3DO Interactive Multiplayer

For emulators, see 3DO emulators and Emulators on 3DO, and for system information, see 3DO Interactive Multiplayer.

"What are you playing with?"

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 - check the FAQ). Also, the system has no copy protection whatsoever.

Its capabilities were impressive for the time: 3D graphics, true color, full motion video, CD audio, and so on. However, it launched for $699 (over $1400 adjusted for inflation) back when Mega Drive and SNES were at their peak and sold for less than $100. So, despite all the hype, it sold quite poorly. Nowadays, you can easily get one for much less or just emulate its games, and you'll find that it was a stellar hardware with a pretty decent library. 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

Cover	Title	Genre	Description	Screenshot
	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 just Slayer sans the D&D moniker. Got a sequel called Deathkeep, also on the system, which removes the randomly generated dungeons with hand-crafted ones and only three pre-made classes. Not sure who decided the first level should be a fucking ice one.
	Alone in the Dark	Survival Horror	Louisiana, 1924. An artist has offed himself, and his mansion is said to be haunted. Choose either his niece or a detective to get in there and uncover the place's gory secrets. A 3D adventure, perhaps the first modern survival horror game, with plenty of nods to Lovecraftian fiction.
	Alone in the Dark 2	Survival Horror	It is Christmas 1925; "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. Much like the first one, but the graphics have been improved.
	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! Every so often you also have to deal with Fritz, his crazy little bastard of an assistant. 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 versions are known to have problems without patches.
	Bust-A-Move (US) Puzzle Bobble (JP)	Puzzle / Arcade	Yeah it's a perfectly good Puzzle Bobble port.
	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	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	Survival Horror / Adventure	The (in)famously strange game horror game by Kenji Eno. Out of nowhere a doctor has committed a murder spree and barricaded himself in the hospital. His daughter enters the place and is suddenly isekai'd to a gloomy medieval castle. After that, you have two hours to beat the game - in real time, and you can't pause or save! It's full of death sequences, puzzles, and panicking in first person. If you like horror and experimental games, this is up your alley. Also on PS1, Saturn, and PC. The series continued with Enemy Zero on Saturn and PC, and then D2 on the Dreamcast.
	Doctor Hauzer (JP)	Survival Horror / Action-Adventure	An eccentric archeologist has disappeared; a daring reporter sneaks in and finds his home full of deadly traps. The first full 3D adventure ever, years before Resident Evil. Japan-only, translation patch here.
	Dragon's Lair	Interactive Movie	The arcade classic, 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 perfect straight port, sans the extras of alternate/newer ports.
	Flashback: The Quest for Identity	Cinematic Platformer	The year is 2142, and you just woke up in an alien jungle with erased memories, a gun in your hand, and a holographic message from yourself. An excellent port, but note that all the vector cutscenes from the Mega Drive original were replaced with cheesy pre-rendered videos. Which is cheesier, and which is better, is left up to you.
	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. The sequels are on the PlayStation and N64. Each version of each sequel differs by console.
	Guardian War (US) Powers Kingdom (JP/EU)	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. (The EU release is one of the very few region-locked 3DO games.)
	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	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 that 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. There's a remaster, Killing Time: Resurrected, for PC and newer consoles.
	Lemmings	Puzzle	The Amiga classic, ported to your 3DO and perfectly good! Even works with the 3DO's mouse add-on.
	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	Adventure	Explore an island where books link you to different realms, and figure the secrets of a race that can turn writing into reality. You should all know Myst by now, a free-roam adventure game full of cryptic puzzles and haunting ambiance. Good for a console version, but not necessarily preferable over PC. There are plenty of ports and improved remasters on other systems.
	Out Of This World (US) Another World (EU) Outer World (JP)	Cinematic Platformer	A young scientist is isekai'd to an alien world where everything is out to kill him. An unusual case among the many ports of this ST/Amiga classic, as it has completely redrawn backgrounds and different music. If this irks you (as the original dev hated the art change), try the strictly faithful Mega-CD version (included with the sequel, Heart of the Alien), or the 20th Anniversary remaster on newer systems.
	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 (JP)	Adventure	An astronaut turned private eye investigates the murder of his ex-wife, and the clues point to a conspiracy at the space colony. If you liked Snatcher or Metal Gear (or even Penguin Adventure), you should give the genius known as Hideo Kojima some props and play this game, it's pretty great too! Works with the lightgun! Japan-only, so if you can't read moonrunes, better go with the PlayStation or Saturn versions, which have fan translations.
	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. There's an exclusive map pack to the 3DO called Maps O' Death. Comes with an additional 100 levels. Also on PS1. Mass Destruction on PS1/Sat is not officially related but it's very likely inspired by this.
	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	Fighting	The absolute BEST home console port of Samurai Shodown. It has all the graphics and gameplay of the arcade / Neo Geo version, but improved CD-quality music.
	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	FPS / RTS	A sequel to a PC real-time strategy / first-person shooter genre mash game based on a Warhammer 40,000 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 40K fan, your dick should be rock solid. Also on the PC, Saturn, and PS1.
	Starblade	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 II	Shoot 'em up / 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 starship 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	Flight Combat	A pretty good space-themed flight combat game, originally on RISC OS. 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. Later ported to PS1 and Saturn, but with worse graphics.
	Super Street Fighter II Turbo	Fighting	Like Samurai Showdown, this was the best console port of Super Street Fighter II Turbo at the time. Great graphics (backgrounds lack parallax effects, but more arcade-accurate sprites than the Genesis and SNES ports) and a sweet remixed CD soundtrack. As a downside, it 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 / Saturn, it lacks the remixed music though. Or get the MS-DOS port, which has a different remix.
	Super Wing Commander	Flight Combat	An excellent remake 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	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. From the same devs of Stunts and Test Drive II. Later ports on the PC, Saturn, and PS1 are a bit different, missing the FMVs from this version but adding additional features.
	Total Eclipse	Rail-Shooter	Similar to Star Fox, 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. Also on the PS1, but the game runs a bit too fast.
	Trip'd	Puzzle	Basically Puyo Puyo through the deranged mind of Kenji Eno. 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	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 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. Also on the PC and PS1. Sequels are on the PC and PS1. Another excellent PC port to the 3DO.
	Wolfenstein 3D	FPS	Imagine this: a version of the PC classic that's even better than the original version. Can't be true, right? Wrong! It plays exactly as good as the PC version but has improved graphics, runs smooth, it's not censored (unlike the SNES port), and the soundtrack is unique to this version. Now go shoot some FECKIN NATZEES.

The homebrew list

Cover	Title	Genre	Description	Link	Screenshot
	Mortal Kombat II	Fighting	An arcade port that was promised back then but moved to the M2, and that system was ultimately cancelled. A perfect, no compromises port: runs at a rock solid 60fps, with all the scrolling, large scale sprites, and backgrounds from the arcade version. Barely any loading either. Not even the official PS1 and Saturn ports can boast that. Lots of 3DO easter eggs to boot. video	Link
	Real 3DO Tetris (1 and 2)	Puzzle	Tetris with synthwave aesthetics. The first game is single-player, the second adds has 2-player and versus-CPU modes.	Link

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