragi’s prototype is from a different phase of the production process, because it has some features that look slightly different from those of the previously auctioned Nintendo PlayStation.
Kutaragi’s prototype has a vibrant blue PlayStation logo, as opposed to the duller colour of the one auctioned in 2020. Its Eject and Reset buttons also have their names printed directly onto the buttons, rather than above them.
Kutaragi’s prototype also appears to be in far better condition than that of the previously discovered prototype, showing far less of the yellowing typical in some consoles of that age.