Thoughts on the 3DO|General Gaming Discussion|Forum|SNES HUB

grimm said
I first read about it in 91 or 92 when i was only 14 years old, but i knew i wanted one. I liked the fact that it wasnt ment to be just “another” gaming console, but an entertainment center. Audio, video, 3DO!

 

Since i come from a working class family, no way could i afford that system either, and ive NEVER begged my parents for anything, EVER. And they would not have been able to afford it either, even had they wanted to, which i doubt. I had a commodore c64 since i was 8 or 9, my sis and i got it for christmas i believe, then later on we got a NES. And i later when i was 15 bought a super nintendo from money i had saved.

 

When i was 17 in 95, the 3DO had been out for over a year, and i worked extra at a game store at the time. The owner told me he was getting in a used boxed 3DO FZ-1, and said if i wanted it he could give me a good price, and also let me work it off rather than pay cold cash. So i agreed. I got it with a few games, but i dont remember which. Its taken a while, but i have built my 3DO collection the best i can with my limited economy, and have gotten a few hard to get items for it along the way. Like the memory unit, a Sanyo system (which has broken down on me..), Lucienne’s Quest (Sealed but opened later, as i do with all games i get sealed), the V-CD adapters for both the FZ-1 and FZ-10. So yes i do own the FZ-10 as well, two in fact. One new in box US version, and one japanese FZ-10, which has been RGB modded. The 3DO did not come with RGB output. The FZ-1 is a pal unit. I even have a panasonic style 3do jacket, a few t-shirts, fridge magnets and a store display thing which is like a spinning window with 3 portions, each room for 3-4 long boxes on top of each other. It is however incomplete but a real oddity. I like oddities.

 

Anyway, what i like most about it is again that it is what it says on the systems, at least the panasonic ones, a multi-player.. as in multi formats. It wasnt just a game console, it was only partly that. It had technology that was not common in most households in the early 90’s. Like a cd-player, a v-cd capability and even kodac’s picture format which never worked out. Also, the fact that it was a specification, rather than a company’s own machine was a good concept. this could have been great to compat ugly business practices like nintendo’s monopoly scheme, region coding we have all over the place etc… Anyone could build a system, and anyone could make a game, or other programs for it, and no one tried to intentionally restrict the market, telling you which games you could play, and which you couldnt!. And i think that shows in the variety of programs that do exist for it. True, the low licensing fees resulted in some less than stellar titles, but if you look at the games on the market in the early 90’s, it was no worse than any other system. I also like the way the different system looks, except for the Goldstar one. Which is why i havent gotten one of those for my collection. that and the fact it is notoriously unreliable.

 

Back when i got it, i knew of only one other person which had one, and he had the FZ-10.. He introduced me to Road Rash, Need for Speed etc, and that sold me on the system i was later offered. The 3DO just had so much promise, and it failed mainly because people saw it as just an overly expensive game console, like the Neo Geo AES, which it wasnt. Sure, it was expensive, and the pricedrops came too late, but if you wanted a similar machine at the time, which could not do all the 3DO could, the closest thing was maybe a sega megadrive + cd and 32x addon. that wasnt cheap either back then, and the FMV-quality was appauling compared to the 3DO. Only when the Playstation hit the market in 95 or so, was there truly a system that was more powerful than the 3DO with a powerful company behind it to back it up.

The 3DO was what the PS3 is today, 20 years earlier, and that should stand for something! 

Thanks for sharing your story Grimm. In America, no one really talks about the 3DO then or now. Even on different forums, you don’t hear a lot about the system. Doing a internet search, it seems 3DO had 174 games in America.

Although the console was region free so the actual games one could play was greater than that. Sounds like it had some great ideas, but like you said a bit before it’s time.