Opinion of the 3DO

[Austin]

I'm just concerned about the laser eventually dying. I've only had that happen on one system so far (my Turbo CD), but I think it's not a matter of if but when for my 3DO.

That is a good point. Although you might not have much to worry about with the FZ-10 (they seem to be the most reliable of the 3DO models), but still, like with any CD based console of this age, disc drive failure is a very real possibility.

[CatPix]

The problem with the price being that it made a bad impression on people. Even if the price dropped in many place from 700 to 500$ in ONE year, it left people with a bad impression, the feeling of buying an overpriced system.

Also indeed, the business model was flawed. The 3DO company could have seen those flaws and correct them, but they didn't. Either they left this to Panasonic to solve it, or they were so impressed with their work they though they would overcome this.

And well they were right to be impressed. I would have liked to see the MGS game on the 3DO to copare with the Playstation. I can't wait to see homebrew on the 3DO using the 3D capabilities of the 3DO fully. I'm sure than even the best games on the 3DO barely scratched the capacities of the system.

2D games like Gex may have show the best it can do... and oh boy this is amazing to see!

No doubt that Sony took inspiration of the 3DO business model and corrected the biggest flaws to make the Playstation the system is became. Otherwise, I think today we'll play on the 3DO 5 (or Dimension M4 maybe?)

[Gamer888]

I love my 3do....at some point I got the Sanyo one. The CD tray broke down. It was a second hand system but I was still surprised (and saaaad) that my Sanyo died. After some research, I found out the Sanyo is super sexy and all, but the CD tray is actually a bit flawed and the failure rate is quite high, at least higher than the regular 3dos......

[CatPix]

Sanyo is crap... not only for 3DO but as a general rule

[Austin]

If I had a Sanyo 3DO, it wouldn't be used to actually play games. It would be a collector's piece since it's one of the less common models to come by.

[Lost Dragon]

I'm not aware of a 'Lost 3DO' Games type thread, so thought here was a good a place as any, but it appears Probe planned Alien Trilogy as not only a Mega CD game originally, but as a MCD and 3DO game when it was at concept stages, then switched planned format to 32X and later Saturn/PS1 and PC.

 

So this can join Soviet Strike, Blood Omen:LOK, MGS etc as origins on 3DO.

[Austin]

I'm not aware of a 'Lost 3DO' Games type thread, so thought here was a good a place as any, but it appears Probe planned Alien Trilogy as not only a Mega CD game originally, but as a MCD and 3DO game when it was at concept stages, then switched planned format to 32X and later Saturn/PS1 and PC.

 

So this can join Soviet Strike, Blood Omen:LOK, MGS etc as origins on 3DO.

 

There are a lot of "Lost 3DO" games. Check http://3do.cdinteractive.co.uk/ for a plethora of them. Lots of interesting stuff planned for the platform that never came to fruition.

[Lost Dragon]

I know DMA Design said once they'd stopped all work on more Lemmings games, they focused on the 3DO, bought dev.kits, spent around 6 months evaluating it and what titles they could do on it, before coming to the conclusion it was'nt able to do what 3DO had promised it could.Luckily for them, Nintendo then approached them to see if they wanted to work on the then 'Ultra 64', but i've heard them say the 6 months spent on 3DO was time wasted....

[Flojomojo]

I think the 3DO version of Wing Commander III is pretty neat, no loading at all and it supports a flightstick. The PC version is better in every way, of course, but that's not what you asked.

 

Know what I think is more fun than the 3DO? Reading about the games in their historical context. Next Generation (and Edge) were pretty fair to it and the Jaguar when they were new, and the screenshots and marketing materials are neat to see. Start here: https://archive.org/stream/nextgen-issue-001/Next_Generation_Issue_001_January_1995

[Lost Dragon]

Apparently Adeline (LBA 1+2, Time Commando etc) tried to arrange a meeting with the 3DO Company, with a view to developing on the M2, but they never got back to them.So, maybe not just Sega who never seemed to return calls?.

 

 

Edge did indeed initally seem very 'fair' on 3DO, games like NFS, Space Hulk, Blade Force (Which Edge felt was maxing out hardware), Madden, Road Rash etc (rightly) praised, but like the Jaguar, 3DO was soon seen as yesterdays news once Saturn/PS1 hit.

[Rick Dangerous]

When I re-built my 3DO collection this year I found myself quite impressed with the quality of games in it's library for a "failed system" and also by its performance/graphical capabilities. The video quality is also quite high so a lot of my definitive copies of games that were most remembered from the Sega CD era I now own on 3DO, such as Night Trap and Sewer Shark. I have to say many of the games I've rediscovered on 3DO would have blown me out of the water during my N64 days...and to be honest still do. The 3DO will have a prized space in my collection for a long time to come..

[Lost Dragon]

I always wanted a 3DO for:Space Hulk, Return Fire and Starfighter, but price of hardware put me off and by the time it'd dropped to a price i was willing to pay, news was out all 3 games were headed to PS1 anyway.But it did put out some bloody impressive games for it's time and when likes of Edge etc started to describe it as being under-powered, i just eye-rolled.Sure, newer hardware had replaced it in the technical pecking order, such is the nature of all things, but that was'nt to take away what it was capable of for it's era.

[dashv]

When I re-built my 3DO collection this year I found myself quite impressed with the quality of games in it's library for a "failed system" and also by its performance/graphical capabilities. The video quality is also quite high so a lot of my definitive copies of games that were most remembered from the Sega CD era I now own on 3DO, such as Night Trap and Sewer Shark. I have to say many of the games I've rediscovered on 3DO would have blown me out of the water during my N64 days...and to be honest still do. The 3DO will have a prized space in my collection for a long time to come..

Totally agree. I am a new 3DO owner but so far I'm loving it!

 

Night Trap on the 3DO is an amazing game for its time. Sewer Shark is going to take few more plays for me to get the hang of. Had lots of fun playing through Demolition Man even with the bad fight stages.

 

Looking forward to playing Twisted, the Need for Speed, GEX, and Daedalus encounter.

[Master Phruby]

About six months ago I picked up a fz-1 at goodwill for $15. It came with a soccer game. I burnt some CDs for it. Some worked. Some didn't. I enjoyed the system but it reminded me too much of my 486 at the time. The graphics and games where the same back then. I have it on display now but don't play it. It's easier to run the emulator off the computer instead. Never liked it as much I thought I would. Probably because I played most of these games before on my ps1 and 486 back in the day.

[willis]

The 3DO had quite a few bad games, but as most that look into the collection it had, you'll find there were plenty of good titles as well. Road Rash comes to mind first as that game really shines on the 3DO compared to the other versions of it. I also found the D&D games (Slayer and Deathkeep) pretty cool as well.

[Scotterpop]

I absolutely love the 3DO. My first exposure to this system was at a Montgomery Ward store where I had just started working after high school. I was blown away by how amazing the graphics were for the time. But that $700 price tag... OUCH! The store had a free standing 3DO demo, a CD-I demo, as well as a JVC X-Eye kiosk in the Electric Avenue department which I would play compulsively on my lunch breaks. This would have been in late '94. Those units were eventually replaced by the much more popular PS1 and N64 demos and so those other systems were relegated to console obscurity. But I'll never forget that awesome first impression the graphics and gloriously oversized boxes for the 3DO made on me.

 

I didn't actually own a 3DO until much later, around the year 2000 or so after picking one up in a thrift store. Of course by then the graphics and appeal had aged quite a bit but the playabilty of some of those games was still top notch. It has the best version of Road Rash, for sure. I would also recommend Killing Time (an excellent FPS akin to Wolfenstein), Wing Commander III, Shock Wave, D&D Slayer, Dragon Lore, Alone in the Dark, Gex, Starblade (an excellent space shooter that will really give your thumbs a workout) and Corpse Killer. The system still has an appeal to me that I can't quite explain. One of my favorites to collect for.