Amidst the world of consoles, Nintendo and PlayStation are household names. But very few remember that these two tech giants once collaborated for the first incarnation of the PlayStation, nicknamed the Nintendo PlayStation. This console was in the works way before the arrival of PS1 and was designed as a hybrid console that supported both Nintendo’s Super NES and Sony’s new CD-based Super Disc format.
However, this hybrid model never saw the light of reality due to disputes between the two companies, and the project was ultimately canceled. The Japanese company later on collaborated with Phillips, which was Sony’s arch-rival at that time, and prompted Sony to build its own console, and the rest is in front of you. After many years, we have now got to know the first game of that hybrid console.
Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida has recently ended his legendary journey at the company of more than three decades, in January 2025. However, this journey started after the collaboration between Sony and Nintendo failed as Yoshida became a part of Ken Kutaragi’s team, which was leading its company to a standalone console.
Although the hybrid console has been extensively dissected in recent years, relatively little is known about the software library that would have been included. Recently, however, Yoshida has disclosed that the business was developing its own FMV space shooter for the system, which was purportedly the first PlayStation game ever made. This is what he stated in an interview with MinnMax:
Everybody who joined Ken’s team around that time, the first thing they showed us was that Nintendo-Sony PlayStation – a prototype already working. They had almost finished a game on it, and I got to play the game on the system the day I joined.
As a space shooter with a pseudo-3D perspective and FMV backgrounds that stream from the disc, Yoshida compares this game to the Sega CD version of Silpheed. Yoshida says the game was canceled because the backgrounds were pre-rendered videos, which is why it had “richer graphics than the standard of that time.”
Yoshida unfortunately couldn’t recall who led the game’s development or even if it was developed in Japan or the US. Eventually, Sony would release a few games that were similar on the real PlayStation. It released Philosoma from developer G-Artists in 1995. A few years before that PS1 title, Sony subsidiary Psygnosis experimented with a similar idea with Novastorm.
Monster Hunter has always been a popular title in the world of gaming. From dominating the handheld console market on PSP to becoming the most-wishlisted game on Steam recently, this franchise never lost its aura. However, one of the games of this franchise was the real reason PS Vita stumbled in front of the Nintendo 3DS.
Before this handheld console, the market was well and truly under the realm of PSP. But everything changed when 3DS captured the exclusive deal of Monster Hunter 4 and PS Vita just looked everything shattering, hopeless. This is what Shuhei stated about this in an interview with Minnmax:
At the launch, both the 3DS and the PS Vita were $250, but [Nintendo] dropped the price by $100. I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ Then they announced the biggest game on the PSP, Monster Hunter, was coming out on the Nintendo 3DS as an exclusive. That was the biggest shock!
In response to the exclusive deal, Sony made an effort to develop a number of Monster Hunter substitutes, including Soul Sacrifice and Freedom Wars, the latter of which received a remaster last month. However, it was never able to fully bounce back, and the 3DS eventually overtook the struggling PS Vita as the market leader for handheld devices.
Monster Hunter Portable 3rd sold nearly five million copies on the PSP alone, demonstrating the series’ enormous success there. Despite the 3DS giving a shock to Yoshida, the upcoming Nintendo console has failed to fulfill the expectations of the former PlayStation veteran.
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