Tag: Virtual Boy
Talking Point As A Nintendo Fan, Do You Really Need To Play The Virtual Boy?
Oh boy
It’s Christmas morning, and amidst the thick haze of food already cooking for lunch and the soothing laughter of our children enjoying their new toys, my wife approaches me with a small, square package. I hadn’t seen this under the tree. “That’s your last one,” she says. I instinctively go to shake it – she knows me well enough to...
Poll Box Art Brawl - Duel: Jack Bros. (Virtual Boy)
Super Jack
Hi there folks, and welcome back to another edition of Box Art Brawl! Before we get cracking with this week's clash, let's find out how things panned out last time, eh? We looked at Rayman Advance for the, uh, Game Boy Advance (if that wasn't already obvious), pitting North America against Europe in a classic duel. The European design...
Feature Meet The Virtual Boy Fan Making New Tech And Games For Nintendo's Console Curio
"I thought, 'Hey, I can probably do that'"
As the reputed black sheep of the Nintendo console family, one might think 1995’s Virtual Boy to be the last piece of hardware capable of garnering an enthusiast following today. Discontinued after less than a year on the market and never released in Europe, the elusive red-and-black headset is remembered...
Poll Box Art Brawl: Duel: Panic Bomber (Virtual Boy)
Ka-BOOM!
Hello folks, welcome to another edition of Box Art Brawl! In last week's edition, we took a look at Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge for the Game Boy. We honestly thought this would be a closer fight, as both box art variants were pretty great, but what do we know? North America and Europe absolutely smashed it, roping in 74% of the...
News Nintendo's "Inhumane" Virtual Boy Testing Process Likened To 'A Clockwork Orange'
"They put us under the most bizarre tests"
Earlier today, we reported on a new video from Did You Know Gaming that shines a light on the Virtual Boy F-Zero spin-off Zero Racers, which was once believed to be little more than a series of screenshots but appears to be have been totally finished. The source is former Nintendo of America associate...
News Mythical Virtual Boy F-Zero Spin-Off Was 100% Complete, According To Former NOA Staffer
"Zero Racers was done"
The Virtual Boy might have gone down as one of Nintendo's most costly failures, but a dedicated and passionate fanbase has grown up around the system, and this group spends a lot of time looking into unreleased projects which could have potentially boosted the console's fortunes – one of which is F-Zero spin-off Zero Racers...
News Limited Run Games Is Publishing SNES And Virtual Boy Retrospective Books
Download samples now
Well, this is a surprise. Limited Run - the company known best as a physical game distributor - has announced it will be publishing two retro gaming books. Both are by Jeremy Parish and will be available to pre-order on 10th August. Super NES Works Vol. 1 Hardcover Book Super NES Works Vol. I looks back at the early days of...
News The Virtual Boy's Latest Game Comes With Rumble Pack Support
Feel the force (feedback)
Remember when we reported back in 2017 that the Virtual Boy – one of Nintendo's biggest commercial flops – was getting new software thanks to VUEngine? Well, one such game is being made available in demo form, and the surprises don't end there. It's also coming with support for a new unofficial Rumble Pack accessory...
Random Yes, Someone's Made A Handheld Virtual Boy With Light Up Buttons
I'm a Real Boy!
We've seen a variety of Nintendo's illustrious home consoles turned into handhelds by talented modders with some know-how and plenty of elbow grease and spray paint — we're thinking of fanmade consoles like the Wiiboy Color or the Portable N64 — but you probably wouldn't expect somebody to go to the trouble (and from the video...
Talking Point If Nintendo Released Them, Would You Play Virtual Boy Games Today?
Virtually unheard of
Nintendo's Virtual Boy was an inarguably strange system, although mentioning its name can elicit markedly different responses. To many, the little tabletop non-HMD is little more than a punchline; a hilarious blink-and-you'll-miss-it example of Nintendo toying with an idea that was sabotaged from the off by hopelessly inadequate...
Feature The Story Of Virtual Tank, A Lost Virtual Boy Successor To Atari's Battlezone
"We were really surprised at the speed that the platform died"
We've pleased to present a chapter from Bitmap Books' excellent The Games That Weren't, which looks at an unreleased Virtual Boy title that aimed to emulate the success of Atari's Battlezone – but sadly never saw the light of day. Nintendo helped rejuvenate the games industry after...
Every Virtual Boy game ranked
Nintendo is an odd company in many ways; deeply conservative in some respects, but also able to swing for the fences and invest money and resources in the pursuit of pure novelty. Time and again it puts out products that no other platform holder would have dreamed of, and more often than not those frivolities turn out...
Random This Mod Turns The Virtual Boy Into A Proper Console You Can Play On Your Television
Easier on the eyes
The Virtual Boy wasn't exactly Nintendo's finest hour. Despite this, the device was arguably ahead of its time and over the years has developed a cult following. In 2018, for example, an indie developer released a Virtual Boy emulator for the Oculus Rift headset - allowing users to play this short-lived generation of Nintendo...
News Introducing The Virtual Boo, Professor E. Gadd's New Communication Device In Luigi's Mansion 3
"Red is all the rage, you know?"
Earlier this year, the Virtual Boy made a surprise cameo in the Labo VR Kit. Despite being considered as the worst video game system Nintendo has ever created, its legacy somehow continues to live on. It's now returning once again, this time in the upcoming Switch release Luigi's Mansion
Random Game Freak Had Plans For A Virtual Boy Title But Never Got Around To Making It
Pokémon Red?
Whenever the developer Game Freak is mentioned, you probably think about the mainline Pokémon video game series. That's not the only series it has worked on over the years, though. Little Town Hero is coming to the Switch later this month and there was a point in the Japanese company's history when it had an idea for a Virtual Boy...
Random Cool Virtual Boy Easter Egg Discovered In Nintendo Labo VR
All hail the Virtual Boy
The Virtual Boy is arguably the worst video game system Nintendo has ever released. It completely bombed in terms of sales and was widely panned by critics and gamers alike due to the discomfort caused by its red monochrome head-mounted display. Despite its lack of success, Nintendo still likes to reference it from time to...
Random Talented Individual Creates Arcade Stick For Nintendo’s Virtual Boy
Touted as the “world’s first”
The Virtual Boy was universally panned by critics and goes down in history as Nintendo’s worst system of all-time. Despite this, the 32-bit table-top console with a red monochrome head-mounted display has still managed to develop a cult following over the years. Surprisingly, there’s even a supportive...
News The Man Behind SNES Star Fox Talks About The Nintendo VR Console That Never Was
"VR gaming could have happened 20 years ago"
No images of the Super Visor exist online, but we'd like to imagine it would have looked like this Argonaut Software founder Jez San has been speaking about a hardware project he worked on with Nintendo that could have given the games industry affordable and effective home VR decades before the Oculus...
News Nintendo’s Virtual Boy Gets A Revival Thanks To Emulator For Oculus Rift VR Headset
The wonders of today
The Virtual Boy has been predominantly inaccessible to the majority of Nintendo fans since its original release. It was hardware arguably ahead of its time, but also technology that was unable to compete with modern standards of the era. The Nintendo 64 was after all released a year later in 1996 and blew the console industry...
News The Nintendo Virtual Boy Could Be Getting New Software
Virtual insanity?
The Nintendo Virtual Boy may have gone down in history as the company's grandest folly, but it's clear that there are many fans out there who feel it didn't get a fair crack of the whip. Team VUEngine is a group of Virtual Boy enthusastis who want to resurrect the failed console with a series of new homebrew titles. A...
Random Someone Claims to Have Unearthed Star Fox: Red Zone Virtual Boy Assets
Are you team real or team fake?
Here's one to get us all arguing about assets and fonts into the weekend - someone claims to have images of a 'lost' Virtual Boy game called Star Fox: Red Zone. Hm... Someone called Sparky_78 on Reddit posted the following images; they seem to be the same person that posted the details as Kallus on Assembler Games...
Video Home Movie Clips Reveal The Wildly Differing Fates Of The Game Boy And Virtual Boy
"Do you know what this WOULD have cost?"
iRetrogamer's Tyler Esposito has a wealth of home movie recordings made by his late father, who was gaming mad and got his son hooked on all kinds of interactive entertainment. His latest offering focuses on two Nintendo products with totally different fates - the Game Boy and the
Random Of Course Seinfeld's George Costanza Was A Virtual Boy Fan
It makes perfect sense!
Poor old George Costanza. This neurotic, self-loathing character from the popular comedy sitcom Seinfeld never did have much luck in life. It turns out in addition to being unfortunate in love (and virtually everything else) George also made equally terrible choices when buying video gaming hardware. While idly relaxing at...
Video A Modern Take on the Virtual Boy is Still a Bit Ridiculous
But we love it
A short while ago we shared an episode of the The Ben Heck Show where he deconstructed and repaired a Virtual Boy; it was an interesting look into how the machine works. Now, as promised, a follow-up episode rebuilds it and tries to modernise the device, dispensing of the infamous 'stand' and redesigning it as a head mounted display...
Video Get a Closer Look at the Virtual Boy in an Intriguing Teardown
The Ben Heck Show continues its fine work
Regular readers of these pages will be increasingly familiar with the work of The Ben Heck Show, which provides some interesting engineering-focused videos. It does this, often, with a focus on gaming systems, including teardowns and customisations of iconic consoles from various companies, including...
Random Nintendo Acknowledges Virtual Boy After Decades of Passive Denial
Graphics so good they'll give you a headache
The 3DS has done a remarkable job in the current economic climate, cutting out a respectable install base several million units sold over it's run. Of course, in the early days of the console, many believed that it would be a failure due to the unfortunate historical precedent that was the Virtual Boy...
News Turns Out The History Of The Virtual Boy Is More Interesting Than The Console Itself
"I don't recall anybody literally throwing up in the office, we were lucky"
While the dismal commercial performance of the Wii U has made headlines recently, it's a long way from being Nintendo's most famous failure - that unwelcome accolade falls to the Virtual Boy, which sold around 770,000 units globally back in the '90s. The console is blamed...
News It's Now Possible To Play Virtual Boy Games On Your Android Phone
With a little help from Google Cardboard
The Virtual Boy wasn't a success, that much is beyond debate. It sold poorly and effectively led to Gunpei Yokoi's departure from Nintendo - a sad event when you consider how much he had done to make the company such a force in the field of toys and video games. Despite its commercial failure the system still...
News The Virtual Boy's Design Was Influenced By The Fact That Ladies Like Wearing Make-Up
According to creator Gunpei Yokoi
Virtual Reality may be back in favour these days, but back in the mid-'90s the initial burst of interest in the technology was starting to wane, and for many players the straw that broke the camel's back was the much-hyped Nintendo Virtual Boy. Released in 1995 to almost complete consumer apathy, the console lacked...
News Oculus Founder Palmer Luckey Believes Virtual Boy "Hurt" the VR Industry, But It's Not All Bad
"Not really a VR device, IMO"
The Virtual Boy is well known among keen Nintendo followers - it was a quirky device that flopped commercially and, for quite some time, was effectively ignored by Nintendo. It was also a major early dalliance with 3D technology from the company, though the name and form factor makes some consider it to be a virtual...
News Sega Almost Licensed The Technology That Went Into The Virtual Boy
"I think we were right in turning it down"
Former Sega of America boss Tom Kalinske was in charge of the company during its glory years, and it was under his leadership that it was able to challenge the might of Nintendo during the early '90s. Full of interesting stories and anecdotes, Kalinske's story has been told in Blake J. Harris' excellent...
News Nintendo NX Might Be The First Social VR Platform, Claims Analyst Firm Digi-Capital
Virtual insanity?
It's no secret that the Virtual Boy - which recently had it's 20 year anniversary - wasn't the greatest success for Nintendo. Launched in 1995 to almost complete consumer apathy in North America, it bypassed Europe entirely and was discontinued the following year. Could this negative experience in launching a VR product have put...
Anniversary The Virtual Boy Is 20 Years Old Today
Nintendo's most famous failure is getting on a bit
According to the history books, the Virtual Boy is Nintendo's biggest failure — both commercially and critically — in the hardware arena. Launched 20 years ago today on 21st July 1995 in Japan to almost complete consumer apathy, it bypassed Europe entirely and was discontinued the following...
News Fan Ports Hideo Kojima's Cyberpunk Classic, Snatcher, to the Virtual Boy
In honour of a fellow Virtual Boy fan that passed away
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...
Feature Punching Robots (In 3D!) With The Virtual Boy's Teleroboxer
Even Rocky couldn't handle these metallic brutes
Once more, we dip into the red and black-hued land of the Virtual Boy, with yet another 3D video for your enjoyment! Do you like Punch-Out!!? Silly question, of course you do. Well, what if it was in 3D and had robots? Teleroboxer makes this dream a reality. Watch as we duck, dip, dive duck and...
Video See the Virtual Boy's Star Fox Wannabe, Red Alarm, In 3D Via Your New Nintendo 3DS
We hope you like red lines
Thanks to the power of the New Nintendo 3DS's updated Internet Browser, you are now able to watch YouTube videos in 3D. We've been using this little-known feature to bring you a series of videos based around the Virtual Boy, Nintendo's first attempt at 3D gaming from the mid '90s. For our third look through the visor...
Video Watch The Virtual Boy's Galactic Pinball In Full 3D On Your New Nintendo 3DS
Wiz, ball!
Last week, we experimented with releasing a 3D video of Virtual Boy Wario Land, and you said you wanted more. So we're giving you more! Released in 1995, does Galactic Pinball successfully translate the exciting, fast gameplay of pinball, with the addition of migraines? In this video, we take a look and quickly realise that we're not...
News Finally, Street Fighter II Has Been Ported To The Nintendo Virtual Boy
Because, why not?
Street Fighter II was massive back in the day. After launching on the SNES it would be ported to practically every other games machine on the face of the planet, including the monochrome Game Boy. One format that didn't get it was the ill-fated Virtual Boy - understandable when you consider how much of a commercial bomb it was -...
News The Virtual Boy is 19 Years Old, Probably Hasn't Received a Celebratory Cake
We still love it
The Virtual Boy is 19 years old in North America today, having arrived in the region on 14th August 1995. It doesn't have a European anniversary to celebrate, as it never had a release in the region. It's a system that shows us a few aspects of Nintendo that remain today, in some ways representing its key strengths. Nintendo...
News Planet Virtual Boy Founder Explains His Passion for Nintendo's Failed System
"It's like digital archaeology"
The Virtual Boy was, for a sustained period, ignored and essentially wiped from Nintendo's history — it was only released in Japan and North America and flopped, with only 22 official games making it to market. The company's stance has softened in recent times, with the system making cameo appearances in quirky 3DS...
Hardware Classics Nintendo Virtual Boy
Nintendo's nadir, or misunderstood masterpiece?
According to the history books, the Virtual Boy is Nintendo's biggest failure — both commercially and critically — in the hardware arena. Launched in 1995 to almost complete consumer apathy, it bypassed Europe entirely and was discontinued the following year. It is also thought to be the reason...
News Virtual Boy Port of Faceball Is Getting A Physical Release
ROM will be uploaded to the net for free once all copies are sold
It would seem that Nintendo's much-maligned Virtual Boy console is undergoing something of a renaissance at present. Last month we reported that Bound High - a Virtual Boy game which never saw the light of day when the console was originally released - had gone into production thanks...
News Virtual Boy Title Bound High Goes Into Production 16 Years Late
Better late than never
Bound High was originally shown at the 1996 E3, but like all of the other Virtual Boy games demonstrated at that event, ended up being cancelled when it was clear that the console's fate was sealed. Since then, the game has become famous with hardcore Virtual Boy fans, with its source code floating around the web and a...
News Today Would Have Been Gunpei Yokoi's 71st Birthday
Play a game of Tetris in his honour
Gunpei Yokoi was one of Nintendo's original star employees. His inventions made the company millions, with the Game & Watch series kick-starting a period of portable dominance for the firm which was cemented further by the launch of the insanely successful Game Boy - possibly Yokoi's most enduring legacy...
News Miyamoto: Virtual Boy Games on 3DS Could Happen
Keeps a strange photo in his console
Late last year, Reggie Fils-Aime invited Virtual Boy fans to speak up if they wanted Virtual Boy games on the 3DS, and lately the question came up again, this time pitched to Shigeru Miyamoto. GameSpot asked Miyamoto-san if there was interest in bringing Virtual Boy games to 3DS, to which the great man replied:...
News Discover Nintendo's 3D Legacy with Our Virtual Boy Coverage
3DS's granddaddy featured
You might be getting all geared-up for the new 3DS, but it's not the first dedicated 3D console from Nintendo: that honour belongs to the good old Virtual Boy, the now notorious machine that launched in the mid 1990s. Now is the perfect time, with 3DS just around the corner, to revisit the machine's creation, games and its...
News If You Want Virtual Boy Games on 3DS, Speak Up
You never know, it might work
With the news that 3DS will offer downloads of GameBoy and GameBoy Color titles came the inevitable question: "would Nintendo also offer Virtual Boy games to download?" First, you have to convince Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America's president. Speaking to Kotaku, Fils-Aime said As a consumer, I have...
News iFixit Tears the Virtual Boy Down to Prevent Gamers from Tearing Their Hair Out
All you need to know should you attempt to fix one
Why call out a plumber when you can fix the problem yourself? Why buy a sandwich when you can make your own for less? Perhaps more annoying than blocked u-bends and fancy lunches where the bread costs more than the meat is when electrical goods breakdown. Machines are supposed to just work – and...
News Gunpei Yokoi Gets The Legacy Treatment
The father of handheld gaming gets remembered in a hands-on tribute
Gunpei Yokoi pretty much created the handheld gaming market. His line of Game & Watch systems eventually paved the way for Nintendo's full-fledged portable gaming system, the Game Boy, also created by Yokoi. Before making video games though, he created a slew of toys that helped...
News Unfinished Virtual Boy Game Bound High Finally Released
Unfinished title sees the red light of day at last
There's nothing we love more here at Nintendo Life than a good story of triumph against the odds: a plumber defeating a fire-breathing lizard; a hedgehog stopping the plans of an evil genius; and the continued hard work of ardent fans that finally saw Bound High, an unreleased Virtual Boy game, to a...
