The Famicom 3D
Goggles are a fascinating accessory. It was designed
to give the Famicom gamer a three-dimensional
experience during gameplay for specially programmed
cartridges, such as Highway Star (known
otherwise as Rad Racer). Unfortunately, it
was not a popular product in Japan and was never
released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in
the United States. Nintendo settled on cheap paper
3D glasses for American gamers, probably due to the
motion sickness people got when using the goggles.
The Famicom 3D Goggles and Highway Star.
Technically, the 3D Goggles utilize the "shutter
glass" 3D method. Compare this to the most popular
3D method: the anaglyph method; this method utilizes
the paper red and blue lenses that movie patrons use
to watch 3D movies in theaters. The shutter glass
method utilizes LCDs in the left and right lenses of
the goggles. In simple terms, here is how it works:
a specially programmed videogame image on the TV
screen alternates rapidly. While the gamer is
looking through the goggles, the LCD displays are
synchronized to block the unwanted image and display
the desired image. Each eye will see its proper
perspective or field of the display. In other words,
the left eye sees the left eye view and the right
eye only see the right eye view. The game images, or
fields, are refreshed at such a rate that there is
no "flicker," thus creating a truly 3D experience.
The goggles are padded for a snug fit; the elastic
band can be adjusted.
It's interesting to see a Famicom game in 3D mode
with the naked eye. Don't do it too long, as you can
get a headache from the alternating images. You can
enable 3D mode by pressing the Select button during
gameplay. Once the game is in 3D mode, the screen
almost displays a double image that is slightly
angled and blinking. The screen appears this way
since the image, or field, is unsynchronized;
however, once the 3D goggles are used to view the
game image, the image becomes
synchronized and 3D.
There are a number of 3D games. The most popular are
Highway Star, 3D Hot Rally, and
Falsion.
For the Famicom collector, this is a must have.
Expect to pay $40 to $60 for this item on eBay.
The goggles must be plugged into the Famicom to
work.
The boxes for the 3D Goggles and Highway Star.
