Snatcher VB

The Virtual Boy is a true oddity in Nintendo's history - though the company has acknowledged the curious system recently, it was largely ignored for years due to its status as the company's biggest ever flop. Never even released in Europe, it was undeniably a commercial disaster for the famous company.

Yet in many ways it was ahead of its time, providing full 3D visuals - and its share of headaches - before the technology had truly matured. It's a system with a devoted group of dedicated fans, a number of whom port and create new games for the the most expensive eye goggles ever produced.

The latest arrival is Snatcher, the cult-classic cyberpunk graphic adventure game written and directed by Hideo Kojima. This title originally had versions on systems as diverse as the PC Engine and Sega Mega CD, but Planet Virtual Boy user Thunderstruck has now produced a demo of the early part of the game.

With its static scenes it's a project well-suited to some retrospective porting, though it was undoubtedly still a challenging process. The ROM can apparently be played on the hardware using a flash cart, or through an emulator.

Produced in memory of another Planet VB user that passed away recently, this is another example of how dedicated fans continue to keep the spirit of Nintendo's strangest system alive.

[source retrocollect.com, via planetvb.com]