3DO: Amazing or not?

[+atari2600land]

I saw this commercial on one of my VHS tapes I was going through.

It makes me want one.

 

[+thegoldenband]

The console, and its library, are basically somewhere between a high-powered Sega CD and a somewhat underpowered Sega Saturn. It's got a surprisingly large library, OK controllers (some models are better than others), well-made hardware, and no copy protection to speak of.

 

I like it a lot, but I'm always wary of praising it since you have to be open to its style of gaming, graphics, etc. and willing to forgive its missteps and dated aspects. A lot of people would just go "LOL '90s" and use it as an excuse for an AVGN routine. But if you like that era of gaming, it's a fine pickup.

[goldenegg]

Amazing? No. Fun system? It can be if the games interest you.

 

It's definitely not a system that'll appeal to everyone and a lot of the titles are available on other platforms. Before picking it up, check out the games it has and see if anything interests you.

[CatPix]

Games quality (graphic-wise) was on par with early PS1 titles (compare the PS1 and 3DO versions of Need for Speed).

There was no quality control for games, so you got a lot of crap on it. but the system power also allowed for great games on it so... it's worth looking for one if you find one for cheap. I found mine for 35Euros, and at this price, even with no games and no gamepad, you just don't say no .

 

The 3DO also saw port of arcade games like Street Fighter II and Samurai Shodown, which also prove that the 3DO, despite his "3D" name, also kick ass in 2D graphisms.

 

The sad thing is that games weren't copy protected, but the system itself had a rock solid piracy protection, that maintainent all hopes of homebrews away from the platform... until 2012 I think, where some guys finally found how to generate the proper unlocking codes.

So as far as I know, no one had mane anything on the 3DO, weither it's demos or homebrews. The small base might not help; the 3DO sold 2 millions units, and how many survive as of today?

Edited October 7, 2015 by CatPix

[+thegoldenband]

The user blabla over at 3DO Zone has been doing some small homebrew and demo projects:

 

http://3do.cdinteractive.co.uk

 

Sadly the site still seems to be blacklisted by Google.

[CatPix]

it mush have issues. last time I checked, their site was down.

[+thegoldenband]

Huh, really? It's up for me now, and I can't remember the last time it was down for more than a few minutes.

[zylon]

Except for the short lifespan of the 3DO, I really can't complain. I'm an original owner of one of the Goldstar units and it still works fine today. My favorites are Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Gex, Road Rash, Panzer General, Primal Rage, Lucienne's Quest, Ballz, and Guardian War.

[+Random Terrain]

I posted this in another thread:

 

One of the best games on the 3DO is Star Control II. You can download the 3DO version of the game and play it on your computer for free if you want to try it before you buy it:

sc2.sourceforge.net/downloads.php


Speaking of things you can play on your PC, there is a good 3DO emulator now. You can try out games before you buy so you won't have to waste time hunting down games that suck:

www.fourdo.com


I loved Shanghai: Triple-Threat. One of the variations reminds me of the Connect 2 free online game that I have on my web site. Click here for YouTube videos.


Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Slayer was cool because of the random dungeon generator. Talk about randomness and replayability. Click here for YouTube videos.


The Horde was fun for a while. Click here for YouTube videos.


Theme Park is worth owning. It was my first amusement park game. Click here for YouTube videos.


Need for Speed was pretty amazing-looking at the time. Click here for YouTube videos.


I kind of liked Quarantine back then, but it's hard to go back to now since it's so blocky compared to the games of today. It's like a futuristic Crazy Taxi with guns. Click here for YouTube videos.


I had a sampler with a Captain Quazar demo on it. The little I got to play of it made it seem like the game might be worth owning. Click here for YouTube videos.


If you like platform games, then you'll probably love Gex (starring Dana Gould). Click here for YouTube videos.

[Austin]

Except for the short lifespan of the 3DO, I really can't complain. I'm an original owner of one of the Goldstar units and it still works fine today. My favorites are Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Gex, Road Rash, Panzer General, Primal Rage, Lucienne's Quest, Ballz, and Guardian War.

 

Interesting pick there.. Not many people list the 3DO version as one of their favorites on the console.

 

 

it mush have issues. last time I checked, their site was down.

 

It's definitely up and fine at the moment. I haven't run into issues with it being down, but then again I only pop in once every couple of weeks now.

[Rick Dangerous]

The 3DO is a solid system. If you like 90's era gaming you won't be disappointed. It has high FMV quality and thus the best ports of Sega CD games like Sewer Shark and Night Trap. Plenty of other great games to be found on the system as well....too many to list really.

[desiv]

Yeah, I love my 3DO..

Yes, lots of junk games..

But a good selection of really good games as well...

Need for Speed, as mentioned above, is awesome; best version of it on any console IMHO.

If you like fighting games, it's got some good ones, and the version of SSF2T is among the best, although you'll want a 6 button controller for that.

 

Personally, I love the daisy chainable controllers. Built in headset jack.. Great.

Yes, you could have a jerk friend who "unplugs" you while playing, but that guy is the same guy who knocks you over if he's losing 2 player with any other system.

He's just a jerk and you shouldn't invite him over anymore!!!!

 

And yes, no copy protection, so checking out games is easy...

 

I wouldn't overspend, but I'm glad I got mine...

 

desiv

[Murph74]

Man, I have quite a few fond memories of the 3DO-- the Gun Games were great (especially fond 2 player mode memories!)-- Mad Dog McRee and a few others. Of course, I was one of the pre-internet cheap-ass-gamers, so value went a long ways for me. Bought my Panasonic flip-top system at Best Buy new $89, and most games were only like $5 each on clearance. Pulled together a collection of about 50 games of so rather quickly. Standouts for me were Twisted, Gex, Daedalus Encounter, and while not a game, I was enthralled with Sid Meier's CPU Bach. I sol dmine years ago to finance something I wanted in my 20s, but worth a look in my opinion if you can find one rather cheap-- no clue what 3DO market pricing is these days.

[Jess Ragan]

Way better than the Jaguar, but outclassed in a hurry by the Playstation and Saturn. Having said all that, it still plays a pretty good game of Super Street Fighter II Turbo.

[Nutsy Doodleheimer]

I thought about getting one of these for my game room. But I decided to pass on it. If I recall correctly it has around 225 games in it's total library. Some of the games are good and a bunch are not so good. Lot of the games from that system during it's later span are ported to the Playstation. I know the goldstars have reliability issues. The FZ-1 has intermittent disc read problems from what I have heard. The FZ-10 top load design hardly has issues. Another con that I don't like is the daisy chain controls for having a second player.

[CatPix]

I never understood the problem with daisy chaining. It's clever.

This design mean that you have one port, which allow for some neat design. More importantly, it means that you never have to worry about expensive, clunky and cumbersome multitap.

plus the 3DO pad wire are VERY long, which mean that except if your friend is 3 meter apart from you, he won't be pulling on your own pad.

[+thegoldenband]

Lot of the games from that system during it's later span are ported to the Playstation.

 

True, but some of those ports aren't as good on the PlayStation (or Saturn). For instance, Psychic Detective has some scenes cut out.

 

I'm personally fond of many of the exclusives, like Immercenary, Trip'd, and Escape from Monster Manor. Killing Time was ported to home computers, but IIRC it was more or less butchered.

[CatPix]

And some of those ports, like Gex, are much harder to come by on PS1.

Plus...

The 3DO version have saves, the PS1 have codes.

It's okay to have a choice between saves and codes, like Rayman do. But why only codes?

Edited October 12, 2015 by CatPix

[Austin]

Killing Time was ported to home computers, but IIRC it was more or less butchered.

 

I'd argue the computer versions are a ****-ton better than the 3DO slideshow version.

[+thegoldenband]

I'd argue the computer versions are a ****-ton better than the 3DO slideshow version.

 

Interesting! Most people who like the 3DO version seem to hate the revised visuals, etc. of the computer ports. But yeah, the framerate on Killing Time 3DO is pretty poor -- though I've been playing Hover Strike on the Jaguar lately, which makes Killing Time seem like butter by comparison...

[78001987]

Had one back in the day, and I loved it, but got frustrated with lack of games and influx of shovelware in it's late life.

 

the original Gex, Return Fire, Off World Interceptor, Killing Time, D&D Slayer, Space Hulk, Road Rash, Wing Commander III, and Need for Speed were MUCH better on 3D0 than any other platform. (at the time they were released)

Edited October 13, 2015 by 78001987

[Jagman]

I bought one when they eventually went down to ~200 or so bucks, right before or around the time PS1 came out in 95 and had a ton of fun with it. At the time, the 3DO's version of Madden completely blew every other version out of the water.. first couple PS1 versions were terrible in comparison. Road Rash, Wing Commander, Street Fighter II, Samurai Shodown, FIFA, Muhammad Ali's Boxing, Blade Force, etc really showed off its power at the time and were overall very fun.. I even liked some of the silly FMV shooting games like Mad Dogg and that Police Force or whatever it was called and places like Wal Mart were HEAVILY discounting the games, so it was a good deal at the time.. got many of my games for about 5 bucks each... however, nowadays unfortunately most of those haven't aged well.. but I still keep the system for one game... Return Fire.. yeah it's also on PS1, but it's also slightly worse on that system, PLUS 3DO has the Maps of Death expansion.. such a great party game.

Edited October 19, 2015 by Jagman

[Flojomojo]

I like the 3DO version of Wing Commander III. Unlike the PC on the hardware at the time, loading is almost instantaneous. It's way slicker than the Playstation version, which has no business being worse, but it is. You can use the CH Flightstick with it, too. Good stupid arcade fun. If I weren't so hung up on modern graphics, I'd hook it up and have a go. I wish someone would remix it and make it look a little better on modern hardware.

[Smeg]

Road Rash alone is worth having a 3DO for. It's one of the best (or the best) implementation of this game on any platform. It totally kills the PS1 version (which I also have). Unfortunately I ebayed my FZ1 and all my games a few years ago.

[Austin]

I'm not really sure how it kills the PS1 version. I streamed it a few weeks ago and someone said the same thing. Fired up a YouTube video showing off the PS1 version, and it basically looked the same, with the PS1 version having a better framerate. I'm not sure how that makes that version worse. The Saturn one, on the other hand..

 

I can see why people prefer the 3DO version of Need for Speed compared to the PS1 port. Road Rash on the other hand, I do not--they pretty much look like the same game.