How To Fix Master System 3D Glasses

What a deal!

I was at half price and noticed they had some master system games, and thought to myself, hmm, I wonder if they got a console traded in. But didn't think too much of it (I already have a powerbase converter).

When I was looking through the display case of systems, I noticed in fact there was a master system at the top. 25$, not bad, but not cheap enough to buy to resell. But I kept reading on. "Complete, with power, A/V, 1 Controller, and ***3D GLASSES***" [emphasis added]. I was like no way. I've had the 3D glasses on my want list for years and still haven't managed to find one (well excluding e-bay).

Actually I'm rather disappointed, I just looked on e-bay and despite its incredible rarity in the physical world, it doesn't seem to command that high of price on e-bay. But 25$ is still a good price just for the glasses, plus I got a master system too.

The power supply that came with it was a radio shack replacement that actually is the wrong polarity so it won't work, but I'm just gonna cross the wires to reverse the polarity.

Ok On with the show. When I tried out the glasses, only the right shutter was working; the left shutter remained open.

First I thought it was the glasses that were broke, since there was a crack in the plastic. To test that out, I pulled out my ASUS 3-D glasses from my ASUS V3800 video card (GeForce (1) 32mb card with video capture, video out, and 3D glasses. I still use this video card because they don't made cards with 3D glasses anymore, and it plays all the good stuff (Jedi Knight, X-Wing, etc) just fine).

Those glasses are the same stereo mini-plug, so it should work with the master system too. Well it has the same issue, so I figured it must be the adapter.

So I opened up the adapter, and sure enough the 3rd prong on the stereo connecter was popped up, so it wouldn't make contact with the plug.

I took a toothpick and pushed it back in and bent it over tight. I tried it again, and it actually still didn't work. But I fiddled with the plug some and got it to work!

Then I pushed the pin down a bit more to tighten it up better, so it would have more solid contact with the plug. And then it worked a lot better. If you fiddle with the plug you can get it to lose the left eye, but generally it holds both signals perfectly now.

So the moral is that if you have 3D glasses that don't work, try just fiddling with the plug. If you press to the right or left you might get it to kick back in. Otherwise, open it up and check that connect. It's an easy fix and doesn't even require soldering.

I bet half those "parts lot" 3D Glasses auctions on e-bay could be fixed this way.

And for anyone out there who was wondering if this “gimmick” is worth bothering with, the answer is a definitive YES. The 3D effect is rather amazing. It’ll hurt your eyes after a while because it forces cross-eyed rather than look-through. But the effect is great. Way better than Virtual Boy which was released 10 years later. (Though I still love VB too).

Here's a picture showing the stereo connector inside the adapter. You can see the 3 metal rings that supply (from bottom to top) ground, right shutter, left shutter.

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Very cool! By chance, did you ever find out if the ASUS glasses were in fact compatible with the Sega 3d adapter? I've been having a hard time finding the official glasses myself ><
 
Thank you so much for this How To Fix. I had the same problem. Bought mine used for $20 and at first thought they worked. I thought maybe that's as good as the 3D got. I did notice the Left Shutter didn't change like the right one, but wasn't sure if that was a problem or not. But just in case i did a search and found this. And just like yours it was the 3rd prong in that was sticking up a little. Now both Shutters work like they are suppose to and the 3D works great.

Thank you for posting this fix.
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