Revisiting the Panasonic 3DO FZ-10 32 bit console - is it underrated? Review, Teardown, Games | MVG 

$700 in 1993 is $1240 in 2019, with inflation adjusted. That is nuts they were charging that much for a console.

"Did I buy a 3DO?" *PSX startup screen plays* LOL.

*Cost was $700 at launch* that's why Nobody bought one

The 3DO's library is wayyy better than people think, and the daisy-chaining idea was innovative when compared with having to buy a multitap for every console. It also had a number of good exclusives and ports, but the cost and the timing of release ensured its failure. Plus for me, it just doesn't have a killer app that makes it worth the purchase.

For the time, the 3DO was incredible. There were some truly “next gen” experiences on the system. Of course, when the Saturn and PS1 came out in the following 18 months, those “next gen” experiences suddenly looked old hat. There are still some really good 3DO games that didn’t get ported to the PS1 or Saturn, so I’m glad I’ve still got my FZ10

"Pay no more than 50$ for the system" Ebay sellers, selling it for 300$ :

I loved my 3do back in the day. The original model by Panasonic had headphone jack on controller, ahead of its time that's for sure. It also had a real cool music player with screen graphics.

Had one, bought it in 94 in NYC, traveling with my parents, I was only 11 yo and chose it over the PlayStation, wrong choice though I had a great time with it, nfs, road rash and demolition man were excellent games!!

I remember going to the flea market in the 90s and seeing one on demo priced $400 used. For that much I got the newly released PlayStation and games new. 3 years later I bought that same Fz-1 system for $80, still own it. Thank you Sony!

Man, I have a very strong relationship with the 3DO. I remember saving a lot of money because at the time I only earned aprox. U$300/month. I had to pay for a smuggler to bring one unit to my country (back then imports were forbidden). The smuggler was a very nice guy, every month he would bring a new game for my 3DO. Unfortunately he was shot and died in 1997 in a robbery at the border. On another ocasion a girl came into my house to play 3DO with me, I thought she was just wanting to play games but suddenly she started snorting cocaine in my room while I was playing Need for Speed. She tried to kiss me but I was a moron and just kicked her out of my house. My mother later found her cocaine paraphernalia in my bed and thought I was into drugs. Holy shit, memories!

I got one in 96 from a video rental place. It was cheap and came with 12 games. The graphix were so far beyond any other system that I had seen. G.E.X. Was such an awesome game.

The 3DO was an amazing system. Too bad I didn't have $700 for one when I was a teenager. I did have a friend who had one though, NFS was my favorite game at the time. Best use we had for the system was the visual graphics that displayed on the tv while playing music cd's, everyone loved it at our parties.

This video was great, dude. I missed out completely on the 3DO and only got a chance to play it once, always fascinating to learn more about it!

The biggest issue with the 3DO is the speed of the CPU. 3D games run way better in emulators when the CPU is overclocked. The 3DO needed to have a 25Mhz CPU minimum to be properly competitive. Also, an integrated FPU would have helped massively with 3D games.

What's crazy is the Neo Geo AES was a much more popular system that everybody wanted and it cost basically the same as the 3DO. In my personal opinion the only reason the 3DO was more commonly found was simply the fact the 3DO was ACTUALLY in stores. I've never seen a Neo Geo sitting on the store shelf for sale new or used.

My 3DO is the Goldstar variant and I love everything about its design.

The price point killed it.

Content coming hard and fast man , love this channel!

Holy crap. Wolfensiten 3D actually looks really good.

The 3DO looked great but it just never took off in the UK. OMG hearing the PS1 startup music just stirs up joy inside me. Getting it at Christmas 1995 in the UK still feels amazing today. What a great feeling at 11 years old seeing the black discs for the first time, popping open the disc tray, experiencing the intro and playing Ridge Racer with a futuristic, comfy controller. Gives me goosebumps. 1996 was awesome when I played Wipeout, Tekken and Tomb Raider for the first time. Great times I wish I could go back and experience it all for the first time again. Some many games I missed !

I remember buying the first copy of the 'Edge' magazine. 3DO was hugely hyped. It was pretty apparent from the get-go that Amiga AGA wasn't competitive and this looked like the next step. Then I didn't have any recollection of it until coming across one of these machines in a market. I seem to remember reading it had special hardware registers for things like 'fire' effects and such. It looks like it was sadly under-utilised. Another 'if only' system.

The 3DO introduced me to bands like White Zombie (Way of the Warrior) and Soundgarden (Road Rash). RIP Chris Cornell...

Wonderful video. Thanks took me right back.

Love your video production value. I picked up one of these bad boys in the mid 2000s and it will always hold a special place in my heart. Neat little system; things like the headphone jack on one of the controller models were way ahead of its time. And it has arguably the best version of NFS of any system!

It also had a Very Trippy CD Player Visualizer and the ability to play CD+G and Photo CDs.

Damn, I love your videos, man! Keep up the good work. :-)

Man, I appreciate this content so much. I was just a little too young at the time to focus much on the 3DO...I was fixated on getting a Saturn at launch so I skipped the sega CD, the 3DO and the Jaguar. The playground was always buzzing about those mythical systems:)

Ill never get enough of yt videos about the hardware i grew up and gamed on.

Great video, MVG! I'd love to get a 3DO into my console collection, but they're getting ridiculously expensive nowadays on the aftermarket! And I do agree with the initial price tag for it being a weak point of it. It was a powerful console for the time, but $699 was too expensive for most!

Love the 3DO. Was a huge upgrade over Sega CD so is the best console for Digital Pictures games (Corpse Killer, Night Trap, Sewer Shark, etc.), lightgun games, cringey oddball games, and some hidden gems like Space Hulk, Lucienne's Quest, D, etc. Also, think it was last console to put out "adult titles" which can fetch some good prices. For a fair price the 3do is a solid pickup.

Love your channel and content. Straight to the point, you have an awesome voice, you explain things very well, you show video games, you give your professional opinion as well as why or why not and explain the thinking behind it. Simply put, awesome 100% high quality content and keep doing awesome work ! Awesome 😎 awesome 👏

It's funny watching a video and seeing one of my own comments from 2+ years ago. This content never gets old

I wanted one of these so bad when they came out, but I couldn't afford it. That price point was really the only problem. 3DO went on to write software for other systems, notably the N64. Their 3D tank game, BattleTanx was nothing short of spectacular for the day. I would say it holds up well even to today. Sometimes one has to think of these failures as stepping stones to success. Well done.

I remember playing a bit of Need For Speed in a Circuit City. I think that was one of the first 3D games I'd ever seen actually moving on a screen. I don't remember being blown away by the game play, the steering felt really slow/heavy. I was genuinely blown away by the price. I did experience a bit of panic, though. "What if all new systems are this expensive?" Somehow, my young mind thought I'd be playing SNES and TG-16 for ever.

They had one on display at my local shop.The thing was so expensive that I could only dream of owning one. I remember the reputation it had and the talk of it being the most powerful thing out there. I would just stare at it in awe.......Thumbs up for another interesting video.

Nice work on the video. I remember, back on that day, 3DO had the best digitalized graphics. They were really impressive. The SSF2 was very nice.

I like the 3DO. I still have my original FZ-10

I really love the 3DO , I feel that it could’ve had so many more great games if I had the chance. I still love playing return fire, Wolfenstein, monster manner, star control 2, road rash, super Wing Commander, Wing Commander 3, Battle chess, AD&D Slayer/death Keep, Super Street fighter And samurai showdown just to name a few.

I still have my fz10. I have many memories with that system.my mom got it for me at Best Buy for 80 dollars on clearance and the games were 5 bucks. It was awesome.

I saw this video on my feed and watched it for the nostalgia; I owned a 3DO in the 90s (the FZ-1 model) and, funnily enough, ended up trading it for a playstation a few years later. While I did love the console for the time I had it, my main issue with it was how fast it became discontinued, with games obviously following suit, and very quickly felt like I had played all the "cool" games. I'll make sure to keep my eyes peeled for one on ebay. Nice video!

Nice run down, that SF2 port looked pretty neat. Two things made my jaw drop when I saw the 3DO in the stores, Need for Speed, and the price. You are rightly proud to own one, I'd love one in my collection some day.

i was proud 3DO owner man this bring back memories. The countless hours of Return fire, Super Street fighter 2, fifa and neurodancer :)

I remember being blown away by the very few commercials. I knew no one who even had one. I finally got to play it about 2000 when a friend of mine got one dirt cheap with a bunch of games. We had a lot of fun but was more of a so bad it's good thing. Like a guilty pleasure if that makes sense

I remember a "3DO II" expansion was being rumored in magazines at the time. I had collected over 30 games for dirt cheap before my used FZ-1 broke on me in '98, and, while I can't recommend playing it today, I appreciate the 3DO for its mid-90s-ness

You shouldn't of removed that sticker, now your warranty is void!

Around mid 98 my father brought home a GoldStar 3DO he had won in a poker game some of his friends, and one of my older cousins where having, now you have to remember my cousin was a gamer, and one of the only people I knew growing up who had a Master System, NES, and Sega Genesis at the same time. Anyways my cousin could not pay up, so he gave my father the 3DO knowing it would go to me anyways, and really did not care, and my dad said debt paid lol. I got 4 games with the system along with 1 controller Wicked 18 Golf( I hate that game), Road Rash, GEX, and The Need For Speed. I had some fun with it when ever was at my dad's place, but it honestly never got much use as I was into PC gaming more at the time, but around late 99 I went to play the system one day when I was bored, and it actually started smoking which I later traced down a leaking cap that caused a short on the motherboard, so it soon after got sent to the GoodWill, and that was my experence with the 3DO. I would like to get back into the 3DO someday, but it's honestly not high on my list of must have system when so many of it's good games are on other systems that are easier to come by.

I originally had the FZ1, nice build quality that was, I bought here in the UK, it came with about 20 games, I eventually gave way to the the Playstation like many others, I sold the console on but kept about 10 of the games. A few years later I picked up the model on your video, the cheaper to build FZ10, it really is a nice piece of kit, there's something special about some of the games, the audio really helps too. It was assigned back to its box where it has been for many years ever since, it sits on top of yet another relative failure, the Philips CDi. Given the omission of protection to the CDs, they're clearly easy to back up, and as you point out, the boxes are rather flimsy in design so you'd need to put them aside and just have the CDs in a sleeve. But yeah, good stuff and although a little late to the party, I really enjoyed your video, many thanks - and for me, many great games but I played Return Fire more than most, thanks again for the nostalgia.

I still have mine. Same model! There are some absolute gems on this system. Great memories.

I had the FZ 1 , it was awesome , loved it. Was extremely difficult to find games back in 1995-96 , but I did aquire Samouri Showdown Hell Demolition Man Way of the Warrior Gex and Imercenary Fun Times !!

The 3DO’s problems were (1) price, (2) price, and (3) coming out in an era when developers didn’t quite know how to use FMV or 3D environments. I remember begging my parents for one of these in the mid ‘90s, and luckily they didn’t buy one.

This really was a terrific system in terms of its capabilities at the time it released. I recall my friend getting one. The two of us were Amiga buddies already. 1993 was the first year that the Amiga started to show its limitations; the 3DO only confirmed it and forced us all to let go of the denial. I actually "blame" (or thank, depends on how you look at it) the 3DO for showing me that the Amiga's heyday had come and gone. I sold off the Amiga for a decent price, and invested it all into my very first DIY PC build (Intel 80486). In retrospect, pretty happy I went for a PC over the 3DO. Being able to use your gaming rig as a bonafide computer is an enormous benefit (and I never did get the console concept to be honest ... not until now when I can pick a really old one for very cheap, for nostalgia).

In the mid 90s, I owned both the 3DO and the Playstation. Play station obviously had the bigger library of games and was a bit more technologically advanced, but there were a few standout games (most of them shown in this video!) that I would show to my friends back then, who were all familiar with the Playstation, but many times (even back then) they had never heard of the 3DO. Road Rash and Need for Speed and Wing Commander were definitely my favorites. (Street Fighter was a crowd pleaser.) I currently own about 180 games for the system. One of the great things about the daisy chain controllers was how many of them you could hook together. (It supported up to 8 if my memory serves correctly.) The only game that supported that many that I know of was FIFA soccer, and it was amazing! I think we at least once got at least 8 players together to play, totally fun, 4 or 5 was routine. That kind of experience really didn't happen before online gaming. Good video, thanks for the memories!

Im always amazed by the 3DO. It was expensive as hell at the time, but it also felt years ahead of the competition. I had an Amiga CD32 (and Amiga 1200) at the time and was always jealous of the 3DO games that Id never see (as Amiga was failing at the time, not realising 3DO was also failing). Never the less, my point re: ahead of its time: I built a PC to play quake 2 back in the day (several years after the 3DO and its ilk) and I decided I wanted a decent 3d card. I eventually upgraded to the Voodoo Banshee (as it had 2D and 3D built in). Needless to say, quake using 3dfx was absolutely stunning looking. But, at the time my other favourite game was Need for Speed (3?) and one of the benefits, apart from making the game look absolutely stunning, was that I could now enable the "rear mirror" for my car. Now, even though this was a good few years after the 3DO (about 5 to be exact), to get something as simple as that rear mirror required a decent 3D card, but the 3DO still managed it in 93. I mean, nowadays, people arent even aware that this was a thing but at the time it was like seeing raytracing doing its thing today. An amazing piece of hardware. Kinda reminds me of the neo-geo, yet another console that cost the earth but was miles ahead of the competition.

The Play Station startup music still gives me tingles

I love your channel! Keep up the work!👍

The Goldstar model was also released in Australia, recently picked one up with Fifa from a local seller. Been really happy with it so and look forward to purchasing some more games.

Great Review! Great Work! I want to play Road Rash And Street fighter 2 super turbo so bad!!! Ken's Green Gi was AWESOME!!! Again, Great Work 👍👍👍👏

+Modern Vintage Gamer IMHO, the 3DO was a system that had a lot going for it. Great specs, solid manufacturing and several upgrade paths. However, it had several problems that ended up working against it. The first was software quality control. There was none. The second was difficulty in programing, as it used hardware that wasn't well known and was not the easiest system to develop for. Third, it was pricey and well out of the react of most of it's target audience. And last, the controller. While well built, it's design was missing one critical thing; a sixth button. Fighting games were the rage at the time and stayed that way for a long time. With only 5 buttons, most fighting games were effectively unplayable. I was a huge Street Fighter and Samurai Showdown fan. With both titles, you literally had to relearn how to play the game. It was a such deal-breaker that most of the industry turned their nose up at the system because they though no one would want a system with a controller not optimized for fighting games. And they were right.

I got a Panasonic FZ-10 Multiplayer 3DO, bought it for 30€ with original packaging, 3 Games and 2 Controllers in 2002 from a friend who always called it "The Panasonic PlayStation". I think it isn't underrated, but a nice system to play and have in your collection. Lacks good exclusives to be really great.

Great content as usual!

The draw-distance on Need For Speed was better than anything else at the time and for a long time after it's release. Loved that game.

> 50 dollars > Checks eBay and Amazon > WAT

I owned a cd 32,gave it to my sister who still has it,Gunship was my fav game. A friend and I hired a 3do here in Melbourne ,Australia from Blockbuster video store back when it just released and we hired Road Rash and The Need For Speed which was a fantastic game.

RJ Mical. I miss that huy. He was a tech lead at the short lived Red Jade along with Chris Dow of 3dfx. It was a venture to build a handheld console backed by Ericsson, Dice and venture capital from IT provider in 2000-2001. Initially it was going to be based on an SOC with an MIPS32 4k, Neomagic 2D and 3D graphics chip as well as Bluetooth connectivity. Software was developed in Stockholm and in California. Anyways, RJ was such a great guy. He would come in to stockholm, white beard and all, and say like "This is gonna be great" while rubbing his hands together. Incredibly likable guy that just made everyone around him feel good. I tip my hat to RJ. The project died in the dotcom crash and not much heard about since. But it was fun while it lasted.

I had a 3DO when they were new and I liked it. Unfourtunately, my friends and I mostly played the Sega Genesis/CD/32X...Snes. That was until Super Street Fighter 2 dropped for the 3DO that game rarely left the tray. The truth, my parents brought home a Pentium powered PC. It had the first 8 levels of Doom installed on it. I had never seen anything like it, Wolfenstein was nice and I did play it before Doom...it just didn't, I dont know. At any rate, I literally got the 3DO because Doom was slated to cone out and it was going to be better than the PC (3DO magazine hype). The day Doom released on the 3DO I rushed to the store and bought a copy. I went home and literally tore the packaging to pieces...ecstatic for what was about to come. I popped it ibto my tray and...yuck what a piece of shit; However, I was not through being a moron, not yet (for those of you not quick on the uptake, I could have purchased a nice PC already to play Doom but stupid is). I went back to the game store and promptly returned that pile of dumpster fire (you could return games back then kids) and with my $50.00 store credit I would surely find a game like Doom...long story shortened, I wound up building my first PC. I used old terminals to piece together a 486DX2 which not only ran Doom but ran Doom 2 as well. I finally had what I was chasing, an actual copy of Doom with music, not boxed, not frame skipping, and not on a Snes...seriously that version is worse than the 3DO version.

*I remember playing SLAYER on 3DO. Great game* ✅🙂

Love the video. You just earned a sub. Greetings from Greece

I have the FZ-1 and I always loved how ruggedly built it was. Also the cord on the controller was the longest I've ever seen. I think I originally got it so I could play GEX, and I honestly don't remember what I paid for it, but I think it wasn't a lot. Still dig it out of the closet once in a while.

I really miss my old 3do. I loved that system. I never got many games for it because of the short lifespan some bad business decisions caused but I will always remember Gex and Super Streetfighter 2 Turbo.

I remember my first experience with the 3DO, I got to try out Road Rash at a local neighborhood computer shop where my brother used to buy all his Commodore stuff. I spent more time waiting for the game to load than actually playing it, I thought it was shit and was in utter disbelief at the asking price. Was perfectly content to stick with my SEGA Genesis for the foreseeable future, I never bothered with the PlayStation or Saturn either until later in their life cycles.

just finished your video!!! it was epic!!! I had every game in your review except wolfanstein 3d. I wasn't a fan of that game but we did play it at VIDEO WAVE. I would ride my bike with the 3DO in a custom pelican case. Now that I think about it , people probably though I was crazy!!! lol

My uncle had a 3D0 and it was amazing for its day. I remember the first time I saw it only ever having played Nintendo, I was blown away lol.

Wing Commander looks playable, unlike the Amiga version that had the FPS of a Powerpoint presentation.

"What are you playing with?" With myself.

The more I watch this video the more nostalgic this is becoming making me want to get a 3DO myself.

I still have my FZ-1 and I have always love it. It seemed so futuristic and had an amazing look to it. So did the Neo-Geo but that was impossible to get. I would play way of the warrior and and most of the games you mentioned for hours and I thought games like PO'd and captain quasar looked so amazing even though I couldn't get my hands on them. I was a such hardcore 3DO, Atari and Sega fanboy and I hated watching them all go under. This video makes me want to get my 3DO and other consoles out of storage and set them up.

Waaaay underrated. Most expensive console I ever bought ($700), yet the console I actually had the most fun with. It was a big step from everything before it. Crash and Burn was hella fun. Way of The Warrior got me into White Zombie.

I had a 3DO and a Saturn. Both of which I purchased AFTER I had my PSX. I got them for about $20 each, new when the stores were liquidating them.

It was amazing back in the day, I recall it was just before the saturn, PS1. There wasn't anything that looked as good. I can still recall being a young teen in the game shop looking up at FIFA/Total Eclipse/Road Rash. It blew my mind. Then going home to my super nintendo, I can tell you, this was a dream console for me, but I never forget the £700 price tag on there about and back then, I was lucky to get a £179.99 Super Nintendo. The 90's is filled with so many wonderful memories about computers and consoles and arcades, it was a real privilege to have experienced it first hand. What we have today is great in many way, but it lacks so much soul compared to the earlier days when we were working towards what we take for granted now.

I do my best brother to like and comment when I love the content on each video. You deserve more subs, this channel is absolutely epic!

The 3DO has to be one of my favorite systems. Especially because of the progress that was made a few years back for homebrew development. It's fun to tinker around with programming for it.

I remember playing what was probably total eclipse at the store once, my parents were impressed enough with the 3d graphics to ask how much it was and decided $700 was way too much (and this was when they actually had money to spend).

I remember on my one & ONLY trip to the Galaria ? Mall in Birm,AL not long after it was released & seeing it running NFS,BLEW MY MIND! So did the PRICE! And right down from it was the Neo Geo setup running demos! Was an exiting times back then....NOW......Just Tech,Tech,Tech & NET.....

I've had the 3DO on my Raspberry Pi builds and just never bothered to play them as on most of the builds theres a bunch of systems that are just not that great but this vids gotten me keen to check it out. Especially if its at least 32+ and on CD originally. Nice vid MVG!!!!!!!

I love my 3D0, return fire, Need for speed, Road rash, theme park, twisted, my list goes on and on, it is by far under rated, but aside from the price the reason the playstation won was it made 3D look less "early 90's" and more modern

I Had the Original 3d0 still to this day the best looking console ever made i had the need for speed and road rash and at the time is was very advanced for it's Time.

Love this video, and still love and miss my 3do

I still have the Goldstar 3do and my favorite games are GEX , Road Rash, and Need For Speed, Monster Manor. A couple years back i burned a bunch of games for it. The music in Monster Manor gave my 6 year old boy nightmares for months. Thanks for the memories, now i have to break out the 3do and have some fun.

The 3DO is underrated. It was a powerful, unique, and ambitious console that was sadly compromised by its sky-high price and shovelware tainting the relatively-solid software lineup. It's too bad those issues weren't ironed-out before the Saturn and PlayStation came out.

If only the Amiga 1200 was released with the same sound 16 Bit 44.1khz capable chip back in 1994, that would have been excellent for music composers like myself who used Octamed Sound Tracker programs, and enhanced many games that could have took advantage of it.

I have one bought it back in '94, some of my favorite gaming memories with Need for Speed!

I remember playing Way of the Warrior on 3D0. My buddy had it. It was awesome!

Nice video. I have seen some 3DO love lately on a few channels, but no one ever talks about a little game called Slayer. It is like the Eye of the Beholder series, but with the Wolfenstein/Doom engine. I remember losing many hours to this game, as I had picked up a 3DO back when the price dropped just before it's death.

When this first came out it felt truly revolutionary. The PSX outclassed it very quickly but I think this console could have been a contender if it was cheaper and had a better library at the time.

I loved the 3DO! I got the more robustly built Panasonic FZ-1 model for Christmas '94. I played the heck out of it until it stopped reading discs a few years later. So much fun and so many good memories. Crash and Burn. Road Rash. The Need for Speed. The Horde. PO'd. The Life Stage. Myst. Since I still had all of my games a few years later and was missing the gameplay, I bought a used FZ-1 from eBay. It only lasted about a year before it started intermittently having the same issue as the first unit. At that point, I felt it was time to move on, so resold the console and all of my games for $94. That was painful.

I picked up a 3DO with a few games a while back. I really want to get road rash. Cool video man! I sub'd.!

nice video mate

Love the 3DO, it's truly a goldmine of nostalgia

I had blast with goldstar 3do, my favourite were killing time, po’ed (I keep thinking to get 3do just for this one alone) road rash and syndicate. Thanks for reminder of great memories;)

I owned one a few years back, loved it. Always wanted one in the 90's as a teenager, but like you, settled on the OG Playstation and never looked back. I must admit, though, my favorite games I owned on the FZ-10 were the American Laser games (Mad Dog McCree, etc) and Way of the Warrior (the Rob/White Zombie soundtrack made that game enjoyable).