3DO

The 3DO was a format standard, not proprietary hardware: Trip Hawkins of EA founded the 3DO Company and licensed the chipset to third-party manufacturers. The result was a range of hardware versions — Panasonic FZ-1 and FZ-10, Goldstar 3DO, Sanyo TRY, Samsung — with minor mechanical differences but identical software compatibility. The Panasonic FZ-1 "REAL" is the iconic model: large, heavy, front-loading CD. Launched at $699 in 1993, it never had the install base to justify a quality catalogue. Road Rash, Need for Speed (the original, before the franchise expanded into something else entirely) and Gex hold up reasonably well. Collecting for 3DO requires patience: the community is small but genuinely passionate.