The Famicom 3D System is a Japan-exclusive accessory for the

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Family Computer The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit Third generation of video game consoles, third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redes ...

releasedPlunkett, Luke.
Nintendo's First 3D Technology Shot A Spaceship At Mario's Face
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. 30 April 2010. in 1987.

Overview

The 3D System consists of a pair of active shutter glasses and an adapter to connect them to the Famicom's third player expansion port. The glasses are connected to the adapter via dual 3.5 mm jacks. This allowed compatible games to display a

stereoscopic Stereoscopy (also called stereoscopics, or stereo imaging) is a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by means of stereopsis for binocular vision. The word ''stereoscopy'' derives . Any stereoscopic image is ...

image similar to that of the Sega Master System's SegaScope 3-D Glasses. Games would play in conventional 2D until a "3D mode" was activated by use of the select button.

Twin Famicom 3D System

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released their own branded version of the 3D System called the Twin Famicom 3D System. Though marketed towards users of Sharp's

Twin Famicom The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo, had numerous model variants produced throughout its lifetime. It was originally released in 1983 as the (and widely known as the ) ...

, it was equivalent to the 3D System with only cosmetic differences.

Reception and legacy

The 3D System was a commercial failure and, as a result, was never released outside Japan. Criticisms included the clunkiness of the glasses and the limited selection of compatible titles. Eight years later, in 1995, Nintendo again ventured into stereoscopic gaming with the commercially unsuccessful

Virtual Boy The Virtual Boy is a 32-bit tabletop portable video game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. Released in 1995, it was marketed as the first console capable of displaying stereoscopic "3D" graphics. The player uses the console like ...

. In the following years, Nintendo experimented in stereoscopic 3D with both the

GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the ...

and Game Boy Advance SP systems, but these features were not released commercially due to cost and technical limitations. In 2011, Nintendo released the 3DS handheld capable of displaying stereoscopic 3D images without the need for special glasses. The 3DS has enjoyed a largely positive reception. In 2019 Nintendo released a Labo VR Kit.

List of compatible games

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References

External links