Back to the 3DO FZ-1...

There was an attempt back in September 2020... Well, maybe 2 attempts... on repairing my 3DO FZ-1. I did get it back in 2017 for $80 on the fact that it powered on with no problems (unbeknownst to the seller), but when I got it home for initial testing, it wouldn't read discs. I tried to replace the gear that's notorious for breaking due to old age. So, I gave up and sidelined it.

Right around 2019 or 2020, there was an announcement for a new optical disc emulator (ODE) for the 3DO, but it was still going through development. The only ODE available for the 3DO was from a maker in Russia. It was quite pricey, and you left it to good faith on the maker that it'll be sent to you. A lot of people were giving positive reviews for it, but it does take some time for it to be shipped to you. There were 2 varieties of the ODE available: internal and external USB connection, with the price difference of $15. For a while, when I was seriously looking at finally getting one, the maker decided to do sales using only crypto currency. At that time, it was a hard pass from me. Checking recently, the maker stopped taking crypto currency and went back to regular payment methods.

Fast forward to February 2022. The announcement for the new ODE was made. Everything had been finalized, and it was ready for release. The price for it was $249. At first the price didn't excite me. I went back and forth about buying it, but then the first batch of the ODE preorder already closed. I finally bit down and got in on the second batch. I placed my order in August.

I finally got it the other day. 

Awesome! The whole time the FZ-1 was sidelined, I always wondered if the whole console might have gone bad after testing the disc drive with the replaced gear. With the ODE, I'll finally figure it out.

Before the ODE arrived, I did some prep work to make the install go faster when it came in. I bought a micro SD card extender and printed a bracket so I can get the card out easily for updates.

A closer look at the 3d printed bracket. The plastic shell that usually surrounds the extender needed to be removed to work with the print. I used a bunch of Kapton tape to secure the ribbon cable of the extender and also to protect the card slot from any shorts and the ribbon cable from any sharp edges of the FZ-1's shielding.

The SD card slot and my loaded SD card in place. It's well hidden in the AV expansion bay.

Since I removed the disc drive, I needed to retain the front panel of the drive to make the FZ-1 look complete. I removed the drive door from the drive and printed some brackets to hold the door in place with the top part of the case. With some adjustment to the door, it's hard to tell that the disc drive is missing.

The ODE uses the disc drive frame to mount. I just used the screws that originally held the disc drive's controller PCB in place. The extender has been inserted and clicked in place, and the original disc drive ribbon cables were used to connect it to the mainboard and ODE.

Power ON!

Happy to say that the FZ-1 isn't dead! The ODE brought it back to life after being sidelined for 7 years! Played a few games to test it out and everything played perfectly! I closed it up right after a quick round of Samurai Shodown.

Now, I do have a working FZ-10, and I used that from time to time to play some games (backups, mainly). But, it's something about the FZ-1 that I really like. Maybe it's the square, boxy-ish aesthetic of it, maybe because the FZ-1 is what most people think when they hear 3DO, I don't know. All I know is that it's revamping my love for this console, just like how I play a lot of oddball, non-mainstream consoles.