The 3DO thread

[+madman]

So the top of the box says there's a coupon inside to get a free version of Gex. I open it up and there's a copy of Gex, the manual is for Gex, the sides of the back label say Gex but the actual back label is for Slam and Jam. A quick search reveals I'm not the first person to find this, it looks more like an advertisement as even the back has a Gex trademark on it. Odd thing is the Total Eclipse still has the coupon to mail in for Gex, well I didn't open it but it says something to the effect of "your copy of Gex is on its way." Kind of weird they'd put a sticker on top that doesn't reflect the actual contents. Though I suppose back then getting home with the system and seeing Gex was inside instead of having to mail away for it must've been pretty nice.

[Gabriel]

Hi guys, I just ordered an FZ-10 w/the pack-ins, also picked up FIFA and Crash and Burn. Aside from the usual suspects, Madden, Road Rash, NFS, etc, are there any good hidden gems I should look for? Slam and Jam, Battlesport and PGA Golf are the next games on my list to track down.

 

The Horde is worth a look. Guardian War is neat.

 

Shockwave Assault and it's sequel (which I forget the name of) are dated but still OK. I always heard that Starfighter was good, but I never played it.

 

I used to miss playing Space Hulk: Vengeance of the Blood Angels, but it's truly an acquired taste.

 

The person I gave my 3DO to still plays Slayer on it from time to time.

[KidGameR186496]

Has anybody played Virtuoso?

[Austin]

Has anybody played Virtuoso?

It blows.

[+thegoldenband]

Oddly enough, the Video Game Critic liked Virtuoso. (I didn't.)

[+madman]

I'm amazed at how many NIB titles are still available for the 3DO and I don't mean the total crap ones like the how to golf videos and that nonsense. I'm still not sure what to think of the controllers. The smaller controller that came w/my FZ-10 seems a bit tiny for me. Not Hori pad for the N64 small, but still pretty small. I heard the controller that came with Zhadnost was supposed to be one of the best, but the d-pad thing seems to be a bit of a nightmare IMO. I got an original Panasonic controller and that seems to be the best fit for me.

 

Not that I didn't know this, but I'm realizing more and more how the 3DO was released at an odd time in the market but it seems to stand out even more than the Jaguar. The Jag made an attempt at 3D graphics, as did the 3DO, but the Jag still had a core of traditional 16-bit style games for lack of a better term. I'm not seeing much of that on the 3DO, Gex maybe being the closest thing to a good ole sprite-based game. As a kid at that time I remember digitized graphics being the coolest thing, especially on PC games, but it's clear that wasn't the future and as a result means a lot of the 3DO library didn't stand the test of time.

[CatPix]

The 3DO is quite beefy for the era. Some games from EA Games look better on the 3DO than on the Playstation. Compare The Need For Speed on 3DO and PS1.

Ultimately, the major issue for the 3DO to compete with the PS1 would have been the CPU speed that was half of the Playstation CPU speed, but aside from games like WipeOut I'm sure it would be possible to make most pre-1998 PS1 games on the 3DO.

Metal Gear Solid was first planned to be a 3DO title. I dunno tho if anything was shown as far as graphics goes.

Edited October 23, 2016 by CatPix

[+madman]

When it comes to 3D, CPU speed isn't the biggest factor, it's really about the capabilities of the graphics chips. I don't know enough about the 3DO's hardware to comment either way. The other thing that made the PlayStation a success was the development libraries which made for an extremely small learning curve when coding for the system. But again, I don't know much about the 3DO dev system. In any case, history is what it is. Speculation may be fun but the history has already been written. Sony correctly predicted that 3D was the future.

[phoenixdownita]

I bought my 3DO towards the end of my collecting ... I believe after the Jag but before the Jag CD ... I finished Wolf3D on it and had fun.

To be fair I can't remember titles that really stand out aside NFS and Road Rash, there's a very decent SF II but the std controller is atrocious for it.

I'm not saying there aren't good games but nothing that I care to remember one way or another.

I promised to give Casper a second chance but hadn't really had the time yet.

 

I confess I decided to go the route of "backups" and to play "smooth" I have to put the thing on its side (like the PS1 used to ).

I really wanted to see what it was all about, ended up picking up real copies of Gex, Total Eclipse and The Daedalus Encounter ... odd choices but they were dirt cheap and wanted some originals not to feel too bad about myself (the pirate in my avatar is purely coincidental).

[CatPix]

the 3DO company predicted it well, too, but their commercial model was a failure. I'm pretty certain that Sony took note of the issues of the 3DO licencing model and corrected the main flaws of it.

And of course, Sony had two advantages on the 3DO : they were the console seller and game editor (so they could cut prices on the console as will, which Panasonic couldn't) and because of their experience as a media (tape/CD ) distributor, they had contacts in the world to distribute the Playstation games.

Of course, having cheap development kits they sent to absolutely anyone, so much that acquiring a Net Yaroze cost like 50/60E today, and probably being simpler to program for were other important factors.

Edited October 23, 2016 by CatPix

[Austin]

Oddly enough, the Video Game Critic liked Virtuoso. (I didn't.)

 

The Video Game "Critic" is a douche.

[+thegoldenband]

 

The Video Game "Critic" is a douche.

 

Do you say that because you don't like his reviews, or for some other reason? I know people have been angered by some of his negative reviews, e.g. Metal Storm. He pans games I like all the time, e.g. Gain Ground, but it doesn't bother me.

 

His style is pretty superficial and he's allergic to anything with a learning curve, but I find his reviews can still be useful if I read them with his biases and preconceptions in mind -- just like any reviewer, really. (I like Jeremy Parish's Game Boy World series a lot, but sometimes he'll describe a game as insanely hard when it took me less than 2 hours to beat.)

[+madman]

I generally agree w/most of his reviews, but there are other times I think he's lost his mind. However, it's all subjective. Not everyone is going to agree on everything.

[Austin]

 

Do you say that because you don't like his reviews, or for some other reason? I know people have been angered by some of his negative reviews, e.g. Metal Storm. He pans games I like all the time, e.g. Gain Ground, but it doesn't bother me.

 

His style is pretty superficial and he's allergic to anything with a learning curve, but I find his reviews can still be useful if I read them with his biases and preconceptions in mind -- just like any reviewer, really. (I like Jeremy Parish's Game Boy World series a lot, but sometimes he'll describe a game as insanely hard when it took me less than 2 hours to beat.)

 

Honestly, I was having one of those drunken moments where I probably shouldn't have been browsing the forum and wrote the first thing that popped into my head.

 

That said, I'm not much a fan of his style where the reviews are short, you can tell he doesn't get deep into the games he plays and in many cases it's clear he's doing it just to pump another one out. Quantity over quality.

 

Speaking of written reviews, is it just me, or are they a relic from a different era? At one point in time I crawled a lot of these hobbyist review sites, but nowadays I just pop on a quick YouTube gameplay video and figure out in a few moments if it's something I will enjoy or not (I know my own tastes, after all).

 

An archaic format or not, I will say that this world needs more "thegoldenband" reviews though. I just stumbled upon them again at the 3DO Zone. Good stuff, hehe (just figured I'd say that to keep this post somewhat 3DO-related).

[+thegoldenband]

Honestly, I was having one of those drunken moments where I probably shouldn't have been browsing the forum and wrote the first thing that popped into my head.

 

Oh, man, you gotta watch out for the sauce -- it'll age you before your time!

 

Speaking of written reviews, is it just me, or are they a relic from a different era? At one point in time I crawled a lot of these hobbyist review sites, but nowadays I just pop on a quick YouTube gameplay video and figure out in a few moments if it's something I will enjoy or not (I know my own tastes, after all).

 

I still read written reviews, and in particular will frequent certain sites that publish them. I watch video reviews too, and will sometimes pull up a game I'm interested in, but I spend more time on channels with targeted chronogaming efforts (or that try to complete a console's library) than general review channels. Too many video reviews are shallow, and the information contained in them is hard to retrieve.

 

An archaic format or not, I will say that this world needs more "thegoldenband" reviews though. I just stumbled upon them again at the 3DO Zone. Good stuff, hehe (just figured I'd say that to keep this post somewhat 3DO-related).

 

Awww, thanks! I'd like to do more, for sure.

 

I wish the admin at 3DO Zone would contact Google and deal with whatever got them blacklisted (probably banning the spider). With Devin totally AWOL, the whole site could disappear at any moment -- we need a new 3DO home. Maybe on AtariAge?

[Austin]

 

I wish the admin at 3DO Zone would contact Google and deal with whatever got them blacklisted (probably banning the spider). With Devin totally AWOL, the whole site could disappear at any moment -- we need a new 3DO home. Maybe on AtariAge?

 

I would hope that if the site does potentially disappear, that he would make it available for someone else to take over before pulling the plug. I'm sure someone that's been on the forum a while would be up to the task. There's too much good information there that you can't really get anywhere else.

[+madman]

Does anyone have Bust a Move on the 3DO? I've got the original on the Neo Geo (which is awesome), but it looks like the 3DO version has some extra modes. Any feedback on that? Thanks.

[towmater]

Fond memories of the acting in Wing Commander, Biff Tannen was great in that, and the flight controller joystick was awesome. I still have the system and a three-inch high stack of the demo disks that 3do put out. I wonder if that backfired on them because most of the games were not worth buying. I tried to play Jurassic Park recently, but that just seemed to be an excercise in watching the same cut scenes over and over.

[+madman]

That's pretty funny. I remember getting a PSX demo disc with Jumping Flash, a game which I thought was some stupid kiddie garbage, but in college we played the heck out of that and I eventually picked up the game as a result. I can't remember how I got the disc, I want to say Wipeout and Destruction Derby were also on it. I picked up Sample This! for the 3DO, haven't checked it out yet but for $5 shipped I figured why not.