Guy Discovers Prototype of the Nintendo Playstation in His Dad's Attic

Nintendo PlayStation. Sounds like a video game nerd’s wet dream, right?

Well, it was almost a reality, and now we have the proof. A guy named Dan Diebold found THE ONLY REMAINING PROTOTYPE of the Nintendo PlayStation in his dad’s attic. Dan’s dad, Terry Diebold, worked as a maintenance man and was supposed to trash the last remaining prototype, but he decided to stash it away in his attic because he’s a bit of a pack rat.

Predictably, the nerds of Reddit are freaking out and arguing amongst themselves about what Diebold should do with the rare relic. Some think it belongs in Nintendo’s museum, others are more concerned that Diebold might fry and destroy the system if he doesn’t use a specially adapted power cord.

Photo Credit: Reddit, analogueboy

Only 200 units of the prototype were made, and all were thought destroyed…until Diebold came forward with his discovery. Needless to say, father and son stand to make a boatload of cash if they decide to sell the super-rare gaming console.

Photo Credit: Reddit, analogueboy

The system was born out of a partnership between Nintendo and a rogue Sony engineer named Ken Kutaragi in the late 1980s/early 1990s. Sony went along with the project because Kutaragi was a gifted engineer and the company execs thought joining forces with the video game industry’s reigning leader made sense. The joint venture was called PlayStation.

Photo Credit: Reddit, analogueboy

At the 1991 Consumer Electronics Show, Nintendo publicly embarrassed Sony by ditching them (without warning) and announcing they were teaming up with Philips to develop a new CD-based gaming system. That technology, the CD-i, was a major bust. The Sony folks were obviously very pissed off, so they decided to develop PlayStation on their own – and they are now the undisputed leaders of the video game industry.