Ads From the Past 494: Blue Chicago Blues (3DO)

Blog Post: Blue Chicago Blues – Noir Mystery on the 3DO That Time Forgot

There’s something irresistibly stylish about a noir detective gripping his fedora against a city skyline, drenched in neon and secrecy. The 1990s gave us a wealth of FMV (full-motion video) experiments, but few dared to go full gumshoe like Blue Chicago Blues on the 3DO. And judging by this atmospheric Japanese advertisement, Riverhill Soft wanted you to know this wasn’t your average point-and-click whodunit.

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🕵️‍♂️ A Murder Mystery in the Heart of Chicago

This ad kicks things off with the line:

街に残った。 (What was left in the city.)

Drenched in intrigue, it sets the stage for a cinematic mystery adventure. You're not just solving a crime — you're stepping into the trench coat of a hard-boiled detective in 1990s Chicago. Your job? Unravel a web of lies and murder that’s gripped the city.

Released in 1995 by Riverhill Soft — a studio known for their J.B. Harold series of detective games — Blue Chicago Blues took the full-motion video format and ran with it, featuring:

• Over 100 minutes of live-action footage

• A complex, multi-character investigation

• Multiple Chicago and Hollywood filming locations

• Digital high-quality video for the 3DO’s capabilities

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🎬 A Movie-Like Experience with Real Actors

This was no lighthearted mystery. Blue Chicago Blues was pitched as a true cinematic experience, with dramatic scenes filmed with real actors and dubbed narration in Japanese to match the noir style. The game used a branching structure to let players piece together clues and interrogate characters — classic detective work with FMV flavor.

In fact, the ad boasts about the movie-like production values, proudly stating the presence of real actors, multiple suspects, and 17 different investigation points. That was ambitious, even by FMV standards.

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🗺️ Navigation, Choices, and Crime-Solving

Look closely and you’ll see UI screenshots in the ad showing:

• A map of Chicago for selecting locations

• Dialogue trees and character interviews

• A real-time clock system, which added urgency to your decisions

You weren’t just watching the mystery unfold — you were shaping it, moment by moment.

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💽 Release & Extras

Priced at 6,800 yen, this 2-disc title gave 3DO owners one of the deepest FMV experiences on the system. And in true '90s fashion, it even came with a tie-in campaign for a companion booklet that helped players navigate the gritty world of Blue Chicago Blues — perfect for anyone who needed a detective’s notebook to keep the characters and clues straight.

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🌃 A Forgotten Noir Classic?

Despite the dramatic promise and stylish delivery, Blue Chicago Blues never became a household name. The 3DO's niche status and the rise of more advanced consoles quickly overshadowed these FMV-driven games. But looking back now, there's an undeniable charm — and even artistry — in what Riverhill Soft was trying to do.

It's a game that blurred the line between cinema and interactivity, bringing noir storytelling to gamers long before L.A. Noire or modern detective indies like The Case of the Golden Idol.

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🧩 Final Thoughts: FMV with a Fedora

Blue Chicago Blues may be a relic of the 3DO’s experimental era, but it stands as a time capsule of '90s ambition — when games tried to be movies and noir was still cool. The ad sells it with a mysterious eye, a towering skyline, and a trench-coated promise: this isn’t just another game. It’s a story. A mystery. A case.

If you’ve got a love for noir, retro tech, and forgotten gems, this is one FMV you might want to dust off — just don’t forget your fedora.

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🕵️‍♀️ Have you played any FMV detective games from the '90s? Or remember Riverhill Soft’s other classics? Drop your favorite mystery titles in the comments!