3DO questions

[Parris]

I've no experience with 3DO units at all. However, yesterday I uncovered a boxed Panasonic FZ-1 unit, which appeared to be in very good condition. Duly I handed over the required amount, but sadly it came with no software.

So, I'm not sure whether I should keep it or stick it onto eBay. That said, I'd like to be able to test it properly prior to auctioning it.

If I decided to keep it, what are the "best" aspects of the 3DO machine? I see the FZ-1 is regarded as one of the better 3DO units, why exactly? Reliability, design, the outputs (interesting to see an S-Video out) or what?

Also, lastly what are the best software titles to go for and why?

Thanks in advance!

[Shadowlayer]

I know that it doesnt have any kind of copy protection, so if you cant find any software just download and burn it.

About games, NfS is one, Gex is the other, and Return Fire the last one.

Thats the best you can expect from the 3DO...

[PhreQuencYViii]

D was alright for it, but it's on other systems I guess.

[Parris]

I know that it doesnt have any kind of copy protection, so if you cant find any software just download and burn it.

About games, NfS is one, Gex is the other, and Return Fire the last one.

Thats the best you can expect from the 3DO...

Hmmm, no copyright and no regionality, shame it wasn't more popular! All those titles were available elsewhere. I assume it just never got any 3DO only titles that showed what it was capable of then?

[Baseley09]

I assume it just never got any 3DO only titles that showed what it was capable of then?

Not many tho of NFS, Road Rash & Return Fire, the 3DO versions are the best ones, imo of course.

Twisted game show may be a neat exclusive to try, dunno why ive never had the game but people say its good.

[port187]

I love the FZ-1, just because it was the first 'expensive' frontloader model, the FZ-10 looks cheap and crappy that's it, the only hardware issue's with 3do were found on early Goldstar models so you should be fine! I own both the FZ-1 and the Sanyo TRY and still love to play the occassional game on them! especially the best home console version of Super Street Fighter II Turbo !! Road Rash, the original Need for Speed, Twisted the game show is very cool too especially playing it with a couple of family members or the kids it's really fun! Return Fire was one of my favourite games on it! and lets see what else do we have.. Gex was cool too! and not to forget all those American Lasergames! if you can find the lightgun its quite cool to play all those FMV arcade games at home! you have a lot of those (Mad Dog, Who shot johnny and so on!) and a strange but kinda cool fighting game: Way of the Warrior was ok too! for the rest lots of titles you could also play on other systems that are not really worth mentioning for the 3do and a whole lot of obscure Japanese 'soft' porn titles outthere too as the dev licenses were really easy to get back in days you got quite some hentai and weird stuff out there to explore as well and even some educational stuff but that sucked big time lol ;)

[unclejun]

I enjoyed Killing Time and its particular mood, if I could find its music again...
I played only the PC version, but wasn't it developed for the 3DO first?

[Madroms]

I know that it doesnt have any kind of copy protection, so if you cant find any software just download and burn it.

Not totally true, as some japanese games require the kanji font that is only stored in the jpn bios, so these games will not work on EUR/USA hardware.

[Calpis]

what are the "best" aspects of the 3DO machine? I see the FZ-1 is regarded as one of the better 3DO units, why exactly?

For me the best aspect is that the games are cheap and there aren't too many games in each region so getting the complete library isn't out of the question. If the games weren't so cheap they certainly wouldn't be worth it, practically every 3do game is shit and the best of them, which by other console's standards are pretty mediocre, have usually been ported to Playstation/Saturn anyways.

I don't think the FZ-1 is one of the better units, it's just the first. I had a Sanyo TRY and for me it didn't live up to the hype. I then got a FZ-10 because IMO it looks just as good and top loaders are certainly more reliable. It's all a matter of opinion though.

[port187]

I don't think the FZ-1 is one of the better units, it's just the first. I had a Sanyo TRY and for me it didn't live up to the hype. I then got a FZ-10 because IMO it looks just as good and top loaders are certainly more reliable. It's all a matter of opinion though.

I agree on that one, an FZ-10 is more reliable for sure, especially when you plan to do alot of gaming on it.. when I called the FZ-10 worse and ugly it was from a collectors point of view as where the later models (usually more reliable or better systems are sometimes seen a lesser and cheap or ugly looking system) well for me they do like lets say the sega megadrive 2 or mega cd 2, and I felt the same way about the FZ-10 eventhough I would buy one cheap one day to add to the collection.

[Shadowlayer]

I assume it just never got any 3DO only titles that showed what it was capable of then?

Yes it did, the problem is that the 3DO wasnt as powerful as most people tought.

The 3DO used a ARM60 running at 16 Mhz, which was pretty much the same than a 68030 a 25 MHz.

Funny thing is that the console used that CPU becos the original designers worked on the Apple ARM project.

Not totally true, as some japanese games require the kanji font that is only stored in the jpn bios, so these games will not work on EUR/USA hardware.

Thats region issues, not copyprotection ones, and later games had the kanji in the CD by request of panasonic who wanted games to be playable everywhere.

[Madroms]

Thats region issues, not copyprotection ones, and later games had the kanji in the CD by request of panasonic who wanted games to be playable everywhere.

Yep, exactly.:nod: I just quoted the fact that not all the games will work if you download them then burn them, unless you have a japanese 3DO;-) (my quote was more for the last part of your sentence).

[port187]

Yes it did, the problem is that the 3DO wasnt as powerful as most people tought.

The 3DO used a ARM60 running at 16 Mhz, which was pretty much the same than a 68030 a 25 MHz.

It even less powerful: 12.5 MHz

[Yakumo]

I know that it doesnt have any kind of copy protection, so if you cant find any software just download and burn it.

About games, NfS is one, Gex is the other, and Return Fire the last one.

Thats the best you can expect from the 3DO...

yeah, and Gex is shite. Very bland and dark with nothing but annoying stupid voice overs. If you thought BUG! on the Saturn was bad then times that by 10 then you'll get Gex.

Yakumo

[sabre470]

yeah, and Gex is shite. Very bland and dark with nothing but annoying stupid voice overs. If you thought BUG! on the Saturn was bad then times that by 10 then you'll get Gex.

Yakumo

I thought BUG was allright...though I never played it beyond de PC demo... I tried GEX through emulation and it was ok, indeed not the game of the century but still I played it for about 10 minute!!!

Parris,

Is Crash'n'Burn a good driving game? it looked very nice on the preview I saw in the 3DO early days but I never got to play it, maybe you ought to try that one too and don't forget Night Trap too it looked very nice compared to the Mega-CD and Policenauts...

Sabre

[port187]

I thought BUG was allright...though I never played it beyond de PC demo... I tried GEX through emulation and it was ok, indeed not the game of the century but still I played it for about 10 minute!!!

Parris,

Is Crash'n'Burn a good driving game? it looked very nice on the preview I saw in the 3DO early days but I never got to play it, maybe you ought to try that one too and don't forget Night Trap too it looked very nice compared to the Mega-CD and Policenauts...

Sabre

Crash n Burn was included with my original FZ-1 purchace back in the days, I remembered this game as great but that was probably the lack of something else at that point because I tried to play that game again recently and it was really horrible! both graphics and especially gameplay!

[pitsunami]

yeah, and Gex is shite. Very bland and dark with nothing but annoying stupid voice overs. If you thought BUG! on the Saturn was bad then times that by 10 then you'll get Gex.

Yakumo

Gex is wonderful!!! I still play that after all those years,for me it stands right below sonic's in 2d platforms...3DO is a so misunderstood console :-(
It has plenty of great games,to name a few:nfs,road rush,return fire,captain quazar,gex,killing time,d,deathkeep,bladeforce,and the list keeps going. It may had a few titles, but they were great not like psx and others that are full of crap! So i would suggest to give a chance to 3DO!:thumbsup:

[Barc0de]

yeah, and Gex is shite. Very bland and dark with nothing but annoying stupid voice overs. If you thought BUG! on the Saturn was bad then times that by 10 then you'll get Gex.

Yakumo

What? Bug and But too! were awesome games. change your mind!

[Jamtex]

I have a 3DO and at times I wonder why, I bought it mainly for the Mahjong games but erm well most of them are available on other consoles, generally easier and cheaper to get, hell TokimekiMahjong Paradise Special is a damn sight cheaper as an arcade board then the 3DO game.

The machines does have a number of exclusives, just a lot of them are very piss poor, although interesting nugget of trivia is the fact that WARP made more games on the 3DO (including the other Mahjong game I don't have on the machine as it's insanely expensive) then they did on any other console and I bet you thought they loved Sega.

One thing I loved about the machine was the headphone port on the joypad. Much easier then trailing cables from the TV or HiFi just to play a game late at night. Although the daisy chaining of joypads was a bit of a nightmare for more then 2 people...

[Yakumo]

No way guys, you seriously like BUG and BUG TOO as well as GEX? Man, those 3 games are dull, well BUG TOO isn't as bad as the other two but still...... The next thing you'll be telling me is that Johnny Bazookatone was a class A platformer :lol:

Yakumo