Sega 3-D Glasses: how did they work?

Most people have two eyes, allowing for a stereoscopic view of reality. Nevertheless, video games are generally designed to run on monitors with a single screen, viewed from a distance, so three-dimensional effects have to be done with perspective and other techniques. But of course, many ways have been made to give a true stereoscopic view; from the 3DTV fad of the early 2010s, to the Nintendo 3DS’ glasses-free parallax barrier. But how did systems in the primitive days of 8-bit consoles do it? Let’s ask Sega!

It always strangely surprises me for how many decades now people have been trying to sell us on 3D or VR glasses, and this one is no exception – I had no idea Sega already tried this with the Master System. It’s a basic active shutter system, so the real magic happens in software, which is amazing considering the hardware we’re talking about. This article goes into great detail how the software and hardware inside the Master System makes this work.