HuguesJohnson.com Mobile: What if the Nintendo CD was Released in 1991?

Scenario 3: Groundhog Day

What if the Nintendo CD was produced yet nothing changed? Suppose the joint Nintendo/Sony add-on hit the stores in 1991 followed shortly by the Sega CD. As the prior theory explored there would certainly be a barrage of horrible CD games that followed. Instead of continuing down the spiral suppose Nintendo scrapped their CD attachment entirely.

The Nintendo of Hiroshi Yamauchi knew when to cut bait. Rob the Robot, Zapper, Power Pad, Super Scope, and later the Virtual Boy were all scrapped when things looked bad.

Suppose in 1992 they simply dropped their CD at the first sign of lameness. Sony would blame Nintendo for abandoning the system too soon while Nintendo would blame Sony for the quality of the hardware. Lawsuits would be exchanged. By the time the smoke cleared, Nintendo and Sony harbored a deep resentment for each other.

By 1993 Sony is furiously working on a 32-bit system to put Nintendo out of business, something called the "Playstation". By 1995 the system was ready for a September launch.

Fast-forward to 2007 and the "Playstation 3" is battling a lower cost Nintendo "Wii". Of course this "Wii" system can natively play the old Nintendo CD games, or consumers can drop $8 to download them on something called the "Virtual Console". The Nintendo CD add-on goes for $50 on something called "eBay" with games averaging $2-$10.