Buying a 3DO, one quick question

ComatoseSheep · Post by **ComatoseSheep** » Fri Sep 24, 2010 5:48 pm

also someone just told me the japanese console won't display on my UK (PAL) tv, is that true or do modern TVs not really care about PAL, NTSC & SECAM
thanks again

Austin · Post by **Austin** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 5:35 am

Hm, IIRC, full-screen video is based on whether the game does it or not (like Icebreaker's FMV.. pretty sure that's full screen). Unless you are talking MPEG/video cd viewing (I guess that could potentially be different, but I've never used it on a 3DO).

Not sure if it's worth picking up a Jap unit though unless you want to seriously collect. Supposedly there are only a handful of Jap-only titles worth playing (I'm sure more here could talk about that.. Shoot, I think there is even a stickied thread here with details on them), and I doubt any of those are the incompatible ones. I'm sure others here can give you a much better insight on this, as I have played very, very few Jap-only titles.

The FZ-1 is a nice unit, for sure. It's also convenient if you have a lot of systems hooked up--You can stack stuff on top of it, unlike the FZ-10. What unit you want though is up to you, and what your tastes are, of course..

BryWI · Post by **BryWI** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 6:26 am

OK i was answering this earlier but my power went out for an hour or so. Here I try again.

The (J) console will only play on your TV if your TV will display NTSC. I guess PAL has some differences in how the games are shown compared to playing them on an NTSC machine. I dont live on that side of the pond though so I dont know for sure. You said no guessing. There are only a few (J) games that dont play on the other region 3do units. It is because they need a font that is in the (J) Bios, but most of the games include the font on the discs. We should be able to re-author these games that dont have the font file now. But i am guessing that, so I can't talk about that.

Post by **3DOKid** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 7:01 am

My Japanese FZ1 works fine on my UK (PAL) 13 year old Sony Trinitron, UK (PAL)Sharp LCD and UK (PAL) Panasonic Plasma - i think you will be fine.

The best version i reckon is the NTSC machines (US / Jap) reason being that the games do run a wee bit smoother, and you will enjoy Samurai Shodown. Which on a PAL Machine is mess simply because of the PAL framerate issues. I say this, but usually I don't give a monkeys about framerate, so... (Make of that what you will)

Just keep in mind there are a few region protections. It's about 6: Soccer Kid, Powers Kingdom, Twinkle Knights, Blue Forest Story, Casper? ... and? Answers on a postcard please...?

(there is a thread, do a search!)

ComatoseSheep · Post by **ComatoseSheep** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 1:50 pm

thanks for all your help guys some great responses there, what initially drew me to the JAP unit was that recently on ebay its been difficult to get hold of any 3DO consoles at all (especially boxed and i will ONLY take a boxed one), when they do come up they tend to be bundled with lots of games which obviously saves lots of money but also pushes the price up to levels where i can't really afford it in one go, now though i've been offered a JAP unit boxed in mint condition with instructions and a new stepdown converter for £85 including postage it only has the sampler cd with it so i'd have to wait till i could buy any games but at least i'd finally have a unit right? my worry is that if i let this one pass by and hold out for a cheap bundle with a boxed system and plenty of games i could just end up missing out all together, so i guess really its more impatience than anything else, your opinions on what you think i should do would be greatly appreciated guys so go ahead
thanks again in advance

Austin · Post by **Austin** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 2:35 pm

ComatoseSheep wrote:now though i've been offered a JAP unit boxed in mint condition with instructions and a new stepdown converter for £85 including postage it only has the sampler cd with it so i'd have to wait till i could buy any ...

That doesn't sound like a bad deal. I mean, considering if you bought, say, a US unit from America, it will cost you a load just to ship it.

ComatoseSheep · Post by **ComatoseSheep** » Wed Sep 29, 2010 9:01 pm

Well guys i've jsut taken receipt of my Jap 3DO and im really happy with it, everything inside was still sealed and in perfect condition so its far better than i expected and my tv has no issue with it so thats great too. only problem i've had so far is that of course its in Japanese, im assuming that for the games that wont be an issue but the sample cd is voiced and controlled in japanese so i have no idea what im doing and also the memory software is in japanese so impossible for me to know what to do there either, suggestions?

Vance · Post by **Vance** » Thu Sep 30, 2010 12:54 am

Learn Japanese.

ComatoseSheep · Post by **ComatoseSheep** » Thu Sep 30, 2010 11:02 am

fair enough idea i guess, however while i can in fact speak a small amount of japanese, reading it is an entirely different matter

Vance · Post by **Vance** » Thu Sep 30, 2010 11:24 am

Most of what you're going to see is hiragana.

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Thu Sep 30, 2010 10:08 pm

ComatoseSheep wrote:Well guys i've jsut taken receipt of my Jap 3DO and im really happy with it, everything inside was still sealed and in perfect condition so its far better than i expected and my tv has no issue with it so thats great too. only problem i've had so far is that of course its in Japanese, im assuming that for the games that wont be an issue but the sample cd is voiced and controlled in japanese so i have no idea what im doing and also the memory software is in japanese so impossible for me to know what to do there either, suggestions?

Use one of the disc-based English memory managers or Game Guru to manage your memory. Other than that, yeah... You have a Japanese system with a Japanese sampler CD.

Lemmi · Post by **Lemmi** » Fri Oct 01, 2010 12:38 am

Mobius wrote:
ComatoseSheep wrote:Well guys i've jsut taken receipt of my Jap 3DO and im really happy with it, everything inside was still sealed and in perfect condition so its far better than i expected and my tv has no issue with it so thats great too. only problem i've had so far is that of course its in Japanese, im assuming that for the games that wont be an issue but the sample cd is voiced and controlled in japanese so i have no idea what im doing and also the memory software is in japanese so impossible for me to know what to do there either, suggestions?
Use one of the disc-based English memory managers or Game Guru to manage your memory. Other than that, yeah... You have a Japanese system with a Japanese sampler CD.

there is a thread around here somewhere with a memory manager for download.
here is the one i have
3DO_Storage_Manager_CD_v2.1.iso -- no idea whats on this as ive never used it or burned it (i have like 3 other managers with sampler cds), i think this is the one that comes with the 3do memory unit, as mine is still sealed
link to my skydrive, copy and paste link

Code: Select all

http://cid-3fe60e063b48cac2.office.live.com/self.aspx/Public/Various%20Stuff/3DO%5E_Storage%5E_Manager%5E_CD%5E_v21.iso

when you get there click on the paper with the folded corner to DL

Post by **3DO Experience** » Fri Oct 01, 2010 11:43 pm

Lemmi wrote:there is a thread around here somewhere with a memory manager for download.

Yeah it's a sticky called If you need a MEMORY MANAGER... You can even get a complete cover for the disc there.

bitrate · Post by **bitrate** » Sun Oct 10, 2010 8:19 pm

ComatoseSheep wrote:Well guys i've jsut taken receipt of my Jap 3DO and im really happy with it, everything inside was still sealed and in perfect condition so its far better than i expected and my tv has no issue with it so thats great too. only problem i've had so far is that of course its in Japanese, im assuming that for the games that wont be an issue but the sample cd is voiced and controlled in japanese so i have no idea what im doing and also the memory software is in japanese so impossible for me to know what to do there either, suggestions?

If you bought a Japanese FZ-1 console one thing to look for is the Mode Select switch on the back. Some Japanese FZ-1's have it, others do not.
It looks like this:

If your model has it, put the Mode switch to position B and your unit will output progressive scan NTSC. Position A forces the video decoder to output interlaced NTSC.

Post by **3DO Experience** » Sun Oct 10, 2010 9:58 pm

Oh and to all the Japanese unit users out there this is the help screen from the 3DO Storage Manager CD v2.1 for the FZ-EM256 Memory Unit.