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[Parallacs]

I am going to start the "Pluto is TOO a Console" fan club.

Who wants in?

 

[CartridgeBlower]

Any chance this is fake?

Just being cynical...cue i want to believe gif...

 

[brainpann]

I mean I guess its cool that the guy has this, but I'm having trouble understanding what is special about the discovery. Isn't it just a Saturn with the Netlink built in?

Technically, it isn't that special, but for enthusiasts and collectors its a pretty awesome find. It is said there were only two made and no one has come forward with the other, if it even still exists.

 

[Vespa]

Dreamcast 2 is beautiful, now announce a release date already!

 

[lilralphie]

So is Pluto not a console anymore?

I LOL'ed

 

[5amshift]

Amazing! Never knew this existed.

 

[bodyboarder]

Neat. Though why did they wait 14 years to show it?

 

[brainpann]

I'll die happy if someone comes forward with a working SNES Play Station or Sega Neptune.

 

[IrishNinja]

what an amazing find! having just got a model 2 saturn, i'm impressed & dig the shoebox thing but glad they went with what they did. so cool!

 

[MortalMonkey]

Awesome!

 

[Canadian Psycho]

Looks like a couch.

After a good 14 years or so of sitting on this

It all makes sense now.

 

[Leynos]

If I'm not wrong Sega was making Master Systems for Europe and Brazil, Genesis/Mega Drive, CD, 32X, Game Gear, Nomad and Saturn in 1995. Maybe they lacked a bit, focus...

Don't forget the Picodrive, and I don't know if they were still supporting their home PCs at the time. SEGA was most definitely a company that had lost focus, and spread itself too thin.

 

[ElectricThunder]

Well damn, how many proper prototypes are even left now across the whole of those generations yet unrevealed like this? I mean, I don't know if M2 ever actually made it or...

 

[SmokyDave]

Goddamn, that's hot. I want it.

 

[tiggerkiddo]

Something about the design I like, seems a bit more modern...and it's kinda sleek to. Built in NetLink sounds awesome.

 

[Anteo]

So is Pluto not a console anymore?

It never was man. It never was.

 

[Refreshment.01]

Defintly a modern treasure.

How much are collectors willing to pay for the privilage?

 

[Ultratech]

I mean I guess its cool that the guy has this, but I'm having trouble understanding what is special about the discovery. Isn't it just a Saturn with the Netlink built in?

Pretty sure Pluto had been rumored, but I don't think anybody really knew what it was outside of internal stuff.

From I what remember hearing, there were some prototypes made, but for all anybody knew, they probably didn't exist.

Kinda funny it has a USA BIOS though.

 

[papersleeves]

Wow, that is actually fantastic. Props to the guy who shared this beautiful piece of history on assemblergames!

 

[Nakasan]

Fantastic revelation! Cannot believe now that the black belt leaked image is really black belt anymore! Fascinating.

 

[TheSeks]

Kinda funny it has a USA BIOS though.

Not really. Sega has Japan/US teams doing different hardware/consoles for "bidding" for their next official consoles (and I guess revisions here?) during that era. So it's not really surprising if this is a US-led Saturn revision?

 

[CDX]

That is one ugly mutha. Was this case just a stopgap? It's interesting to note though that this design looks very similar to the alleged design of the Blackbelt that surfaced some years ago. See here: http://www.rashly3dfx.com/products/blackbelt.html

It does look like the blackbelt prototype

Edit:

That Blackbelt prototype was misidentified. I have the original art of it and I assumed it was Blackbelt because of colour and the big Internet written on the top. We now know that it's a Pluto.

Ah, so the blackbelt photo was a photo of the pluto all along and we never knew it until now.

Now I'm wondering what the blackbelt really looked like.

 

[A Black Falcon]

It does look like the blackbelt prototype

Wow, they look nearly identical. Very interesting...

Technically, it isn't that special, but for enthusiasts and collectors its a pretty awesome find. It is said there were only two made and no one has come forward with the other, if it even still exists.

I don't agree, I think finding unreleased hardware like this is pretty interesting... and it's not just a shell, it's actually a fully working system! Crazy.

I mean, sure, it's "just" a Saturn with a Netlink built in, but still, very interesting thing to suddenly have appear.

 

[dreamcastmaster]

That Blackbelt prototype was misidentified. I have the original art of it and I assumed it was Blackbelt because of colour and the big Internet written on the top. We now know that it's a Pluto.

 

[pilonv1]

. Can't even imagine how I'd go about testing the Netlink part of this device (no landline here).

Would there even be any point to this? Surely there would be nothing left/usable

 

[VXLbeast]

I think it looks pretty sexy. Awesome that stuff like this still turns up.

 

[A Black Falcon]

Would there even be any point to this? Surely there would be nothing left/usable

Netlink is direct modem-to-modem. You just dial the other person's number, there's no service to connect to. So yes, it still works fine.

(The Japanese version did have a server to connect to, so it's offline, but the US Netlink is just direct dial.)

 

[U n i o n 0015]

Wow, what a cool find! Saturn still holds a soft spot in my heart.

 

[Ace Harding]

Netlink is direct modem-to-modem. You just dial the other person's number, there's no service to connect to. So yes, it still works fine.

(The Japanese version did have a server to connect to, so it's offline, but the US Netlink is just direct dial.)

Maybe he can uh, "call" the other prototype and ask where it's hiding.

I never had a Saturn and obviously no Netlink but back when that stuff was new I remember thinking how incredible it was that you could play a game with someone else over a phone line. Now we have fast-ass Internet and online multiplayer out the wazoo and all I do is play single player games.

 

[dreamcastmaster]

Maybe he can uh, "call" the other prototype and ask where it's hiding.

You're a smart man.

 

[pilonv1]

Netlink is direct modem-to-modem. You just dial the other person's number, there's no service to connect to. So yes, it still works fine.

(The Japanese version did have a server to connect to, so it's offline, but the US Netlink is just direct dial.)

Got it, didn't realise it was modem to modem

 

[A Black Falcon]

That Blackbelt prototype was misidentified. I have the original art of it and I assumed it was Blackbelt because of colour and the big Internet written on the top. We now know that it's a Pluto.

Ah, so you think that it actually was a picture of a Pluto all along, not a Blackbelt Dreamcast? Interesting... we had a picture of the thing, but didn't know it.

Maybe he can uh, "call" the other prototype and ask where it's hiding.

I would assume that it would work with any Netlink, not only these prototype Saturn+Netlink combo systems... and regular cartridge Netlinks aren't THAT rare. The US Daytona CCE Netlink Edition is super rare, but the Netlink itself, and the other four Netlink-compatible games (Sega Rally Plus Netlink, Saturn Bomberman, Duke Nukem 3D, Virtual-On Netlink Edition) are out there.

I never had a Saturn and obviously no Netlink but back when that stuff was new I remember thinking how incredible it was that you could play a game with someone else over a phone line. Now we have fast-ass Internet and online multiplayer out the wazoo and all I do is play single player games.

Heh... yeah, I don't play multiplayer games as often as I did back in the late '90s either.

 

[Grisby]

That's really cool. I never owned a Saturn.

 

[Phonomezer]

Ahead of their time as per.

 

[MechDX]

Saturns were built like freaking tanks. I dropped one from 3 feet high from an old entertainment center back in the day during a heated match of UMK3. Thing bounced off the floor like a basketball, ejected the game and powered off.

Put it back together, inserted game and it fired right up. Not like consoles of today where you feel if you look at it long enough it will fry. 5 360's and 2 PS3's myself...

 

[Ultratech]

Not really. Sega has Japan/US teams doing different hardware/consoles for "bidding" for their next official consoles (and I guess revisions here?) during that era. So it's not really surprising if this is a US-led Saturn revision?

True.

That and upon further inspection, it does bear the US Saturn logo.

Also interesting that the Blackbelt prototype picture is almost exactly what the Pluto is.

 

[Celcius]

Cool discovery; I always wanted a Saturn but never got one.

 

[KojiKnight]

It does look like the blackbelt prototype

It looks quite identical... The question then becomes, was the blackbelt designed to look like the Pluto? Or was a design sketch for the Pluto mistaken for the black belt? If I had to guess, probably the latter.

 

[ban25]

I'll die happy if someone comes forward with a working SNES Play Station or Sega Neptune.

Actually the 32x can fit inside the Genesis M2 chassis and several people have built their own Neptune consoles:

http://youtu.be/kSTCHG_XFco

 

[dreamcastmaster]

IOr was a design sketch for the Pluto mistaken for the black belt? If I had to guess, probably the latter.

YES I own that design sketch and I misidentified it as a Blackbelt, as I've already posted in this topic.

 

[MoGamesXNA]

Far out. I'd love to have seen it in it's final form factor. It looks like it would fit into a Sega Master System MkI chassis nicely. /drool/

 

[Klaymen]

This is awesome. The Saturn is one of my favorite consoles ever, so this sort of thing really gets me goin'.

 

[KojiKnight]

YES I own that design sketch and I misidentified it as a Blackbelt, as I've already posted in this topic.

Haa, sorry missed your post. That's what I get for not reading the whole thread.

 

[-COOLIO-]

More pics at the link.

holy crap, i remember this screen.

 

[Rickenslacker]

I don't care what anyone thinks, that is a nice lookin' console.

 

[Phonomezer]

holy crap, i remember this screen.

Sega Saturn Spaceship!

 

[Crazymoogle]

YES I own that design sketch and I misidentified it as a Blackbelt, as I've already posted in this topic.

There are still some minor chassis differences, mainly around the power light. From afar it's mildly plausible they considered reusing the design for Blackbelt. But either way, really cool images. Hard to believe we're hearing about Saturn hardware discoveries so many years later.

 

[A Black Falcon]

There are still some minor chassis differences, mainly around the power light. From afar it's mildly plausible they considered reusing the design for Blackbelt. But either way, really cool images. Hard to believe we're hearing about Saturn hardware discoveries so many years later.

Yeah, and the shape of the cartridge port is different as well; note how the actual Pluto has little cutouts in the corners of the cart port, while that schematic's is rectangular.

 

[ResidentDante]

Amazing story, I'd love a book about Sega's hardware development with lots of pictures of protoypes.

The disc tray:

 

[Shaneus]

This was what it reminded me of at first glance:

I love Sega history threads <3