Panasonic M2

[Fats]

I just stumbled across this and thought that it looked very cool. It's called the Panasonic M2 ::

This is it. The ultimate. I cannot dig any deeper.

For years I have collected, and what you see on ASSEMbler are the results.

I've finally found my grail.

Imagine if they cancelled X-box RIGHT NOW. That's what the Panasonic M2 was. A shocking death in the gaming family.

Developed by 3DO, and sold to Matsushita for one hundred million dollars, it was to kill the playstation. However, given the market, and the parent company's unwillingness to go against Sony, the M2 was shelved. Several games were completed for M2, among them D's Diner 2 by the eccentric Eno of WARP. See pics below.

The person responsible for the deal was demoted from a high position at matsushita, and was placed in charge of a FISH CANNERY on an island far south of Japan.

Needless to say this is the coolest thing a hardware nut like me has had since sliced bread.

Alas, not many units survive. Not very useful without software, as the box is really just a cd-rom interface, no real hardware inside.

Later used in interactive DVD units (released?), the M2 hardware was last being touted for use in smart appliances, like toasters (?!!!).

Given the better than Playstation level graphics, M2 might have stood a chance if Matsushita hadn't pulled the plug. We might all be anticipating M3 these days, instead of Gamecube and X-BOX.

http://assembler.roarvgm.com/Panasonic_m2/m2_1.jpg

http://assembler.roarvgm.com/Panasonic_m2/m2_2.jpg

http://assembler.roarvgm.com/Panasonic_m2/m2_3.jpg

http://assembler.roarvgm.com/Panasonic_m2/d2-1.gif

http://assembler.roarvgm.com/Panasonic_m2/d2-3.gif

http://assembler.roarvgm.com/Panasonic_m2/d2-7.gif

Link (http://assembler.roarvgm.com/Panasonic_m2/panasonic_m2.html)

[NickSCFC]

I believe the game shown is D2, it instead appeared on Dreamcast 3 years later and looked completely different.

http://www.findmeagame.com/images/9/618999.jpg
http://www.findmeagame.com/images/1/619001.jpg

[Viper]

I recall the entire M2 scenario. It was targeted at beating PS medium (DVD over CD) and beating N64 graphics (for which it certainly did). They didn't release the M2 because they had vitually no 3rd party support. It had nothing to do with Matsushita being scared of Playstation.

Instead of competing, Matsushita later went on to develop the disk drive for the GC and was granted rights to develop their own version of the GC called the Q.

[D3adcell]

Kind of like a Phantom huh?

I wonder how many systems there are that were being made but never saw release?

[Goki]

D2 was infact released on the Saturn ifmy memory is correct.

[Viper]

Check post number 2.