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Buying a 3DO/The 3DO Love & Remembrance Thread

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So I suddenly decided that I want to get a 3DO in the near future. I was hoping that maybe some of the current gen systems might start offering 3DO games through their digital stores, but I don't think that's going to be happening, so now I'm just going to bite the bullet and get the real deal.

But I don't really know where to start, so I was looking for some advice from 3DO aficionados.

-Which is the best version of the system to buy?
-Is it true that the system is completely region free? (I'm in North America.)
-Are there any prevalent hardware or software issues that I should know about?

And finally, what games would you recommend for it? A family member used to have a 3DO a long time ago, and I remember enjoying games like Strahl and Guardian War. I also have been reading about a few other games, and I'd like to check out Lucienne's Quest also.

RPGs, fighters, puzzle, adventure games or anything "niche-esque" are the genres I tend to like the most, but feel free to suggest anything. (Imports too.) I remember the system having some bizarre games.

Thanks.
 
The system is mosty region-free. If you buy an American system there are a few Japanese games that will not work due to memory limitations and the massive Japanese character set.

I have the first model of the 3DO and have found it to be the best.

As far as games go, I suggest:

sailor moon (1 on 1 VS fighter)
D (horror puzzle etc)
Plumbers Don't wear Ties (comedy, so bad it's funny)
Onee-San to issho janken paradise (strip paper rock scissors, adult)
Road rash
Need for speed
Hell
Shock wave 2
killing time
Doctor Hauzer

I'm not aware of many hardware issues with the first model. There might be some with the others. If you want to play ALL games, you can get the Japanese model. Although I've found that the few games a US model won't play is very insignificant. It also supports CD-R discs so you can backup your games and leave the flimsy and old CDs in the case where they belong.
 
Don't quote me on this but I think the best system to get is the FZ-10 system. It's the top loader version so you don't have to worry about the loading tray motor breaking.

Games:

-Super Street Fighter II Turbo
-Road Rash
-Gex
-Pataank!
-Night Trap
-The Need for Speed

Not my cup of tea but lots of people swear by Star Control II.
 
Wow, someone other than me recommending Night Trap. Faith in humanity restored.

A Sailor Moon fighter? Tell me more.
 
I remember the 30 min long infomercials on this when I was a kid and always wanted one. Or the infomercials were for the magnovox CDi I cant remember.
 
Wing Commander 3 w/ the Flightstick Pro if you can find it -- EPIC Flight sim-ish spaceship combat game with FMV story starring Mark Hammill, Malcolm MacDowell
Way Of The Warrior - One of the first games ever made by Naughty Dog (fighting game)
Psychic Detective - Cool FMV detective game from EA
Gex - Crystal Dynamics' awesome platformer
Star Control II - top-down spaceship battle game with RPG elements
Guardian War - cool quirky RPG style game
Space Hulk - A shooter with RPG elements
Shock Wave - Fun shooter
Killing Time - FPS
Road Rash - AWESOME motorcycle racing game where you can punch people and shit while you race, also has a badass soundtrack
Need For Speed - The original, where it all started.
Samurai Shodown - PERFECT version, best fighter on the 3DO that you probably don't already have another version of. Not just best fighter on the 3DO, but one of the best fighting games ever made.
THE HORDE - Action/Strategy game, fun as hell
 
I always liked the Road Rash game and the Need for Speed on 3DO. In fact, the 3DO version of need for speed was actually a real driving sim rather than a simple arcade game. Compared to modern racing games, I'm sure it kind of sucks, but it was awesome at the time.

Road rash was a total blast, and many people feel it was the best version of that game.

Also, the street fighter game for the system was top notch.

It was so sad the way the 3DO got clobbered after seeming to be so promising early on.

edit// oh crap.. forgot about Star Control II. That game was awesome. Basically a space RPG, and I spent a ton of hours playing it. Brilliant game with great humor and awesome overall writing. I'm pretty sure there is also a PC version, and I'm not sure how awesome it is, but the 3DO version is definitely excellent and well worth playing.
 
Krowley said:
I always liked the Road Rash game and the Need for Speed on 3DO. In fact, the 3DO version of need for speed was actually a real driving sim rather than a simple arcade game. Compared to modern racing games, I'm sure it kind of sucks, but it was awesome at the time.

Road rash was a total blast, and many people feel it was the best version of that game.

Also, the street fighter game for the system was top notch.

It was so sad the way the 3DO got clobbered after seeming to be so promising early on.

edit// oh crap.. forgot about Star Control II. That game was awesome. Basically a space RPG, and I spent a ton of hours playing it. Brilliant game. I'm pretty sure there is also a PC version, and I'm not sure how awesome it is, but the 3DO version is definitely excellent and well worth playing.
Click to expand...
I used to call my local EB Games (or Electronics Boutique as it was called back then) every now and then to see if they got the M2 add-on in yet or if they at least had a release date for it... :(
 
Samurai Shodown!!!!!! It's the best home version after the Neo Geo/MVS one. :)

Also:

Super Street Fighter II Turbo

Road Rash

Gex
 
Star Control II

krae_man said:
Not my cup of tea but lots of people swear by Star Control II.
Click to expand...
How can this not be your cup of tea? Have you no pulse?

Krowley said:
edit// oh crap.. forgot about Star Control II. That game was awesome. Basically a space RPG, and I spent a ton of hours playing it. Brilliant game with great humor and awesome overall writing. I'm pretty sure there is also a PC version, and I'm not sure how awesome it is, but the 3DO version is definitely excellent and well worth playing.
Click to expand...
The PC version is the 3DO version and it is free.
http://sc2.sourceforge.net/

It is glorious. If you have not played it your life is not complete.

edit: Well there was a PC version that wasn't free and it isn't as good as the 3DO one:
http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/star_control_1_2
 
nexen said:
Star Control II


How can this not be your cup of tea? Have you no pulse?
Click to expand...


Sorry it's just not. I own it but I don't think I'll ever get into it. I've never got into the space sim genre.
 
The only thing I know of the 3DO is the 2 games I have for the PS1 that were ported over - "Road Rash" and "Road and Track Presents The Need For Speed". Both great games. Never tried Return Fire, but I've always heard good things.
 
I loved my 3DO. I actually found one for $200 at a flea market within months of it being released, but I took a chance and it paid off.

Return Fire was great. There was a series of really weird fps games, like Monster Manor and PO'ed. It had by far the best version of Fifa when it came out, and of course Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo. And of course a line of PC ports, which was pretty good if you didn't have a decent PC at the time.

One of my favorite games on the system was Guardian War. A really weird SRPG with (at the time) fantastic visuals.
 
I remember wanting a 3DO very badly during the 16-bit era. The system was super expensive, and the game reviews were absolute garbage, but y'know the graphics were wow at the time.
Eventually macys had a Goldstar unit on sale for $299 and I was going to buy one. I called them up but they were sold out, and that was it for me.
Looking back I think it was a good thing.
 
Holy fuck.

Someone just mentioned GUARDIAN WAR in this thread.

<3

Megadragon15 said:
Try to find a Panasonic FZ-10 since the memory manager is an option in the bios. The other ones required a disc to access the memory.
Click to expand...

I had the FZ-10 and the memory management was a complete mystery to me. How did one go about going into the bios? edit: I had the FZ-1. I was pretty devastated when my theme park save was wiped clean. I guess that what happens when you get when you win a 3DO and 40 games in a contest. :\

My recommendation which nobody has said yet is Burning Soldier.

oh oh oh... and

CRASH N' BURN.
 
3DO is region free, but there are a few select Japanese games that will only run on a Japanese 3DO. The only 3DO exclusive I've seen of the bunch is Twinkle Knights, which looks terrible anyway. I'd just go with the FZ-1 or 10 system.

TouchMyBox said:
I had the FZ-10 and the memory management was a complete mystery to me. How did one go about going into the bios? edit: I had the FZ-1. I was pretty devastated when my theme park save was wiped clean. I guess that what happens when you get when you win a 3DO and 40 games in a contest. :\
Click to expand...

There was a disc, and the software was also included in demo discs to manage memory.
 
Lucienne's Quest is the only true RPG on the system. It's pretty good as well. It's also the only time the game was released in America. It came out on Saturn but only in Japan.

Luciennes_Quest_3DO.jpg


Got my 3D0 at a flea market for $15 with about 5 games. It was a pretty good buy seeing how obscure the system is. Sadly their are very few games I've played on it that keep me coming back.

Other games I'd recommend are:

Wolfenstien 3D - This version is awesome. It features the weapons that were only included in the Mac port.
Gex - classic platformer
Shock Wave - cool flight game
 
Wound up getting to try out a 3DO in the flesh at a friend's house recently. It's a handsome piece of hardware, and was certainly ahead of its time. The controller was quite nice, too. Unfortunately, the only game he had on hand was Doom, and it was downright awful. The framerate skidded along somewhere in the low teens, and it was pretty ugly too. The only saving grace was the nicely remixed music.
 
So I've been checking around at a few sites, and it seems the FZ-1 sells for more than the FZ-10, despite the FZ-10 being the newer model.

The FZ-10 seems like it has more features, so I was leaning towards that one. (I'm a bit worried about the motorized disc tray in the FZ-1.) Is there any reason why I should consider the FZ-1?
 
Gunloc said:
So I've been checking around at a few sites, and it seems the FZ-1 sells for more than the FZ-10, despite the FZ-10 being the newer model.

The FZ-10 seems like it has more features, so I was leaning towards that one. (I'm a bit worried about the motorized disc tray in the FZ-1.) Is there any reason why I should consider the FZ-1?
Click to expand...

FZ-1 is higher quality, but as you said the motorized disc tray makes it more prone to failure. You really can't go wrong with either one.
 
I'd say its a slight chance the motorized drive will break. I mean its not like anyone got a ton of use outta their 3DO's
 
Alone in the Dark: The ORIGINAL survival horror. Mikami lied when he said Sweet Home was the primary inspiriation for RE. You'll see what I mean when you play. It's also quite spooky and incredibly atmospheric.

Samurai Shodown: Best home console version of the game, aside from the Neo Geo edition.

Star Control II: Best WRPG of all time. By a looong shot.

Super Street Fighter II Turbo: Best classic Street Fighter release.

Those are the games you should check out.
 
I have fond memories of the 3DO! Some games I recommend are :

Return Fire
Lucienne's Quest
Guardian War ( cute rpg with some rockin' music http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdGj78Wpdcc&feature=player_detailpage#t=23s )
Gex
Road Rash
Twisted ( came with our 3DO and it wasn't that bad )
Samurai Shodown
Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo
Total Eclipse
Family Feud - ( was fun! )
Alone in the Dark 1 & 2

Really shitty games that are so bad they're funny :

Way of the Warrior ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUNeKmHvVWM - White Zombie music playing throughout the game is either a plus or a minus depending on if you like it. Has Christmas bell sound effects after each round ).
Plumbers Don't Wear Ties - Just try it lol
 
SSF2 Turbo was really good.


I played the versions on PS1, PS2, Xbox and they all sound shit compared to 3DO version.
 
Hey man

I own a couple of 3DOs, one still in box new. A Panasonic front loader and a gold star one.

Space Hulk, Road Rash, SS2Turbo and Control 2 are great games iirc. however please remember the system is NOT as good as you might remember it to be.
 
I finally ordered my 3DO. :D

I know I'm probably overhyping it, but I'm really excited to have one again. Now just to get some games. Of course all the ones I want are the rare and/or expensive ones.
 
Gunloc said:
-Which is the best version of the system to buy?
Click to expand...
FZ1 or FZ10, but you probably already know this (and are getting one of those).

-Is it true that the system is completely region free? (I'm in North America.)
Click to expand...
Mostly, but there are some Japanese games that won't work because the North American console doesn't have a Japanese font, which they require.

-Are there any prevalent hardware or software issues that I should know about?
Click to expand...
The system saves via a battery attached to the motherboard (standard welded battery, like a cartridge game; the battery is a CR2354 though, not a 2032 like most cartridge games used), so who knows how long the systems will be able to save for, by now I"m sure many of those batteries are dying. Also the internal save memory isn't too large, and the only "memory card" (it's an addon that plugs into the expansion port called the "Memory Unit", model FZ-EM256) was only released in Japan and also has a battery inside it I'm pretty sure.

At least it's a battery on the motherboard, though, and not something like the CD-i's horrible "chip with a battery built into the middle of it" thing that's very hard to replace... and given the age of these systems, replacing the save batteries is something which is a relevant issue these days.

Gunloc said:
I finally ordered my 3DO. :D

I know I'm probably overhyping it, but I'm really excited to have one again. Now just to get some games. Of course all the ones I want are the rare and/or expensive ones.
Click to expand...
They usually are, aren't they... I'm sure there are some good cheaper games though.
 
This weekend I recently found a 6 button Performance SNES style Pad for $3 at a place in South Carolina called Video Game Cavern. Time to play some Super Street Fighter II Turbo finally!
 
I bought one a few months back. Only have Doom. System mostly works, been told their is a slight issue with something.

I should look into getting more games for it.
 
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