Popular home computers started to spread around 1980 but the first 3D videogames started to come out about ten years before: the world wanted 3D videogames so much it hurted - quite literally.

The first documented 3D game is Spasim (1974), which was a quite inscrutable space exploration game with very slowly refreshed vector-based graphics. Today we take for granted an online mode in games but it looks like that it has been always like that: Spasim is also one of the first online videogames in history.

The first 3D videogame for a home computer is 3D Monster Maze (1981) for the Sinclair ZX81. The effort for making a first-person videogame on a such limited machine, at its launch and using text symbols only, was probably huge but its success was proportionally big. Nowadays its graphics looks chunky and worthless - but 3D Monster Maze is the first survival horror.

The most common (and playable) 3D game of history is Battle Zone (1980), with its fine and recognizable vector graphics and straightforward but refined gameplay. It was also the first game with 'virtual reality goggles', making it the first virtual reality videogame ever made. Wrapping up, graphics and above all 3D graphics makes videogames old very fast, burying them in the past together with their timeless elements, which is a pity.

Anyway, which is my favourite 3D game from the past? Surely Out Run (1986), which had many brave 8-bit ports and - well - it was one of the first racing game with a plot and multiple endings, that's something very rare still today! So, let's get inspired by its careless atmosphere, its fancy pseudo-3D algorithm and make a raw 3D racing game with HTML DIVs and a game engine which doesn't handle 3D at all.

Because we want 3D so hard too.

Plot!

Is there a soul mate for you? Where is she/he? You'll find her/him one day? While your life is still waiting for an answer, nothing is better than a long race along the seaside on a purple car with your faithful dog aside and beat down your loneliness! Watch out for hills, turns and traffic and feel just the breeze! Hold UP for accelerating, use the A BUTTON for switching gear, and LEFT/RIGHT for steering. PS: Firefox don't like this game, I think because of its fast z-index DIV switching.

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Install / Add to home View game sources ...or play it online below!