'Minus World: New Game Plus' — A Successful Philips SNES-CD Timeline

(This thread started by getting spun off from the relevant part of my post in the 'Battle Royale: The Last Generation Of An SNES-CD Saga' thread for any further discussion.)

Current maintainer/moderator/Facilitator-in-Chief: RandomDSdevel — that is: me, the OP.

Update Frequency: Irregular

Rules:
  1. This thread is open to collaboration, contributions, and other suggestions.
  2. I reserve right of first refusal on any content suggestions as thread maintainer/moderator/Facilitator-in-Chief.
  3. All discussion should take place publicly in this thread. I may be open to granting some minor exceptions to this for some:
    • Discussion(s) of upcoming or future post content that'd otherwise disclose too much of one or more spoilers even if posted publicly but appropriately hidden behind spoiler tag markup and
    • Collaboratively drafting formal timeline content posts,
    but this'll be on a case-by-case basis.

Tentative guidelines:
  • Aside from other differences, I think this timeline will:
    • Hew somewhat closer to ours than Player Two Start
    • But also borrow elements from that.
    Some elements of this timeline might end up being at least a bit of a 'best of'/'ultimate' universe of both. We'll see exactly what happens.
  • This may also be at least partly an 'everybody lives'/'nobody dies' timeline, within reason.

Anyway, on to the actual post content:

Point of Divergence:
Philips has the same amount of technical expertise and extant research and development as Sony by the time Nintendo starts looking to make the SNES's disc system add-on.

Premise
The year is 1988. By this point, some of Rare Limited's employees have demonstrated to Nintendo what kinds of games can run off the floppy disk drives in 8-bit home computers of the era, mainly the ZX Spectrum since they're most familiar with developing for it. Nintendo has its own disk-based game platform in the Famicom's Japan-only Disk System accessory and is aware of what its competition is doing at some level, but Rare's demonstration helps maintain Nintendo's interest in disk-based games.

Nintendo has also already begun development of the Super Famicom, next-generation successor to the Famicom/NES and its answer to Sega's Genesis and NEC's PC Engine. Some of Nintendo's competitors begin launching CD-ROM add-ons for their 16-bit consoles before the Super Famicom/SNES's original Japanese release, more than piquing the company's interest in the format. NEC launches the CD-ROM² add-on for its PC Engine in December of 1988. Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis's Mega-CD/Sega CD would launch later on after Nintendo's Super Famicom's November 21st, 1990, release, on December 12th of that same year.

The PC Engine CD-ROM²'s success in Japan is one of many factors which convince Nintendo to give the Super Famicom/SNES its own CD-ROM add-on. The company initially looks to Sony as a potential partner for the accessory's production but then learns of other CD hardware manufacturers, including Philips, when they ask Sony more about the format. Nintendo contracts both Philips and Sony to develop and produce prototypes of the accessory.

The prototype that Philips presents ends up being comparable to or better than Sony's version, the latter of which is identical to the unlaunched SNES-CD/'Nintendo PlayStation' in our timeline. Nintendo's Hiroshi Yamauchi is also highly leery that sourcing the SNES-CD from Sony after the base SNES unit already contains a Sony audio subsystem would give too much leverage to a single supplier. Philips wins the bid for the final SNES-CD contract.

  • What makes Nintendo interested in using CD-ROMs for games in this timeline?
  • What makes Nintendo include this timeline's improved Philips in initial negotiations?)

I wonder if Sony will still get into the console business or not.
Well, they'd still be irked that Nintendo didn't choose to partner with them in this timeline, so I'd assume so.
Okay. And how does Sega do ITTL? And will Microsoft still enter the console market? … (Snipped…)
  1. Also [having Sega stay in the console business] is an open question…. Personally, though, I'm of two minds about Sega: on the one hand, it's definitely a shame that they never made any more consoles; on the other, I've enjoyed some of their games on other platforms before. Maybe timed exclusivity for some titles? I have no idea. I do see they do better in [Player Two Start]'s timeline, so there's that.
  2. This timeline's somewhere between ours and [Player Two Start]'s. Microsoft has an Xbox in both of the latter, so why not here, too?
 
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Good Luck and full steam ahead with your TImeline buddy. Nice to see more TL inspired by Rysenkari and your very own server work. thanks
 
(I'm preemptively spinning this thread off from the relevant part of my post in the 'Battle Royale: The Last Generation Of An SNES-CD Saga' thread for any further discussion. I don't know how much further I'll be able to contribute, but I'll definitely be interested in anything anybody comes up with. I'm also mostly taking my hands off the reins here; I may be the OP, but I'm relinquishing ownership of this thread to the community.)

For other ideas on what this thread's name could be:
  • To be a bit more tongue-in-cheek, 'Player One and a Half Select.'
  • See also the first part of this post on the source thread, as well as some of the context leading up to it.

Anyway, on to the actual post content:

Point of Divergence:
Philips has the same amount of technical expertise and extant research and development as Sony by the time Nintendo starts looking to make the SNES's disc system add-on.

Premise
The year is 1988. Nintendo becomes interested in producing a CD-ROM add-on for the SNES all on its own. The company contracts both Philips and Sony to develop and produce prototypes of the accessory. The prototype that Philips presents ends up being comparable to or better than Sony's version, the latter of which is identical to the unlaunched SNES-CD/'Nintendo PlayStation' in our timeline. Philips wins the bid for the final contract.

(Unanswered open questions:
  • What makes Nintendo interested in using CD-ROMs for games in this timeline?
  • What makes Nintendo include this timeline's improved Philips in initial negotiations?)

Existing discussion from the parent thread:
Good start.

Hopefully this turns good, and I could help out on the animation parts.
 
Hello! Since I'm a big fan of "Player Two Start", allow me to help get you started...

First off, the name could use a bit of work. I'd personally call it "System Reboot", because it's a reboot of the P2S timeline, and because it involves video game systems.

Second, here are my answers for your open questions. Be careful, as I don't know much about gaming hardware.
  • What makes Nintendo interested in using CD-ROMs for games in this timeline?
If it's before 1988, perhaps some boys at Rare tell them about how powerful the ZX Spectrum is across the pond, which gets them interested in disc-based games sooner.
  • What makes Nintendo include this timeline's improved Philips in initial negotiations?)
Assuming nothing about the creation of the CD or CD-i has changed from OTL, I'd say Phillips told Nintendo about the improved music quality of a CD, providing the main themes to SMB and Zelda 1 as pertinent examples of great gaming music from them, and then continued with the improved graphics potential.

However, I do have another idea for early on: Launch the SNES-CD add-on in 1990 as well, and make a bundle package at launch for both of them. That way, we don't get peeved parents who are forced to buy two separate things so close to each other. We just get a couple of peeved children who are mad they didn't get the bundle for Christmas. Either way, it's a sale on Nintendo's end.
 
What makes Nintendo interested in using CD-ROMs for games in this timeline?
The same as OTL,the information and later success of PC Engine CD in Japan, OTL PC Engine was very successful in Japan so they decided to make sure SNES have everything to counter it.


What makes Nintendo include this timeline's improved Philips in initial negotiations?)
I think Yamauchi getting the gut much like Gameboy development that giving Sony the sound chip and CD ROM drive is giving too much leverage to a single supplier (something Yamauchi hated OTL) and asking Sony more about CD ROM and Phillips is mentioned so snowball from there)
 
You know what?

Between Philips/Nintendo, Microsoft, Google and Apple, I'd prefer Sony and Sega get together.

Or Microsoft and Sega and Sony goes solo...
How about this:

1990: Nintendo/Phillips
1994: Sony (Solo venture, except for Columbia's involvement for IP production.)
2001: Microsoft/Sega (Sega might even be bought by Microsoft.)
2003: Microsoft buys Valve and makes it their PC gaming division. Nothing about Valve's production would change.
2013: Sony leaves the console market after the PS3, leaving for a Google/Apple console in its wake.
2014: Sony starts making consoles for the Google/Apple console.
2017: Microsoft starts their buying spree of OTL, if not sooner. Why it took this long after Valve was to prevent any anti-trust issues.
 
2013: Sony leaves the console market after the PS3, leaving for a Google/Apple console in its wake.
Let me guess the hd-dvd Blu-ray wars ended up with Sony losing as hd-dvd got the support of both MSega and Nintendo -phillips leaving Sony alone with an unpopular format?
 
Let me guess the hd-dvd Blu-ray wars ended up with Sony losing as hd-dvd got the support of both MSega and Nintendo -phillips leaving Sony alone with an unpopular format?
Actually, I thought that Sony would be at a disadvantage by not partnering with someone else, but that's pretty cool, too.

Even though I'm a Blu-ray fan for life, but that's a different story.
 
Actually, I thought that Sony would be at a disadvantage by not partnering with someone else, but that's pretty cool, too.

Even though I'm a Blu-ray fan for life, but that's a different story.
Sony have to lost billions to save the blu-ray as Disney demanded millions of those in the wild so Disney would remain exclusively to the format,ittl they might not be able to match two consoles using it
 
Sony have to lost billions to save the blu-ray as Disney demanded millions of those in the wild so Disney would remain exclusively to the format,ittl they might not be able to match two consoles using it
Would Nintendo have to rush their next-gen Blu-ray console out to the market for a holiday 2006 release or would they have to wait until 2007 or 2008 if they were partnered with Sony?
 
Yeah, sorry but I can't see this. Even if you ignore how bad the CD-I Nintendo games were in our world console games on CD really didn't catch on at the time-Sega tried it and it blew up in their faces. I don't think it'll cause Nintendo to go the way Sega did in our world-they survived the Virtual Boy, they can survive whatever mess this ends up being. But even so...my prediction? Pain.
 
Yeah, sorry but I can't see this. Even if you ignore how bad the CD-I Nintendo games were in our world console games on CD really didn't catch on at the time-Sega tried it and it blew up in their faces. I don't think it'll cause Nintendo to go the way Sega did in our world-they survived the Virtual Boy, they can survive whatever mess this ends up being. But even so...my prediction? Pain.
PC Engine: are I'm a joke to you? People here hadn't been in Japan. PC Engine outsold the Megadrive and PC Engine in Japan was very popular, the main problem is seems the west was more obsessed with a quick buck that making quality content ( PC showed how could be) plus Nintendo brand post NES was very strong, meaning people would get it for the next Mario and Zelda
 
Eh, I still feel like it would just be inundated with FMV garbage like the Sega CD was. Nintendo would probably make a couple games for it but overall I imagine they'd look at it like the Zapper or the Power Glove-another peripheral to the main console (they might port some of the regular SNES games to the CD player, but-again-see how that worked out for Sega). Although the experience of working on the CD stuff earlier could have effects when it starts to catch on, meaning they might not be smashed into paste by the PS1 this time around, but that's probably getting a little too far ahead.
 
Eh, I still feel like it would just be inundated with FMV garbage like the Sega CD was. Nintendo would probably make a couple games for it but overall I imagine they'd look at it like the Zapper or the Power Glove-another peripheral to the main console (they might port some of the regular SNES games to the CD player, but-again-see how that worked out for Sega). Although the experience of working on the CD stuff earlier could have effects when it starts to catch on, meaning they might not be smashed into paste by the PS1 this time around, but that's probably getting a little too far ahead.
Nintendo at the time still have the treehouse that double as a internal Western testers keep the seal of quality standards, so they would expunged a lot of 'barely games' FMV stuff, so i don't think they will have a problem.
Perhaps Sony could back the 3DO?
I don't think so, OTL Hawkins tried to arrange a meeting and sony not even bothered to take his call, Sony already have all the pieces going solo as OTL, plus 3DO business model was a disaster already
 
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