3DO on Steam Deck! Opera EmuDeck / RetroArch Emulation Tutorial and Setup Guide for 3DO

[@loganpalmer663]

So cool! Also, I love your content! Extremely professional and informative presentation.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

If im gonna talk 3DO I gotta try and do it well lol

[@markkilborn512]

Got it running this evening. My 12yo is in love with Gex. Looking forward to trying more games.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Nice. Gex is a ton of fun

[@archive3do769]

Nice to see the games are running as expected! Bladeforce is killer.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

I know that’s your fav. It’s why it’s in here

[@RetroGamerBB]

Blade Force is one of the best

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

It’s an awesome game for sure and as good as something PS1 could do

[@Pagaugezero]

Love my 2 favorite consoles in 1993. My Neo Geo AES and The. Panasonic 3DO. Monster Manor was a great game with the lights off and connected to a great stereo system. Very immersive.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Monster Manor was a banger but my fav will always be Killing Time

[@rars0n]

The FZ-1 is still the sexiest console of the entire 32-bit generation. And holding it in your hand, it kinda felt like "Yeah, maybe this really is worth $700." Luckily, my friend's brother bought one when they dropped the price to $400. Which, even in hindsight, is not a terrible price for that thing in 1994.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

It’s got huge vibes and I love it. Total 90s design

[@Charlie-Cat.]

Man, I wanted a Panasonic 3DO when it was launched VGE. Not anywhere near of a Neo-Geo, but still liked having it. I remember back when CNN use to discuss about the unit with Trip Hawkins on this 32-Bit marvel and said this is like having a gaming PC console. But at $699 at the time....YIKES! Anthony...

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Yes the price 100% killed their momentum. Unsubsidized hardware could never work. Sadly it took my M2 with it!

[@colddogs]

Thanks for the video - I had my BIOS files in a nested folder and that was causing problems for me. Also, I want to mention that I am using CHD ROMs on my Steam Deck, and everything seems to be working well with them so far!

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Good to know on CHD. I never use them myself outside of MAME

[@kcw3177]

Awesome video and totally agree on Killing Time!

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

It’ll be on the channel again soon. Whole video for Killing Time

[@kcw3177]

@@VideoGameEsoterica can’t wait to see it! One of the best soundtracks in gaming too! So awesome!

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

One of my fav soundtracks in gaming

[@MagickPistacho]

Never knew about Dr. Hauzer, but definitely gonna try it out, seems like a total mix between Resident Evil and Alone in the Dark. Thanks for sharing as always!

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

It’s an awesome game. Just set expectations it’s fully 3D and is not a fast frame rate

[@MagickPistacho]

@@VideoGameEsoterica Yup, about what was expecting! Will try with overclocking too maybe, but for my first playtrough I think I'll stick to the "pure experience"

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

It’s not a game that requires fast reactions so the frame rate works fine for it IMO

[@KunchangLeeMusic]

More 3do vids for the steam deck please !

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Maybe in the future. We shall see

[@eggzonerevolution]

Fun! My favorite console of all time, too.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Mine too. I love how “other” it is

[@rars0n]

John Madden Football on 3DO is still one of my favorite versions of Madden. I like it better than the current version. Also, like you, I tend to prefer the 3DO version of games, like NFS, Road Rash, and Gex. The 3DO versions tend to run a bit slower, but because the games were made for that system first, they're well-suited to the hardware. Road Rash or NFS, for example, just run a little too fast for my liking on the Playstation, and because of that the game controls don't feel quite right. I do like Gex on the Saturn. Gex looks good on every system, but it's noticeably smoother on the Saturn than on the 3DO (I haven't tried the PSX version but I'm sure it's similar to the Saturn). The problem with the Saturn version is that it doesn't save your game! For that reason alone, the 3DO version is superior, but the actual slowdown is very minimal anyway (some people probably wouldn't even notice a difference), and it's how I originally played the game so I don't mind it at all. The color looks slightly better on 3DO, too, although I was looking at a good composite Saturn signal versus the 3DO over S-video on the same CRT. That said, some games do run annoyingly slow, like Alone in the Dark, so having the overclock options is really awesome. It's too bad there's not a hardware mod for the original hardware that can toggle faster speeds (from my understanding, the CPU can easily run at 25 MHz but they didn't really know that until late into the hardware process and thus went with 12.5 MHz to be safe). 3DO is really unique hardware, and I love that it was one of the first consoles to use an ARM processor, but man, it was just a little underpowered given what the MADAM and CLIO chips could do, and with a faster CPU I think it would have been far more competitive. The R3000 in the Playstation at 33.8 MHz, for instance, would have been a big jump, although we all know that wouldn't have been feasible in 1993 given the already steep price of hardware. But it's fun to think about. It's also interesting to note how often changing a simple thing like the CPU speed affects how well the controls work. Some games just don't play right when you speed the rendering up a lot. It seems that most of the good games were programmed with such care that they perfected it for the hardware available. Turning the CPU speed up results in the controls becoming twitchy or imprecise. You don't see this level of care in games anymore, for better or for worse. It's probably a good thing that increasing the frame rate by 20% on a modern PC title doesn't affect the controls in any way. But that's what they had to work with back then, and they tried to make every CPU cycle count. I really admire that, and that's a big reason why I keep playing these games more than I play modern ones. The wonderment of new generations of improved graphics has long worn off on me, but being able to appreciate these games for what they really were produces a whole new, but very similar, sense of wonderment and excitement. Playing Road Rash on an actual 3DO is like playing it for the first time, every time I play it. I don't really get that feeling from any other console I own.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

It’s a classic for sure. All the EA stuff on 3DO is great

[@RetroGamerBB]

My favorite 32bit system. Killing Time is my favorite FPS on 3DO. Id watch your video on it whenever you do it. I wish the emulator could do the rendering up to 4k or be better optimized for slower devices. I know the dev is working on a bunch of other cool projects so i dont want to bother them with any of my little nitpicks. Just dreamin.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Killing Time is just straight up one of my fav games ever made on any system

[@Grail_Quest]

Cool profile pic! 3DO forever!

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Saw your email. I’ll get in touch

[@OldSchoolNewSchoolGamer]

Thanks for the videos. Much appreciate it. Getting my steam deck running these great now. I ran into an issue though. Trying to play Need for speed. It’s giving me a message that my nvram full: configuration not saved. I can’t get past this and I have no clue what to do as I have not even played any 3do games. I just finished setting it up

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Your save file is full. You’d need to clear some out or make a new one

[@OldSchoolNewSchoolGamer]

@@VideoGameEsoterica can u explain how I do that please?

[@philander9278]

And what's about Po'ed? Is it run perfectly with nice picture and great fps?

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Works fine yes

[@DacioNerdTV]

Hey man. I'm here to ask something. I'm thinking of buying a MiSter Fpga pre built. I see one for 200 dollars and one for 500 dollars. Whats the difference ?

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Links? I mean you can’t get one for $200 so I’m assuming that’s everything BUT the FPGA board itself

[@KunchangLeeMusic]

You mentioned a link to 3do dev … can’t seem to find the link

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Was this what I mentioned : 3do.dev

[@KunchangLeeMusic]

@@VideoGameEsoterica I cannot get the horde to work

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Hmm I’ll have to try it and see

[@KunchangLeeMusic]

@@VideoGameEsoterica that’d be so appreciated I just end up with a black screen when I launch

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Try new files first.

[@retrobear9367]

I have OG hardware. But my controller is wearing out. Replacements are not cheap either.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

They never are cheap any more

[@philander9278]

Thanx a lot! Is it possible to increase FPS in Killing Time by means of this emulator?

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Up the CPU clock speeds. It’s not perfect but it helps

[@philander9278]

@@VideoGameEsoterica I played this game on PC using 3DO emulator called Phoenix (version 2.8.JAG). It allows to increase FPS greatly! Also there is PS1 version of this gem! It runs very fast, but has some artefacts and glitches

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Yea the beta PS1 version is faster but buggy

[@nostaldex]

Mine doesnt work at all, games wont load

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Try a new bios file

[@BlackIronMotorJudas]

I am trying to play Captain Quazar and I am not gettingany sound at all I downloaded the same Bios you did and I got a USA Bin and Cue rom so I am not sure wht I did wrong my other emulators work fine

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

I’d try new files. Sounds like a bad cue sheet not pulling up the proper audio files

[@BlackIronMotorJudas]

@@VideoGameEsoterica does Chd not work at all? I see tons of Chd roms but not many iso or bin cue

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

I use bin/cue. Try archive

[@BlackIronMotorJudas]

@@VideoGameEsoterica hahaha, I figured it out, somehow I muted retroarch by accident in desktop mode 🤦‍♂️ thanks man! (Now I can see the glorious captain quazar intro with sound)

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Hahaha that’ll happen

[@METR0lD]

I see 3DO. I click video. It's the rules.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

The 11th commandment

[@ciaranmccarthy]

Not a console I have ever bothered emulating much, bar Super Street Fighter II Turbo one time.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Gotta do it! Play Killing Time

[@Hreasvalgor]

I don’t think 3do sucked, back in the day it was too expensive and other consoles had better games. 3do is more of a novelty curiosity for me. Definitely would play the weird 3do rpgs like Battle Blues, Oukoku no grand chef, seal of the pharaoh, Dragon Tycoon edge, and kurokishi no kamen 3do is that weird kid that marches to the beat of their own drummer that’s what I like about it.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

It gets such an unfair reputation these days. People refuse to even check it out. Which bums me out

[@rars0n]

3DO back in the day was actually awesome, as long as you weren't buying it at launch for $700. My friend's brother bought one in 1994 after it had been marked down to $400. It was such a different experience than the SNES: CD-ROM media, digitized graphics, CD-quality sound, texture-mapped 3D graphics, actually good quality FMV, etc. It blew me away. For a brief period of time, there was nothing like it. This is notable because as mentioned in the video, the 3DO was hugely influential on the gaming industry. It pushed CD-ROM storage technology and 3D graphics, embraced FMV but didn't rely on it, improved upon existing 2D graphics, introduced the concept of multimedia functionality, and perhaps most importantly, drastically reduced development and publishing costs for anyone willing to use the platform. It's not just the games that were influential, but the entire business model (even if it failed), risk-taking, pushing technology forward, embracing where the industry was headed and even blazing a path forward. That's not to mention the DEEP hardware legacy that 3DO has within the console space, something that people largely don't seem to be aware of. 3DO may have been a failed console and eventually a failed company, but they absolutely changed the industry.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Yeah the price was always going to be an issue

[@hitmedude]

I dont have any 3DO Parser in my Rom Manager did they remove it? or how can i get it ? Im totally new to Steam Deck / Emu Deck / Linux thx in advance