Support NeoGAF

[VGEsoterica]

Mods: Hope this is newsworthy enough for a post. If not...you can delete it

It took TEN YEARS of active hunting, a few missed auctions out of Japan (was seriously on vacation BOTH TIMES and only realized I missed them when I got back) and once WON auction with a cancelled bid...but damn it I finally found a 3DO M2 / Panasonic FZ-21 "console".

Sure it doesn't play much...yet. But MAYBE if a group of people got some of the Konami M2 arcade games running on it...then it would really be a gaming console. Maybe after that if it could get onto an FPGA chip...then anyone could experience the 3DO M2 finally. I mean SEGA almost bought the hardware in 1996 to release as a successor to Saturn after all...seems unfair nobody really got to experience it.

Close to SNES CD levels of rareness...one of maybe 9? 10? known to exist. So def not the SNES CD and its "one of one" status...but as close as you can get

Curious Gaf...who remembers the press for the M2 back in 96/97? I had one pre-ordered at EB Games growing up...so I guess my pre-order was delayed by (does math) 25 years

 

[ManaByte]

 

[baphomet]

If for some reason you need another controller for it let me know. My friends shop has one.

 

[Hollowpoint5557]

I remember it being on my radar but only so slightly at first. When they announced D2 was being developed that's when I started to really pay attention.

 

[Interfectum]

Wow I remember the M2. Had one pre-ordered back in the day.

 

[U n i o n 0015]

Love your videos on the M2!

I remember the GameFan and Next Generation previews of this system making it seem really interesting and powerful. Shame it never really released to consumers.

 

[nkarafo]

Although i'm not fond of your FPGA vs Emulator comparisons, i hugely respect your obscure devices collection and the footage you provide.

 

[kapshin]

The first M2 drive

 

[VGEsoterica]

Love your videos on the M2!

I remember the GameFan and Next Generation previews of this system making it seem really interesting and powerful. Shame it never really released to consumers.

it really is...so hoping to remedy that one day

 

[Morrie’s wig shop]

Man O man, those Next Generation (magazine) screen shots of what I think was a fighting game? With a Raptor? Or something going through a jungle and they were going over all the specs for it. Talk about being blown away at the time.

 

[drganon]

Pretty cool. I remember something about the m2 technology being used by other companies after it failed to come out.

 

[VGEsoterica]

Man O man, those Next Generation (magazine) screen shots of what I think was a fighting game? With a Raptor? Or something going through a jungle and they were going over all the specs for it. Talk about being blown away at the time.

that was a tech demo of a woman fighting a dinosaur maybe a raptor? My dino knowledge is thin lol

 

[Morrie’s wig shop]

that was a tech demo of a woman fighting a dinosaur maybe a raptor? My dino knowledge is thin lol

That’s right! She was wearing all purple, I think? They had those series of screen shots of zooming in to show the un blurred detail up close.

 

[SmokedMeat]

I remember seeing this as well as some photos of tech demos.

But the press was never really anything overly positive as there wasn’t much in the way of games for it.

 

[VGEsoterica]

I remember seeing this as well as some photos of tech demos.

But the press was never really anything overly positive as there wasn’t much in the way of games for it.

Once Matsushita purchased it...they basically ignored devs, so games that were about to be previewed were quietly cancelled because no devs were getting active support

Panasonic buys it, then does nothing with it...real smart business decisions

 

[VGEsoterica]

Pretty cool. I remember something about the m2 technology being used by other companies after it failed to come out.

after interactive marketing kiosks it was used for coffee vending machines in Japan and ATM machines in Eastern Europe

 

[AMSCD]

That’s right! She was wearing all purple, I think? They had those series of screen shots of zooming in to show the un blurred detail up close.

Can someone dig those up? I'd love to see.

 

[VGEsoterica]

Can someone dig those up? I'd love to see.

 

[AMSCD]

Haha omg those renders. Do the actual games look like this?

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

There's actually several prototypes out there actually, one of the ones I've seen from someone I know years ago was the PS1 looking Goldstar M2.

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

Mods: Hope this is newsworthy enough for a post. If not...you can delete it

It took TEN YEARS of active hunting, a few missed auctions out of Japan (was seriously on vacation BOTH TIMES and only realized I missed them when I got back) and once WON auction with a cancelled bid...but damn it I finally found a 3DO M2 / Panasonic FZ-21 "console".

Sure it doesn't play much...yet. But MAYBE if a group of people got some of the Konami M2 arcade games running on it...then it would really be a gaming console. Maybe after that if it could get onto an FPGA chip...then anyone could experience the 3DO M2 finally. I mean SEGA almost bought the hardware in 1996 to release as a successor to Saturn after all...seems unfair nobody really got to experience it.

Close to SNES CD levels of rareness...one of maybe 9? 10? known to exist. So def not the SNES CD and its "one of one" status...but as close as you can get

Curious Gaf...who remembers the press for the M2 back in 96/97? I had one pre-ordered at EB Games growing up...so I guess my pre-order was delayed by (does math) 25 years

First of all...why would a Mod ever touch this thread? If they are busy shutting down retro threads on a forum where their average user is 34 years old, then we need some new mods.

Also....I am very jealous.

 

[VGEsoterica]

Haha omg those renders. Do the actual games look like this?

Haha no nothing like those

 

[VGEsoterica]

There's actually several prototypes out there actually, one of the ones I've seen from someone I know years ago was the PS1 looking Goldstar M2.

There are some old photos of that unit. The shell went on to be the Goldstar / LG branded Alive II

 

[alabtrosMyster]

That was so long before the M2 made it beyond the blurry screenshots on magazines! AMAZING!

 

[Majormaxxx]

Bro... Wow

 

[jufonuk]

you are doing gods work

 

[VGEsoterica]

First of all...why would a Mod ever touch this thread? If they are busy shutting down retro threads on a forum where their average user is 34 years old, then we need some new mods.

Also....I am very jealous.

Lol I got a warning about posts with links to videos so treading lightly while talking about gaming history

 

[EverydayBeast]

I remember 3DO games like battle tanks.

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

There are some old photos of that unit. The shell went on to be the Goldstar / LG branded Alive II

There's a few prototype models like yours out there for sell once in awhile. There are some (hard to find) videos of them being used although not much since they aren't finished of course.

 

[Ragnarok]

Velothiraptor



But for real as a hardcore 3DO fan in the mid 90s, I was so hyped that the M2 would be the best console available. Still sad it was never released.

 

[GigaBowser]

Oh my God that shmup

 

[VGEsoterica]

Oh my God that shmup

 

[Trogdor1123]

This is so awesome. I wanted one of these so bad back in the day.

 

[VGEsoterica]

This is so awesome. I wanted one of these so bad back in the day.

So did I. So I went hunting haha

 

[ReBurn]

Nice get

 

[VeganElduderino]

I remember seing the 1st person game they shown in Gamefan when i was a kid ! I was blown away , the guy at the video store said to my parents to hold on a Saturn because The M2 is comming out ...we din't wait and i got a Saturn for my birthday and the M2 never came out..

 

[Haint]

LOL current gen consoles couldn't even run this fake shooter. Why were these companies allowed to represent such obvious bullshit as gameplay? They were spending days rendering a single one of these frames for a console that was supposed to render 30 of them a second. Literally decades away from being the reality, and every single person involved knew it. They're basically advertising a flying car here.

 

[Krathoon]

In Retroarch, 3DO emulation is not so good. I did find an emulator called Phoenix that works really well.

 

[VGEsoterica]

LOL current gen consoles couldn't even run this fake shooter. Why were these companies allowed to represent such obvious bullshit as gameplay? They were spending days rendering a single one of these frames for a console that was supposed to render 30 of them a second. Literally decades away from being the reality, and every single person involved knew it. They're basically advertising a flying car here.

That’s just what everyone back in the day used to do.

That shooter did become a game though. Disruptor

 

[Doczu]

For starters, this is... Really something. I'm totally not into the 3DO/M2 but this really is the holy grail for collectors and gaming history.

Oh and can one of the mods please give him a M2 fan tag or something? This guy deserves it for his passion

 

[Housh]

Congrats! I discovered your channel a while back. I remember reading in magazines about M2 and D2 and was hyped for the system to come out. Glad you are perserving some history here.

 

[RAIDEN1]

This screenshot says that Matsushita was ready to do battle with Sony, irony there because they soon changed their mind and got cold feet, making the battle even more easier for Sony...

 

[VGEsoterica]

This screenshot says that Matsushita was ready to do battle with Sony, irony there because they soon changed their mind and got cold feet, making the battle even more easier for Sony...

Nothing like dropping a cool 100 million on M2….then cancelling it

 

[RAIDEN1]

Nothing like dropping a cool 100 million on M2….then cancelling it

They had deep enough pockets to do so...imagine if Sega did the same thing with the Dreamcast...ie not even getting it out the door in 1999 but instead seeing that they were in no shape to take the fight to Sony, after the blows they received with the Saturn and 32x

 

[VGEsoterica]

They had deep enough pockets to do so...imagine if Sega did the same thing with the Dreamcast...ie not even getting it out the door in 1999 but instead seeing that they were in no shape to take the fight to Sony, after the blows they received with the Saturn and 32x

Panasonic could have just released it AND pivoted it to a kiosk unit at the same time. Revenue from two sources