My small collection of
odd computers and video game consoles.
The 3DO always seemed neat to me. I remember playing Samurai Shodown
at my friend Jesse Haag's house when I was younger, and always dreamt of
owning my own. In September of 2001, I was lucky enough to stumble
across a complete system at Toyriffic, a local used video
game store about a block from my house. It was a package deal for
the complete system, a second controller, and six games. $60 was
a steep price tag, but since it held such nostalgia... I was willing to
dish it out. After looking on eBay, I felt a bit better. I
didn't get a deal, but I didn't get ripped off.
It's a huge system, with a cooling fan you can really hear.
One of the neatest things about this system is that you actually connect
the controllers to each other, instead of directly into the unit.
It allows large four player games like Zhadnost to be played without a
multitap. Another neat thing about the FZ-1 in particular is that
the controllers have a headphone jack built right in. This is a feature
that isn't included in any other model 3DO controller (although you can
still link other 3DO controllers to the unit*). Released in
Spring of '94 at a price of $699.95, the FZ-1 was the first unit produced
meeting the 3DO company's standards. It was soon followed by Goldstar's
unit. Panasonic eventually replaced the FZ-1 with the more
compact, cheaper, and top loading FZ-10.
* - Never link a GOLDSTAR
3DO controller to a Panasonic machine. Supposedly it's compatable,
but last time I saw someone do that, it eventually fried the Panasonic
controller it was attached to. I fear for what could have happened
it were the first in the daisy chain.
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