Collector unearths playable file for original, cancelled D2 - the 3DO M2 game thought lost to history

You'd be forgiven for not knowing about the 3DO M2. It was supposed to be the follow-up to the 3DO game console, but it was cancelled abruptly in 1997 under pressure from Nintendo's N64 and Sony's PlayStation. The 3DO M2 became little more than a footnote in video game history, but for some collectors it became a fascinating piece of hardware, their games considered gold dust. One such collector is Anthony Bacon, from Chicago.

Bacon, who runs a YouTube channel called Video Game Esoterica, has spent the last 10 years amassing an impressive collection of 3DO M2-related hardware and software - to the point where he believes he's just two items away from a complete set. But three months ago he hit the payload when he obtained what is believed to be the last surviving file of planned 3DO M2 title D2 that runs on original 3DO M2 hardware.

D2 is a survival horror video game developed by Japanese studio Warp and written and directed by the late Kenji Eno that came out on the Sega Dreamcast in 1999, but it began life as a game for the 3DO M2. The 3DO M2 version of D2 was significantly different than the Dreamcast version. The original game would have started with the death of a pregnant Laura, her unborn son warped back in time. The player would then assume the role of Laura's son, now a teenager, trapped in a European castle.

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