When I first heard about Mortal Kombat 2 getting ported to the 3DO console I was giddy. I grew up with parents that enjoyed gaming so it was not hard to convince them for certain purchases. My dad was big on Atari 2600 games and then Mahjong on 3DO (he had horrible arthritis). My mom was a big fan of strategy games but when she picked me up one day at an arcade and saw me playing Mortal Kombat 2, she was instantly interested – she saw the fatality my opponent dropped on me, I want to say it was Jax’s fatality but that may just be favoritism on my part. Well, the port to 3DO is now done and released completely for free.
Bringing the Arcade Home
The 3DO console was not known for being an arcade in the home style machine. It simply did not last long enough to garner many arcade ports. Hell, it didn’t last long enough for many companies to make games for it. Most companies focused on edutainment or “experiences” (that is the best I can call some of the 3DO releases) rather than actual games.
Still, there were plenty of companies that tried. Just not many succeeded. Capcom was cool with Super Street Fighter II Turbo coming over, but I struggle to think of any other Capcom arcade games on 3DO. I struggle to think of any other Capcom games on 3DO at all.
3DO HD on YouTube has been working on this port for a couple years now. There have been videos of gameplay, and such releases showing off progress but recently, a full-on release has been made available.
Not Perfect but A Damn Good Start
This one could just be my lack of familiarity with the 3DO game pad (last time I held a real one was in 1998) but I had hell mapping buttons. I ended up with Y on my Xbox 360 controller being start/pause, a punch and a kick on the shoulder buttons, block on A, etc. Not an optimal way to play this game at all.
Still, what is here is awesome. Though, I do want to point out, if you find any bugs, please report them to 3DO HD so they can fix them in future updates.
Download link in their video description. While there, leave some words of encouragement and let them know what you think of their port of Mortal Kombat II.
I remember when the original 3DO was announced in magazines and me and my gamer-nerd friends were super excited until we saw that the machine was something crazy like $1000. I suppose we are lucky that it was because most of the games for it were terrible.
Yeah, it launched in most markets, at least the first Panasonic model, at around $800, some places were definitely right at $1,000 for this at launch.
I agree, a good 90% of the games for this console were terrible. Wild to think over 250 were released during its lifetime and we got maybe 10 to 20 worth playing. I think Hawkins hit the nail on the head in an old interview, I think with Next Gen Magazine, where he stated something like, paraphrasing here, - It took companies longer than expected to make traditional games.
He was right though. Sure, Crash 'n Burn was decent for a pack-in but not as the only game available for around six months though.
I will always cherish my 3DO for introducing me to titles like Need for Speed, Captain Quazar, Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller, Iron Angel of the Apocalypse I and II, and a very small handful of others.
I just remember the way that the Zelda game is relentlessly picked on and if I am not mistaken this is where that one game with the vampires and the near nudity was a showcase game? I wish I could remember the name of that disaster. I bet you know it.
Zelda was never released on the 3DO, that was the Philips CD-i that got a Zelda game, three of them actually. One being a remake of the original NES game but with digitized graphics (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda_CD-i_games).
As far as I know, there are no Zelda style games on the 3DO - top down, action adventure. There are action shooters like Captain Quazar but that is more Ikari Warriors or Guerilla War than action adventure.
The vampires and near nudity has me lost. I know there was a fighting game that only saw limited release, if at all, in beta testing (later released at a large arcade) called Tattoo Assassins. It had "nudalities" -
I believe there is a working unit of Tattoo Assassins at Galloping Ghosts arcade in Illinois. Just checked, there is, it is #888 on their games list - https://www.gallopingghostarcade.com/games-list/
There was a game called Love Bites on 3DO by Vivid Entertainment that contains nudity - https://nerdbacon.com/vivid-interactive-3do/ (Vivid being an adult movie publisher).
I cannot think of any others on 3DO that have a vampire in them, let alone nudity/partial nudity as well. There are a couple that are "similar" looking that might fit what you are thinking of.
Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller (I loved this game, it was awesome but I was new to anything beyond Nintendo at that point) -
D. I have this one here because some think the main protagonist is a vampire (though she exhibits no tendencies in the actual game beyond looking like the undead) -
ah yes, I got my consoles switched around in my mind, It was the Cd-I that I was thinking of. I never had either or even knew anyone that did have it. I did have a friend that somehow convinced his parents to get him a Neo Geo. This is not special today but back in the early 90's that was a very big, and very expensive, deal.
I played the demo CD-i at Best Buy a lot and since the staff were big on it, they pretty much had all available games available to test out. They were pushing it hard too so they bent over backwards to persuade people to buy it.
I got a 3DO when they dropped to $100, I grabbed a used one at a local EB store that I was friends with most of the staff. They were running a deal, buy a used console and you got equal value in used games for it (they were clearancing 3DO games at $3 to $5 for used copies with new being $10, $20 for releases that just hit a few weeks earlier). I walked out with a very wide selection of titles for the 3DO for about $115 after tax.
I wanted a Neo Geo so bad. I even worked a Summer to save up for it. Then when I got the money to get it, the only store in town that had just one available sold it so I did what any kid does - I blew the money on something else, probably Transformers toys. 😂
Continuing as this is more CD-i focused than 3DO -
There was a showcase game on the CD-i called Voyuer that contained near nudity and was used to showcase the platform and MPEG video cart (an additional $250 in the early 90s).
Also they used Burn Cycle to showcase the combination but I do not remember any nudity in this one -
Of course, Space Ace and Dragon's Lair were showcase titles in the early evenings at Best Buy (probably because they were more family friendly). The last hour before the store closed, or during the day on weekdays, they had either Voyuer or Burn Cycle demos running.
a game about being a peeping tom. amazing.. haha
Philips thought they knew their audience and it wasn't the same crowd Nintendo was aiming for. That is definitely true. 😂
3DO has much worse, straight up porn titles. 😂
I find it amazing that a legendary game like Mortal Kombat II is back on the 3DO after all these years. It is undoubtedly an important moment in gaming history. Many thanks to the team involved for bringing such a topic to the fore and also thank you for presenting the topics in such a beautiful way.
I remember back in the day, probably six months before they discontinued the 3DO there was an announcement about Mortal Kombat 3 coming but that only ever yielded a very small screen shot of the title screen/logo. Nothing concrete was shown.
You are absolutely right, I agree with you on this.