Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Rockman X3 for the Panasonic 3DO No Longer a Myth

Nearly fifteen years ago, rumor spread that Capcom was planning to release Rockman X3 for the Panasonic 3DO. Because no media of the game ever surfaced at the time, its existence was thrown into doubt. However, newly unearthed scans from an ancient Japanese 3DO magazine have finally proven otherwise:



Rockman X3 for the 3DO was real after all. "Was" being the keyword, here. As we no doubt know by now, the game never released. Even so, we now have evidence talk of game wasn't just hot air.

3DO ZERO forum member bitrate found and posted these scans back in July. The article indicates the game was due for release on April 26, 1996 -- the very same day the PlayStation/Sega Saturn version hit Japan. Why was it cancelled? Look no further than the 3DO itself. Support for the system all but dried up by '96, leading many developers to jump ship. The console was officially discontinued by year's end.

From the looks of it, we didn't miss much. The 3DO version appears to be a 1:1 port of the PlayStation/Saturn version, animated cutscenes and all.

Still, I wouldn't mind getting my hands on it in some shape or form. Actually, the presence of a price tag (5,800 Yen) on one of the scans has me wondering if the game actually went gold, but pulled at the last second. If that's the case, perhaps physical copies are lying around collecting dust in a warehouse somewhere?

13 comments:

  1. I would have suspected just as much, so the idea of Rockman X3 getting a 3DO port doesn't surprise me. Having owned a 3DO myself, many titles received ports to it--D, Gex, Policenauts, Total Eclipse, Samurai Showdown, etc.

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  2. 3DO.. 3DS. Maybe they'll both fail and capcom can bring legends 3 to the Vita

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  3. Comparing the 3DO and 3DS together just because the names are similar is
    stupid.

    And even then, Capcom won't bring Legends 3 at all.

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  4. @Jake

    D, Gex, and Total Eclipse were first on the 3DO and then ported to the Saturn/PS1.

    @1st Annon
    The 3DO was a great machine for it's time (I had three of them, not all at once, but at different points). It was just to expensive and didn't get more support like it should have.


    The 3DO of Rockman X3 was recalled. There were some stores in Manhattan that briefly had some copies. I got into arguments about htis before. The horrendous "Now Loading" screen was noticeably longer, but outside of that, it was the same as the Saturn version (I didn't have the PS1 version at the time to compare). I sold it because I no longer had the system. I didn't find out until much later (when I bought my second 3DO) that the game had been recalled. If I knew, I would have bought a bunch of copies. :p I don't know if it has the same product number (FZ-SJ3853) but that should be a start for anyone looking for it.

    This reminds me of when I bought Super Adventure Rockman (Saturn version) when it was first released, only to play and have the game fuck up on me (audio/video wise when you take certain paths). I returned it to the store I bought it from telling them the game was defective. They wanted to see how (since the discs were in mint condition) so the let me play it at the store and make it up to the part where the game fucks up. They saw what happened and gave me another copy. I happily took it home only to find out it had the see problem. I was like WTF? I tried returning that copy too, but they didn't have anymore to replace it with (and they weren't planning to order anymore anytime soon). So I ended up keeping it, but I was pretty mad. I didn't find out until months later that this particular version of the game had been recalled. The recalled version has the wrong product number, which was T-1225G (which was actually supposed to be for Dungeons and Dragons with the RAM cart). The fixed release has the product number T-1241G. This version also had a white dual CD jewel case. I still have both :) So anyone that wants the Saturn version of Super Adventure Rockman make sure you get the fixed version.

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  5. @DeGamer:

    Where did you hear it was recalled? I don't believe it was ever sold in the first place.

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  6. @Anon1: Why the heck would you even compare the 3DO and the 3DS just because of the name? FYI, the 3DS has a more advanced engine than the 3DO, AND it has a smaller price (as of the price drop anyway) and it has yet to have a good number of well-known producers. So don't scratch it off just yet and compare it to a console that's way beyond its current league.

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  7. At least we got MMX3, unlike Mega Man Legends 3. Maybe Capcom releases it for other console?

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  8. Since little effort really had to be made for this port, I do suspect that the version was probably finished in some form but got cancelled before it went live. So, I imagine that copies of the 3DO discs exist somewhere, if nothing else then simply as ISO files on a computer somewhere...

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  9. Sweet! Thanks for sharing, proto!

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  10. Y'know, I think the reason they kept manufacturing Mega Man X Collection for GameCube is because despite the fact that X3 was released on multiple platforms it was still damn hard to get a hold of.

    (*SIGH*) Looking back at game magazines from '96 always remind me of how ambitious the gaming industry was up until that point. There used to be more gaming news every month than a 500+ page EGM magazine could cover.

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