The year is 1998, a true 64 bit CD Based console was supposed to be released. It was supposed to be made by Panasonic and it was built up since the early to mid 90s, but in the previous year, it was canceled. However later in the decade and the years onward it was repurposed to be in stuff like Coffee vending machines in Japan, ATMs, and Interactive Kiosks. What happened? What caused this Cancellation? What caused what could've been the most powerful console of its time to turn into a laughing stock amongst games journalists? Find out today...
In the mid-90s, the 3DO was struggling, its intentions, noble, its potential, unlimited, but its inital price, ridiculous (700 bucks in fact), its lineup, worse than the Wii U's (it had like 300 something games and a lot of them were Interactive Movies), and its killer app, pfft, what killer app (all the good exclusives were ported or not best game ever material)? Around this same time there was going to be an add-on for the system known as the M2, which could've sold systems, made the 3DO more powerful, and made the 3DO more than a laughing stock... I already see you raising your hands to tell me why this is a bad idea, so I'll do your job for you. Remember this was around the same time as when the Sega 32X failed. Imagine having to buy a $700 system (at least at launch) and having to pay $200-$300 for this add-on, That's a grand you're paying just so you can enjoy the full experience of the 3DO. So after The 3DO Company realized their Baby was a failure, they sold the console to Matsushita/Panasonic, and they went 3rd party...BUT WHAT WAS THE 3DO?
F**KING S**T! CAN I GET TO THE INTERESTING STUFF ALREADY?!
IN 1991, TRIP HAWKINS OF ELECTRONIC ARTS FORMED THE 3DO COMPANY TO MAKE A NEW 32-BIT CD-BASED CONSOLE, AFTER A COUPLE OF YEARS ON WORKING ON THE PROTOTYPE, THEY RELEASED THE 3DO INTERACTIVE MULTIPLAYER IN OCTOBER 4, 1993! THE CONSOLE WAS SOLD TO VARIOUS ELECTRONICS COMPANIES LIKE PANASONIC, SANYO, AND GOLDSTAR, AND 3RD PARTY COSTS WEREN'T THAT HIGH TOO, BUT BECAUSE OF THIS, 3DO HAD TO JACK UP THE PRICE ON SYSTEMS! FROM WHAT LEGEND SAYS, 3DO WANTED TO MAKE A UNIVERSAL VIDEO GAME SYSTEM, BUT COULDN'T GET NINTENDO & SEGA TO JOIN, WHICH IS ANYONE'S CALL ON WHAT COULD'VE HAPPENED THEN...
FAST FACT:
Did you see that slot where expansions for the 3DO is, That's where the M2 was supposed to go, instead it was used for VCD Cards, refer to a few gaming bits segments ago to find out what VCD Was...
GOOD!!!!! In 1996, The M2 was unveiled at E3. It had the CDs of the Playstation with 64 bits of horsepower of the Nintendo 64, it was set to be released within the next couple of years. Around that same time, Konami had their arcade board that was based off the M2. It could render 700,000-1,000,000 Polygons a second, had a Dual 66 MHz Power PC CPU, and it became Vaporware within a year. Yeah, We'll get to that... Onto possible games...
There, happy?
IMSA Racing, a prototype racer which is hard to comment on other than it definitely looks unfinished, It doesn't even show how good the graphics are at all, not to mention it's all buggy...
Evil Night/Hell Night, This shows the graphics a bit better, but it's yet another poorman's house of the dead, but it comes with a 3rd player using the shotgun.
Total Vice, poorman's Virtua Cop (And yes, that was the only clip I could find of this game)...
Battle Tryst, poorman's (insert your choice of Dead or Alive, Virtua Fighter, Tekken, or Bloody Roar here)...
Polystars, poorman's... You know what? It's actually a somewhat decent game, colorful, super Japanese, it's Twinbee mixed with Parodius...
D2, The Sequel to D for 3DO, PS1, Saturn, and DOS. It looks different from D2 on the Dreamcast, and looks a lot like Resident Evil...
There was also Heat of Eleven '98, A soccer game by Konami, but I couldn't find a damned thing on it...
SO WHAT HAPPENED?
Panasonic just didn't want to compete with the PS1, N64, and the Saturn (Remember, Panasonic IS a Japanese Company and Saturn was more popular there than in America). Being involved with the failed 3DO didn't help either, Heck, people thought it was Panasonic's console. Panasonic later used the M2 technology for Interactive Kiosks, Japanese Coffee Vending Machines, and ATMs. So if you were the right age in the late 90s or early 2000s and in some cases now, you possibly used the M2 without even knowing it (Especially if you were in Japan).
NEXT TIME:
Yep, I Just made you nostalgiagasm, it's my favorite too. See you all on my birthday...
Kinnikuman Retrospective, returning November 16th for one segment and for another brief run January 29, 2015, only on anonymousyoshi007.blogspot.com!
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