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Most gamers usually had their first 3D experience through the Playstation, Sega Saturn or Nintendo64 but for me, it was the 3DO developed by Panasonic, Sanyo and Goldstar. At that time 3DO cost a bombshell USD $699, due to its gaming and media playback capability. My uncle bought it at around 1994 and I was lucky enough have tried it out.

If I recall correctly, I tried two different models of the 3DO. Both of them are from Panasonic, codenamed FZ-1 and FZ-10. I can’t really remember why my uncle bought the later model but perhaps it was due to the faulty cd-tray of the FZ-1 model. As a kid I wasn’t bothered with hardware failures and stuff. As long as I get to play the games, it’s all good.

All my life as a gamer, I have never seen a console system that only has one controller port. In order for a second player to join in, he or she has to connect their controller into Player 1’s controller. From what I see, Player 1 usually has the upper-hand when it comes to versus games. Not happy with Player 2 trashing you? Just plug out the controller! In terms of appearance, the original controller looked very similar to Sega’s, with the exception of L R trigger buttons.

The first game I ever played on the 3DO was Road Rash. Being a fan of that game when it was on the Sega 16 bit, it was totally mind blowing to play it again with a graphical up-lift. You get the same police chase, you get to whack other bikers and you get the similar ‘busted’ feeling when the cops get the better of you. I wonder why EA never came out with new Road Rash franchise. Gameplay too old school for today?

Other than Road Rash, a lot of good games did came out for the 3DO; Super Street Fighter 2 X, Mad Dog McCree, Total Eclipse, Dragon’s Lair, The Need For Speed, Return Fire and Gex to name a few. There are a couple more other games that I have played but I couldn’t remember. My favourite games are definitely SSF2X, Return Fire, Road Rash and Gex. I can just literally play them everyday and wouldn’t get bored of them.

It’s really a shame that the console didn’t last long. Lack of 3rd party support along with crazy pricing was the main reason for it’s demise. I doubt I can still find 3DO along with the old games after a decade but if I do, I’m definitely going to buy and keep it. To me, it’s well worth the collection.

If you want to know more about 3DO, you can visit Wiki or Vidgame.net

Picture Source : Vidgame.net, Defunct Games