Saturn prototype hardware surfaces?

[Anthaemia.]

Someone posted videos on YouTube just yesterday showing two early casing prototypes for the Saturn, including one that I can vividly remember being featured in quite a few old magazine articles. Unfortunately, they're both in poor condition and would really benefit from a proper restoration. Here are the all-important links to the footage of these historical items:

[darkman01]

very interesting to see, Id say they did well with the final design ,as these look quite odd . Prototype C in particular looks kind of like a cheaper Sony Discman from the time.

[soviet9922]

Its a shame that they are display only models.
That 3 unit is cool

[dj898]

That GigaDrive was the hardware evaluation model never meant for the final design. The Golden one is the simple design mockup sample to see the look of the case design.

The Saturn console was meant to be Golden colour but due to the painting issue Sega had they decided to release with the primer coat only which was the grey in colour and the rest was the history.

[soviet9922]

Never hear that before quite intersting. Gray is an ugly color but they where in a hurry for the release date.

[Deleted]

Are these actual prototypes or fake? I thought the prototype for Saturn was discovered a few years ago and was called the Pluto.

[zyrobs]

Nov 15, 2017 20:37:29 GMT @hellfire said:

Are these actual prototypes or fake? I thought the prototype for Saturn was discovered a few years ago and was called the Pluto.

We've had photos of these designs as far as 1994. The cases are empty because they are just design concepts. It's likely that these ate those exact cases, but also possible that someone just made convincing mockups based on the photos.

The Pluto was a late 95 / early 96 prototype for a Saturn that could do more, most likely a modem built-in, but I suspect it may have had more.

[chinozor]

Really like the proto A, less excited by the proto C aka "discman" ;-)

[Deleted]

One of the prototypes sold... for an astronomical 6000 euros. I didn't think it was going sell being just a case and all, guess I was wrong.

[mick_aka]

Very interesting to see!

There was a grey production prototype floating around in private hands quite a number of years ago with silk-screening on the drive door that was a big SEGA logo in the classic typeset with Saturn underneath in a weird italic font.

There used to be a video of it on Dailymotion from when the owner at the time took it with them to Classic Gaming Expo one year.

[zyrobs]

I have a grey Saturn VA1 internal test unit, but that's far less interesting.

[dj898]

May 14, 2019 23:22:51 GMT mick_aka said:

Very interesting to see!

There was a grey production prototype floating around in private hands quite a number of years ago with silk-screening on the drive door that was a big SEGA logo in the classic typeset with Saturn underneath in a weird italic font.

There used to be a video of it on Dailymotion from when the owner at the time took it with them to Classic Gaming Expo one year.

believe that was the lump of plastic design mock up.
this sample console contains the motherboard and CD-ROM drive although the motherboard itself is hybrid of features from Sophia development system motherboard and components not used in the retail version.