3DO

"No limits."
The 3DO Interactive Multiplayer has one hell of a pedigree. Conceived by Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins, and designed by Amiga veterans RJ Mical and Dave Needle, it was not one specific console, but a standard: different models were produced by Panasonic, Sanyo, GoldStar (now LG), and Creative Labs, under license from The 3DO Company. The games are supposed to be fully compatible with any 3DO console of any region (although there were a few issues with early GoldStar units, as well as with certain NTSC games on PAL consoles). Also, the system has no copy protection whatsoever.
The 3DO is a misunderstood system: as it did not sell well, people think that it was a bad system with a poor library. That's very far from the truth. Its main problem was that the console sold for $599 (adjusting for inflation, over $930). Nowadays, though, you can easily get one for less than $30. The 3DO was actually a stellar hardware at the time, with a decent list of games from good to excellent, and its specialty was really in that it had the best ports/versions of just about everything, although it does have a few great exclusives of its own. Of course, there's some dreck like Plumbers Don't Wear Ties, but what console doesn't have some turds? Well, no turds in this list, just the good stuff.
By the way, it's not "three-dee-zero", you goddamn nincompoops, it's the letter "O". Audio, video, three-dee-o!
==The list==
Box Art	Title 	Genre 	Description
 	Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Slayer 	FPS / Action RPG 	A 3DO exclusive first-person action RPG with randomly generated dungeons and monster slaying hence the title. Choose a clash and get to bashan and slashan. You'll typically find it listed as "Slayer" sans the D&D moniker.
 	Alone in the Dark 	Survival Horror 	The first of it's kind, and stepping stone for the survival horror genre (some argue it's the first survival horror game, some argue it's the second or even third). Plays like a 3D adventure, where you must uncover the secrets of the Derceto mansion, a place purportedly haunted. Plenty of nods to Lovecraftian horror fiction. Get ready for some polygonal goodness!
 	Alone in the Dark 2 	Survival Horror 	Like the first but, the graphics have been improved. It is Christmas of 1925, three months after Alone in the Dark. "Supernatural Private Eye" Edward Carnby and his partner Ted Stryker are investigating the kidnapping of young Grace Saunders. The trail of clues leads to an old mansion named "Hell's Kitchen" - the home of an infamous gangster boss and his gang. I'm sure you can guess what you gotta do.
 	Brain Dead 13 	Interactive movie 	An FMV game like Dragon's Lair if it took a big swig from the Halloween goblet. A really funny and exciting adventure where you play Lance, basically a '90s /v/irgin who works for a computer store. He is sent out on a call to fix the computer of a mad scientist in a haunted castle! You also have to deal with that crazy little bastard to the right every so often. This game's a bit easier on people who aren't so good at these types of games since you have unlimited continues (Lance gets resurrected by someone in the castle). Also on PC, Playstation, Saturn, and Jaguar, but all those version are known to have problems without patches. A must have for the 3DO.
 	Bust A Move 	Puzzle / Arcade 	Yeah it's a perfectly good Puzzle Bobble port.
 	Captain Quazar 	Third-person Shooter 	A fuckawesome top-down, isometric third person shooter where you shoot the absolute fuck out of everything with big-ass guns. I swear to god Captain Quark from Ratchet and Clank is based on this guy. His chin is even bigger in-game.
 	Crash N' Burn 	Racing / Combat 	Racing game where you can customize your car and shoot at other cars. This game even has fucking heat-seeking missiles. What's not to like?
 	D 	Survival Horror / Adventure	The (in)famously strange game horror game by Kenji Eno. You have two hours to beat the game or you lose, and you also cant pause or save. You have to beat it in one sitting, in real time. It's full of death sequences, puzzles, and panicking in first person. If you like horror and experimental games, this is up your alley.
The series continued with Enemy Zero on the Sega Saturn / PC, and then D2 on the Dreamcast. 
Also on the PS1, Saturn, and PC.
 	Dragon's Lair 	Interactive movie 	Classic Dragon's Lair, you know what to expect. You are Dirk the Daring, entering the evil castle where you must rescue Princess Daphne in an interactive movie. It's pretty much a straight port, sans the extras of alternate/newer ports. However, if you really want to play Dragon's Lair on a console, especially this one, then you can't go wrong with this.
 	Flashback: The Quest for Identity 	Cinematic Platformer 	The classic adventure platformer indeed has an excellent 3DO port. Notable, however, all the primitive 3D cutscenes were replaced with cheesy (3D pre-rendered) FMV ones. Which is cheesier, and which is better, is left up to you.
 	Gex 	Platformer 	Gex was sort of intended to be the 3DO's Sonic, but that simply didn't happen. However, this is a great platforming classic with great 2D visuals and gameplay, Cd Quality audio, and the ability to crawl on walls and ceilings. This version is much better than ANY of the ports (yes, even the Playstation one) because you can actually save for your game. A must have for the 3DO. The sequels are on Playstation, Saturn and N64, and each version of each sequel differs by console.
 	Guardian War / Power Kingdoms 	RPG 	Interesting RPG that has some fairly standard story and elements, such as hit points, magic points, speed, mobility, skills, etc. However, you do get to control each golem (character) individually. The action does take a level-based approach. Very interesting and fun game. Known as Guardian War in the west, and Power Kingdoms in Europe and Japan. Another must have.
 	John Madden Football 	Sports 	Revolutionary for its day and fun and still worth your money if you like retro games and sports games!
 	Killing Time 	FPS 	Cool cinematic FPS where you investigate a mansion where time has stopped, and which is of course full of monsters. Every now and then you come across live-action ghosts which reenact events related to the plot and can even give important clues, though you're free to skip them and watch the sequence again if you return to the area they appeared, all this done without breaking the flow of the game with unnecessary cutscenes.
 	Lemmings 	Puzzle 	It's lemmings, ported to your 3DO and perfectly good! Even works with the 3DO's mouse add-on.
 	Lucienne's Quest 	RPG 	One of the main problems with the 3DO is the fact it lacks many RPGs. Such an expensive console, at the time, should have been brimming with them, especially since it had so much technical prowess, it could have harvested some truly epic adventures. This is where Lucienne's Quest stands out. It is an RPG that features 2D sprites in a 3D world, with a classic turn based battle system. The battles slightly resemble Arc the Lad. The game itself is generic, but the story and characters are so much fun you'll be instantly charmed. Unfortunately, this one can be quite expensive and hard to find, so keep an eye out.
 	Myst 	Adventure 	You should all know Myst by now, a free-roam adventure game with nothing but ambiance and puzzles. Good for a console version, but not necessarily preferable over PC.
 	Out Of This World / Another World 	Cinematic Platformer 	One of the various ports of the classic Adventure/Platformer. Unlike most other console releases, this one is extremely accurate. Probably inferior only to the SEGA CD version. The 3DO look clashes with a lot and may not be for you, if you care about that sort of thing.
 	PaTaank 	Pinball 	How zoomed in do you like your pinball games? How about all the way in - right behind the ball! It doesn't get more immersive than this. You'll probably get dizzy, but it's cool to see how people tried new ideas back then and not all stuck.
 	Policenauts 	Adventure 	If you liked Snatcher or Metal Gear or even Penguin Adventure you should give the genius known as Hiideo Kojima some props and play this game, it's pretty great too! Works with the lightgun! Of course, you know, it's Japanese only, so unless you're savvy, you'll likely need a guide. Well, maybe it's better to play the PlayStation or Saturn versions, which have fan translation patches.
 	Return Fire 	Combat 	A top down, third person game where you control a tank and must blow the fuck out of shit like holy god what. Actually needs a fair bit of tactful thinking and strategy later on, and the multiplayer for this game is one of the best experiences on this system. A must have for the 3DO.
 	Road Rash 	Racing 	A fun motorcycle racing game with tongue-in-cheek humor and the ability to PUNCH THE FUCK out of other racers. The FMV opening is actually pretty neat, but there are FMVs before races that are a little annoying (albeit lasting only a couple seconds). The artwork on the menu screens is awesome, tons of good licensed rock tunes, and good graphics. Not one to miss out. This was later ported to Playstation and Saturn, but like plenty of 3DO ports, it has some problems. This isn't the same as the Genesis version, although that's worth playing too.
 	Samurai Shodown 	Fighting 	The absolute BEST home console port of Samurai Shodown (even the Neo Geo version, which is a direct port!). It has all the graphics and gameplay of the arcade version, but CD quality music, so it's actually improved. A must have for the 3DO.
 	Shock Wave 	Flight Combat 	Aliens have invaded Earth, and it's up to a squadron of space stealth fighters to repeal them. A simple but fun and good-looking 3D shooter, notable for its rather well made FMV cutscenes. There's also an expansion, "Operation JumpGate". It was also released for other systems as "Shockwave Assault" with the expansion included, but the PS1/Saturn ports have poorer graphics than the original.
 	Space Hulk: Vengeance of the Blood Angels	FPS / RTS 	A sequel to a PC real time strategy / first person shooter genre mash game based on a Warhammer 40k board game. Once you've wrapped your head around that, know that this game is fucking beyond difficult, but in a fair way, so it's only recommended for hardcore spess muhreens.
Tension and atmosphere are great, and it includes all the levels from the original game, as well as levels designed on missions from the actual board game. If you're a Warhammer 40k fan, your dick should be rock solid.
 	Star Blade 	Rail-Shooter 	A port of the Namco arcade game. A solid rail shooter with great 3D graphics for the time. The one downside is your co-fighters / squad never shut the fuck up. Sometimes the Japanese one goes for cheaper.
 	Star Control II 	SHMUP / Adventure / Sim 	A critically acclaimed and fanboy praised PC title that was improved on 3DO, in fact, the ports to modern computers are based on the 3DO version and not the original.
The game has the storyline progression of a classic adventure game, but the gameplay for the star ship is a mix of arena shmup and resource management simulator. If diplomacy fails, blow them the fuck up.
Includes a 2-player mode based on the ship combat, which is great mindless fun, and odd for an otherwise mentally intensive game.
 	Star Fighter 	Flight Combat 	A pretty good, space themed, flight combat game. Like any good flight sim, levels are broken down into missions. Can use a flight stick if you have one, but you probably don't.
 	Super Street Fighter II Turbo 	Fighting 	Like Samurai Showdown, this is The Best original home-console port of Super Street Fighter II Turbo. Arcade quality graphics and CD quality sound, this is far superior to the SNES version everyone claims by. A must have for the 3DO.
This Version halves the Character Roster by removing the "Old" characters (no Old Sagat bullshit here), if that's a big deal to you get the Street Fighter Collection on PSX and Saturn, they don't have the remixed music though
 	Super Wing Commander 	Flight Combat 	An excellent re-make and port of the original MS-DOS Wing Commander, with all the extra bells and whistles from the Secret Missions games, plus even more new content.
 	The Need For Speed 	Racing 	Yes, the original Need For Speed was a 3DO game. Basically just a well made racing game, without any extra bells or whistles. Fun stuff. Later ports on the PC, Saturn, and PS1 are a bit different, missing the FMVs from this versions but adding additional features.
 	Total Eclipse 	Rail-Shooter 	Similar to Star Fox, but for the 3DO. A perfectly serviceable rail shooter with pretty smooth flying in open areas and tight corridors. Graphics are pretty decent for the time, the audio is pretty crisp, and features some pre-rendered cutscenes that are laughably bad, but set up the game nicely. Made by Crystal Dynamics.
 	Trip'd 	Puzzle 	Similar to Puyo Puyo. Colored alien eggs fall down and you gotta arrange them in a line of four of the same color to clear 'em. The twist is that if you do so in a square instead, then you've fucked up and a giant alien will hatch and can instantly game over. You can play solo, versus the CPU, or another player.
 	Twisted 	Puzzle / FMV 	You're in a fucking game show where it's like everyone is TRIPPING ON ACID. You can play as a goddamn PEZ DISPENSER. It kind of plays like Mario Party before Mario Party existed. It's better with friends.
 	Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger 	Flight Combat / FMV 	Furry Dog-fights in Space 3. If you don't know anything about Wing Commander, you probably don't belong here, but I'll explain anyways: it's a series of games that are basically low budget sci-fi movies with excellent space-fighter combat sections. In this one, the cutscenes are FMVs of Luke Skywalker talking to grown men in fursuits. What a cat-astrophe.
Another excellent PC port to the 3DO.
 	Wolfenstein 3D 	FPS 	Imagine this: a version of the classic Wolfenstein 3D even better than the original PC version. Can't be true, right? Wrong! Wolfenstein 3D for the 3DO is actually the best version of the game; it plays exactly as good as the PC version but has even better graphics, and the soundtrack is also unique to this version. Now go shoot some FECKIN NATZEES. A must have for the 3DO.
==Videos==
Retro Review - The Panasonic 3DO FZ-1 Video Game Console
Category:Fifth Generation