Rare Sega ‘Pluto’ Prototype Console Surfaces, One Goes Up for Auction

Last week, an amazing thing occurred in the video game world. As far as anybody is aware, there only exist two Sega “Pluto” prototype consoles, and one day apart, the respective owners of each came forward to show-off their wares. The first reveal happened at ASSEMbler, where “Super Magnetic”, a previous Sega employee, talks about how he received the console as part of a “you’re laid off, but take this” sort of deal.

Almost immediately, that forum post spread like wildfire through the Web, and it’s what caused the second owner to step up to the plate. In his YouTube video, he states that he purchased the console a number of years ago for a mere dollar. Yes, as in one. While the Sega employee mentioned above received #02 of the console, this other owner, going by kidvid666, has #01. His unit suffers a minor flaw where the drive door will not stay shut on its own – but that’s a small price to pay, right?

Speaking of small prices, it just so happens that with the insane publicity this console has been getting over the past couple of days, kidvid666 has decided to cash in. If you want a chance at owning a piece of video game history which few people even realized existed until just the other day, you can head on over to the auction site and be prepared to part with at least $7,700 USD. Currently, the reserve price hasn’t even been met, so we can assume that that’s set to $10,000.

So what is Pluto, exactly? By all appearances, it’s a Sega Saturn sporting a different chassis with added Netlink abilities. The software appears to be identical, so those who want to own this and can pay for it definitely fall into the “hardcore” group.

As a big Sega fan, I can definitely say this is an intriguing console, but in some ways, I’m glad it’s just as simple as it is – or at least that’s what I’m telling myself so I can remain happy with my Saturn.