iznaut

resident gexpert

pfp by @soaps

just gex doin his thing
 

 

🎮 unemployed gamedev

 

🏳️‍⚧️ trans poly bisexual she/her

 

🦎 gex’s #1 fan

 


 

Proud Member of the Gex Podcasting Network


EphemeralEnigmas
@EphemeralEnigmas

This week's game (?) is the 3DO Sampler CD, a little hodgepodge of interesting ideas and features meant to convince you that the 3DO was the future of gaming.

This isn't a game in the conventional sense, I suppose, but a strong desire to explore the 3DO and needing something on short notice for this blog (had a busy week and weekend...) led me to starting my journey here. At a glance, you might expect this CD to just be a handful of demos or ads or something, but there's actually a lot more to it! It features a pinball game, part of an episode of Batman: The Animated Series (meant to show how the 3DO can handle video without too much compression ruining things), what's essentially a screensaver maker in the form of Color Echo, and what might be one of the strangest racing games ever in the form of Road Race. And boy is Road Race fascinating - imagine a racing game tech demo, but you're racing through really strange areas full of goofy animals and a menacing sun, what appears to be Hell (?!), and some kind of dreamscape featuring an onlooker in the background and chairs strewn about everywhere for some reason. If you like early 3D aesthetics, you'll love it!

The CD also features tours on the 3DO's capabilities in the form of a photo viewer, a guide on how to play music, and a very short video about, well, video. These parts aren't quite on the same level as everything else, but that photo viewer has enough options to make it so you have to use various button combinations to access different options, so that's kind of impressive I'd say.

It goes without saying, but the 3DO was one interesting console, and this CD does a good job of highlighting that. There were multiple Sampler CDs made for the platform, but this post focuses on the one that came with Japanese consoles since that's what mine had when I bought it. Talk about a fun first impression! Now that I know these Sampler CDs have style for days, maybe I'll check out the other ones someday!


iznaut
@iznaut

i'm 90% sure it was the one where they fight over a toilet seat but i can't be certain bc i also may just have had this episode recorded on VHS

(also Color Echo blew my mind as a kid)


You must log in to comment.

in reply to @iznaut's post: