3DO Interactive Multiplayer

The 3DO Interactive Multiplayer was a game console hardware platform originally released in 1993 with the first models released by Panasonic and other models released by other companies in 1994.

The 3DO was created by EA founder Trip Hawkins, who founded The 3DO Company in 1991. Game publishers only had to pay a $3 royalty rate fee per game, unlike Nintendo and Sega that required higher royalty fees for the games.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) The Panasonic FZ-10 3DO model was smaller and lighter, greater than the FZ-1 model.
 * 2) The cords for the controllers are very long, so you don't have to be next to each other outright in order to play games.
 * 3) Unlike most of the gaming systems, it was the only video game systems created by just THREE companies: Panasonic, GoldStar and Sanyo.
 * 4) It was one of the first gaming systems to play only CDs.
 * 5) It has a controller same as the Sega Genesis, but comes with a different shape, and has both shoulder buttons, a port for the headphones, and the volume controller.
 * 6) It had library of games, including Primal Rage, Bust-A-Move, Wolfenstein 3D and the colossal hit for the 3DO system, Gex.
 * 7) The cords for the controllers are very long, so you don't have to be next to each other outright in order to play games.
 * 8) The controller daisy-chaining system mentioned above eliminates the need for a multitap accessory. This method is viable, especially since the console has only one controller port. No multitaps needed.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Overpriced of $699 at launch time (just over $1,200 today if inflation is applied), though Trip claimed that the price at launch was $599, but then stated that the original launch was $699 and retailers did not sell it at that price.
 * 2) *The real reason why the 3DO system was priced at $700 was because the companies working with 3DO were not manufacturing it, so they wanted to make back their money meaning the 3DO had to be priced at $700.
 * 3) Similar to Sega's anti-Nintendo campaign, the 3DO's advertising directly insulted the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis by calling them "kid's toys" and claimed that the 3DO was "the Best Gaming Console". Ironically, it was getting killed by both the consoles (and both CD-based systems, Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation) that it claimed superiority over.
 * 4) The 3DO focused too heavily on FMV-style games which were a fad at the time and lacked real interactivity with gamers.
 * 5) There's only one controller port on the system for all the models. The controllers themselves each have an extra port on them so that they could be daisy-chained for multiplayer games.
 * 6) The North American CD cases use unnecessarily huge boxes. Even the Neo Geo AES' cartridge cases are smaller and they use big cartridges so they have a necessary reason to make their cases huge. The PAL region and Japanese games just use regular-sized CD cases, which makes it more passable.