Ultra-rare Nintendo PlayStation sets new record at online auction

The mashed-up child of a failed collaboration between Sony and Nintendo has set a new record for video games after selling at auction.

An ultra-rare Nintendo-PlayStation console has set a new record for most expensive video game item ever sold after fetching more than half a million dollars at auction.

The prototype, one of only 200 made as part of a failed collaboration between Nintendo and Sony, sold for a total of $US360,000 ($A544,890) at online auction site Heritage Auctions.

The console was envisioned several years before Sony introduced the PlayStation in 1994, and it’s believed the other 199 prototypes that were built were destroyed.

The Nintendo-PlayStation is believed to be the last remaining of the 200 prototypes. Picture: Heritage Auctions

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The console is essentially a Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) with a CD-drive.

The new buyer, Pets.com and Toys.com founder Greg McLemore, plans to create a museum showing off the prototype as well as his sizeable collection of video games, memorabilia and coin-operated machines.

He told CNN the console was “the single most expensive thing I’ve ever bought outside of a house” but said it was worth it when combined with the rest of his collection.

According to a 2015 profile in rich-lister magazine The Robb Report, Mr McLemore’s collection also includes classics like an early Atari Pong, Galaga and Space Invaders machines and “Computer Space”, the first coin-operated video game.

Mr McLemore bought the domain name Pets.com in 1994, but it wasn’t until a few years later that it was used to sell pet supplies over the internet.

It picked up investment from Amazon, listed on the stock market, and then became one of the first and most notable victims of the Dotcom bubble burst at the turn of the millennium.

Mr McLemore now runs the International Arcade Museum.

The Nintendo-PlayStation prototype sold for a record amount. Picture: Heritage Auctions

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While the hundreds of thousands paid for the console is a new record, the seller expected more.
Terry Diebold reportedly bought the prototype at a private auction in a lot of abandoned property belonging to former Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Olaf Olafsson for $US75 ($A113) in 2009.

Six years later, Mr Diebold’s son discovered the console and the pair began touring it around the world at classic gaming expos.

The elder Mr Diebold told Kotaku it was time the pair made some money to recoup the cost of those trips.

“I can’t keep losing money,” Mr Diebold said. “I’ve put a lot of work into this by travelling with it, and we have made nothing on it. Every trip that we … have taken with it has cost us money out of pocket.”

Mr Diebold said he and his son had turned down a Norwegian man’s offer of $US1.2 million ($A1.82 million).

He’s likely kicking himself over that decision now as the auction only ended up netting less than a quarter of that.

What do you think of the price paid for the one-of-a-kind console? Have your say in the comments below.