Just bought a 3DO

[gbpxl]

Along with Crash N Burn. It's actually halfway decent, IMO at least. Always loved the long boxes for the games. The controller actually has some weight to it and feels pretty solid. The real task will be trying to find some good exclusives. It seems like most of the good games got ported over to the PS1 or theyre just 3DO versions of PC games.

[YoshiM]

Which system did you get?

The controllers did feel good but on some models the diagonals didn't always want to work. I found out by loosening the corner screws by the D-Pad (if memory serves) can fix the problem as the controller is too tight. I think the Japanese model controllers fix this.

Good exclusives? Eh...I can think of a few but there wasn't anything that made me want to keep my 3DO. I was in a "must try all the stuff I couldn't when I was younger" phase and I bought, played and sold many games systems over a period of years. I do miss Twisted as that was just a bizarre experience. AD&D Slayer and Way of the Warrior were a couple others I'd play regularly. Though if you are a Sewer Shark fan, don't play the 3DO version-the sound is off and the control isn't as tight as it is on the Sega CD.

Edit: I looked up good games on the system and two games that sound interesting are Snow Job and Immercenary. The first uses FMV but it's a point-and-click. By the way it sounds it may be a nod to the later Tex Murphy games on PC (Under a Killing Moon). The second sounds like an action-adventure trip into a virtual world, ala Cyberpunk.

[gbpxl]

I got the FZ-1. I'm a big fan of the point and click games a la Myst, so maybe Ill find something I like. I did see a copy of Twisted which sounds interesting but I passed on it

[goldenband]

I've been playing a lot of 3DO lately and enjoying it. You have to take the mindset of checking out an interesting era in gaming, rather than looking to be blown away by AAA production values and butter-smooth frame rates. If you approach it with an open mind, as a kind of video game archeologist, it's fun.

I wouldn't worry too much about whether games are exclusive or not. Sometimes the PS1 and/or Saturn ports are actually downgrades, or have non-obvious issues with the gameplay. (And sometimes they're upgrades, obviously.)

Immercenary was the first 3DO game I beat and it was a blast. It's impressive how it handles streaming the game world from disc -- things fill in dynamically and very smoothly.

[gbpxl]

I've been playing a lot of 3DO lately and enjoying it. You have to take the mindset of checking out an interesting era in gaming, rather than looking to be blown away by AAA production values and butter-smooth frame rates. If you approach it with an open mind, as a kind of video game archeologist, it's fun.

I wouldn't worry too much about whether games are exclusive or not. Sometimes the PS1 and/or Saturn ports are actually downgrades, or have non-obvious issues with the gameplay. (And sometimes they're upgrades, obviously.)

Immercenary was the first 3DO game I beat and it was a blast. It's impressive how it handles streaming the game world from disc -- things fill in dynamically and very smoothly.
just ordered it. looks awesome

[Bighab]

I got rid of my 3DO system and collection about 10 years ago when I was downsizing. I kinda miss it to be honest. If you like flight sims Wing Commander 3 Heart of the Tiger is awesome(Better than the PS1 version IMO) Super Wing Commander is a system exclusive and another good one. If you like FPS I recommend Wolfenstein 3D, loved it. Avoid the 3DO Doom at all costs! It's almost unplayable. Already mentioned was Twisted which I enjoyed. Other obscure titles I'd recommend are Strahl(like Dragon's Lair) and Icebreaker. And who can forget the adult games? lol

[Spartacus]

I started a 3DO collection last January and finished it in June. I purchased games on Ebay, Mercari, Amazon and a smattering from local game shops. For the most part, finding 3DO games is fairly easy no matter what title you are looking for. The Japanese sell a lot of boxed 3DO consoles on Ebay and because the 3DO is region free, it's an easy inexpensive way to get a 3DO console.


https://i.ibb.co/jfwvNN9/3DO1.jpg (https://ibb.co/wgQNkkZ)


As a long time collector I've come to realize that when starting a new collection, the time I enjoy most is studying a new game library. It's doing the research that makes game collecting a truly enjoyable hobby. As I delved deeper and deeper into the 3DO library I was surprised to find that there were more Japanese 3DO games than North American. I was also surprised to find out how many AO rated 3DO games there were. I read that in Japan the 3DO is associated with AO rated games. This isn't ESRB rated AO by the way, but rather Panasonic's rating system. I thought briefly about having a complete AO rated 3DO collection for the novelty of it. But after watching some on YouTube and reading reviews I decided that the AO rated games were so aweful I would probably never play them. So I limited my collection of 3DO adult games to NeuroDancer: Journey Into the Neuronet! and Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties. The only two that came in long box's.

The 3DO library has few RPG's but a fair smattering of Strategy games. It's mostly action games which has always been my bread and butter type of game. I collect survival games and Robinson's Requiem was a nice addition. A game where you must remove the leeches that attach themselves to your body if you are going to survive. I also collect helicopter games and the 3DO added Blade Force and Scramble Cobra. In Blade Force you fly a HeliPak, which are a pretty small sub set of a helicopter game collection.

I purchased several Japanese exclusive 3DO games and one European exclusive. These were all in CD cases and I don't know if the long box's I craved so much were sold in Japan or Europe. I did buy one long box Korean game Firewall: Man vs. Machine though and I guess it's probably the rarest 3DO game in my collection. I also managed to find a version 1.1 of Brain Dead 13, which fix's a known bug in the game. The Version 1.1 is printed on both discs making it easy to identify though harder to find. I found that 3DO long box's sometimes opened from the top to get the game CD and sometimes opened from the bottom. But I never could figure out which was which and invariably opened the wrong end to get the game out. I also found that clear game box protectors smoothed out box dents and creases and made less cared for 3DO box's look pretty nice.

What surprised me the most about 3DO hardware is finding out how pricey the 3DO American Laser Gamegun is, but with 9 light gun games in the 3DO library, it's probably worth it. Another worthwhile purchase is a 3DO mouse with 14 3DO games supporting one. There are 14 3DO games that support a 3DO flight stick as well. I think the 3DO only has 10 fighting games but the 3DO arcade stick also works with 3DO flying shooter games too and does have a turbo switch. I also found adapters that let you use SNES and PS1 controllers on the 3DO.


https://i.ibb.co/YfkqfPK/3DO2.jpg (https://ibb.co/P1hf1Fb)


I've never trusted CD trays to last forever and always preferred flip top consoles, so I figured I'd end up with only FZ-10 3DO consoles. That was until I found out that some Japanese FZ-1 3DO consoles had a switch on the back that would set the video output to 240p, which is a great output resolution for up scaling. So I ended up with two FZ-1 3DO consoles to my surprise.

I had previously dismissed having a 3DO collection because no one I knew had one and the library had many titles I already have for the Playstation, Sega Saturn and Sega CD. But when I reconsidered, the 3DO's long box's really appealed to the collector in me and the 3DO has enough exclusives to make it worthwhile. The 3DO library is a fine snapshot of the kind of games from it's era, with a generous selection of corny FMV games that will scratch anyone's nostalgic itch. The 3DO was once an expensive console to own, but time and it's lack of popularity have made it reasonable to collect for now.

[Greg2600]

Great collection! I just have the FZ-1 which I had the caps fixed, 240p mod installed, and purchased/installed the 3DO USB thing. I also have a handful of games. Have wanted the GameGun forever but they're expensive and prone to breaking with no easy way to fix.

[Steve W]

When I bought a 3DO about 15 years ago, it was incredibly hard to find games for it in local retro game stores. Something must have changed a few years ago, because they are easy to find now. It seems like every GameXchange store in the Dallas/Fort Worth area has at least three or four in their glass cases, usually with a makeshift inkjet printed cover on a DVD case and a painfully high price tag. I wanted to collect games when they were only a few bucks each, I don't want to pay $90 for a single game. And it seems like most 3DO game prices start out at $40 and go upward sharply. I can't justify spending that kind of money on a system that never engaged me.

[Gameguy]

I mostly avoided the 3DO as I felt the best games are also available on the PC, but it's getting harder to find working PC hardware from that time period now so I can appreciate the 3DO for what it is. I still don't own one or any games as it's rare to find locally.

[Gentlegamer]

3DO is a system I've always wanted to try but have no desire to "collect" for. Sorta like Jaguar, no insult to 3DO intended.

[retroman]

One of my favorite systems of all time. I have had mine since 94, and it still works great today.

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

I wouldn't classify 3DO as one of my all time favorites, but it definitely is an underappreciated system. It really was something quite impressive during its heyday, even if said heyday lasted only a year or two, and it amassed a quite decent library.

[gbpxl]

I wouldn't classify 3DO as one of my all time favorites, but it definitely is an underappreciated system. It really was something quite impressive during its heyday, even if said heyday lasted only a year or two, and it amassed a quite decent library.

not sure if you know this, but the royalty fees for 3DO games were significantly cheaper than Nintendo's and Sega's, and this attracted a lot of third party developers. They tried to make up for this by charging a shitload for the console. $700 in 1993 was a lot of money. it's funny though because their target audience was older gamers anyways, so they would've had the disposable income for it. If I had to guess, I'd say a good majority of the people who wanted a 3DO back then had a 3DO. From what I gather, if someone was a gamer back then if they were in their 20s or 30s, they likely were a PC gamer already. So the 3DO appealed to that demographic who weren't already PC gamers (which wouldve been an expensive proposition itself back then anyways)

[Tron 2.0]

3DO is one of those consoles i wouldn't have mind buying a few decades ago but not now.Sure,there is a optical drive emulator for it but i've heard the person who created it is kind of shady and you're lucky if you can get one.

BTW months ago matt mcmuscles had a episode for a what happen on the 3DO.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay0AtiTfIVk

[Gameguy]

$700 in 1993 was a lot of money. it's funny though because their target audience was older gamers anyways, so they would've had the disposable income for it. If I had to guess, I'd say a good majority of the people who wanted a 3DO back then had a 3DO. From what I gather, if someone was a gamer back then if they were in their 20s or 30s, they likely were a PC gamer already. So the 3DO appealed to that demographic who weren't already PC gamers (which wouldve been an expensive proposition itself back then anyways)
That's the problem with the console. It was meant as a cheaper alternative to buying a home computer as they would have cost a few thousand dollars at the time. Only most people either wanted to save even more money with a console and stuck to Nintendo or Sega, or they would just want a full home computer anyway for full functionality. Not as many people wanted something in the middle of those options.

It's like being presented with the options of public transit or car ownership, with the 3DO being a taxi service. Nobody is going to use a taxi service as their main daily transportation even though it's cheaper than purchasing a car.

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

not sure if you know this, but the royalty fees for 3DO games were significantly cheaper than Nintendo's and Sega's, and this attracted a lot of third party developers. They tried to make up for this by charging a shitload for the console. $700 in 1993 was a lot of money. it's funny though because their target audience was older gamers anyways, so they would've had the disposable income for it. If I had to guess, I'd say a good majority of the people who wanted a 3DO back then had a 3DO. From what I gather, if someone was a gamer back then if they were in their 20s or 30s, they likely were a PC gamer already. So the 3DO appealed to that demographic who weren't already PC gamers (which wouldve been an expensive proposition itself back then anyways)

Yeah, I knew that about the royalties, they were $3 per game (hence the name, 3DO, 3 Dollars Only). IIRC they were $10-15 for Sega and Nintendo. That's one of the things that made 3DO appealing to third party developers.

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

The 3DO was also a victim of timing as much as anything. When the 3DO came out in 1993, the SNES vs. Genesis war was in full swing. Heck, the SNES hadn't even reached its peak. The market at large wasn't ready for a new console, technology hadn't advanced enough. Even launching at 700 bones the 3DO wasn't quite a full generational leap, more like a 3/4 generational leap. By the time they lowered the price to $399, it was November 1994 and the PlayStation and Saturn were around the corner, both of which would blow the 3DO out of the water.

Once the PlayStation arrived the 3DO's only chance would have been to drop the price massively - to something like $100-150 - and position itself as the "value" next-gen console. Even then it almost certainly wouldn't have made it past 1997.

[gbpxl]

There was no killer app on the 3DO either. There wasnt a Sonic or Mario or Halo or Crash Bandicoot. almost every console that was a failure didnt have a killer app

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

I'd be hard pressed to think of a successful console that didn't have a killer app. Yeah, some of them weren't available on Day 1, but pretty close. The Genesis really didn't become successful until after Sonic came out.

Despite the 3DO's decently sized game library, I can't think of many games that were exclusives for it. I mean, it did have Super Street Fighter II Turbo, it got that in November 1994 and that was a 3DO exclusive until it made it out on PC in May 1995. An enhanced version of SFII is nice, but not exactly worth shelling out $400 for a new console.

3DO also got a lot of PC ports.

[Gentlegamer]

It wasn't Sonic that sold Genesis, it was Madden (and other sports games).

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

It wasn't Sonic that sold Genesis, it was Madden (and other sports games).

That's an important point. I'm not sure which was most important in selling Genesises, but I would definitely say sports games (especially EA) and Sonic both played a huge role. However, most of the sports games (including Madden for most of the generation) were available on SNES as well.

Before I get too far off on a tangent, Madden did make it on to 3DO as well, and it was pretty well reviewed. Surprisingly, for a system developed by a cousin to EA (EA and 3DO were founded by the same guy), EA Sports didn't show the 3DO a lot of love. Fifa International Soccer, Foes of Ali, and PGA Tour 96 were the only other EA Sports games to make it onto the console. EA themselves published plenty of games for the system, though.

Mis-timed or not, I feel like the 3DO could have done quite a bit better if it launched at $400, or even $500, in 1993, getting down to $300 or lower by holiday 1994. Targeting a November launch date instead of the October 4th date would have also helped matters, allowing for a more decent launch lineup (instead of just Crash n' Burn). Still, the PlayStation would have mopped the floor with the 3DO starting in fall 1995. I've said this before, but selling the 3DO as a budget console in 1996-1997 might have earned them a few extra sales. The 3DO sold only 2 million units; even if they did everything as I said, they probably would have gotten to 5 to 7 million.

However, if the 3DO had launched at say, $400 in late 1994 with PS1 levels of horsepower on board and a decent launch library, it could have done really well, offering a true next-gen experience at a semi-affordable price. While Sony and Sega piddled around with only offering their next-gen systems in the land of the rising sun for holiday 1994 shoppers, 3DO could have made bank in the West with gamers looking for a true next-gen experience before dropping that price to $299 in 1995 to match Sony's launch price. Sony would have had a hard fight on their hands, but probably still would have come out ahead sales-wise.

Even as it is, the 3DO has 263 games, an amazing library for something that sold so poorly.