Did the 3DO ever really have a chance?

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GunsMadeAmericaFree

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Jan 23, 2007
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I remember playing a couple of games on a system that a co-worker had back around 1996, and the next year found a Goldstar 3DO for myself. I really enjoyed The Horde, and Icebreaker - played probably 80-100 hours on both games.

My understanding is that the system was just overpriced for what it was. If they had changed marketing, or been able to
make the system less expensive, do you think it would have had a chance back when it was launched?
 
Oyeve

Oyeve

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Oct 18, 1999
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They never really had good third party support. I was one of the suckers who bought the system for $700. Yeah, they had the first NFS game and a good version of Roadrash but no one wanted to make great games for it. My favorite game was Starfighter.
 
Aikouka

Aikouka

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Nov 27, 2001
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To be blunt, it was just too expensive. I know that sounds a little weird given that we're paying $500 for consoles these days, but back then, consoles just weren't that expensive. Now, you could command a higher price if you had something to back it up, and as @Oyeve noted, there just wasn't much of a third-party or even first-party presence to push sales. A good example of a more expensive console doing acceptable would be the Sega Saturn. It was expensive, and didn't sell great, but the stronger game line-up at least allowed it to push systems.
 
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SteveGrabowski

SteveGrabowski

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Oct 20, 2014
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Aikouka said:
To be blunt, it was just too expensive. I know that sounds a little weird given that we're paying $500 for consoles these days, but back then, consoles just weren't that expensive. Now, you could command a higher price if you had something to back it up, and as @Oyeve noted, there just wasn't much of a third-party or even first-party presence to push sales. A good example of a more expensive console doing acceptable would be the Sega Saturn. It was expensive, and didn't sell great, but the stronger game line-up at least allowed it to push systems.
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With inflation factored in $500 for the PS5 today is quite a bit cheaper than the PS1 $299 launch price that blew everyone away in 1994. Hell even $500 in 2021 dollars is significantly cheaper than $299 in 1994. Gaming was expensive in the 90s.
 
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PClark99

PClark99

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Jan 12, 2000
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I bought a 3DO at the point when they were throwing in like 5 games so it wasn’t too terrible value wise. I fondly remember playing immercenary, PO’d, and Quarantine.
 
purbeast0

purbeast0

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I remember paying $70 for Street Fighter 2 Turbo on SNES in 92 lol. There were quite a few $70 games on SNES and then N64 back in the day.

Neo Geo was also just as expensive as 3DO but more because of the cost of games and it was successful. It had much better games BUT, it also had arcade versions so it was different. Also what you saw in the arcade is 100% exactly what you got at home. They were the same games.
 
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Pohemi

Pohemi

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Oct 2, 2004
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purbeast0 said:
Neo Geo was also just as expensive as 3DO but more because of the cost of games and it was successful. It had much better games BUT, it also had arcade versions so it was different. Also what you saw in the arcade is 100% exactly what you got at home. They were the same games.
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I was going to comment on this same notion. In my opinion (and memory), the Panasonic 3DO system was more of a novelty that you'd likely only buy if you had plenty of disposable income and already owned other consoles. People (that I knew, anyway) were more likely to aim for the NeoGeo if they only wanted one of the "high-end" consoles. NeoGeo had the sweet arcade titles, and though harder to find...is still around today. Good luck finding a 3DO system anywhere these days besides fleabay.
 
Hans Gruber

Hans Gruber

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Dec 23, 2006
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They had Madden on 3DO. Looked much better than other consoles. Remember Phillips CDi? They had a golf game way ahead of it's time.
 
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SteveGrabowski

SteveGrabowski

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purbeast0 said:
I remember paying $70 for Street Fighter 2 Turbo on SNES in 92 lol. There were quite a few $70 games on SNES and then N64 back in the day.

Neo Geo was also just as expensive as 3DO but more because of the cost of games and it was successful. It had much better games BUT, it also had arcade versions so it was different. Also what you saw in the arcade is 100% exactly what you got at home. They were the same games.
Click to expand...

LOL I don't even like paying $70 for a game today, no way my parents were buying me a game for $70 in 1992 dollars back then unless it was a Christmas present. That 3DO was nearly $1400 in today's dollars though JFC, ouch. I think the only SNES games I owned were Super Mario World, F Zero, Zelda A Link to the Past, and Mortal Kombat II until Blockbuster started selling off their SNES games cheap when N64 came out.
 
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nakedfrog

nakedfrog

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Apr 3, 2001
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SteveGrabowski said:
LOL I don't even like paying $70 for a game today, no way my parents were buying me a game for $70 in 1992 dollars back then unless it was a Christmas present. That 3DO was nearly $1400 in today's dollars though JFC, ouch. I think the only SNES games I owned were Super Mario World, F Zero, Zelda A Link to the Past, and Mortal Kombat II until Blockbuster started selling off their SNES games cheap when N64 came out.
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SNES games killed me, we were living in Germany, so if the BX didn't have the game I wanted (or if I didn't want to wait however long it would take them to get it) I had to order it from a catalog and pay shipping too :confused: No rentals around either. So it took a bunch of money from doing chores, birthday money, etc to get a game.
 
J

|JosephB17331|

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Jul 30, 2015
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Wasn't it the first interactive media player also... so they had some odd games with FMV .. but this never took off.. in addition to the consoles pricing..
 
sdifox

sdifox

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purbeast0 said:
I think you're confused with something else. There were no 3DO arcade platforms/games.
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I am pretty sure I played some, a few of them were multi game, maybe a hack job?


Wait that was Neo Geo. Never mind.
 
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purbeast0

purbeast0

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sdifox

sdifox

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purbeast0

purbeast0

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sdifox said:
I guess I am not quite senile yet :p

I think the Neo Geo ones were multi game.
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Yeah Neo Geo boards have built in "switchers". They came in 1, 2, 4, and 6 I believe.

uDqiza0.jpg
 
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WhiteNoise

WhiteNoise

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Jun 22, 2016
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I had one friend that owned the 3DO. I would hang out and play Need for Speed a ton and also Slayer! Man, that system was pretty cool IMO. A local home audio store (DOWS) had them new for $750 and at the time I remember thinking, I'd never have that kind of money for a game console.
 
G

GunsMadeAmericaFree

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Jan 23, 2007
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I remember some advertisement for a game with a clown on the cover, but I never got around to trying it. Also, there was some sort of tank game, 2 player, which I wanted to try, but thought it was too expensive at the store.
 
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