TheBanyanTree: Nintendo Speak 101

Wed Aug 27 15:41:55 PDT 2003

My 13 year old son, Zachary, is well acquainted with Nintendo. 
Initially, in the normal course of events, he became enthralled with the 
first Nintendo console, given to him by his Uncle Scott. Successive 
upgrades were paid for out of his own pocket. This past year I paid for 
him to join their young techy organization since he plans on going to 
college to become a game designer. The kid watches Tech TV for the fun 
of it.  So I guess I shouldn't be surprised when he writes stuff like 
the following post. But, I am. It's just odd to read something written 
by my own child and feel out of my depth. <g> Which is a good thing 
overall. I want them to know more than I do about life and all the 
fascinating things in this world. Sometimes though, I sit back and 
whisper "Wow"  to myself.  It's just so MUCH fun to watch them grow up!

So here's my son's post to a Nintendo Forum he recently joined. He's 
trying to win this weeks contest so he can move up in the standings.

...Sachet
(Yep, I am a Mom who occasionally brags about her kidlets, because I 
never ever knew that parenting was this much fun.) 8-)

************************************

After scouring the internet looking for the truth, I've found a lot of 
theories regarding the Super NES CD-ROM. While you can mix and match the 
theories in many different ways to create many different theories, I've 
chosen to list the ideas into these two 'rumors', which came from two 
separate sites, and which I rewrote. The summary at the end simply gives 
the main events, while the 'rumors' go into more detail. As for the the 
summary, I took what I thought was most factual and put it together. As 
for the 'rumors', they may contain a lot of factual material, or simply 
a lot of material loosely based on fact. As for how this situation 
actually occurred, the world may never know.

Rumor #1:
Nintendo first designed the Super NES CD-ROM to be an add-on the the 
original Super NES. It was intended to attach to the bottom of the Super 
NES, and to have a front loading tray. However, due to a lot of 
difficulties, it was never released.....but you might say it was, 
depending on how you look at it.

Let's go back to 1988: Nintendo made an agreement with Sony regarding 
development. It is also said that Nintendo started working on the SNES 
CD-ROM with Sony at that point, although of that I am uncertain. And in 
1991, Sony planned to enter the market with it's own Play Station (two 
words) that played both SNES games as well as Sony's own 'Super Disc' 
format. Not wanting to share the profits or control with a rival 
company, Nintendo then went to Philips and asked them to work on the 
SNES CD-ROM with them, doing this behind Sony's back. This whole event 
was then announced publicly, much to Sony's embarrassment at the 1992 
Consumer Electronics Show. The embittered Sony then went back to the 
drawing board and designed a new, stand-alone console which had the 
codename of 'PlayStation X'. That's why it's more correct to say 
PlayStation One, or PSX, because the original PlayStation isn't what you 
would normally refer to (That's also where the abbreviation 'PSX' came 
from). PSX was meant to destroy SNES, and it wasn't some blueprint 
leftover from Nintendo and Sony's deal.  So, you could say that instead 
of PlayStation being a redesigned version of SNES CD-ROM, it could be 
said to have been inspired by the SNES CD-ROM.

Rumor #2:
1991: Nintendo is working with Philips on the SNES CD-ROM, which was 
supposed to play CD's, and also enhance the Super NES with the contained 
processing chips. I've read that it was also supposed to be compatible 
with Philips CD-i, although I've also read that Philips CD-i was a 
result of the breakoff of the deal between Nintendo and Philips; I'm not 
sure which is true. If it was a result of the breakoff between Philips 
and Nintendo, then it is safe to say that Philips merely made the CD-i 
out of the plans it had for the Super NES CD-ROM. If the SNES CD-ROM 
really was supposed to be compatible with Philips CD-i and be on the 
market alongside the CD-i, then it explains why Nintendo authorized 
Philips to have Mario and Zelda games on the CD-i. And even if CD-i was 
an attempt by Philips to make something out of their part in the SNES 
CD-ROM, then we can assume that the Mario and Zelda games on the CD-i 
were simply part of a licensing deal between Nintendo and Philips in the 
past.

Anyway, it is then said that Nintendo brushed off Phillips at that point 
to work with Sony on the SNES CD-ROM, due to some agreement between Sony 
and Nintendo that was made in 1988 regarding development. Designs and 
details began to appear in Japanese magazines, which suggested that Sony 
would produce both an add-on for the SNES and an all-in-one CD-ROM game 
console using the SNES hardware. In this matter there is a lot of 
uncertainty, but it seems that Sony had completed the CD-ROM project, 
named 'Playstation'  and Nintendo wanted the manufacturing and licensing 
profits that had been guaranteed to Sony in the 1988 agreement.

Next, it is said that Nintendo brushed off Sony in the manner that was 
described in Rumor #1, and again went back to working with Philips. And 
then after several months, all three companies decided to work together. 
At that time, it became clear that the Sega CD and NEC's TurboDuo were 
failures.  Nintendo  all together canceled the project, and started 
working on alternatives, such as the Super FX that Starfox used in 1993. 
Next, Sony went on to work on the PSX, etc. and at that time Nintendo no 
longer even thought about Sony as threat, as Sega and NEC were out of 
the picture.

SUMMARY:
It can at least be said that Sony was working with Nintendo on the SNES 
CD-ROM, and then Nintendo dropped Sony to develop it with Philips. This 
resulted in a great embarrassment for Sony, who then went on the create 
the Playstation (PSX). Philips and Nintendo continued working on the 
SNES CD-ROM, which was never released. Nintendo did explore an 
alternative, the Super FX, which basically enhanced the SNES. Starfox 
(1993) used the Super FX on the SNES, and I believe some other games did 
as well. That's about it regarding the SNES CD-ROM, which, although 
never released, impacted the gaming community in some direct and 
indirect ways.

Links to sources and pictures:
I'm afraid I can't post pictures yet, but here are links to where you 
can see them, as well as links to some of the sources from which I 
compiled them.

To see pics of the CD-i games and to purchase them (although I don't 
know why you would want to do that) go to this URL:  
http://www.lik-sang.com/news.php?artc=3085

To see pics of a hotel-room version of the SNES that was the result of a 
collaboration between Nintendo and Philips, go to this URL:
http://www.gamersgraveyard.com/repository/snes/history/lodgenet.html

To read info on Rumor #1, go to this URL:
http://www.gamepro.com/gamepro/domestic/games/features/30666.shtml

To read info on Rumor #2, go to this URL:
http://www.gamecubeland.com/index.php?page=editorials&editorial_id=15

IN RETROSPECT, AND LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
IN RETROSPECT:
Super FX was essentially the Expansion Pak for the Super Nes, 
considering it enhanced the system. However, I believe that Super FX was 
built in to the SNES cartridge, rather than a 'chip' which you stuck in 
the SNES (Like you did with the Expansion Pak for N64). And it also hit 
me that the SNES CD-ROM is a lot like the 64:DD. Even though the 64:DD 
was released, they both worked on sort of the same grounds: to give an 
alternate form of media for the console (the 64:DD discs were not 
CD-ROM's though). And you could say that the Gameboy Player was the 
further evolution of both the SNES CD-ROM and the 64:DD, although the 
GBP was interested in giving backwards compatibility, rather than making 
a new media all together. I hope you see my point on that matter, and 
isn't it quite interesting if you do?

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE:
There is a rumor online that the GBA will feature an update of the Super 
FX, that will allow the GBA to have increased 3D capabilities. This will 
allow old Playstation One titles to come to the GBA in greater numbers, 
and also for lower-end N64 games to be ported.

To learn more about this, go to this URL:
http://www.cubed-3.co.uk/modules/news/article.php?item_id=688