My Experience with Sega Scope 3D

The Sega 3D glasses for the Sega Master System are without a doubt my favorite accessory for any classic Sega console.  These glasses were way ahead of their time when they were released in the eighties and you really have to use them to realize how much depth they actually produce.  The glasses plug into a converter which goes into the Master System's card slot while one of the eight (six in the U.S.) 3D Sega Master System game cartridges sits in the console.

The glasses are LCD shutter glasses which alternate shutters as the image on the television alternates between left and right images, much like the modern 3D glasses being sold for new 3D televisions.  For more information on how this works I recommend reading the relevant sections found in the following article: http://www.epanorama.net/documents/pc/3dglass.html

 

As a fan of the arcade game Space Harrier, it was only natural that the first game I picked up for the glasses was Space Harrier 3-D.  The game is Space Harrier in look and feel, and the 3-D effect works quite well, especially when you get hit.  

Unfortunately, the enemy sprites are presented as pictures on rectangles which makes it look like you're flying through a bunch of drawings of Space Harrier enemies.  Regardless, I really enjoy the game as it's just as fun to me as any other version of Space Harrier.

Too all you Schmup fans out there (and I know there's a lot of you) here's one that's worth your time.  Zaxxon 3-D is an interesting Schmup as it puts you directly behind the ship and has you change altitude as you shoot at other ships doing the same thing.  This perspective takes some getting used to before you're comfortable aiming and firing, but I assure you the game's worth a couple minutes of awkwardness.   

Every little while in the game you enter long hallway type sections usually preceding a boss encounter where you have to navigate through turrets attached to walls, large wall segments blocking part of your path, etc.  These sections really help to break up the gameplay and help to keep me coming back.

Missile Defense 3-D is my least favorite of the 3-D games I've played, but is interesting because you use the Sega Light Phaser and 3-D glasses in tandem.  Basically, a missile shoots off a runway and you have to shoot it with the light gun as it flies towards you.  Eventually more missiles come at you more quickly.

I've found the game to be fun for brief spells but it never managed to hold my interest very long.  I also have had trouble with the hit detection in this game, but haven't had trouble with my other light gun games for my Master System.

Maze Hunter 3-D is the game that really made me fall in love with the Sega 3D glasses.  Great gameplay, amazing three-dimensional depth, and addictive qualities all culminate into a fantastic gaming experience.  Essentially, every level of this game is a labyrinth which you view from a top down perspective where the labyrinth has multiple floors at varying levels of depth.

As you progress through the game, the mazes become increasingly more complex and you get various weapons/power-ups to do things such as jump (awesome effect) and bash enemies on the head with a pipe.  This game should not be overlooked by any means

You might be thinking, "well that's all good and gravy if you have those Sega glasses but I don't so I can't play these games." Luckily, there's a code in most of the games that allows you to play in 2D so you can enjoy the games even if you don't have a pair of glasses, although these codes aren't obvious unless you have a way to look them up.  I have yet to play Poseidon 3-D, Blade Eagle 3-D, Outrun 3-D, and Line of Fire but would certainly give each game a chance.