Thinking about buying a 3DO

[Daria]

I like underdogs. And I enjoy quirky FMV games and old strategy titles. That said I'm thinking about buying a 3DO but I don't really know where to begin.

Which model is the best?
What should I expect to pay?
Did they make any other RPGs besides Guardian War and Lucienne's Quest?
What are considered the system's classics?

I like the look of the bulky drawer model with the round legs, but I don't know if one system is better than the others. I also enjoyed playing the Horde but don't know if it would be better to buy the saturn version. Any suggestions or discussions are welcome.

[InsaneDavid]

Stay away from the Goldstar version and accessories, it's all junk. I have an FZ-1 (front loading drawer) I rescued for $10 and I love it. The only downside is you have to use a software based memory manager that was included in some games to manage your save data. The FZ-10 (flip top) hardwired the memory manager. Also be sure you use the second version controllers (FZ-JP2X), the ones that do NOT have the headphone jack - they are far better than the first release controllers.

As for games, I really only bought a 3DO to play Pretty Soldier Sailormoon S (JPN) which I do play a lot of. Shanghai: Triple-Threat is a nice diversion but aside from that I really haven't gotten into the software library.

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

I think the 3DO is actually a pretty high quality system. A surprising number of good titles despite the small library.

I'd definitely recommend the Panasonic FZ-1 unless you can find one of the weird obscure models like the Samsung/LG Korean one or the Sanyo one from Japan or something like that (not that I have reaosn to believe that they're actually better pieces of hardware, but it's always nice to have something obscure...or *MORE* obscure, I should say). The FZ-10 feels cheap by comparison and the Goldstar unit is famous for breaking down. I hardly ever hear of people having problems with an FZ-1.

As for RPGs, it depends on your definition, I guess, but there's Star Control 2 and also one or two of those AD&D dungeon crawler things. Maybe some others that I'm not thinking of, but Guardian War (shit) and Lucienne's Quest are the only traditional console style RPGs, I think.

I love The Horde on the 3DO and while I only played it briefly on the Saturn, I didn't notice anything different. Given the nature of the game, I expect you're going to get 99% the same thing regardless of which version you get.

I only have two more words: Return Fire.


...word is bondage...

[bangtango]

Buy either the Panasonic FZ-1 (front loading) or FZ-10 (top loading). The other posters are right about avoiding the Goldstar. Not only is the Goldstar model prone to breaking down but it also has problems running a few games. Some become really choppy, when run on a Goldstar, and others do not run at all.

Based on my experience, used 3DO's will run from $35-65 (give or take) if purchased online and that normally includes shipping. The Goldstar model is generally the cheapest. The "real" ones by Panasonic are obviously a little more expensive. Maybe it is just me but the FZ-10's have gone up in price quite a bit over the past 5-6 months, even higher than the FZ-1 in some auctions.

As for games, some interesting ones include the stuff that also ended up on Playstation like Gex, Psychic Detective, Casper and Need for Speed. 3DO also has a well-received version of Super Street Fighter II Turbo.

[roushimsx]

Blade Force (http://www.digitpress.com/DP/cmf/game.cmf?gameid=15512) was a hell of a lot of fun back in the day but it hasn't aged terribly well. If you can find it reasonably cheap then it's worth a look-see still. It was one of the highest rated 3do games in Game Players magazine and was the one that really put the system on the map for me.

Seconding Return Fire and The Horde as well. Both have aged surprisingly well and are still pretty damn fun.

Space Hulk: Vengeance of the Blood Angels isn't bad, but the load times are murder in pretty much all of the non-PC versions of it. Again, worth checking out on the cheap if you absolutely can't find the PC version anywhere. Apparently it recently got remade for mobile phones with turn based gameplay, which IMO would make it absolutely tits.

[Dreamcast]

Only for Return Fire. :2gunfire: :rockets:

[DDCecil]

I keep mine around (FZ-1) for Icebreaker (and Icebreaker 2), Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, Theme Park (Best port of it, IMO), and the 2 Stupid Dogs clip on the sampler disk.

Other ones I like:

Quarantine isn't very good, but I love the songs on it (Does anyone know who sings any of the songs? There isn't a track list in the manual. I like the one where the angry chick screams "YOU DON'T LOVE ME ANYMORE, OH NO NO! and the one with the man with the accent singing "Dance with me. You are so pretty. I can see, I'm no good without you). The FZ-1 plays it, but I can't get it to work on a FZ-10.

Strahl is fun if you like the Dragon's Lair/Time Gal-type FMV games.

[gepeto]

We had a serious run with the 3do.(when we were able to afford it).

Games we loved
Alone in the dark for the time it was totally different.
the samplers
return fire
road rash
samuri showdown
steet fighter
dragon lair

It will always own a special part in my heart.

[ronclon]

I like the fz 10 the best.

Captain Quazar must be on your list of games to get. It's just freaking awesome. Street Fighter II turbo is maybe the best port of the game on any system. Cannon Fodder is another great title.

[geelw]

I like underdogs. And I enjoy quirky FMV games and old strategy titles. That said I'm thinking about buying a 3DO but I don't really know where to begin.

Which model is the best?
What should I expect to pay?
Did they make any other RPGs besides Guardian War and Lucienne's Quest?
What are considered the system's classics?

I like the look of the bulky drawer model with the round legs, but I don't know if one system is better than the others. I also enjoyed playing the Horde but don't know if it would be better to buy the saturn version. Any suggestions or discussions are welcome.

I'd but an FZ-10 just so you wouldn't have to worry about the automatic door down the road, but the FZ-1 does have appeal... round legs = cankles! makes me think of a family guy reference for some reason... anyway:

Well, there eventually weren't a whole lot of them, but the more unusual rpgs were released in japan (of course, even though it's a US system!), but if you want a make your own dungeon hack type of game, i'd recommend Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Slayer as a buy. A D&D Deathkeep is also good (it has an actual story), but they cut some corners in the production - the fmv intro is totally laughable.

Dragon Lore and Lost Eden are European made point & click adventure games with RPG elements. Lost Eden has the better story, but I'm more partial to Dragon Lore's stylized visuals and the ultimate in spiky-haired rendered characters. It's a acquired tase, to be sure, but there's something about the game that hooks you in...

If you can find it and don't mind dying from all sorts of stuff, Robinson's Requiem is a sort of cool game once you understand the controls and get used to the visuals.

Demolition Man is hilarious - a combo of FPS, Time Crisis style shooting sequences, driving and stiff fighting action. Stallone filmed a bunch of short new FMV clips for the game, so it adds to the movie experience. Actually, i had never bothered to see the film until I played the game! the intro id right from the movie and when i saw the burning HOLLYWOOD sign in the chopper shot, I put the film on my "to see" list.

Definitely pick up D, as it's a classic. short (two hours, but it has two and a half endings, lol), but it's one of the first games of its type and WARP helped move some systems based on the buzz about the import version.

Corpse Killer is fun, although it's intentionally campy to a fault and should have been a FPS instead of a side-scrolling shoot the zombie with the cursor game...

the deadalus encounter is a lot more polished FMV entry - some of the puzzles are a pain to solve, but the production values are alright.

Other classics:

P'oed (VERY weird FPS with bizarre enemies, but MASSIVE levels, a dead Elvis in a freezer that opens up a crazy secret level and a pretty decent 3D engine. funny as hell in spots, scary in other and the ending is quite silly.)
Road Rash (a MUST, even if you hate racing games)
Return Fire/ Return Fire Maps O' Death (excellent with two players)
Shock Wave/Shock Wave: Operation Jumpgate/Shock Wave 2 (sci-fi themed 3D shooters- hard as hell in spots)
BattleSport (great arena-based "sports" game like ballblazer)
Wing Commander III (if you like space combat sims)
Burning Soldier (if you hate the above and want a cool Japanese FMV game. it's short, but catchy and probably really cheap)
Novastorm (psygnosis FMV shooter)
Road & Track Presents Need for Speed (some folks like this, some don't)
Sid Meier's CPU Bach (not a game, but a baroque music generator - very cool and relaxing stuff)
Icebreaker (addictive puzzle game where you're a pyramid shooting and/or avoiding other pyramids in a ton of levels. addictive and frustrating at the same time on the higher stages, but you'll keep playing...
Syndicate (if you can find it) - very cool strategy game with a cyberpunk sorta theme...
Total Eclipse (gotta love a pack in space shooter - not bad, but i gets really hard)
Star Fighter (More 3D space shooting, but with destructible terrain and a pretty high difficulty level as the game goes on)
Trip'D (watered down version of WARP's Flopon the Space Mutant - they kept the core gameplay and changed the main game screen around significantly. also, you're missing a really weird Japanese mini-game that got clipped where you use multiplication tables to slap some poor guy in the face based on how many times you bash a button...
Gex (fun platformer and funny.. er, sometimes. I'd never heard of dana Gould before Gex and I haven't heard of him after, either...)

Acquired tastes:

Captain Quazar (some think it's a classic, i thought it was too damn corny and ugly to be really great.. but it's a fun isometric action game and stuff blows up real good)
Phoenix 3 (side scrolling action/platformer w 3D space combat sections. I hated this for ages until i decided to actually finish it and it's not as bad as I thought...)
Psychic Detective (Live action FMV with a real jerk for a main character, but an intriguing set up and multiple endings depending on your choices)
Immercenary (cool idea, bizarre mix of FPS and FMV, not so hot to look at and hard as hell, but it grows on you as you get into it... it's sort of an arty/organic sci-fi coffee blend).
Paatank (might make you throw up if you can't stand the motion on screen)
Off-World Interceptor (way too hard to be fun in single player mode... it can be beat, but you may break a controller in the process)
Scramble Cobra (Genki's take on the Shock Wave games puts you in charge of an army chopper instead of a space cruiser. same gameplay, but different FMV and lots of screaming guitars for some reason.
Iron Angel of the Apocalypse/Iron Angel of the Apocalypse: the Return (for me, these USED to be on the Avoid list below, but I kinda like the stupid games a little more. Granted, you'll want to AVOID both of them because i don't want you coming to my house and stabbing me in my sleep.
Quarantine (so THAT'S where twisted metal came from... sort of. more like crazy taxi meets the road warrior meets twisted metal, circa 1993. it's not a great-looking game at all, but it does have a decent soundtrack and once you make enough money and stop getting killed enough to dial in the game, it's not that bad...).

Avoid, or they'll kill you dead:

Virtuoso (wow, is this bad... i mean really.)
Seal of the Pharaoh (I kind of liked this a while back, but replaying it put me to sleep twice. in one level...)
Cyberdillo
Mazer
Night Trap (some people PAY THROUGH THE NOSE for this game because they think it has nudity and gore in it. it doesn't. it's crap. intentionally funny crap, but crap nonetheless. suckers.)

as for imports, my stuff is stored away for the next week while the place is being plastered/painted, but i know you can get a few more RPGs of assorted quality and games like Policenauts, Pyramid Intruder (Taito FMV shooter), Yu Yu Hakusho (2D fighting) and a bunch of others.

[Kid Fenris]

Did they make any other RPGs besides Guardian War and Lucienne's Quest?


The 3DO has very few straight RPGs. Even the Japan-only titles come up short in that department, and most of the text-heavy games need the Kanji buffer RAM thingy that's in Japanese systems. The only notable import 3DO RPG is probably Right Stuff's Blue Forest Story. It has an an intro with all the gratuitous CG nudity that 1994 could muster.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPdrioXXy8E

Of course, you could just get the PlayStation port of Blue Forest Story. Oddly enough, it removes all the opening shots of the naked heroine. Don't ask how I know this.

[digitalpress]

Really important (software) thread by a guy who not only owns but has also played every 3DO game:

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32396

Hope this helps.

[retroman]

Good choice...i love my 3DO...some games to check out are....
Need For Speed
Road Rash
Hell
cannon Fodder
Gex
ShockWave 1&2
PGA Tour 96
Foes Of Ali.
and thats just a few....

[Sothy]

Star Control 2 is amazing.

And Wing Commander 3 for 3do blows the ps1 version outta the water imo

[YoshiM]

If you like something quirky and want to get others in on the 3DO fun, try to find Twisted! It's a weird "virtual reality" game show where you choose a weird TV character who gets a chance to go to the "real world". Has trivia, visual puzzle games, Memory type games, etc.

[mailman187666]

If you liked Out of This World and Flashback, the 3DO has really good ports of these games on it. They were the best ones I had played anyways.

[cyberfluxor]

Really important (software) thread by a guy who not only owns but has also played every 3DO game:

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32396

Hope this helps.

Thank you, and I really appreciate the screenshots that are offered for the 3DO games. I actually did find Star Raider for the PSX a few weeks ago but was scratched to all crap so I passed, though if it weren't it would have been in my shopping bag in a heartbeat, just looked too cool!

I too have been thinking about getting a 3DO unit and it really does appear to be a system worth the investment of gameplay for a classic gamer. I'd get either the FZ-1 or FZ-10 models (prefer the later) but they're a bit expensive for me at the moment so I'm waiting for either that good deal or when I have some more games to play.

One game I'd really like to get though, Wolfenstein.

[mailman187666]

One game I'd really like to get though, Wolfenstein.

I think Wolfenstein is the best version for the 3DO that I've played. Great game

[Daria]

If you like something quirky and want to get others in on the 3DO fun, try to find Twisted! It's a weird "virtual reality" game show where you choose a weird TV character who gets a chance to go to the "real world". Has trivia, visual puzzle games, Memory type games, etc.


Heh. I'm staying at a friend's house for the week and we all sat around like Sunday night playing that. Uncle Fez looks like a walking penis.

[xfrumx]

I have all 3 versions of the 3do, and use the goldstar the most since it was the first one i got. I have never had a problem with it yet.

[Jorpho]

It seems to me that most (if not all) of the most famous games had PC ports, though they might be a little difficult to find legal copies of them. Icebreaker, Captain Quasar, and Virtuoso, to name some uncommon ones.

[Steve W]

I've got two Panasonic 3DO units, a whole bunch of Goldstar new-in-box controllers and some SNES-to-3DO converters, and about a dozen games or more. And yet, I still have never plugged any of the units in and played them. In the past few years I have been picking up a lot of game consoles that I was interested in back in the day, and coming away disappointed in them. I don't have the desire to go through the same thing with the 3DO. I'm waiting to find a few more triple-A titles to enjoy before I give it a shot. I don't want to start off with a bad impression.

[Gapporin]

Quarantine isn't very good, but I love the songs on it (Does anyone know who sings any of the songs? There isn't a track list in the manual. I like the one where the angry chick screams "YOU DON'T LOVE ME ANYMORE, OH NO NO! and the one with the man with the accent singing "Dance with me. You are so pretty. I can see, I'm no good without you). The FZ-1 plays it, but I can't get it to work on a FZ-10.

A full track list can be found here (http://www.mobygames.com/game/3do/quarantine/trivia) (scroll down towards the bottom).

[Iron Draggon]

Stay away from the Goldstar version and accessories, it's all junk. I have an FZ-1 (front loading drawer) I rescued for $10 and I love it. The only downside is you have to use a software based memory manager that was included in some games to manage your save data. The FZ-10 (flip top) hardwired the memory manager. Also be sure you use the second version controllers (FZ-JP2X), the ones that do NOT have the headphone jack - they are far better than the first release controllers.

As for games, I really only bought a 3DO to play Pretty Soldier Sailormoon S (JPN) which I do play a lot of. Shanghai: Triple-Threat is a nice diversion but aside from that I really haven't gotten into the software library.

actually, the Goldstar control pads are the best... the Panasonic control pads are shit... I went through both revisions of the Panasonic control pads before trying out the Goldstar control pads, and I haven't had a problem since then...

I use and highly recommend the Panasonic FZ10 with the Goldstar control pads... looks like they were made to go together, and works the best... you do have to break the control pads in a bit, if you buy them new, cause the buttons are a bit stiff at first... but after that they will never wear out like the buttons on either version of the Panasonic control pads do... trust me on that... I played the fuck out of my 3DO back in the day, and I thought I'd never find a reliable control pad for it that wouldn't end up breaking on me, until I got the Goldstar control pads... before that, I thought the Panasonic control pads were like a reincarnation of the Atari 5200 control pads... SHIT!

[sidnotcrazy]

If you like something quirky and want to get others in on the 3DO fun, try to find Twisted! It's a weird "virtual reality" game show where you choose a weird TV character who gets a chance to go to the "real world". Has trivia, visual puzzle games, Memory type games, etc.

Wow, I am a fan of Twisted too. I loved playing it with friends. Twisted really is a great party game.

Also Cannon Fodder, Star Control II, and Return Fire are great!

[fahlim003]

Stay away from the Goldstar version and accessories, it's all junk. I have an FZ-1 (front loading drawer) I rescued for $10 and I love it. The only downside is you have to use a software based memory manager that was included in some games to manage your save data. The FZ-10 (flip top) hardwired the memory manager.

Do you mean that memory adapter can only be used with FZ-10? By memory adapter, I mean that very uncommon expansion unit that plugs in via a wire and uses a CD based GUI.

[InsaneDavid]

Do you mean that memory adapter can only be used with FZ-10? By memory adapter, I mean that very uncommon expansion unit that plugs in via a wire and uses a CD based GUI.

No, memory manager just as I said. The utility that allows you to erase and manage save data on the internal memory.

[Ed Oscuro]

I just picked up a number of games. Surprisingly (or not), Shockwave runs terribly.

[fahlim003]

No, memory manager just as I said. The utility that allows you to erase and manage save data on the internal memory.

Yeah, the memory adapter also uses software to manage the save data. All the same, I assume then the memory adapter can only be used with FZ-10 models?

[InsaneDavid]

Yeah, the memory adapter also uses software to manage the save data.

But it's still not what I was talking about.

[The Great Dane]

I want to get a 3DO just for the fighting game...Way of the Warrior *ducks*

I know this is thought of as being an aweful game, but I have always been fascinated with the game. Looking at screens of it in old magazines for years inspired me to design my own fighting game (only artwork) like the characters and levels. I did get a chance to play it once many years ago at a Software Ect. and I liked it well enough.

[Kid Ice]

I want to get a 3DO just for the fighting game...Way of the Warrior *ducks*

I know this is thought of as being an aweful game, but I have always been fascinated with the game. Looking at screens of it in old magazines for years inspired me to design my own fighting game (only artwork) like the characters and levels. I did get a chance to play it once many years ago at a Software Ect. and I liked it well enough.

If you're interested in WOTW also check out Shadow: War of Succession. It's actually somewhat worse than WOTW, and without the White Zombie soundtrack to boot.

[AcePuppy]

I actually picked up a 3DO off eBay last year in a lot with about 25 games (half of which were really good games) for $130 including shipping. I've since picked up a couple more games since than that I played when I actually had a 3DO. I wanna suggest you or anyone else to check out..

The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes

Great game, but is very pricey on eBay because it's getting hard to find. I picked it up for about $25 in mint condition but prices now are getting up to the $50 range.

[Lemmi_Is_God]

im pretty broke right now and i just sold my Dinopark Tycoon for $450 :)

ive never had any problems with my Goldstar unit in the first year i had mine then i found a new FZ10 for $43 at media play and ive had that hooked up ever since, but i still use the best 3do controller they made (the goldstar version)

there are adaptors out there that let you use SNES controllers on the 3do if you like those better

there are memory managers on a couple of the sampler CDs which are pretty common
samplers #2,#3,#4 have them as well as the original one that came with the FZ1 unit