RF Generation Message Board

One day I hope to own both, but I'd like to own one of them by the end of the year. I've never even seen either of these systems in real life. I just wanted some of your opinions.

Factors may include: price, rarity, chances of repair, quality of games, exclusives, quality of ports compared to their competitors, anything else you can think of, and of course, coolness  8)

I'm partial to the 3DO, but I'd love to own some TG-16 games. They're just much harder to find in my area. :'(

My area is eBay because my local game store is 40 minutes away and doesn't carry games for either of those systems.

EDIT - I want a 3DO for a great port of Another World (one of my faves), and games like Star Control II, Lucienne's Quest, and Wing Commander III. For TG-16, I'm looking for nice shooters, side-scrollers, and maybe some obscure RPG.

I'd say its TG-16, no contest in pretty much every area you mentioned. I've had about the same amount of experience with both consoles and I'm in love with my TG-16. The 3DO has some cool stuff too, but I find its generally not as polished and you get pretty spendy if you want the more interesting titles while the TG-16 has tons of great titles at reasonable prices.

Lucienne's Quest is pricey, and the TG-16 doesn't have any stellar RPGs if I remember correctly.

I appreciate the input. I still need some time to save a little cash before I make any serious moves, but I'll be stalking eBay in the meantime.

Any difference in quality of different 3DO's? Goldstar or Panasonic or whoever makes them?

What about TG-16 CD, worth it? Also, what about a PC Engine? If it doesn't have any stellar RPG's, then I won't really need to read Japanese. I'd like to play that Castlevania game. I know it's on SNES, but I've heard it's a little sloppy on it.

I'd highly recommend going the PC Engine route, and is the route I went. All the CD games are region free, and most of the HuCard games you'd want to play don't require much Japanese. Less expensive and you can get a Everdrive and burn games if you want to check them out before buying.

I can't comment on the quality of the different 3DO models. I personally have a Panasonic FZ-1, and it still works fine.

I'd also go with the PCE route. The CD games are definitely worth it, there's a ton of great games that were only released on CD and as Duke said, the PCE CD/TG-CD is totally region-free. Personally I'd recommend picking up a Duo-R as opposed to a PCE with a separate CD attachment as it'll save you some trouble.

i went with TG-16 too, but i'm biased because i have no experience with the 3DO.

TG16 is awesome

I'm in the TG-16/PC Engine camp. I'd second the recommendation for the Duo-R route.

Just thinking back on both, and I remember quite a few games that I enjoyed on both systems. Bonk, Splatterhouse, and R-Type on the the Turbo and the Ys series on the Turbo CD.
With the 3DO I really enjoyed the original Need for Speed, Gex, and Samurai Shodown.

I think the Turbo is the better bang for the buck of the two, I'd jump on it first.

As expensive as they are now, I REALLY wish I had held on to them when I had them.

Turbografx-16 is DEFINITELY the better of the two consoles. 3DO had very little going for it, and most collectors just get one for the novelty of it. The TG-16 is worth its price tag and then some. You might even want to consider tracking down a PC Engine or the TG-CD/PCE-CD/Turbo Duo; those systems were an importer's wet dream, if you're in to that. Dracula: Rondo of Blood is still the greatest PC Engine CD game I've ever played. The Ys games were also really amazing for that day and age.

3DO had some really good arcade ports that were considerably better than the competition, Samurai Spirits and the later Mortal Kombat titles come to mind, but aside from some arcade ports, 3DO was mostly known for its cringe-worthy FMV titles, the same ones that pretty much killed off the Sega CD. Not a good thing when your console was priced at $700 at launch.

Thank you everyone! Going into this, I was expecting a lot more 3DO support. And an extra thanks for suggesting PC Engine. I own Victory Run (I got it for free), but I guess I can live without playing it :)

Never owned a 3D0 but i loved the TG16, especially the Duo R. I had both Duo and Duo R and would like to own them again.

I agree that it's the TG-16 and it isn't particularly close. The TG-16 has very few bad games. It's excellent for shooters. It actually has several good pinball games. While it doesn't have a ton of RPGs, the ones that it has aren't bad. I very much enjoy Neutopia. I'm also a fan of the very simple controller. I find it controls extremely well.

The only downsides about the TG-16 are that it is relatively pricey (most non-loose hucard games are $20 and up in my area, at least) and that the sound chip isn't very good (i.e. it looks and plays like a genesis, but it feels and sounds like an NES).

The PC Engine Duo recommendation is spot on from what I've gathered (I'd like one eventually). The fact that it's not region locked makes it much more valuable than going the turbo duo route. I've wanted a Duo if only to hear the Music in Ys Books 1 and 2, which I keep hearing is amazing.

As for the 3DO, I think it's worth owning, but don't think you're going to be playing all sorts of great RPGs. Everybody wants Lucienne's Quest, but committing $300 to it seems extreme.

What you do get with the 3DO are a few decent racing games including, without a doubt, the very best port of Road Rash (a must own on the system). There are also a bunch of space shooters/simulations (you've mentioned some notable ones). I'm also a big fan of the Super Street Fighter II Turbo port on the system. One of the coolest things I find with the 3DO is that even though it's not the oldest of systems (granted, it's about 20 years old), it feels extremely retro because of the gratuitous use of (mostly terrible) FMV.

I happen to own the Goldstar model. I have no issues with it, but most people seem to prefer the looks of the Panasonic FZ-1 (front loader). I know some people prefer the FZ-10 (top loader) because it has less mechanical parts to break. I find the Panasonic controllers to be a bit more comfortable than the Goldstar ones.

As a collector, the 3DO is unique in that, whether or not you're into collecting cardboard, you almost have to be a "boxed" person to collect for the system (I'm not a cardboard guy, but I find myself pricing 3DO cardboard all of the time). It's the one thing that sets the 3DO apart from most other\ systems, in terms of collecting - those long cardboard boxes. It seems almost sacrilegious to collect for the 3DO and not go after long boxes. And it's important to remember that with cardboard comes costs.

So, long story short, definitely go for the TG-16 first. Save for a PC Engine Duo R instead, if you can. Later on, don't neglect to pick up a 3DO (any of them). Grab Road Rash and clear an unusually tall space on your shelf where you can keep those long boxes.    

It should be noted that the PC Engine beat the Mega Drive in numbers in Japan. It is a fantastic system and the 3DO isn't even close. The only problem is the price, but you'll get that with the 3DO as well.

I never played the 3DO, but I had a friend give me his TG-16 with a bunch of games and I love it.  Wish I had the CD add-on, so I could play my Fighting Street. game.

Thanks again for continued input! I'll save some scratch and try to get that Duo-R

Well I have had lots of opportunities in my city, to buy a 3DO. I have no interest. Going to buy a TG16 at the end of the month.

I'll chime in and go with TurboGrafx as well, upgraded to a Duo-R a couple years ago and love it.  The PC Engine has been a pretty low cost console to get games for and the bonus of the CD's being region free is a big plus.