Today's super little article is about a nice new development for the Panasonic 3DO. Developer Todd Gill has released 3DO ODE Menu, a replacement interface for several popular optical drive emulators that makes browsing and managing games stored on SD cards easier.

It introduces cover artwork, favorites, recently played games, faster navigation, customizable themes and some useful improvements for multidisc games like Wing Commander III. Gill has also created a companion Cover Maker utility that can automatically find and prepare game artwork, which is a particularly nice touch. I've included plenty of screenshots showing the new interface and how it all works.

I love seeing developers continue to improve the experience of using original hardware, especially for consoles like the 3DO that don't always receive as much attention as Nintendo and Sega's machines. It's not a new emulator or a replacement console, just a nice, useful quality-of-life improvement for people still enjoying their 3DOs more than thirty years later!

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[–] 1 point 1 hour ago

I have a 3do with an ODE. I will definitely check this one out.

Mine had a broken disc drive when i bought it, but the ODE install was easy and solder-free. In retrospect i wish i'd bough some mounting brackets instead of just zip-tying it inside the case.

It's a good system though. Lots of interesting FMV games and a small handful of true classics.

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