Recent
Images
News
Videos
Community
Guides
Overview
The Nintendo Virtual Boy was a portable game console that used a parallax effect to give the illusion of depth through rapidly oscillating mirrors in the unit itself. It is notable for being the first game console to display graphics in true 3D as well as being one of Nintendo's biggest market blunders. All Virtual Boy games are rendered in a monochrome red and are viewed through a dark, neoprene, binocular-like device, rather than a standard screen. The Virtual Boy launched August 14, 1995 carrying an MSRP of $179.99.
Nintendo never explained why Virtual Boy only rendered images in monochromatic red. One reason was that it used LEDs instead of an LCD screen, which provides a much sharper contrast with the dark, black background. An LCD screen would have required a backlight of some kind. The color is likely red because red LEDs are the cheapest to purchase, as well as the easiest on the eyes. A multi-color LED display would have been too cost prohibitive at the time.
Packed in with the Virtual Boy hardware was Mario's Tennis. On the unit itself are 2 dials. One knob adjusts the inter pupil distance, which is the space between the player's eyes. The sliding adjustment is the focus, which must be moved until the picture is perfectly clear. When perfectly focused, the Virtual Boy produced its intended effect quite well and looked much sharper than other handhelds such as the monochrome Game Boy.
There was a planned 2 player link cable for the Virtual Boy that was never released. The only hardware released for it was the AC adapter pack which allowed you to use an SNES AC adapter instead of 6 AA batteries. Due to the short battery life of this supposedly "portable" system, the AC adapter was nearly a necessary purchase.
CPU - 32-bit RISC processor @ 20 MHZ
Display - RTI dual mirror-scan, high-res LED displays
Resolution - 384x224px (Each screen)
Software - 8/16 Mb ROM game paks
Sound - Digital stereo sound
Controller - Double-grip with two directional pads and 6 buttons
Power - Six AA batteries (9V), SNES AC adapter (10V)
Size/Weight - 14x10x7" assembled; 5lbs
Gunpei Yokoi was virtually exiled from Nintendo after the flop of the Virtual Boy. He designed the system, along with the Game & Watch series, Game Boy, and Metroid series. The Virtual Boy was never intended to be released its current form, but pressure from Nintendo forced Yokoi to rush it out for Christmas. Nintendo started to question Gunpei Yokoi's ability. He was put in a forgotten desk job at the company, before eventually leaving to start up his own development studio and working on the WonderSwan. He was unfortunately struck by a car and killed shortly afterward and never saw the release of his newest project.
Despite the bad press it gets, the Virtual Boy is actually quite revolutionary. It easily bests the Vectrex in terms of graphical quality and library size. It has a much sharper image and does not suffer from the ghosting problems the Vectrex does. It looks much better than Tomy 3-D, 3D Sega Master System games and 3D NES games. It was truly the peak of 3D graphics at the time.
Software
With only 14 games ever released in the US, the Virtual Boy is a highly collectible system due to the ease in completing the entire library. Only one game is truly rare in North America, Jack Bros; a Treasure game that can fetch up to $100 in second hand markets. WaterWorld is also notable for being considered one of the worst games of all time by many outlets, and is rather obscure as well. The one game that received a good deal of positive critical acclaim on the Virtual Boy was Virtual Boy Wario Land. Unlike most Virtual Boy games which focused on a single, repetitive concept, Virtual Boy Wario Land was a full-fledged 2D platformer which took advantage of the system's 3D capabilities by having a foreground and a background.
The Virtual Boy was a true pioneer for 3D gaming, but ultimately wound up as Nintendo's only true market blunder. It has a short life and a short list of games despite cutting-edge, innovative hardware.
Overview
Virtual Boy logo.
The Nintendo Virtual Boy was a portable game console that used a parallax effect to give the illusion of depth through rapidly oscillating mirrors in the unit itself. It is notable for being the first game console to display graphics in true 3D as well as being one of Nintendo's biggest market blunders. All Virtual Boy games are rendered in a monochrome red and are viewed through a dark, neoprene, binocular-like device, rather than a standard screen. The Virtual Boy launched August 14, 1995 carrying an MSRP of $179.99.
Virtual Boy logo.
Hardware
The Virtual Boy's hardware is truly the core of the platform, as only 14 games ever made it to North America. It all works with high-resolution LED display technology developed by Reflection Technology Inc. Each LED display has over 200 lights that turn on and off rapidly to create the game's image, which reflect off the oscillating mirrors. The vibration from the mirror creates the apparent thickness of the image, which is actually simply a vertical line of LEDs. This image is then focused through the adjustable lens and passes into the player's eyes. To create the 3D effect, the image in one of the eyes is shifted over using a technique called interocular distance. Each LED has 4 shades of red and 32 levels of intensity. The process of rendering the image is very CPU intensive, as 2 screens need to be rendered at the same time.
Mario&squot;s Tennis running on an emulator, simulating the "3D" look.
Packed in with the Virtual Boy hardware was Mario's Tennis. On the unit itself are 2 dials. One knob adjusts the inter pupil distance, which is the space between the player's eyes. The sliding adjustment is the focus, which must be moved until the picture is perfectly clear. When perfectly focused, the Virtual Boy produced its intended effect quite well and looked much sharper than other handhelds such as the monochrome Game Boy.
There was a planned 2 player link cable for the Virtual Boy that was never released. The only hardware released for it was the AC adapter pack which allowed you to use an SNES AC adapter instead of 6 AA batteries. Due to the short battery life of this supposedly "portable" system, the AC adapter was nearly a necessary purchase.
Technical Specifications
CPU - 32-bit RISC processor @ 20 MHZ
Display - RTI dual mirror-scan, high-res LED displays
Resolution - 384x224px (Each screen)
Software - 8/16 Mb ROM game paks
Sound - Digital stereo sound
Controller - Double-grip with two directional pads and 6 buttons
Power - Six AA batteries (9V), SNES AC adapter (10V)
Size/Weight - 14x10x7" assembled; 5lbs
Criticism and Failure
The Virtual Boy was poorly received in the market, selling just under 800,000 units. It is Nintendo's biggest and only true market failure. The main issues with the unit were obvious. It did not have color, it caused a strain on the eyes when used for periods as short as 15 minutes, third party support was nearly nonexistent, the two player link cable was never released, it received bad press, and due to the visor the experience could not be shared with others. The unit may also have been overhyped as a machine that projected 3D images into the air, which lead to obvious disappointment. The solo experience is perhaps one of the greatest factors leading to the system's quiet demise. Player's were unable to actually experience a Virtual Boy by watching someone play, or even though descriptions in print media. To counter this fact, Nintendo partnered with Blockbuster to rent out units for $9.99 with 2 games. The campaign obviously never worked, and despite price cuts to as low as $30 the Virtual Boy only moved just under 800,000 units.Gunpei Yokoi
Gunpei Yokoi was virtually exiled from Nintendo after the flop of the Virtual Boy. He designed the system, along with the Game & Watch series, Game Boy, and Metroid series. The Virtual Boy was never intended to be released its current form, but pressure from Nintendo forced Yokoi to rush it out for Christmas. Nintendo started to question Gunpei Yokoi's ability. He was put in a forgotten desk job at the company, before eventually leaving to start up his own development studio and working on the WonderSwan. He was unfortunately struck by a car and killed shortly afterward and never saw the release of his newest project.
Comparison to 3D Systems
Despite the bad press it gets, the Virtual Boy is actually quite revolutionary. It easily bests the Vectrex in terms of graphical quality and library size. It has a much sharper image and does not suffer from the ghosting problems the Vectrex does. It looks much better than Tomy 3-D, 3D Sega Master System games and 3D NES games. It was truly the peak of 3D graphics at the time.
Software
The only Virtual Boy game that achieved critical acclaim.
With only 14 games ever released in the US, the Virtual Boy is a highly collectible system due to the ease in completing the entire library. Only one game is truly rare in North America, Jack Bros; a Treasure game that can fetch up to $100 in second hand markets. WaterWorld is also notable for being considered one of the worst games of all time by many outlets, and is rather obscure as well. The one game that received a good deal of positive critical acclaim on the Virtual Boy was Virtual Boy Wario Land. Unlike most Virtual Boy games which focused on a single, repetitive concept, Virtual Boy Wario Land was a full-fledged 2D platformer which took advantage of the system's 3D capabilities by having a foreground and a background.
The only Virtual Boy game that achieved critical acclaim.
Virtual Boy games
Edit
| Name | Platforms | Developer | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
3D Tetris released on March 22, 1996 |
VBOY | T&E Soft, Inc. |
|
|
Nester's Funky Bowling |
VBOY | Nintendo |
|
|
SD Gundam Dimension War released on Dec. 22, 1995 |
VBOY | Bandai Co., Ltd. |
|
|
Virtual Bowling released on Dec. 22, 1995 |
VBOY | Athena Co., Ltd. |
|
|
Waterworld released on Dec. 21, 1995 |
PC, VBOY, SNES | Atari UK |
|
|
Virtual Lab released on Dec. 5, 1995 |
VBOY | |
|
|
Vertical Force |
VBOY | Hudson Entertainment, Inc. |
|
|
Space Invaders Virtual Collection released on Dec. 1, 1995 |
VBOY | Taito Corporation |
|
|
Panic Bomber released on Dec. 1, 1995 |
VBOY | Hudson Entertainment, Inc. |
|
|
Virtual Boy Wario Land released on Nov. 27, 1995 |
VBOY | Nintendo R&D1 |
| Platform Name: | Virtual Boy |
| Release Date: | July 21, 1995 |
| Online Support: | False |
| Install Base: | 770,000 |
| Original Price: | $180 |
| Producing Company: | Nintendo |
| Total Games: | games |
|
Mario first in Donkey Kong |
2
|
|
Donkey Kong Jr. first in Donkey Kong Jr. |
1
|
|
Yoshi first in Super Mario World |
1
|
|
Toad first in Super Mario Bros. |
1
|
|
Princess Peach first in Super Mario Bros. |
1
|
|
Lakitu first in Super Mario Bros. |
1
|
|
Bomberman first in Bomberman |
1
|
|
Luigi first in Mario Bros. |
1
|
|
Jack Frost first in Digital Devil Monogatari: Megami Tensei II |
1
|
|
Pyro Jack first in Digital Devil Monogatari: Megami Tensei II |
1
|
|
Space first in Spacewar! |
2
|
|
Bowling Alley first in |
2
|
|
Russia first in |
1
|
|
Tennis Court first in Tennis |
1
|
|
Golf Course first in |
1
|
|
Underground first in |
1
|
|
3D Stereoscopy first in |
20
|
|
E3 1995 first in |
8
|
|
Launch Titles first in |
4
|
|
Minigames first in SwordQuest: EarthWorld |
3
|
|
Bowling first in |
2
|
|
3D first in Battlezone |
2
|
|
Koopa first in Super Mario Bros. |
2
|
|
Game Over first in |
1
|
|
Movie Tie-in first in |
1
|
|
Multi-Plane Gameplay first in |
1
|
|
Mustache first in Donkey Kong |
2
|
|
Bowling Pin first in |
2
|
|
Bowling Ball first in |
2
|
|
Blocks first in Tetris |
2
|
|
Bomb first in B-17 Bomber |
2
|
|
Boxing Ring first in |
1
|
|
Airplane first in |
1
|
|
Pinball Flippers first in |
1
|
|
Tennis Ball first in |
1
|
|
Tennis Racket first in |
1
|
