Video: Home Movie Clips Reveal The Wildly Differing Fates Of The Game Boy And Virtual Boy

I'm always surprised that almost everything (video games) costs about the same back then as today. I saw an advertisement for Mario Party 2 for $54.95 and Pokemon Stadium for $63.99.

@H1B1Esquire Actually it's less now, when you think about it. In 1991 $60 was like $108. And when you also think about it, crazy how big Gameboys actually were when we were as young as him.

Shame they never made a full-colour version of that Wario game for the 3DS.

I absolutely love videos like this. What a great, nostalgic watch.

@nuff64 I remember seeing Phantasy Star 4 for 90-100 US around here. That seemed crazy. But we didn't just pay for the games then. We also paid for the physical memory of carts. That was part of the push for CDs by the industry. Phantasy Star 4 was among the first, if not the first, mainstream(non Neo Geo) games to be at 24 megabits, as I recall. I got that game used some time later.

@nuff64 I just looked that up - thought maybe you were talking import prices and lived somewhere other than the US. Had no clue later era SNES games went for 70-90! For 3rd party pricing, maybe some of the extra stuff (chips, etc) they were stuffing into the carts, along with Nintendo's "cart for 3rd party charges", caused this? I got my NES the year the SNES came out, and my original Gameboy a couple years later, then the N64. So i missed owning any SNES stuff.

I still need to play VB Wario Land.

Teleroboxer characters belong in ARMs

I really enjoy all of iRetrogamer's videos, they look like such positive people (somewhat of a rarity in today's gaming videos) just making fun videos. Plus, his dad was amazing, I can't imagine how awesome his childhood was.

@H1B1Esquire Another aspect of this is that for many of us, we are now the ones purchasing these items where as it was our parents (or whomever) doing the buying. So as a kid, you really didn't get to see just how expensive gaming was (unless you were there buying with your parents)

Serious question, did this even launch in the U.K?

I'm as close to 30 as you can get, 2 weeks away and I had a gameboy at launch when I was like 4, got it for xmas that year. But I cannot even remember hearing about the Vb until I was like 16 when I heard how it was Nintendo's biggest failure.

I never saw it advertised here, no one ever spoke of it, leaflets in games from Nintendo didn't even advertise its existence.

So did it even launch outside of Japan and America?

I'm pretty sure when I got FF3 for my birthday for SNES my parents got it at $79.99 pretty crazy how games went to that 60 dollar mark and have managed to stay there pretty much.

Ha! I'm looking to buy a Virtual Boy right now for collector's sake. Looks like a flawed, but cool contraption none the less.

I remember when the Virtual Boy cost $29.96 new at Wal-Mart.

My first VirtualBoy had a broken display, where it displayed a line through the middle of one of the displays. I got it exchanged at the store, apparently just before it was discontinued. Got lucky on that one!

The Wario and Tennis games were the only games I had for it sadly. Then again, not many others got released outside Japan

Just got my Virtual Boy this year. Obviously, VB Wario Land is the best game on the system and the one I'm most likely playing while using Virtual Boy.

I wish I had some home movies of my early gaming days. Alas, all I have are the memories.

Great Video!

@H1B1Esquire I paid $120 for mortal Kombat 2 for the Genesis back in the day. When Sony started their $20 greatest hits for the ps1, it was crazy and unheard of at the time.

His dad must have had a pretty good camera because this footage is all surprisingly clear.

I really love these videos. I'm about 10 years older than the kid in the video but I went through all of the same things. I would give anything to be able to go back and play through all my old systems. Sadly back then money was tight and I traded in all my old stuff for newer games. I've literally had every console made by Nintendo, Sega, and Sony, as well as my first, the Atari 2600. I envy those that had the foresight to hang onto all that old stuff.

@amishpyrate why did you pay so much? I bought the SNES version because the audio was better than the Genesis version. My buddy got the Genesis version. They were like 40-50$ new on the day they launched.

I love his videos, nostalgia overload.

@th3r3ds0x - The carnies who ran my local buy, sell & trade stores gave such miserable value back that, as a result; I have all my original hardware and accessories, and most of my carts. It made more sense to wait on a purchase and save up the money than to get whallooped by them in an exchange.

@bimmy-lee hindsight is definitely 20/20

@PAHTK I remember seeing VB in Tottenham court road, most likely US or Japan imports. I was buying a Technics Hifi with built in dvd and 5.1 speakers. Big spend for me in those days and I almost got carries away and bought a virtual boy to. Just moved in with my now wife and (she) decided paying the rent may be more prudent.