Super NES CD-ROM

The Super NES CD-ROM (commonly abbreviated as SNES CD) was a series of unreleased devices developed in the early 1990s that would have added CD-ROM capabilities to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The project was conceived as an add-on device for the Super NES as well as a dedicated all-in-one unit, all of which would support playback of CDs. Games would also be stored on the medium, using two distinct formats based on CD-ROM.

Nintendo collaborated with Sony to develop the project, which led to the development of an all-in-one unit known as the PlayStation that was capable of playing both Super NES cartridges and a new CD-based format named the Super Disc. The two companies worked on the project until Nintendo collaborated with Sony's competitor, Philips, to work on the project as well, with that particular partnership leading to the development of an add-on for the Super NES that can accept CDs and used a different format for storing games on a CD-ROM. Ultimately, both projects fell short due to licensing disputes over the Nintendo and Sony collaboration as well as Nintendo silently canceling the proposed add-on device for their partnership with Philips.

The fallout of these cancellations had lasting consequences for Nintendo, Sony and Philips. After Nintendo left the partnership with Sony in favor of Philips, Sony continued to develop the project on their own, which led to the development of a brand-new console for the next generation of video game consoles that became known as the PlayStation in 1994, with the new console solidifying Sony's place in the video game industry. On the other hand, Philips was gained the rights to use a few of Nintendo's properties in their games for the CD-i platform after Nintendo silently cancelled the jointly produced add-on under their partnership midway through its development before a single prototype was even made; the Nintendo-themed CD-i games were poorly received and the CD-i as a whole was considered a failure.

After leaving both partnerships, Nintendo would not revisit the concept of optical disc-based media for their consoles again until 2001 with the release of the GameCube that year, which was the successor to its cartridge-based Nintendo 64.