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!