Guide Best 3DO Games Of All Time

Very solid list, picked all my favourites. While the console/platform failed and was extremely short lived and expensive... back then even around the time of its demise with PSX and Saturn on the horizon, I would have still told you that it was worth buying for Road Rash and Need For Speed alone... if you had deep enough pockets.

And infact, I still stick to that. They are still the "best" versions of those games (subjective but easily arguable), and show how incredible and ahead of its time the system was. There's plenty of other fun games and impressive ports, but those 2 titles remain genuine "killer apps" for me that justify the purchase alone.

Unless I missed them, Alone in the Dark is a pretty big omission, and it also had the definitive version of Out of This World at the time. Road Rash and SCII are definitely the two best. Generally a laughably bad system though. The people who think it better than the other consoles of the time almost make me sad in their devotion to their horrible childhood toy.

@Poodlestargenerica Yeah there's Alone in the Dark 1 and 2 on 3do. Also really good version of Flashback in addition to Out of this World.

It's difficult to quantify "other consoles of its time"... the 3dO was part of that awkward phase where Genesis, SNES, Amiga and DOS ruled the roost, but before the PlayStation, Saturn, N64, PCs with 3D accelerators...

Really the systems it should be compared to are Mega Cd, 32X, CDi, CD32, Jaguar, Jaguar CD, NeoGeo Cd, Pippin, PCFX, Virtual Boy, CDTV, and a few more that probably slip my mind right now. There seemed a never ending list of new systems trying to establish what the "next generation" would be like, but they were all about 3 years early to really get an impressive leap forward but at an afforable price.

While my personal allegiance was to stick with the Megadrive and add a Mega CD and 32X (really nice combined library if you can sift through the trash) I think it's arguable that the 3dO was the closest of all the systems of its ilk to give a vision of what was to come with the PlayStation. Trouble is, it wasn't quite as powerful, and was far to expensive. But for those with deep pockets, it was a taste of the future at least 18 months early.

Difficult to appreciate the novelty factor when looking back... but easy to understand how that lucky few that had one around launch were mind blown enough to still sing its praises decades on... a bit like how Dreamcast owners got to experience PS2/GC/Xbox quality games 28 months early, and felt gyped when it died.

@XiaoShao "good" is subjective... it was more of an "interactive multimedia experience" than a true game. Fairly rudimentary point and click adventure with puzzles, and arcades mini games that are akin to what would eventually be early 2000s flash games.

However, the FMV, sound and music were excellent for the time and far more impressive than similar titles on Mega CD, CDi (without the optional videocard at least) etc. And the minigames, while simple, had pretty amazing graphics that wouldn't have been possible on the 16bits. In short clips on a commercial, they would have made it look like an incredible game! Watching longer clips of full gameplay would have instantly broken that illusion though! The 8 & 16 bit JP games were all significantly better to actually play.

So, is it worth playing today? Not really, other than as a historical curiosity. But at the time it would have been a technical showpiece that showed the potential of "interactive entertainment"... which was what was being used as a way to sell expensive hardware to parents as if it was educational and "not just a videogame". Sadly for kids whose parents bought into this idea, often the truth was "barely a videogame at all" !

Some people love these type of early 90s entertainment CD rom "experiences". I guess they are an acquired taste, like the "laser disc games" like Space Ace and Dragons Lair... which also had great ports for the 3dO. For people who like them, I guess the JP one is one of the best. The Mega CD title has worse graphics but is probably the better designed point and click adventure.

Deadelus Encounter is the only one missing for me and only because it has Tia Carerra in it. Absolute eye candy. I don't recall the game being any fun what so ever though, so probably a good call not adding it to your list.

In September 1995, whilst the 3DO was the biggest selling 5th gen console in the US, they announced the 3DO M2.

No one was going to spend $300 on a 3DO console that was going to be replaced with the 3DO M2 the following year.

The 3DO console was originally going to be upgradable to the next gen console. (The M2) But the 3DO company decided the next gen needed a 4x speed CD ROM. And so the upgrade was abandoned.

By the end of 1995, the 3DO had arguably the best 5th gen library.
By the end of 1996, the 3DO's best games were on other platforms that also had their own exclusives.

Battlesport was an excellent, unique title for the 3DO. Like a mix of Battlezone, Twisted Metal and Rocket League played from a first-person perspective, Battlesport was smooth and enjoyable, especially in split-screen multiplayer.
The primary objective is to score more goals than your opponent by picking up a ball in an Arena and shooting it toward the single goal. With several different types of goals, arenas, and tanks to pilot, the game has enough variation and difficulty to keep pushing further into the single-player mode, but local one-on-one multiplayer is the killer feature. There are handicaps to let different skill levels compete closer, and there are many power-ups to mix up the action during match.
The similarities to Battlezone are definitely felt in the controls, which by modern FPS standards feel "sloppy", but given the hovertanks it makes sense and you do get used to the chaos that feel provides. This version is superior to the PlayStation version in terms of visuals, at least.

Another game that's superior to the PlayStation version is Space Hulk: Vengeance of the Blood Angels. The definitive version of the game, this blend of real-time strategy and First-Person Shooter surprisingly holds up in a couple ways to today's standards. Slow, methodical, and difficult, this game plays close to the original board game's blend of horror and dread, and pays off the player's investment in mapping and planning two or three moves in advance.
Combat is similar to Wolfenstein 3D as a single-level FPS, but when the Genestealer enemies get close, combat switches to very good-looking video/QTE-style melee not terribly dissimilar to what's found today in Metroid Dread.

While neither of these games made a big splash elsewhere, I think the 3DO versions are the best ones and deserve a deeper look.

(Oh, I meant to say that while scoring more goals is the main objective in Battlesport, blowing up your opponent by shooting them with lasers and missiles is a critical tactic in the game.)

I was like, excuse me where is Escape from Cyber City but that was on the OTHER failed console.

I got around to trying the 3DO version of Super Street Fighter 2 earlier this year and compared it directly to the arcade version. I was actually surprised by the changes for the port as it has noticeable concessions, and beyond just the background layer. I only mention that because of how often people say it is perfect aside from the backgrounds. With that said, it's still a very good port at the time and would have felt perfect for those that had it at the time. It was clearly a step up over the Genesis and SNES versions and would have been an impressive sight back in 1994 and 1995.

I always found it odd that they went with a three-button controller as the default for the 3DO. It was really a missed opportunity to not launch with a six-button pad as standard. Fighting games were already popular and they really could have marketed the system as the ideal way to play arcade fighters while also pushing other game experiences on the platform.

@sdelfin
The 3DO controller has two shoulder buttons as well as the three face buttons. But it is still bizarre that they didn't have a six button controller.

Capcom released a weird six button controller for the 3DO.

@UK_Kev Thanks for the reminder. Yeah, by the time the system was out, going with six face buttons made the most sense to me. Even with the SNES having six total buttons, I always hated using shoulder buttons for main functions in fighting games.

@XiaoShao If by not good you mean the most laughably terrible game ever made. Great to play at least once for the humor value though.

@UK_Kev Just wanted to say that your perspective on the quick and sudden death of the 3do is bang on. At the time, I remember thinking it was the most likely to succeed out of all the "interim" systems while all the others were dying, and it was growing the biggest and most respectible library... I was very aware of the M2 hype as well, to me it felt like the company/brand was around to stay. And then it seemingly disappeared overnight.

My theory was always that the console was simply too expensive, and once the PlayStation was released for cheaper, and being obviously better and with more quality third party support, that was the begining of the end. But I was still surprised by the fast decline, I figured it would be more a case of either a slow decline, or a "hail mary" price decrease and actually competing. Of course, nowadays I realise that wasn't possible, because the nature of 3do consoles being concieved as more of a "standard" for many companies to make compatible systems for meant they couldn't sell at a loss hoping to make a profit back on games.

But reading your posts, you are 100% right. It was the best selling, had the biggest and best library... BUT the biggest titles were ported to PSX, Saturn and PC meaning there was less reason to buy, and pushing the M2 so hard meant no-one new would buy the console, instead they'd wait... and just like that, in a 2-3 month window they went from a promising rising success to dead in the water because the competition was just too strong, could afford to sell at a loss, and poached all the biggest exclusives... no-one would have bought a 3do for Christmas that year, and PSX absolutely cleaned up, Saturn taking second place and 3do a very, very distant 3rd. Amazing how an entire supposed future proof "industry standard" can tank so quickly after a promising start and steady growth.

Thanks for the insight. As ever, I really enjoy reading your posts. Always knowledgeable and far better at being succinct than I am! 😂

@samuelvictor
The 3DO was down to $300 by September 1995. And so the high price was no longer an issue by then.

In November 1995, after 3DO consoles stopped selling, the manufacturers obviously stopped manufacturing them. And so the console was effectively finished even though it was in the lead in 5th gen sales. Goldstar dropped the price of their console to $150 to sell off the remaining stock. Panasonic did the same. Which increased their lead further.

A lot of the information I put out comes from memories of Edge Magazine which I bought from launch in the 1990s. I enjoyed reading the early 5th gen news, even though I couldn't afford the 5th gen consoles at the time.

@UK_Kev I knew the price decreased, but I hadn't made the same connection that the $300 price point was the same as the PlayStation launch price, and cheaper than the Saturn. Frankly, for me at the time, all of them seemed to be impossible price's I'd never be able to afford! That's fascinating that both Panasonic and Goldstar slashed the prices that much, that must have been to clear stock and was a sign of a death spiral, even though it in theory increased the user base of potential customers for games, I can't see many devs wanting to risk making new games for a console that was essentially discontinued. I saw the same thing happen with shops selling brand new 32X for £20 and amazing Dreamcast bundles with several good games fir £50.

I'm exactly the same as you in that I read and enjoyed all the magazines at the time, and was really interested and excited in all the "next generation" hardware and amazing CD, 32bit and 3D technologies and the potential they had. At the time, I had only just upgraded to 16bit consoles and was mostly buying second hand games for them. So things like the 3do, Jaguar, Cdi, 32X/CD and eventual PSX, Saturn, Ultra 64 all seemed like pipedreams of unimaginable sci-fi powers! Seeing the majority of them come and go, failing almost immediately because the new latest greatest was on the horizon was a real trip!

The upshot of all the failures was a year or two later I could actually afford all the "unafforable" systems, as no-one wanted them and were practically giving them away. I had fun exploring them all while I waited for PlayStation & Saturn to enter my price range. I've got a lot of live for the more obscure consoles and upgrades from that time period 😀

I owned a Mega Drive at the time and only ever bought second hand games. I usually only had two games at a time. I would trade one game in to buy another second hand game.

I bought a 3DO in the 00s. Owned it for a year. And then sold it on again.

@Sketcz I played some 3DO games via the Phoenix Project emulator. I really enjoyed Burning Soldier, Road Rash, Icebreaker, and Immercenary, to name a few

@Sketcz
Numerous people have wrote that the Panasonic FZ1 model is the model to get because some games have compatibility issues with the other models.

The Japanese FZ-1 is the ultimate 3DO as it has a 240p mode (improves most games) and is compatible with with every game. Japanese or Western.

A local game store at the mall had the system at launch and one of the employees hyped it up. From what I played then couldn't justify the $700 for the Panasonic player (which was way nicer looking and seemed more solid than the Goldstar top loader). Years later I bought a Panasonic FZ-0 (the front loader) for $60 on eBay. Played a bunch of games ("Need for Speed" wasn't just a title but a statement-that game felt slow!) then sold it. Out of the titles I had, I miss "Twisted" out of all of them. It was a fun, quirky game show game that the Ex and I played most on there.

@Gamemoose
Need For Speed being slow was a common complaint. The speed was increased for the PS1 version. Although some people prefer the 3DO version's slower speed.

Still bring the 3do out from time to time and love it. The amount of hours I spent playing Road Rash and NFS. The one game I'm surprised that didn't make the list is Captain Quazer. That game is ace.

@UK_Kev I thought the 3do NFS was (for the time) realistic in it's physics. The PS1 version arcadey rubbish. Each to their own of course.

@SpecialT
I've always seen the 3DO and PlayStation versions as two completely different games with the same skin. The 3DO version is a simulator. The PS1 version is an arcade game.

@UK_Kev yeah pretty much. I think at the time when the ps1 version came out I was expecting the sim version with prettier graphics.

@Sketcz Thats not your system being faulty, its a common issue with certain games combined with certain models.

The reason it happens is on bootup the system OS is loaded into RAM. Even though the specs for 3DO standard were locked, different manufacturers made their own slightly different OS, mostly just changes in the boot logos and sound. Some of these were slightly bigger than others and meant that games that max out the RAM wouldn't work on these systems as the data was still unflushed.

That's what you get when you essentially get manufacturers of VHS players and Stereos who know nothing about games development to make clones of your hardware. The hardware spec was identical but they ruined that with their custom OS, all for the sake of trying to have the nicest fancy boot logo and not knowing it was taking away precious memory that the games needed 😂

The way around this would have been for the 3DO standard to have the OS stored on each game, rather than on the consoles themselves, which would just have a simple boot bios only. Poor planning in an otherwise well designed system spec.

@SpecialT @UK_Kev Yeah they feel like entirely different games. Even though I'm usually an arcade racing fan, I have always much prefered the 3do version of the original NFS. I miss the "Road and Track", cool 90s atyle "rad" menus/presentation, and "X Man" FMV stuff in the DOS and console ports too.

By the way, the emulator "3DO Play" can overclock the CPU so you can up the framerate to 30fps, making it far more barable to play my today's standards, and still retain the original game.