3DO ZONE Forums

Seperated at birth? PSX and N64 added for comparison.

FMV add-on. (Only really available in japan)
3DO (Yes) Saturn (Yes) PSX (No) N64 (No)

Analogue controller.
3DO (Yes) Saturn (Yes) PSX (Yes) N64 (Yes)

Add-on to built in Memory cart.
3DO (Yes) Saturn (Yes) PSX (No built in memory) N64 (No??)

Better, in most peoples opinion, at 2D than 3D.
3DO (Yes) Saturn (Yes) PSX (No) N64 (No)

Bolt-on acceleration adapter.
3DO (Planned M2) Saturn (Planned) PSX (No) N64 (No)

Colour black.
3DO (Yes) Saturn (Yes) most anyway. PSX(No) White mostly. N64 (No)

Hardware licensed to other vendors.
3DO (Yes) Saturn (Yes) PSX (No) N64 (No)

...weird - anyone care to comment?

Where does the CDi fit in? It's a bit more Saturn/3DO than PSX right?

I just wish the headphone socket in the controller idea had caught on!

It seems a lot of the 3DO fans here are also fans of the Saturn, so there's probably something to it. Maybe it's the underdog factor?

I think they both signify the cusp of the 3D revolution in video games, and they got caught on the wrong side. They were both capable of 3D, but were far better at 2D. I think the Saturn embraced its strength a little better, though, with its great fighting game ports and games like Astal, Guardian Heroes, and Three Dirty Dwarves.

But as for a couple of your points, N64 had no internal memory but had memory carts that plugged into the controllers. It's also damn near black, but not quite.

I always - looking across at mine - felt the n64 was more grey than black.

Sega made a hash of the hardware design by adding th second CPU too late and making the developement for the system something of a nightmare. So when people compared Ridge to Daytona (and NFS) Ridge came out tops. It sort of stuck.

The original Virtua Fighter was iffy graphically too - by the time VF2 and Sega Rally were out, which were brilliant conversions, the PSX was moping the floor with it. Which was a bit of shame. Still, we can all have them all now!

I do not own a Playstation at all. I love my 3DO, I love my Saturn, and I love my Jaguar. Maybe I am just so out of the hype roller. I actually hated the Playstation when it released. I actually have a launch Sega Saturn that works like a dream still to this day. How many Playstation usits can that be said for? Thought not. I also own a Nintendo 64, but it barely gets any play at all unless I am up for exploring the world of Shadowgate again! I know, alot of the people hated that game, but I loved the damn thing!

I see your point here with the Saturn and 3DO, but look at this. I think that the Saturn was more likened to the Turbo Grafx/Duo. Both did exceedingly poor in the US but had a huge fan base in Japan. Both were also heavily scrutinized over their US releases, but in Japan, well, look at the games. Both systems are still heavy import monsters as well, even today!

ive always liked Sega well before the Saturn and 3DO were even a thought
and while i do own a playstation (a xmas gift in 99), i hate the company itself and i dont support it at all

i own 180+ 3do games
86 saturn games - 33 SMS - 59 gen - 55 scd - 98 DC/32x games

and only 43 total playstation games

the only thing thats kept me away from the N64 was the price of the good games 6 years ago

and ive always liked black systems - atari 2600 vader, colecovision, sega genesis/saturn/DC, but my first 3do system was a goldstar so it wasnt the color that drew me to it it was the crazy crap i havent seen before that did it
since the 3do was the 2nd CD based system i owned, my first was the sega cd, the 3rd was the saturn. they didnt have the crazy stuff that the 3do had. the 3do original sampler disc kept me entertained for hours with just the psychedelic stuff

edit
the cd-i fits in there somewhere but because i found my first system in the garbage i cant remember when i got it it might have been before i got my first sega cd

The top 6 classic systems to me are (in no particular order)

CD-i - Innovative and different. Alot of what we know of multimedia designing came from working with CD-i. MPEG fans owe their debt to this little engine that... frankly just couldn't.

3DO - Good games, and great entertainment. Hounded as being underpowered and underimpressive (the wonders of what you can convince people of if you buy a magazine reviewer or two). Still top notch!

Sega CD - FMV games were ok, but WOW! did the RPG's and strategy games rule.

Turbo Duo (TG-16 too) - In the days of the NES, it showed us what gaming could be. Being able to play the home games on the portable rocks!

Saturn - The underdog from hell. Right out of the gate it didn't have a chance. Segas tarnished rep, combined with an anti-saturn media blitz gave it less chance than 3DO. I'm honestly surprized saturn didn't die first then 3DO. Love the Saturn. Hated it's chances.

Dreamcast - A great machine. Very arcade. Good power, but steam rollered by bad press (even from its own mag?? Hey sega, hire people who like your games and don't also tout sony online!) and segas own bad rep.

Drax

First I loved the 3DO. My first proper 'console'. Up until that point I had been a computer guy. Not PC they were rubbish. But Amiga, Spectrum and ST.

3DO blipped my radar (does it show?) but sorry chaps, the CDi never managed to tickle my fancy once. Even now, when I get misty eyed and look back - there isn't a single good reason why I would get a CDi.

After that Sony all the way. I did enjoy the PSX quite a lot. I know many people don't like the traditional Sony franchises, but I had fun playing them all. MGS, RE, Ace Combat, Ridge, Tekken, GT, Wipeout etc., etc.

The PS2 did disillusion me a little. Good games didn't exactly leap from the system day one but the Onimusha series and the sequels to all the other franchises kept my spirits up. God of war, ICO, Shadow of Collosus, Gt4 (I love GT4) I'm a gear head too - the type of gear head that spends all sunday morning polishing his car and then all sunday afternoon smiling at it like moron from various different angles. Which is probably why i like Gt series so much.

Having said that I also had Saturn - but only for the arcade conversions. decent information on the Saturn was hard comeby, so I bought what I knew. Daytona, House of the dead, VF 1 & 2, etc. And I enjoyed it probably 95% as much as I enjoyed the PSX. I pin the blame on lack of information. Sonic never clicked with me. Sonic Adventure looked promising - was confusing.

The DC - I have about the same number of games as I have for the PS2 but only two games stick in my mind from when it was in production. Shenmue - which coincided with my first trip to Japan and it totally blew my socks off. (Japan and Shenmue that is) and Crazy Taxi.

During the PS2/DC era, I was less miffed at Sony/Sega and more disappointed with the demise of the video arcade - the blame for which I placed on the journalists of the time.

N64 - Golden Eye and that's it. Possibly the most disappointing console for me. I had no heritage in NES or the SNES, and many of the games seemed almost elitest. The wife has played every Zelda game on it mind.

The Gamecube however has been different. Pikimin. Chibi Robo. Paper mario 2. Resident Evil 4. (The entire Resident Evil series) it's been good. Even Monkey Ball. And thats a hell of leap for me.

The Xbox didn't stock 'my kind of game'. In fact the pressence of so many FPS' remind me of the 3DO. PGR 1&2, Spinter Cell, but it's telling that my favourite game was actually 'Outrun 2'. Which I rank as one of my all time favourite games, next to Ridge Racer.

All consoles are still second rate - after the arcade!

3DO Kid.

PS: TEH JAG SUX!!!!11111!!!!!! TRU FAX. (except Power Rally and AvP )

PPS: ooooh and Iron Soldier.

PPPS: But after that it sucked massively. Like, err, a black hole.

Uhm, Battlesphere and GORF are both awesoem as Hell games dude. Seriously, if you haven't played those, you need to check them out.

Battlesphere might be good as well.

It's very pricey. And rare too. I'd have it for the cart that allows communication between a PC and a JAG!

So many points to talk about ....

1) Anyone have any experience withe the N64 disc drive that was supported in Japan for about a year or so?

2) I agree w/T2K's comments about the duo ... huge japenese support! If only they had made it overseas, Turbo would have stolen much more of Sega/Nintendos thunder.

3)I like Drax's list ... I agree. (too bad sega didn't adopt M2 to follow up Saturn )

4) 3DOKid ... check out Ultra Vortex and Super Burnout for a couple other great Jag titles (UV is what Way of the Warrior should have been!)

Trev wrote:So many points to talk about ....

1) Anyone have any experience withe the N64 disc drive that was supported in Japan for about a year or so?

2) I agree w/T2K's comments about the duo ... huge japenese support! If only they had made it overseas, Turbo would have stolen much more of Sega/Nintendos thunder.

3)I like Drax's list ... I agree. (too bad sega didn't adopt M2 to follow up Saturn )

4) 3DOKid ... check out Ultra Vortex and Super Burnout for a couple other great Jag titles (UV is what Way of the Warrior should have been!)

Damn, I am always forgetting about Ultra Vortek! Yeah, that is a really good fighting game, especially if you have the pro pad. Easier to pull off the moves there. I really think that the Jaguar and 3DO have alot in common for their respective elease times truthfully. Anyone throws tomatoes at me they get a foot in the ass, by the way!

Wow, you found your cd-i in the garbage. what are the odds? I consider myself a pretty big console geek, but I can't for the life of me remember any good exclusives for that thing. Hell even the genesis ports were pretty dismal.

In my opinion the 3DO was basically the Saturn pre-release. If only it had gotten the Saturn's sweet neo-geo ports instead of sexier versions of the Sega CD FMV library. It may not have matched the Saturn's 2D godliness ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csb5aYoMal8 ), but it wasn't far off the mark.

Of course that probably wouldn't have made sense anyway. With the price tag on the original 3DO, people who wanted a neo-geo could certainly have bought a real one...at least until you start adding up those $200 game-carts.

Lemmi wrote: ....
the cd-i fits in there somewhere but because i found my first system in the garbage i cant remember when i got it it might have been before i got my first sega cd

I think CDi's only advantage was the implementation of the 32-bit cartridge for use of video. The core system is a downsized 16 bit machine which is even worse than SNES As it was orientated for educational programs, there was nothing wrong with this specification. Philips just underestimated the power of the games segment, and didn't go with the main market (just like Nintendo is doing now, although they are doing a better job me think

It's still the latest (and perhaps the last!) videogames machine from western europe