Orb 3D is tedium by another name but... maybe it's not all bad

Huh... I need to dig this one up -- didn't realize there was an NES version of an old PC favorite.

There was a CD-ROM version of this game in the 90's that shipped with my dad's first cartridge-loaded single-speed CD ROM drive.
(disc actually sat in a cartridge that went into a slot on the front of the PC)

The other games in the pack were "Bruce Lee Lives" (a fairly technical beat-em-up) and some surgery game (that was extremely hard to ever have a successful surgery due to mouse limitations at the time inhibiting your ability to make nice cuts and get clamps in place in time to stop bleeding)


Also the PC version of Orb 3D had a 3D goggles and a 3D mode that was surprisingly compelling.

One of the few games I had as a kid. I got it for Christmas one year, I'm sure because it was on the clearance rack. 10 year old me didn't like it, I can't imagine I would like it any better now.

Did the NES version have a 3D mode with glasses?

For the PC version that was pretty mind-blowing for the time.

 

It came with 3D glasses and I used them, I don't remember if was a special mode though, I don't think so.

It would have had to have had a special mode for them to work.  (like in Rad Racer)

The PC version was at a much higher resolution than the NES would support, so that version was able to have some kind of full color offset images that popped REALLY well with the glasses that it came with.

 

For the sake of being thorough, I wanted to try it with the glasses but couldn't find a pair. Even a cheapo pair didn't turn up in the time I was working on this.

I can't imagine it adds too much to the experience though.

I've never used any of the 3D glasses with NES games, so I don't know how pronounced the effect was.

The PC version, though, had a really sharp 3D effect, to my recollection.
It really did add to the experience.

 

Is there a mode to toggle it on and off?

Seems like there has to be.  Otherwise the image would look blurry or otherwise distorted without the glasses.

EDIT:  nevermind, see below

He says in his video that the 3D effect isn't done by color.

On the PC version it isn't done by color, either.

Skimming the manual, you are right, though, that it doesn't sound like a separate mode.

I had assumed it was an image-offset of some kind, but I found a review of the PC Version (actually called "Beyond the Black Hole")
https://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/issue115/413_1_REVIEW...

Sounds like a similar technology was used for the 1989 SuperBowl halftime show.

Somehow the stereoscopic image effect cues on motion, only, which is why the orb popping out of the screen is the only thing that triggers the illusion.
(though the article describes it the way you "look through" a real-world heads-up-display)
 

Game Shows part 2! Those developed by HiTech Expressions.

Win Lose or Draw, MTV's Remote Control, and Funhouse.

Babel is a famicom game that never had a NA version but you don't need to understand Japanese to play it. It reminds me of Fire n Ice and Solomon's Key.

Jaws... pretty fun but over fast if you know what you're doing..

Love Jaws on the NES. Like you say it goes quite quick if you know what's up. Little me had no clue so I didn't beat it until I was much older!

Same! I beat it as a teenager but it took me a while to master so I was pretty proud then. Went back recently and it was over in a jif. It's still quite a bit of fun, just wish there was a little more to it.

 

Treasure Master... perhaps a better backstory than a game.

Not a terrible time if you have the patience for it... but, do you?

The Last Starfighter is a Uridium port on the NES.

Yay..

Kick Master is one of my favorites. A neat platformer with cool upgrade and magic system.

River City Ransom - a beat'm up / RPG rarity on the NEs