Support NeoGAF

[Duxxy3]

 

[BKK]

Didn't the controller for the Sega Master System also have a little joystick that screwed into the dpad as well?

At first yes, but the screw hole was removed from later pads.

 

[herzogzwei1989]

At first yes, but the screw hole was removed from later pads.

Ah, I see, I didn't know that, thanks.

 

[herzogzwei1989]

Here's part of an article called "Swimming With Dolphins" on the MX from VortexOnline

"This time Matsushita had a very viable solution for Nintendo, the MX console. What was the MX? Well, details are sketchy, but it was supposed to be the successor of the M2. Sporting two Power PC CPUs that each alone had several times the power of the M2, and pushing a lot more polygons, this system was designed for speed. Nintendo actually entered into negotiations with Matsushita about using the technology. However, Nintendo was still a fan of MIPS CPUs and wanted to use them. The architectures where not compatible, and the MX went down just like its younger brother. Or did it? Perhaps, part of it lives in the Dolphin. Rumors persist that some of the foundations of the Dolphin are based of early MX designs. Only Nintendo knows for sure."

If anyone can find the full article, I'd really appreciate it.

 

[herzogzwei1989]

Again, thanks to bitrate for these pics.

__________________________________________________________________________

Here is the M2 gaming console shown off by Panasonic at various gaming shows of the mid 1990's.

Here is some software running on the console. This software came with the unit and control pad. I got extremely lucky on this lot.

Some of these demos were photographed and shown in various gaming magazines of the time.


I'll try to get some images of the other demo's as time permits.



Here is the BIOS screen.

Here is an intro to one of several iterations of the Dolphin demo.

Here is another system demo.

Here is the "M2 Racer" demo.

Here is a system performance demo.

 

[Tarin02543]

That's extremely cool. Perhaps you could upload some youtube footage?

 

[herzogzwei1989]

Here's the real-time Dolphin demo running on M2 at 60fps:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZpj9tGOmxg


Notice it surpasses anything on Nintendo 64 (IMO).

 

[Uncle Rupee]

Definitely want to see these in action instead of photos!

 

[shouamabane]

I would've bought one of these. There were promos at every game store.

 

[DonMigs85]

I'd like to see a video of M2 Racer.

 

[twingloxx2]

The M2 hardware saw release as an arcade board at least.

Polystars looks nice (if not mind-blowing):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_6k67pz6kQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-fuQu9Rspg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seV_Z97P6BY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk_rj4tZmqw

 

[Log4Girlz]

The M2 hardware saw release as an arcade board at least.

Polystars looks nice (if not mind-blowing):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_6k67pz6kQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-fuQu9Rspg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seV_Z97P6BY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk_rj4tZmqw

Holy shit that looks like a Wii game


jk

 

[jts]

Because you actually held one of these and tested it with some software.

I'm not saying this is better but it has several more things going for it than the standard N64 pad.

By several you mean just the steering wheel thingy right?

 

[dwu8991]

"HEY! Don't give me the middlefin.....stick!




yeah well...looks like a mix of a ripoff n64 pad and a sextoy

Does the thing vibrate or do you need to buy extra rumble pak ???

 

[Branduil]

The best part was the little joystick that screwed into the dpad. What a useless piece of shit :lol

It was even greater when the stick broke almost immediately with the end forever stuck in the little screw-in socket.

 

[Party Popper]

 

[speedpop]

Mr Swine, oh here it is! ^__^

Damn. Talk about injecting long lost memories in to the brain.

 

[Parallax]

The M2 hardware saw release as an arcade board at least.

Polystars looks nice (if not mind-blowing):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_6k67pz6kQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-fuQu9Rspg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seV_Z97P6BY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk_rj4tZmqw

Damn, thats running on the m2? That could have been a contender during the psx/n64/saturn era

 

[Kokonoe]

That console looks like a printer, or scanner.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Looks just as godawful and uncomfortable as the N64 monstrosity of a controller.

 

[herzogzwei1989]

3DO's M2 E3 1995 Press Conference with Trip Hawkens

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xeyucnjf7YE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2tnKdmvG2E

 

[doctordoak]

Didn't the controller for the Sega Master System also have a little joystick that screwed into the dpad as well?

It did, and it hurts your thumb quite badly after a while. I can't even unscrew mine.

 

[herzogzwei1989]

Damn, thats running on the m2? That could have been a contender during the psx/n64/saturn era

M2 would've been the most powerful consumer 3D machine of its generation. We're talking at LEAST twice the power of the Nintendo 64 (maybe 3x)
and somewhat more powerful than the top two PC 3D accelerators of the time, 3DFX Voodoo and Videologic PowerVR1. Of course, M2 couldn't touch the Dreamcast
in performance but Dreamcast was 1997/1998 hardware whereas M2 was 1994/1995/1996 hardware,

 

[doctordoak]

Herzog, those demo pics are awesome; I would pay good money for that console. Are those playable?!

 

[herzogzwei1989]

Damn. Talk about injecting long lost memories in to the brain.

Yeah that was VM Labs Project X (NUON) shown at E3 1997, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[herzogzwei1989]

Herzog, those demo pics are awesome; I would pay good money for that console. Are those playable?!

I have no idea, but I know who would know, bitrate over on the 3DO Zero forums.

 

[Atolm]

It would be cool to grab the D2 alpha/beta. The game was in development for the M2 for quite a long time.

 

[herzogzwei1989]

It would be cool to grab the D2 alpha/beta. The game was in development for the M2 for quite a long time.

Yeah it would. The M2 version looked alot more interesting than the Dreamcast version.

 

[herzogzwei1989]

Here's the famous pre-rendered "M2 Car" demo:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsRnN0jBHSA

Those sort of graphics wouldn't be possible until the DC/PS2/GCN/Xbox generation.

 

[ElFly]

Really like the idea of an analog steering wheel as standard for a controller.

 

[herzogzwei1989]

Really like the idea of an analog steering wheel as standard for a controller.

You know what, even though I've seen that controller back in the 1990s in magazines, I never knew it had an analog steering wheel. I just found that out when I saw it over on the 3DO Zero forums.

 

[U n i o n 0015]

I've always loved this description of M2 Power Crystal (the so called Zelda 64 killer):

That looks significantly better than any N64 game that came out! I remember seeing those M2 shots in the mags so many years ago. It looked amazing at the time.

 

[herzogzwei1989]

That looks significantly better than any N64 game that came out! I remember seeing those M2 shots in the mags so many years ago. It looked amazing at the time.

I know, and it ran at 60fps whereas Ocarina of Time ran at about 20fps. Whoever says M2 was only as, or slightly more powerful, than N64, is out of their mind.


Here are some cleaner shots:

 

[GDGF]

Didn't the controller for the Sega Master System also have a little joystick that screwed into the dpad as well?

Yes it did.

That little thing bore painful dimples into my thumb after a while.

 

[herzogzwei1989]

Yes it did.

That little thing bore painful dimples into my thumb after a while.

Ah, thank you also for the confirmation on that.

 

[herzogzwei1989]

Here's some footage of IMSA Racing.

http://www.youtube.com/results?sear...=7428l8297l0l8659l4l4l0l0l0l0l104l313l3.1l4l0


Sadly it only ran at 30fps (it was probably a beta though).

Still, it was superior to anything on the Nintendo 64, IMO.

 

[herzogzwei1989]

BTW here's the 3DO Zero Forums M2 forum, it's a treasure box full of pictures, videos and information: http://cdinteractive.co.uk/3do/forum/viewforum.php?f=13&sid=9e644871b69ccd67161b1a5b38a625f1

 

[Nessus]

Seems like what they could have brought to the generation was a steady framerate.

 

[BladeoftheImmortal]

But people told me Nintendo don't copy nothin!

 

[Quadrangulum]

That console looks wonderful.

 

[herzogzwei1989]

Some D2 magazine scans:

 

[ctrayne]

Nintendo did it better.

No shit, sherlock.

 

[Celine]

I know, and it ran at 60fps whereas Ocarina of Time ran at about 20fps. Whoever says M2 was only as, or slightly more powerful, than N64, is out of their mind.


Here are some cleaner shots:

It sure was but Crystal Power actual screenshots (of a unfinished build) looks like this:

D2 on the other hand was a real looker for the system.

 

[herzogzwei1989]

It sure was but Crystal Power actual screenshots (of a unfinished build) looks like this:

D2 on the other hand was a real looker for the system.

I've seen those, and I was hoping they'd never show up in this thread

The better shots are still real-time, I believe.

 

[Celine]

Went through my archive and uploaded a few scans:

 

[herzogzwei1989]

Went through my archive and uploaded a few scans:

Thanks! I remember those M2 prototype consoles and the EGM article.

 

[scitek]

Maaaaaaan, I miss the days of finding out gaming info from magazines. I was so looking forward to the M2, then it just stopped being written about.

 

[herzogzwei1989]

Maaaaaaan, I miss the days of finding out gaming info from magazines. I was so looking forward to the M2, then it just stopped being written about.

At least M2 lived on in the form of a handful of arcade games, consumer/industrial units, kiosks and (I think) vending machines.

 

[Madao]

this is pretty interesting. learning about unreleased stuff is one of my favorite things about gaming history.

also, it seems like nintendo got a really bad deal with the n64 hardware.

 

[herzogzwei1989]

this is pretty interesting. learning about unreleased stuff is one of my favorite things about gaming history.

Learning about unreleased games and systems is so much fun. I learn to appreciate what we have today by studying gaming history.