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[IbizaPocholo]

The SNES PlayStation Was Going To Have A Super FX Chip Built-In

"Then Sony and Nintendo fell out"

www.nintendolife.com

The Super FX chip was a groundbreaking piece of tech; a "console on a chip" which massively enhanced the SNES, allowing it to push polygons with aplomb.

Created by Argonaut Software, a small UK-based firm, the chip was created when Nintendo enlisted the help of Argonaut's Jez San to assist the company in making 3D games.

It's already known that, at one stage, there were discussions within Nintendo about building the Super FX chip into the North American version of the SNES. That ultimately didn't happen, but Jez San reveals that there was a later plan to put a version of the chip into the unreleased SNES PlayStation, a joint venture by Sony and Nintendo which was canned when the latter got cold feet and left the former standing at the altar.

San told us:

When we designed the Super FX chip for Nintendo, It was too late to make it into the Japanese version of the SNES. But with the American version, they were contemplating having it built in, which would have made the games cartridges much cheaper, and would have also meant that 3D was a standard in the console. In the end, we missed out on that. But then, initially, Nintendo and Sony were going to do a PlayStation with a CD attached to a SNES, with our chip in it – ours was going to be the 3D chip inside the original PlayStation. Then Sony and Nintendo fell out.

 

[deriks]

Some sick karaoke backgrounds could generate, I supose

 

[V2Tommy]

Seems like some revisionist history when the Super FX chip didn't premiere until 1993. I can't see how it could've possibly been ready anywhere near November 1990, although having it in the PlayStation seems fine. Oh, wait, the system exists for a select few people and it ain't in there, either.

 

[stranno]

The current prototype is nothing more than a regular Super Nintendo with more RAM and a CD drive attached tho.

 

[caffeware]

I'm glad they kept vanilla snes.
All other companies went crazy with new hardware every two years or so: hudson, sega, snk, etc.

 

[RAIDEN1]

Meanwhile the Genesis much to my surprise when I found out a few years ago, was already pushing polygons, without a SFX/SVP chip - in 1990, with none other than: Star Cruiser

 

[buizel]

Damn that wouldve been epic, imagine all the sick games we couldve gotten looking like triangle-simulator