/vr/ - Retro Games

My only real recollection of the 3DO is that one of my dad's bachelor friends had one. He also had a DIVX (not the video codec) player. I guess he couldn't resist doomed technology

any cool games?

>>456002
Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo was alright, but Crash 'n Burn got much love. As I mentioned, I loved the shit out of Road Rash and Need for Speed, but I never played Return Fire or P'taank. Gex was alright, but I only played that for a few minutes in the old game reseller shop when it was new.

>>455926
>3DO games in a binder
Piggu dusgustingu

Anyway I don't have any particular stories other than loving Alone In The Dark, Immercenary, Shock Wave, Return Fire, etc back in the day. Jumping from the SNES to the 3DO was mind-blowing for a kid like I was.

I have a 3do, I got mine at a garage sale for 20$. I actually saw a second 3do for 60$ at a local thrift store, but rather than buying it and hoarding it, I decided to let someone else have the pleasure (or displeasure) of owning a 3do.

The only game I have for it is Crime Patrol. Which is a lightgun game that uses only FMV. I don't have a lightgun so I have to use the controller. There actually is one jRPG on the 3do, Lucienne's Quest- it looks pretty cool.

>>455926
anonwho asked for this thread in here: >>450021

OP is my mancrush (no VirtualBoy)

Anyways, I'll break my love-affair with this trollop up into a few posts, so that everyone gets a chance to speak.

First thoughts upcoming: The hype and the damn North American price.

Pic-related: the pre-emptive hype around this console had it running circles around everything in it's current gen. Ignore those prices for the moment (yeah, right).

>>DIVX (the codec and subsequent licensing, not the standalone player) had a good run. BR players and standard dvd players still use the license (only because Xvid encodes conform).

>>456002
SSFII was the pinnacle of arcade-at-home gaming when it was released for the 3DO. It had two drawbacks: The default 3DO controller (six-button style released later), and the insane loading times. Upwards of up to 45 seconds between rounds (ROUNDS, not matches)

>>456294
There were three iterations of the 3DO (three main chipsets, anyway)..

>>456381
SSFII Turbo gameplay:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THqq0X9plBo

note the edited in-between round stuff.

The SNES adapter for 3DO was selling for like $70 the last time I went hunting. Feh. I haven't done anything with my SSF2 beyond copy it as a test, and watch the intro.

>>456437
pic unrelated.
>>456432
You mean the 3dzeRO? i'm not enough of a completionist to hunt it down, but I'm glad a fellow /vr/tualbro has snagged it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7ErGNyn6wI

>>456432
almost forgot: no more $70 USD!

http://www.estarland.com/product35044.html
>>mfw the six-button AND the mouse are out of stock

>>456457
>>456481
I love when people tell me about shit I missed out on. It greatly improves the quality of my life. Oh wait, no, it does the opposite.

>>456509
I'm sorry, anon. If it makes you feel any better, I'm up all night, so I'm gonna dtorytell the 3DO's lifecycle. Cool?

>>456543
Do tell the story of Trip's Dream machine.

>>456543
*storytime

All tucked in? allright. Here we go...

The 3DO Interactive Multiplayer (often called simply 3DO) is a video game console developed by The 3DO Company. The 3DO was released in North America on October 4, 1993, Japan on March 20, 1994 and in Europe in 1994. The system was conceived by entrepreneur and Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins.

snow job

>>456568
quick interlude: At one time, I thought that any idea that came from trip's blessed noggin, and was manifested into physical videogame form, was God-tier.

3do thread and no mention of the samurai shodown port? You gotto be kidding me! I remember back in the 90s some rich kid who lived a couple blocks away somehow got ahold of a 3do. We played so many rounds of samurai shodown. I always thought daisy chaining the controllers was fucking weird though. A couple months later when christmas rolled around I begged my parents to pick me up a copy of samurai shodown for genesis. Overall the genesis port was pretty shitty compared to the original or 3do port, but it was still fun.

>>456568
But I digress...

Instead of The 3DO Company producing the console themselves, they licensed other manufacturers to produce them. Panasonic produced the first models in 1993, and further renditions of the hardware were released in 1994 by Sanyo and Goldstar (now LG). The consoles were manufactured according to specifications created by The 3DO Company, and were originally designed by Dave Needle and R. J. Mical of New Technology Group.

>>456583
You are right, my /vr/tual buddy, but I was saving that for part III of Storytime.

Here's a spoiler: GGGOOODDDDDAAAAAMMMMNNN LLOOAAAADDDDING TTITMMME

>>456594
Shall I proceed?

3DO was a video game console manufactured by Panasonic, Goldstar, and Sanyo. Despite the initial hype surrounding the system, the console's $700 price tag proved to be the ultimate kiss of death for the system.

>>456625
The 3DO started out as an idea by Trip Hawkins, one of the founders of Electronic Arts and was designed by RJ Mical and Dave Needle. It was envisioned as a true multimedia device. Unfortunately, things did not pan out that way.

(quick note: "Storytime A Console" seems like a great thread idea for the future)

>>456629

The 3DO console was intended to be made by any manufacturer who signed a licensing agreement with the 3DO company. These companies included some of the world’s largest electronics companies at the time: Goldstar, Sanyo, Samsung, AT&T, Creative Labs and even Panasonic, which at the time of the 3DO's release was the largest electronic manufacturer. A second part of 3DO’s business strategy was to be extremely liberal when it came to manufacturing the system; the idea was that there would be no designated system specs.

Trip Hawkins was a fucking master of marketing hype. His vision was about 20 years too early.

The all-in-one machine is still a working concept. There are presently machines that function as such, but not yet widely adopted into the mainstream. We're getting close to seeing it come to fruition, but no single company has as of yet found a way to make it happen the way that Apple made mp3 players and smartphones ubiquitous.

>>456640

This gave manufacturers the freedom to create anything they wanted for any person or audience. In concept it would give consumers more choices as the 3DO would be extremely upgradeable. The idea was to make the 3DO as simple to manufacture as a CD player, while still functioning as a home entertainment system, a PC, a music player, and, most importantly, a video game system. The 3DO would also allow third party developers to push new technology, like wireless and DVD remote-style controllers, as well as numerous multimedia features.

>>456646
Absolutely. This part, however:
>>no designated system specs

-While it works for market saturation (see: Android), it's not so good for vidya console dominance :( It helped them grab licensces, though. If only they had caught Sony and Nintendo's attention.

>>456647
If I may continue? :)

Trip Hawkins wanted people to see the 3DO as a multimedia unit; however, with an MSRP of $700, audiences everywhere rejected it as an overpriced piece of tech. Consumers also rejected the 3DO due to its lack of quality launch titles. Some of the manufacturers caught on to how the 3DO was being perceived by audiences and attempted to remedy it by manufacturing cheaper versions of the unit, but their attempts failed and the impression that the 3DO was an overpriced video game console had been firmly established.

>>456663

The 3DO console debuted in 1993, but with no in-house development and third-party support dwindling, the 3DO was effectively dead by 1997 and in the half-off bins of almost every video game store in America. By the end of the console's life and the bankruptcy of the 3DO company, the console had only sold a measly 2 million units.

The 3DO Company did try to follow up the console with a second video game console design dubbed M2, but this console never made it past the intial design and test system phase, effectively cancelling many titles in development for the system, including the prototype for D2. The M2 design was eventually sold off to Panasonic/Matsushita.

>>456670

Despite ultimately being a failure the 3DO featured several notable innovations. While some console manufacturers were still utilizing cartridges, the 3DO embraced the CD format. With special additions, up to 8 players could play cooperatively on a single console. The system also featured an internal memory allowing players to save their game data in the console.

>>456672

The console had expansion modules which gave owners the ability to turn their console into a media player. However, expansions that allowed owners to play VHS tapes as well as VCDs were either rare and hard to come by or outrageously expensive. Also, the ability to play VHS tapes was a questionable feature mostly due to VCDs becoming more affordable and visually superior.

>>456685

This again highlights yet another flaw that plagued owners of 3DOs and the console: features that were promised at launch were not a reality. Expansion modules which would have allowed for more RAM or memory never quite came to fruition. In fact, the much requested memory expansion for the unit was only released in Japan and in limited supply in the United States.

>>456694

Despite being a commercial failure, the 3DO featured an impressive amount of third-party support for its first year. Just like their manufacturing policy, the 3DO Company was extremely liberal when it came to ensuring quality games on their console. A few of the systems highlights include Doom, Samurai Shodown, Lemmings, Need for Speed and Road Rash. On top of that, the 3DO benefited from having ports of arcade games such as the immensely popular Super Street Fighter II Turbo in its catalog. Also, a certain street racing series called Need for Speed got its start on the 3DO. However, quality games for the 3DO came in inconsistent bursts, and for every quality game there was a myriad number of shovelware games. Also, due to the console's adoption of the CD format, it saw a large number of questionable FMV games that were becoming popular at the time.

>>456694
The FZ-EM256 is on eBay right now for the price of a goddamn PS3. Sheesh.

>>456583
>>456381

being the (moderately) rich kid that i was, i bought this stick with a 3do attachment so i could play ssfii and samurai showdown in style

unfortunatley, i never knew how priveleged i was and i almost never used it

>>456697

System specifications

(Remember that a lot of the 3DO was highly upgradeable and can differ between manufacturer):

-32-bit 12.5Mhz RISC CPU (ARM60) made by Advanced RISC Machines

(Roughly equivalent to a 25Mhz 68030)

-640x480 pixel resolution at 16.7 million colors

-Two Accelerated Video Co-Processors with the following features:

25Mhz clock rate.
Capable of producing 9-16 million REAL pixels per second (36-64 Mpix/sec
interpolated), distorted, scaled, rotated and texture mapped.
Able to map a rectangular bitmap onto any arbitrary 4-point polygon.
Texturemap source bitmaps can be 1,2,4,6,8, or 16 bits per pixel and are
RLE compressed for a maximum combination of both high resolution and small storage space.
Supports transparency, translucency, and color-shading effects.

-Custom 16-bit Digital Signal Processor (DSP) with the following features:

Specifically designed for mixing, manipulating, and synthesizing CD quality sound.
Can decompress sound 2:1 or 4:1 on the fly, saving memory and bandwidth.
25Mhz clock rate.
Pipelined CISC architecture.
16-bit register size.
17 separate 16-bit DMA channels to and from system memory.
On chip instruction SRAM and register memory.
20-bit internal processing.
Special filtering capable of creating effects such as 3D sound.

-Separate BUS for video refresh updates (VRAM is dual ported)

-Super Fast BUS Speed (50 Megabytes per second)

-Math Co-Processor custom designed by NTG for accelerating fixed-point matrix

operations. (Note: This is *not* the ARM FPA)

-CD-ROM Drive with the following features:

320ms access time
Doublespeed 300kbps Data Transfer
32kbyte ram buffer

>>456706
Holy Crap.

>>456708
Holy Crap 2x

>>456716

Part II of System Specs:
-2 megabytes of DRAM

-1 megabyte of VRAM (also capable of holding/executing code and data)

-1 megabyte of ROM

-36 Separate DMA Channels for fast data processing and efficient bus usage

-2 expansion ports:

1 High-speed 68 pin x 1 AV I/O port (for FMV cartridge)
1 High-speed 30 pin x 1 I/O expansion port

-1 Control port, capable of chaining together up to 8 peripherals

-Multitasking 32-bit Operating System

-16-bit Stereo Sound

-44.1KHz Sound Sampling Rate

-Fully Supports Dolby(tm) Surround Sound

-32kb battery backed up SRAM

>>456731

Part II of Storytime will be Games, Licences, and our thoughts on the value of the console and said games.

Orrrr...we'll just talk about whatever thehell.

1. I STILL can't believe it was $699.99

>>456708

I refuse to put on a trip (however temporary) until the next time I do a Storytime, but I'm that guy. Any info on those inputs?

>>456646

I remember how cool it was that I could play a CD on the PS1.

>>456747

i don't recall that original MSRP. that's pretty crazy. even being a rick kid that would have been out of my means... i believe i got my system when it was in the $400 range

i think this came with the system when i got it... played it a fair amount actually. it was still during that phase where games on cd and with "real" video were pretty novel

>>456757

the stick i bought at the time had 3do, snes, and genesis built into it with three different cables coming out of the controller

>>456754
I'll pull it up in a sec...I'm the guy that posts in those "gaming mag advertisement threads".

I only remember it because it was MSRP and it broke my heart.

>>456759
Like I said, didn't get it until college age (did I say? too much Storytime), but I got Crash 'N Burn (NA packin)

Just reminded me: console pack-in thread

>>456754
from the ever-faithful Wiki:

Despite a highly promoted launch (including being named Time magazine's "1994 Product of the Year") and a host of cutting-edge technologies, the 3DO's high price (US$699 at launch), limited third-party developer support, and an over-saturated console market prevented the system from achieving success comparable to competitors Sega and Nintendo.

Since its discontinuation in late 1996, the 3DO has been frequently derided by video game historians.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3DO_Interactive_Multiplayer

>>456731
>-1 Control port, capable of chaining together up to 8 peripherals

wut

>>456825

Only one controller plugged into the system directly. The second controller plugged into a port on the first, the third plugged into the second, and so on.

>>456731
Game-time.

Madden Football
Road Rash
Need For Speed
Samurai Shodown
Gex
Super Street Fighter II Turbo
Night Trap
Dragon's Lair

All recommended.

My My consolecrap confession: Way of the Warrior

It promised full mo-cap, at least four fatalities per character, parallaxblahblahblah....it was horrible, but I thirsted over this game so bad it wasn't funny.

The most horrifying part of my confession: This game was made by Naughty Dog. Yes, Naughty Dog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_Ya4mSkDMI

>>456876
Daisy-chained, as it were?

>>456889

Daisy-chained, conga-lined, whatever you want to call it.

This game is bad, and you sh-youknowtherest.jpg

But shitdamnhell this fatality at 7:35 should have been in SOMEBODY'S decent fighter

>>456884

One more piece for Storytime. I'll do Samurai Showdown next and then I'll finally be sleepy enough to log-in for work.

>>456889
Nothin better than unplugging your brother's controller then beating his ass all over the screen in SSFII or (god forbid) Way of the Warrior.

>>456884
>DAT WHITE ZOMBIE SOUNDTRACK!
>Only saving grace

>>456894
actually..it's not a terrible idea. While a dedicated second player port would have been nice, this is a much better solution than having to buy a multitap.

>>455981
Wow that is like the ultimate stereotype of what I imagined a 3D0 owner being like. Awesome.

>>456949

Night Trap is a survival horror interactive movie video game that was released in North America on October 15, 1992 originally for the Sega CD. It was filmed over a three-week period in 1987 for an unreleased game entitled "Scene of the Crime". The footage was placed into archive when that game failed to materialize, but the footage was later used to create a game by Digital Pictures which in total reportedly cost US$1.5 million to produce. This game became Night Trap, which was originally developed for Hasbro's NEMO system, which used VHS tapes instead of ROM cartridges. However, when Hasbro scrapped production on the NEMO, Night Trap was moved to the Sega CD and later brought to the Sega 32X, 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, and PC platforms with higher-quality video. The game utilized full-motion video scenes entirely and is notorious for the controversy it brewed in 1993, resulting in US Senate hearings and withdrawal of the game from the market.

>>457031

Story

A group of young women are staying at Mr. and Mrs. Martin's for the night. The Martin family seems like a normal American family; however, odd things have been occurring at this house. Five girls who previously stayed at the place had disappeared, so the "Sega Control Attack Team" ("Sega" changed to "Special" once the game was ported to other consoles) is called upon to protect the new guests and find out what happened. As the new wave of girls arrive for a slumber party (one of whom is undercover SCAT agent Kelly, played by Dana Plato), the vampiric Augers begin to invade the Martin family house. Later on near the end of the game (if the player manages to capture all the Augers and save all the innocent victims), Kelly finds out that the Martin family are vampires themselves.

I could never keep the Panasonic 3DO and Phillips CD-i apart. All I knew is they were way too expensive for kids to own and they both (probably) had games starring Tia Carrere.

Instead I made due with USA's Up All Night.

>>457036

Cast

Dana Plato as Kelly
J. Bill Jones as Simms
Deke Anderson as Jason
William Bertrand as Eddie
Arthur Burghardt as Collins
Suzy Cote as Sarah Martin
Roy Eisenstein as Jim
Christy Ford as Megan
Blake Gibbons as Mike
Joshua Godard as Danny
Andras Jones as Jeff Martin
Jon R. Kamel as Victor Martin
Giovanni Lemm as Tony
Tracy Matheson as Cindy
Debra Parks as Lisa
Allison Rhea as Ashley
Molly Starr as Sheila Martin
Heidi Von Brecht as Swanson

DANA PLATO. Youngbucks may have to Google...

>>457039
You weren't far off, anon. FMV reared it's ugly head and made itself infamous on both of these behemoths. But at least the 3DO was a console, and as such worthy of our praise/derision.

Also: Gotta have a CD-i console thread.

>>457048

Gameplay

Referred to as "control", the player views events via hidden cameras set up in eight different locations, which can be viewed one at a time. As the aforementioned Augers creep into the house, the player has to spot them and use traps to capture them. At the bottom of a screen rests a small meter; when this meter fills, it is the player's signal to activate a trap in the room being viewed (i.e. a revolving bookcase or a faux seal on the floor) and capture the Auger(s) on screen, adding to the score.

The player must also have the correct security access color code selected on screen in order for the traps to work. The code is changed four times throughout the course of the game, and keeping up with the accurate code requires listening in on key conversations. Ultimately, high performance requires repeat plays in order to gain complete knowledge of the story and capture all Augers possible. Time always moves forward, cannot be rewound, and if too many vampires are missed, the game ends. The game will also end if certain characters are taken away or if the hosts of the slumber party disconnect your access to the traps.

The game is an example of the trap-em-up genre, which also includes games like Heiankyo Alien, Space Panic, and Lode Runner.

>>457031
>Night Trap is a survival horror

>>457031
I would have banned this game too, but for entirely different reasons.
Pic related.

>>457084

Controversy
The controversial nightgown scene.

Night Trap is now infamous because of its part in the 1990s Congressional hearings on offensive video game material. Night Trap, Mortal Kombat, Lethal Enforcers and Doom are cited as primary factors in leading to the development of the ESRB game industry ratings system.

On December 16, 1993, the SEGA CD version of Night Trap was removed from store shelves at Toys "R" Us and F.A.O. Schwarz locations in the United States in direct response to a December 9, 1993 joint Senate Judiciary and Government Affairs Committee hearing on video game violence.[4] The hearings were covered heavily by the media and were co-chaired by Senators Joseph Lieberman (Connecticut) and Herbert H. Kohl (Wisconsin), during which Night Trap was cited as "shameful," "ultra-violent," "sick," and "disgusting," encouraging an "effort to trap and kill women." Contrary to such claims, players are not trapping or killing women, but saving them from harm.

>>:(

The 3DO is an amazing system and its library is a celebration of the multimedia era of software that has seemed to be gleefully forgotten by people who only want to remember sprite art and early 3D from the 90s.

>>457096

The Congressional hearings were covered in major newspapers including USA Today, The Washington Post and The New York Times. In particular, a game over scene in which the character Lisa is wearing a nightgown while captured by Augers attempting to drain her blood was found to be very offensive. In defense of the game, Tom Zito (President and CEO of Digital Pictures) attempted to explain the context of the nightgown scene during a hearing session, but he claims he was silenced. In the short documentary Dangerous Games (included with the PC version), the producers and some members of the cast explain that the plot of the game was to in fact prevent the trapping and killing of women. In addition, the blood draining device was intended to look very unrealistic and would therefore mitigate the violence. Despite scenes in which the girls are grabbed or pulled by enemies, no nudity or extreme acts of violence were ever filmed or incorporated into the game.

Additionally, the Night Trap box art was criticized by interest groups for what many believed to be a sexist depiction (see above). In 1994, after the controversy died down, the game was ported to the 3DO and Sega 32X, and for PC and Mac in 1995. Each of these versions was released with a different cover, but all of them incorporate actual photos of Dana Plato, thus differentiating them from the Sega CD version, which is purely illustration.

>>457104

I thank you for your contribution, sir. Indeed, we are all on /vr/ to celebrate the beauty of our nostalgia-goggled old-school consoles. Was there anything that you actually wanted to contribute to the discussion? Or may I politely ask you to do pic-related?

>>457112
Sorry about that, men and women of /vr/tue. Once again:

Reception

Due to the controversy over the game, Night Trap only sold through an initial print run, but was still considered financially successful,[being a bestseller in the UK. Today, many[who?] consider the game to be a classic of the FMV game genre. The game's quality, however, was criticized for its single unfolding of events, which led to stale gameplay after only so many plays. Advancing in the game often meant missing out on numerous scenes by focusing on other rooms to capture Augers.

The game was reviewed in 1993 in Dragon #195 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 4 out of 5 stars. Conversely, Night Trap was ranked the 12th "Worst Video Game of All-Time" in an Electronic Gaming Monthly article by editor SeanBaby. He and other game journalists also featured the game in a 2007 episode of their comedy web series, Broken Pixels. Yahoo! Games listed it as one of the top ten controversial games of all time. Game Informer listed the game among the worst horror games of all time in 2008.

>>457143
Quick summary:

Audio: Ass
Graphics: atrocious
Gameplay: Stop posting.

>>457143

Samurai Showon (3DO)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ30RKc_7d0

Samurai Shodown, known as Samurai Spirits (サムライスピリッツ Samurai Supirittsu?, Samu Supi in short) in Japan, is a 1993 competitive fighting game produced by SNK for their Neo Geo arcade and home platform. In contrast to other fighting games at the time which were set in modern times and focused primarily on hand-to-hand combat, Samurai Shodown is set in feudal-era Japan (similar to Kaneko's Shogun Warriors) and was one of the first fighting games to focus primarily on weapon-based combat after the success of Capcom's Street Fighter II.

>>457197

Gameplay

The game is set in the late 18th century and all the characters wield weapons. The game uses comparatively authentic music from the time period, rife with sounds of traditional Japanese instruments, such as the shakuhachi and shamisen, and a refined version of the camera zoom first found in Art of Fighting. True to its use of bladed weapons, the game also included copious amounts of blood.

The game quickly became renowned for its fast pace, focused more on quick, powerful strikes than the combos. As to emphasize the distinction of this gameplay system, slow motion was added to intensify damage dealt from hard hits. Also during a match, a referee held flags representing each player (player 1 was white; player 2 red). When a player landed a successful hit, the referee would lift the corresponding flag, letting everyone watching know who dealt the blow. To lessen the repetition of fights, a delivery man running in the background threw items such as chicken (that healed) or bombs, which could significantly change the outcome of a play.

>>457213

Reception

In the February 1994 issue of Gamest magazine in Japan, Samurai Spirits was awarded Best Game of 1993 in the Seventh Annual Gamest Grand Prize, being the first to win in the category of Best Fighting Game as well (Street Fighter II Dash, the previous Game of the Year, won as Best Action Game). Samurai Spirits placed first place in Best VGM, Best Album and Best Direction, and second place in Best Graphics. In the Best Characters list, Nakoruru placed No. 1, Haohmaru at No. 6, Jubei Yagyu at No. 8, a tie between Ukyo Tachibana, Galford, and Poppy at No. 11, Charlotte at No. 16 (tied with Duck King from Fatal Fury Special), Kuroko at No. 18, Tam Tam and Hanzo Hattori tied for No. 22, Gen-an Shiranui at No. 29, and Wan-Fu tied at No. 45 with five other characters.[8]

>>457218

Originating on the Neo-Geo, an arcade system that played host to a ridiculous number of fighting games, Samurai Shodown (and it's sequel) rised above the competition to become one of the premier brawlers of it's day. The popular fighter would soon land on the 3DO, with Crystal Dynamics handling the conversion. How does the 3DO version fare?

>>457224

Most of the fighting games on 3DO have unique features that (for better or worse) make them stand out among the crowd. Way of the Warrior features digitized fighters, a licenced soundtrack, and tons of secrets. Ballz features 3d gameplay and a good sense of humor. Supreme Warrior features full motion video and b grade acting, etc... Samurai's unique angle is that all of it's characters have weapons (think a 2D Soul Calibar) There is the option to remove the weapons, but why bother? To do that takes away much from the game's personality. Another unique feature of the game is that some of the characters have animal allies to fight alongside them. This helps differentiate Samurai from other 3DO arcade fighting game ports like Street Fighter and Primal Rage.

Twelve characters are available to choose from, and there is some good variety among them. They are well represented with bright and colorful graphics. Special moves are plentiful, and are also nicely presented. Personally, I would have liked to see more emphasis on weapons combat and less on fireball type moves, but at least these are visually appealing. Each of the characters have unique backgrounds that (for the most part) are also attractively presented. There is some good variety to be found here as well. I still occasionaly notice details that I missed on prior plays. One nice graphical touch is how the camera will zoom in and out depending on the distance between the fighters. It is done quite effectively, and is not in the least bit distracting. Anice visual package.

>>457228

The music is appropriate, although honestly I do not find it that memorable. (Is it any better than the Neo Geo version?) Sfx vary from solid to very poor (the fireworks on Ukyo's stage sound awful, while the storm winds and howling dog on Hanzo's stage are nicely done) Solid overall.

There are a few extra features scattered throughout the game. Sometimes the fighters will lock up, and you will be prompted to punch a button to seperate them. The end result varies ... sometimes you lose your weapon, sometimes your opponet does. Sometimes you both lose your weapons, and sometimes no one does. This adds some variety to the fighting and is fine. Other things though, like the Pow meters, and the random dropping of coins and food during the fight seem gimmicky in my opinion. There is also bonus stages, that remind me a bit of whack-a-mole. They are not very creative, and I find them rather dull. Thankfully they are limited.

I have a few quirks with the game. One, load times tend to be a bit long. They average around 10 seconds between the begining of each contest. When you add these with the opening taunts, arriving at the fight location, introductions etc... it can amount to annoying wait between fights. Also, at the end of each contest, the background graphics for some reason tend to speed up considerably. This is especially noticable on busy stages with lots of background activity (spectators appear as if they are having seizures!)

>>457234

The blood factor, although featured prominetly in Crystal's advertisements ('Just another day by the pool' ... of blood!) I found to be quite limited. No complaints mind you, as I don't think it's needed, and prefer it without anyway, but players expecting Mortal Kombat level gore will be dissapointed. (It is mainly noticable at the end when an opponent is defeated, and then very briefly) Still, since SNK evidently censored this from previous home conversions, fans of the original have reason to be happy that 3DO is true to the arcade. (This feature can be turned off)

Frankly I found a couple other things more disturbing than the limited use of blood. It wasn't the characters being chopped in half (this is rare, and happens so quick it is hardly noticable) but some of the victory scenes. It is kinda creepy seeing the loser being carried off in a shroud. Shocked Also some of the taunts ('In this scene I rip open your belly') are a bit gruesome. Granted, it is no Mortal Kombat, but it also quite a step up from SFII.

I think the computer AI in Samurai is quite smart, and early on I'm guessing you may die alot if you aren't overly familiar with the original. Opponents adapt to your fighting style (I noticed that moves I used for victory in round 1 would usually not work in round 2) With practice though, I learned to hold my own, catch on to the computers patterns, and adapt myself. Some advice you could consider is to stick with one character you like and learn all their moves before going on to another. I found it worked best for me, and it may for you also. Difficulty is adjustable though, so gamers of all skill levels should be able to have fun.

>>457241

Overall, I have fun playing this game. I don't think that it neccesarily has the playability of Super Street Fighter II (the 3DO's best fighting game hands down imo) but it has enough good things in it's favor to warrant repeated plays. I still continue to come back to it all these years later, and I plan to spend some more time with it so that I can be proficient with each character. More than anything, this speaks to me of the games value. In this age of 3D fighting games, their is something satisfying about playing a game of this style. I don't know if I would call Samurai Shodown a great game, but it certainly is a very good one. Smile

>>457252
That was fun, /vr/. i'll catch you guys later.

>>457261
Later mate. You have a good one.

Not a single mention of the best 3DO game of all time Starcontrol 2 for shame.

I had a 3DO...only one I knew who has ever owned one. I got one because all my shit got stolen and with the insurance money we got back my mom let me use it for for whatever vidya system I wanted. I chose 3DO over replacing my snes.

Anyway, I loved my fucking 3DO. I played that fucker all the time. Games I owned that I loved and played the fuck out of:

Road Rash
Shockwave
Crash N Burn
Night Trap (first time I ever autistically wrote the time of every auger down so I could get a perfect on it)
Return fire
The Horde (loved it!)
Way of the Warrior (I know the controls suck, but I didn't know any better and I beat it)
Out of this World (yeah, it was on just about every platform, I know.)
Wing Commander III
Samurai Showdown (My mom would play this with me sometimes. Thanks mom!)
Soccer (I don't remember what exactly it was called...probably FIFA soccer or something. I don't even like soccer, but I heard the game was good and I couldn't stop playing the fucking thing. Easily my favorite sports video game of all time.)

I'm sure there's more, but that's what I remember.