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"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).[1] 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!

The list[]

Box Art Title Genre Description
Advanced Dungeons And Dragons Slayer 3DO cover Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Slayer FPS / Action RPG A 3DO exclusive first-person action RPG with randomly generated dungeons and monster slaying hence the title. Choose a clash and get to bashan and slashan. You'll typically find it listed as "Slayer" sans the D&D moniker.
Alone In The Dark 3DO cover Alone in the Dark Survival Horror The first of it's kind, and stepping stone for the survival horror genre (some argue it's the first survival horror game, some argue it's the second or even third). Plays like a 3D adventure, where you must uncover the secrets of the Derceto mansion, a place purportedly haunted. Plenty of nods to Lovecraftian horror fiction. Get ready for some polygonal goodness!
Alone In The Dark 2 3DO cover Alone in the Dark 2 Survival Horror Like the first but, the graphics have been improved. It is Christmas of 1925, three months after Alone in the Dark. "Supernatural Private Eye" Edward Carnby and his partner Ted Stryker are investigating the kidnapping of young Grace Saunders. The trail of clues leads to an old mansion named "Hell's Kitchen" - the home of an infamous gangster boss and his gang. I'm sure you can guess what you gotta do.
Brain Dead 13 3DO cover Brain Dead 13 Interactive movie An FMV game like Dragon's Lair if it took a big swig from the Halloween goblet. A really funny and exciting adventure where you play Lance, basically a '90s /v/irgin who works for a computer store. He is sent out on a call to fix the computer of a mad scientist in a haunted castle! You also have to deal with that crazy little bastard to the right every so often. This game's a bit easier on people who aren't so good at these types of games since you have unlimited continues (Lance gets resurrected by someone in the castle). Also on PC, Playstation, Saturn, and Jaguar, but all those version are known to have problems without patches. A must have for the 3DO.
Bust A Move 3DO cover Bust A Move Puzzle / Arcade Yeah it's a perfectly good Puzzle Bobble port.
Captain Quazar 3DO cover Captain Quazar Third-person Shooter A fuckawesome top-down, isometric third person shooter where you shoot the absolute fuck out of everything with big-ass guns. I swear to god Captain Quark from Ratchet and Clank is based on this guy. His chin is even bigger in-game.
Crash N Burn 3DO cover Crash N' Burn Racing / Combat Racing game where you can customize your car and shoot at other cars. This game even has fucking heat-seeking missiles. What's not to like?
D 3DO cover D Survival Horror / Adventure The (in)famously strange game horror game by Kenji Eno. You have two hours to beat the game or you lose, and you also cant pause or save. You have to beat it in one sitting, in real time. It's full of death sequences, puzzles, and panicking in first person. If you like horror and experimental games, this is up your alley.

The series continued with Enemy Zero on the Sega Saturn / PC, and then D2 on the Dreamcast.

Also on the PS1, Saturn, and PC.

Dragons Lair 3DO cover Dragon's Lair Interactive movie Classic Dragon's Lair, you know what to expect. You are Dirk the Daring, entering the evil castle where you must rescue Princess Daphne in an interactive movie. It's pretty much a straight port, sans the extras of alternate/newer ports. However, if you really want to play Dragon's Lair on a console, especially this one, then you can't go wrong with this.
Flashback 3DO cover Flashback: The Quest for Identity Cinematic Platformer The classic adventure platformer indeed has an excellent 3DO port. Notable, however, all the primitive 3D cutscenes were replaced with cheesy (3D pre-rendered) FMV ones. Which is cheesier, and which is better, is left up to you.
Gex 3DO cover Gex Platformer Gex was sort of intended to be the 3DO's Sonic, but that simply didn't happen. However, this is a great platforming classic with great 2D visuals and gameplay, Cd Quality audio, and the ability to crawl on walls and ceilings. This version is much better than ANY of the ports (yes, even the Playstation one) because you can actually save for your game. A must have for the 3DO. The sequels are on Playstation, Saturn and N64, and each version of each sequel differs by console.
Guardian War 3DO cover Guardian War / Power Kingdoms RPG Interesting RPG that has some fairly standard story and elements, such as hit points, magic points, speed, mobility, skills, etc. However, you do get to control each golem (character) individually. The action does take a level-based approach. Very interesting and fun game. Known as Guardian War in the west, and Power Kingdoms in Europe and Japan. Another must have.
John Madden Football 3DO cover John Madden Football Sports Revolutionary for its day and fun and still worth your money if you like retro games and sports games!
Killing Time 3DO cover Killing Time FPS Cool cinematic FPS where you investigate a mansion where time has stopped, and which is of course full of monsters. Every now and then you come across live-action ghosts which reenact events related to the plot and can even give important clues, though you're free to skip them and watch the sequence again if you return to the area they appeared, all this done without breaking the flow of the game with unnecessary cutscenes.
Lemmings 3DO cover Lemmings Puzzle It's lemmings, ported to your 3DO and perfectly good! Even works with the 3DO's mouse add-on.
Luciennes Quest 3DO cover Lucienne's Quest RPG One of the main problems with the 3DO is the fact it lacks many RPGs. Such an expensive console, at the time, should have been brimming with them, especially since it had so much technical prowess, it could have harvested some truly epic adventures. This is where Lucienne's Quest stands out. It is an RPG that features 2D sprites in a 3D world, with a classic turn based battle system. The battles slightly resemble Arc the Lad. The game itself is generic, but the story and characters are so much fun you'll be instantly charmed. Unfortunately, this one can be quite expensive and hard to find, so keep an eye out.
Myst 3DO cover Myst Adventure You should all know Myst by now, a free-roam adventure game with nothing but ambiance and puzzles. Good for a console version, but not necessarily preferable over PC.
Out Of This World 3DO cover Out Of This World / Another World Cinematic Platformer One of the various ports of the classic Adventure/Platformer. Unlike most other console releases, this one is extremely accurate. Probably inferior only to the SEGA CD version. The 3DO look clashes with a lot and may not be for you, if you care about that sort of thing.
PaTaank 3DO cover PaTaank Pinball How zoomed in do you like your pinball games? How about all the way in - right behind the ball! It doesn't get more immersive than this. You'll probably get dizzy, but it's cool to see how people tried new ideas back then and not all stuck.



Policenauts 3DO cover


Policenauts Adventure If you liked Snatcher or Metal Gear or even Penguin Adventure you should give the genius known as Hiideo Kojima some props and play this game, it's pretty great too! Works with the lightgun! Of course, you know, it's Japanese only, so unless you're savvy, you'll likely need a guide. Well, maybe it's better to play the PlayStation or Saturn versions, which have fan translation patches.
Return Fire 3DO cover Return Fire Combat A top down, third person game where you control a tank and must blow the fuck out of shit like holy god what. Actually needs a fair bit of tactful thinking and strategy later on, and the multiplayer for this game is one of the best experiences on this system. A must have for the 3DO.
Road Rash 3DO cover Road Rash Racing A fun motorcycle racing game with tongue-in-cheek humor and the ability to PUNCH THE FUCK out of other racers. The FMV opening is actually pretty neat, but there are FMVs before races that are a little annoying (albeit lasting only a couple seconds). The artwork on the menu screens is awesome, tons of good licensed rock tunes, and good graphics. Not one to miss out. This was later ported to Playstation and Saturn, but like plenty of 3DO ports, it has some problems. This isn't the same as the Genesis version, although that's worth playing too.
Samurai Shodown 3DO cover Samurai Shodown Fighting The absolute BEST home console port of Samurai Shodown (even the Neo Geo version, which is a direct port!). It has all the graphics and gameplay of the arcade version, but CD quality music, so it's actually improved. A must have for the 3DO.
Shock Wave 3DO cover Shock Wave Flight Combat Aliens have invaded Earth, and it's up to a squadron of space stealth fighters to repeal them. A simple but fun and good-looking 3D shooter, notable for its rather well made FMV cutscenes. There's also an expansion, "Operation JumpGate". It was also released for other systems as "Shockwave Assault" with the expansion included, but the PS1/Saturn ports have poorer graphics than the original.
Space Hulk Vengeance Of The Blood Angels 3DO cover Space Hulk: Vengeance of the Blood Angels FPS / RTS A sequel to a PC real time strategy / first person shooter genre mash game based on a Warhammer 40k board game. Once you've wrapped your head around that, know that this game is fucking beyond difficult, but in a fair way, so it's only recommended for hardcore spess muhreens.

Tension and atmosphere are great, and it includes all the levels from the original game, as well as levels designed on missions from the actual board game. If you're a Warhammer 40k fan, your dick should be rock solid.

Starblade 3DO cover Star Blade Rail-Shooter A port of the Namco arcade game. A solid rail shooter with great 3D graphics for the time. The one downside is your co-fighters / squad never shut the fuck up. Sometimes the Japanese one goes for cheaper.
Star Control 2 3DO cover Star Control II SHMUP / Adventure / Sim A critically acclaimed and fanboy praised PC title that was improved on 3DO, in fact, the ports to modern computers are based on the 3DO version and not the original.

The game has the storyline progression of a classic adventure game, but the gameplay for the star ship is a mix of arena shmup and resource management simulator. If diplomacy fails, blow them the fuck up.

Includes a 2-player mode based on the ship combat, which is great mindless fun, and odd for an otherwise mentally intensive game.

Star Fighter 3DO cover Star Fighter Flight Combat A pretty good, space themed, flight combat game. Like any good flight sim, levels are broken down into missions. Can use a flight stick if you have one, but you probably don't.
Super Street Fighter 2 3DO cover Super Street Fighter II Turbo Fighting Like Samurai Showdown, this is The Best original home-console port of Super Street Fighter II Turbo. Arcade quality graphics and CD quality sound, this is far superior to the SNES version everyone claims by. A must have for the 3DO.

This Version halves the Character Roster by removing the "Old" characters (no Old Sagat bullshit here), if that's a big deal to you get the Street Fighter Collection on PSX and Saturn, they don't have the remixed music though

Super Wing Commander 3DO cover Super Wing Commander Flight Combat An excellent re-make and port of the original MS-DOS Wing Commander, with all the extra bells and whistles from the Secret Missions games, plus even more new content.
The Need For Speed 3DO cover The Need For Speed Racing Yes, the original Need For Speed was a 3DO game. Basically just a well made racing game, without any extra bells or whistles. Fun stuff. Later ports on the PC, Saturn, and PS1 are a bit different, missing the FMVs from this versions but adding additional features.
Total Eclipse 3DO cover Total Eclipse Rail-Shooter Similar to Star Fox, but for the 3DO. A perfectly serviceable rail shooter with pretty smooth flying in open areas and tight corridors. Graphics are pretty decent for the time, the audio is pretty crisp, and features some pre-rendered cutscenes that are laughably bad, but set up the game nicely. Made by Crystal Dynamics.
Tripd 3DO cover Trip'd Puzzle Similar to Puyo Puyo. Colored alien eggs fall down and you gotta arrange them in a line of four of the same color to clear 'em. The twist is that if you do so in a square instead, then you've fucked up and a giant alien will hatch and can instantly game over. You can play solo, versus the CPU, or another player.
Twisted 3DO cover Twisted Puzzle / FMV You're in a fucking game show where it's like everyone is TRIPPING ON ACID. You can play as a goddamn PEZ DISPENSER. It kind of plays like Mario Party before Mario Party existed. It's better with friends.
Wing Commander 3 Heart Of The Tiger 3DO cover Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger Flight Combat / FMV Furry Dog-fights in Space 3. If you don't know anything about Wing Commander, you probably don't belong here, but I'll explain anyways: it's a series of games that are basically low budget sci-fi movies with excellent space-fighter combat sections. In this one, the cutscenes are FMVs of Luke Skywalker talking to grown men in fursuits. What a cat-astrophe.

Another excellent PC port to the 3DO.

Wolfenstein 3D 3DO cover Wolfenstein 3D FPS Imagine this: a version of the classic Wolfenstein 3D even better than the original PC version. Can't be true, right? Wrong! Wolfenstein 3D for the 3DO is actually the best version of the game; it plays exactly as good as the PC version but has even better graphics, and the soundtrack is also unique to this version. Now go shoot some FECKIN NATZEES. A must have for the 3DO.

Videos[]


Fifth Generation
Consoles 3DO - Commodore Amiga CD32 - Capcom CPS Changer - Atari Jaguar - Casio Loopy - SNK Neo Geo CD - Nintendo 64 - NEC PC-FX - Apple Pippin - Bandai Playdia - Sony PlayStation - Sega Saturn
Handhelds Nintendo Game Boy Color - Tiger game.com - SNK Neo Geo Pocket - Tiger R-Zone - Nintendo Virtual Boy