Nintendo just made the Virtual Boy’s libraries available to modern gamers, in 3d, with a re-release of the Virtual Boy as a VR shell to put your Nintendo Switch or Switch 2 in.\u00a0 It is pretty amazing that this happened, and fantastic.\u00a0 Will this get criticism?\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 People have loved to hate on the Virtual Boy for 30 years now.\u00a0 But I like it a lot so I love that it is back.<\/p>\n
Table of Contents<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Introduction<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n In the interest of full disclosure, if I haven’t said this much before on this site, I am kind of a Virtual Boy fan.\u00a0 I have said before that the Virtual Boy has one of the highest game quality averages of any console ever, and I stand by that.\u00a0 It’s kind of insane how good most Virtual Boy games are.\u00a0 The hardware is really interesting as well.\u00a0 It is Nintendo being weird and unique, as they like to, and executing on it well.\u00a0 The Virtual Boy has insanely interesting tech, great games, and a very cool look to the system.\u00a0 It also has widescreen games long before such tech became commonplace and is exclusively in stereo sound.<\/p>\n However, despite how good the idea was, the system sadly failed to sell well enough to meet Nintendo’s expectations.\u00a0 Nintendo has very high expectations; the approximately 770,000 systems which the Virtual Boy sold in the US and Japan in 1995-1996 would have been enough for most other hardware manufacturers to support the system for significantly longer than they did.\u00a0 A similar platform from someone else with those sales would certainly have gotten at least a year or two of support, possibly more.\u00a0 Nintendo, however, has very high expectations for their products.\u00a0 This is usually good, but once in a while we see the bad side of Nintendo’s high expectations, and the Virtual Boy is number one on that list.\u00a0 Nintendo expects a lot of developers who work with them and the sales of their platforms.\u00a0 \u00a0Most of the time, this works out.\u00a0 Most developers who work with Nintendo release better games than they make on their own.\u00a0 Most Nintendo consoles are successful.\u00a0 When either one of those things fails… well, you get something like this sad story: https:\/\/www.timeextension.com\/news\/2026\/01\/thats-no-good-start-again-from-scratch-decades-before-splatoon-nintendo-was-working-on-a-similar-shooter-for-64dd<\/a> or the subject of this article, the Virtual Boy.<\/p>\n Before we begin though, I should say, while I quite like the Virtual Boy, I’m not a superfan.\u00a0 I just love most of its games and like the stereoscopic 3d tech.\u00a0 I didn’t get a VB during its original run because I knew it was failing and didn’t want to buy in to an interesting but clearly doomed platform and thus didn’t own one until I got a used one in 2008; I only have maybe half of the games and only two of them with the box; I haven’t gotten my VB fixed since it started malfunctioning in the usual flex-cable ways several years ago so I’ve barely used it in some time; I do read it sometimes but don’t have an account on the primary VB fansite, Planet Virtual Boy<\/a>,\u00a0 and don’t think I have ever posted there… yeah.\u00a0 I like the Virtual Boy quite a bit, but I’m not its biggest fan ever.\u00a0 I just think it’s a really cool system with a library of great games.\u00a0 It is a huge shame that the Virtual Boy didn’t sell better.\u00a0 Had it done better I would probably have gotten one during its life, and certainly would have loved it, for the short time it lasted.\u00a0 Maybe in some slightly better timeline this happened, I hope so.<\/p>\n However, though, occasionally we get a reminder that while we live in a somewhat bad timeline, this isn’t the worst reality.\u00a0 After all, it exists, we are here, and… the Virtual Boy is back, and with some unreleased games coming for it!\u00a0 30 years after its cancellation, Nintendo finally, at long last, pulled the Virtual Boy up out of the vault and are selling it again.\u00a0 I kind of cannot believe that this happened but I’m thrilled that it has.<\/p>\n Cancelled, Unreleased Games Are Coming Soon!!!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Before I begin discussing the hardware and software of both the original Virtual Boy and the new Switch 1 or 2 Virtual Boy accessory, I need to skip ahead and discuss the most exciting part of this, because it is important: We are getting Zero Racers and Bound High! Seriously, this may not mean much to a lot of people, but this is massively stunning news. These two games, along with another game called Bound High, were in development in 1996 as the key titles for a second attempt at getting the Virtual Boy to sell better, a ‘relaunch’ of sorts of the console.\u00a0 The games were completed, but then Nintendo decided to cancel the system entirely instead of releasing the games and giving the system a second chance.\u00a0 I have always been a strong advocate for wishing that companies would support any console they released for at least a couple of years, so long as it was financially possible for them to do so, so Nintendo’s decision to ditch the Virtual Boy after less than six months has always been one I strongly dislike.\u00a0 Yes, the system was never going to be a big hit, but with more realistic expectations for its sales — 779,000 sold really isn’t THAT bad, is it?\u00a0 That is significantly more than the Atari Jaguar or 32X sold, and those systems had longer lives than the VB. Only Nintendo would think that almost 800,000 was so terrible the system needed to die after just six months.\u00a0 I think that it could, and should, have been a fun little side system with support for at least a few years.\u00a0 Games like the completed but unreleased ones would have been perfect for this concept, original titles and spinoffs of major franchises that aren’t going to sell huge numbers of consoles but could excite some people and keep the VB relevant and selling to people like me, someone interested in it but not quite willing to take the plunge at buying an expensive thing with the very limited money a junior high student had at the time unless it was a platform that was going to last.<\/p>\n Anyway, Zero Racers is basically 3d F-Zero: Tunnel Racing Edition, and I’ve always badly wanted to play it. Zero Racers has been my number one most wanted unreleased game pretty much since its release, and it is just incredible that is is FINALLY going to see the light of day!\u00a0 I remember reading the Nintendo Power preview for the game back in ’96 and thinking it looked pretty good, but that’s all we have ever had of it, until now.\u00a0 And finally we’ll be able to play it!\u00a0 Dragon Hopper I’m less sure of.\u00a0 Like Bound High it has an overhead view, and you jump up into the air as you go around each level, in a presumably nice show of Virtual Boy stereoscopic effects.\u00a0 I’m not sure what the gameplay is beyond that, though.\u00a0 As a note, Nintendo is calling it D-Hopper now because of trademark reasons.\u00a0 Apparently Dragon Hopper was taken by something.\u00a0 I don’t know if anyone outside of Nintendo had copies of Zero Racers and Dragon Hopper that could have leaked, as happened with Bound High a few years back, but if they did they never released them publicly or showed any footage of them. Now, Nintendo has finally decided to drag them out of the vault and allow people to play the games… for no additional cost beyond the console and the VR accessory options (Virtual Boy plastic shell or cardboard VR).<\/p>\n I have always assumed that Nintendo had these games in their vault. After all, Nintendo, unlike most developers particularly in Japan, keeps everything of note. Nintendo keeps all their source code, all their cancelled game prototypes, everything. While most other developers erase or lose that stuff all the time — just ask Square or Sega for their old code, they won’t have it that’s for sure! — Nintendo keeps stuff. This is of course why the Mana collection was Switch exclusive, right? Square had to go to Nintendo to get the code for some of the games, which they had lost but Nintendo still had. Nintendo keeps things, but getting them to share them with us, that is the challenge… but finally they are doing it.<\/p>\n Anyway, this is amazing. I am so excited about this and the VB Switch VC. Very cool stuff.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Virtual Boy Hardware, Original and Switch Re-Release<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Returning to your regularly scheduled article order, this section would usually go above the previous section, but I need to highlight how amazing that is so it gets precedence.\u00a0 The hardware of the original Virtual Boy is absolutely fascinating.\u00a0 The Virtual Boy was designed by Gunpei Yokoi of Nintendo R&D1, the designer of the Game Boy.\u00a0 It was a brilliant concept.\u00a0 That it failed to sell isn’t his fault, he did his best.\u00a0 It’s gamers’ fault for not buying Virtual Boys.<\/p>\n The way the visuals work is that the display for each eye is a single row of 224 red LEDs.\u00a0 This single row of LEDs shows up as a 384×224 image by bouncing off of a rapidly rotating mirror.\u00a0 Only one mirror is rotating and displaying anything at any given time, though, while the other waits a moment until starting up after the other has finished its line.\u00a0 The system rapidly flashes the LEDs on and off with precision to create four different shades of red, like the four shades of grey in the Game Boy, and to form those two 384×224 images that your eyes see.\u00a0 This technology is kind of insane, but in a way it is kind of just an adaptation of a CRT.\u00a0 The CRT, similarly, doesn’t actually display a full permanent image like a LED screen does.\u00a0 Instead, a CRT’s image is drawn onto the screen with an electron gun, one line at a time.\u00a0 That we see a full image is because of image retention in our eyes.\u00a0 The Virtual Boy is kind of internally running at two million frames per second in order to create its 50hz, that is 50 full double 384×224 images per second, image with four shades of red created from LEDs that only have a single brightness each.<\/p>\n So, that’s all pretty crazy, and very impressive. However, it had limitations.\u00a0 First, while not true VR since there is no head tracking or motion tracking of any kind and certainly no room scale VR, and the system does not strap to your head but instead you look into it from some stationary spot, the Virtual Boy is still a headset-styled stereoscopic 3d system.\u00a0 Virtual reality headsets have been having a moment this decade or so, but they have failed to catch on with the general public despite significant hype a few years ago.\u00a0 The VR boom faded and now seems to be borderline dying out.\u00a0 Seeing images appear to be stereoscopic 3d, instead of\u00a0 flat on a screen, is pretty cool but VR has limitations — you have to wear a headset, you can’t see anything outside of the game while playing so it is very isolating, other people can’t watch you play, and more.\u00a0 People with VR headsets on look kind of silly, you know?\u00a0 They have a negative public image.\u00a0 The Virtual Boy may have been the first VR-adjacent device to fail to sell to expectations, but it was far from the last; none of the VR headsets of the last decade have been as successful as their fans hoped.\u00a0 People just don’t like VR as much as looking at a flat image on a screen.\u00a0 Even though the VB really is just a stereoscopic 3d image and not full VR, it is close enough to it to be hurt by the association.<\/p>\n Second, the Virtual Boy is monochrome, in red and black.\u00a0 Why is the color red, specifically?\u00a0 Well, red LEDs were cheap. Green were available but more expensive.\u00a0 Blue LEDs, however,had only just been invented a year or two earlier and were not available at a reasonable price, they were very expensive.\u00a0 They could not have done a VB in 1995 with the image technology the VB uses in full color.\u00a0 Additionally, with multiple different sets of LEDs, it could create a less sharp image depending on how they merge the colors together.\u00a0 The VB’s image is very sharp and clear, but with three sets of LEDs?\u00a0 It could be blurry.\u00a0 The tech just wasn’t there for an affordable stereoscopic 3d system.\u00a0 VR headsets did exist in 1995, but they were very expensive.\u00a0 Should Nintendo have not released the system until tech advanced?\u00a0 Should they have released it but with much lower expectations than the millions they were supposedly expecting to sell?\u00a0 Either one of these decisions would have been reasonable, but personally I’d prefer the latter.\u00a0 I don’t have any problem with the monochrome look of a Game Boy or Virtual Boy.<\/p>\n However, that is the original console.\u00a0 What about this modern re-release?\u00a0 Well, the Switch 1 or 2 Virtual Boy Virtual Console app works essentially the same way as the Nintendo Labo VR set did.\u00a0 That is, it uses small images displayed on the Switch’s screen that get blown up with refracted lenses into two large images, one for each eye.\u00a0 Then there is a box you either look into or hold in front of your face that makes it so you can’t see much other than the screen, in order to increase immersion.\u00a0 The plastic Virtual Boy reproduction model adds a second removable red lens piece which goes over the clear lenses, enhancing the redness of the red and making the image look a lot more like the original Virtual Boy than it does without that red lens.\u00a0 This is a very simple implementation of “VR” — again, not really VR but actually just stereoscopic 3d — but it works.\u00a0 The main limitation is the very low resolution of the image, but this isn’t a problem for older games like the Virtual Boy app.\u00a0 That is an issue for the handful of modern Switch games which support Labo VR and thus also this setup — The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Super Mario Odyssey, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, but it’s impressive that they got VR working at all on the original Switch so oh well, that’s as good as you’ll get stereoscopic 3d on that hardware most likely.<\/p>\n Design Differences between the Switch Virtual Boy Reproduction Shell and the Original Console<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I should say, I only bought the full plastic Virtual Boy reproduction.\u00a0 The cardboard version sounds like it works just fine, but you either need to hold it up to your face or lie down and look into it, which is limiting compared to the full VB, and it doesn’t have the red lenses so the color won’t be as vibrant.\u00a0 There are also third party Switch 1 or 2 VR headsets out there which will also work.\u00a0 The reproduction is quite expensive at $100 for something which is just a block of plastic, but it is well made of high quality plastic and works perfectly.\u00a0 In addition to the main “system” it comes with a stand which is compatible with the original Virtual Boy as well as the reproduction, which is pretty cool given how break-prone the originals are, and an adapter plate for if you are using it with the Switch 1 instead of the Switch 2.\u00a0 There are small details that differentiate the reproduction Virtual Boy from the original, but it is impressively close to the real thing.<\/p>\n What are those differences?\u00a0 First, the box this “system” comes in is a plain red box, very similar to the boxes for any of the online-sales-only Switch retro remake controllers from the NES, SNES, N64, and such.\u00a0 \u00a0The plastic window showing you the console is nice, while it’s in there, but once removed it is a very forgettably bland box barely worth keeping.\u00a0 In comparison, the original American Virtual Boy box is very fun and oh so ’90s, loaded with ’90s ‘tude, Nintendo edition.\u00a0 I have the box for my VB and I love that thing, it is my favorite system box that I own.\u00a0 The system itself is similarly almost too over the top design-wise, but it is so much better for it than the understated blandness that you would surely get from such a device today.\u00a0 Whatever happened to actual interesting design, I want it back and for flat boringness to go away.<\/p>\n Anyway, moving on to the hardware itself, on the reproduction, first, the volume knob and eye adjustment sliders are just for show and don’t do anything.\u00a0 The controller and accessory ports are just stickers, though it’s nice that they put those stickers there.\u00a0 The system’s styling is nearly identical, apart from the eyepieces which are quite different.\u00a0 The shade of red of the system plastics don’t quite match.\u00a0 The new one is, I’d say, slightly brighter red than the original VB.\u00a0 Here is one minor but interesting difference: the Virtual Boy text on the front of the VB Switch shell doesn’t have a TM after the name, but the original one does.\u00a0 The cloth eyeshade is larger on the new system, and sticks out farther.\u00a0 I like that change.\u00a0 Despite this, the new eyeshade actually covers a bit less — there is a large gap on the bottom which lets a lot of light in, while on the original system the eyeshade has just a small gap in the middle of the bottom around the nose.\u00a0 Both do let some light in from the bottom, but you get at least two or three times wider a gap on the new one.\u00a0 \u00a0Both eyeshades are removable, but they have completely different designs of course.\u00a0 On the original, the red lenses are built in to the system, and the eyeshade is just a shade and plastic part that goes around the lenses.\u00a0 On the new one, the refracted lenses are built in to the system, and two pieces come off — one the removable red lenses that greatly improve the authenticity of the visuals, and second the shade, which now clips on to the shell in a totally new way, with hooks inside the shell.\u00a0 After all, this time it opens up for you to put the Switch 1 or 2 inside, so they could put attachment points in there.<\/p>\n The two stands are nearly identical, but the key fragile plastic part that always breaks was redesigned.\u00a0 I hope the new one is more durable than the original.\u00a0 The changes are kind of odd, though.\u00a0 So, the new virtual boy stand is nearly identical to the original.\u00a0 \u00a0They slightly redesigned a few things, but it’s mostly the same thing as before.\u00a0 It is a very close reproduction.\u00a0 That’s not great because the stand has always been one of the largest complaints people have about the Virtual Boy, either because of the cracking plastic blocks or because it isn’t height-adjustable.\u00a0 The only real difference between the two is that the part that always breaks, a plastic block that covers the spot where the two legs connect to the part your Virtual Boy clips on to, is… still plastic, but the screw locations have been moved down so now the two screw tubes stop the legs, instead of just plastic. I do not know if this will increase durability over the infamously break-prone originals, but I very much hope that it does.\u00a0 I am doubtful, though.\u00a0 It’s really too bad they didn’t make the part out of all metal.\u00a0 The legs and attachment part are mostly metal, why not make that key part metal as well?\u00a0 My original stand, like most of them, has a cracked block there.<\/p>\n Also, the clamp that you attach the system to the stand with to the system is different.\u00a0 On the original, there are these two pins in the middle of the clamp which go into holes in the system.\u00a0 However, those holes don’t exist on the Switch VB, so you cannot use an original VB stand with the Switch one unless you cut those two little tabs off.\u00a0 That is totally bizarre because like, why did they do that?\u00a0 The stands are otherwise the same.\u00a0 There is no reason to remove those locking tabs and the little holes they go in.\u00a0 Fortunately however, the reverse works great!\u00a0 You can use the new stand with a real VB no problem.\u00a0 \u00a0It clamps right on.\u00a0 That’s really nice, it’s the first time I have had a VB stand that wasn’t broken.\u00a0 Overall, despite the high price, I think I got my money’s worth for the Switch VB shell.\u00a0 It looks great, feels high quality, and works perfectly.<\/p>\n Controllers<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n And now we get to the worst thing by far about the second coming of the Virtual Boy: Nintendo didn’t make a Virtual Boy controller for the Switch.\u00a0 This is a big deal because the Virtual Boy has a unique controller with two d-pads, two face buttons on each side — Select and Start on the left and A and B on the right — and L and R trigger buttons underneath.\u00a0 It’s a brilliant design which perfectly adapts to the 3-d nature of the hardware by adding an additional control for 3-d manipulation in that second d-pad.\u00a0 Sony, Sega, Atari, NEC, and 3DO all released new consoles in 1993-1994, but not one of them thought that their new more capable machines needed anything more than a gamepad with just a single d-pad and some buttons.\u00a0 Nintendo was different, and with both the Virtual Boy and N64 put two control methods — two d-pads on the VB and then the analog stick or d-pad and C-buttons on the N64 — on their first 3d-capable machines.\u00a0 As usual Nintendo’s thought and foresight were superior to the competition.<\/p>\n The problem here is that while there are a great many controllers available for use on the Nintendo Switch 2 — the Nintendo Switch 2 Joycons, Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller, Nintendo Switch 1 Joycons, Nintendo Switch 1 Pro Controller, Nintendo Gamecube Controller (original or Switch-only reproduction), NES, SNES, or N64 reproduction controllers for Switch, and various other controllers if you use a third party adapter, none of those have two D-pads, because that design is pretty much exclusive to only the Virtual Boy.\u00a0 The only other thing which is close is the Nintendo 64 Switch controller, which has two d-pads if you hold it in the 2d configuration, with the d-pad on the left and C-buttons on the right.\u00a0 However, it has no replacement for the Select button, and you can’t map it to the N64 Switch controller’s ZR button.<\/p>\n Of course, not all VB games use the right d-pad.\u00a0 For the games that don’t use it for much or only use it minimally, Switch 2 Joycons or a Pro Controller 2 work great.\u00a0 However, for games that make heavy use of the right d-pad with precision required, such as Teleroboxer or 3-D Tetris, the N64 controller is probably your best option.\u00a0 You still have the Select button problem which is an issue in some games, but you could just map Select to Start or something if you aren’t using that button, or something.\u00a0 I have seen that suggestion online and it makes sense.<\/p>\n Honestly, I am pretty surprised that Nintendo didn’t make a Virtual Boy controller to go with this system.\u00a0 After all, as I said it has a unique design that no other controller exactly matches, and it has games which take advantage of that design in ways that feel worse to control on anything other than a VB controller.\u00a0 That alone should be enough to get us a Switch VB Controller!\u00a0 And on top of that, every other Switch VC app has a controller that reasonably could have needed one.\u00a0 Of course the Game Boy and Game Boy Advance don’t need it as they work great on a NES or SNES pad respectively, but the VB doesn’t have anything.\u00a0 Playing VB games on the Joycon 2s feels mostly okay, but it’s not quite as good as the real thing, and Nintendo could have solved that problem.\u00a0 Given how much effort went in to recreating the console and stand, I do not understand why they didn’t finish the task with the controller.\u00a0 I’m sure some other Switch games would be fun to use with it also.\u00a0 I am still hoping that we eventually get one, Nintendo could release one anytime after all.<\/p>\n The Games: Game Opinion Summaries<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n So, two kinds of games work with the Nintendo Switch Virtual Boy shell: the titles in the Nintendo Switch Online Virtual Boy Virtual Console app, which is a paid service that you must pay $50 a year to keep access to and which cannot be separately purchased,\u00a0 and the handful of first party titles which support Nintendo Labo VR, which I mentioned previously.\u00a0 I don’t have Labo VR for Switch, or the Switch versions of Breath of the Wild or Captain Toad, only the Wii U versions of those games, so I can’t report on those two.\u00a0 I do have Mario Odyssey and Smash Ultimate, but haven’t tried the VR modes of those games yet, sorry.\u00a0 I may do another article if I do and they are interesting.<\/p>\n What I have played, though,are the titles in the Switch Virtual Boy VC app.\u00a0 I am disappointed that you can’t buy these games and have to rely on an expensive subscription to play them, but the subscription is worth it anyway, with a relatively low price compared to other subscriptions and good benefits, so what can you do.\u00a0 I hope that eventually we get the chance to buy some games which work with this system, indie eshop games, homebrews, first party titles, or what have you.<\/p>\n So, here are summaries of what I think of all completed Virtual Boy games from its original run, not counting homebrew which is beyond the scope of this article, though know that there is Virtual Boy homebrew out there and some is interesting.\u00a0 The games with a score at the end of the summary are titles I have finished and played enough to put a score on; the others I haven’t played enough to grade.\u00a0 Afterwards I will mention the rest of the games that either we know are coming to the app or that aren’t so far but hopefully could some day.<\/p>\n First, the seven titles available day one on the Switch Virtual Boy service, with subscription:<\/span><\/p>\n 3-D Tetris<\/strong> (T&E Soft \/ Nintendo, 1996) – Battery save.\u00a0 This game is on the Switch Virtual Boy service, and I have a cart copy.<\/em> 3-D Tetris is basically a Nintendo take on Blockout, Atari Games’s 3d well Tetris-style game from the late ’80s.\u00a0 Blockout is a game I had mixed feelings about at the time.\u00a0 It has some good ideas, but with a large, deep well games can take a long time.\u00a0 It is a slow game which drags and can be frustrating due to 3d depth perception issues.\u00a0 3-D Tetris is still slow, but tries to fix all of Blockout’s problems.\u00a0 I would say that it succeeds at that.\u00a0 Instead of ten or more layers of well to fill, in 3-D Tetris there are only five layers.\u00a0 This much smaller play area focuses play better and makes this a faster-paced and more fun game than Blockout.\u00a0 Certainly, this is still slow compared to regular flat 2d Tetris, but the challenge of placing blocks in the 3d well just right is compelling.\u00a0 This game is fully 3d, with wireframe blocks as they descend that turn into solid blocks once placed.\u00a0 The stereoscopic 3d is immensely helpful in this title, it would be much more difficult on a single screen.\u00a0 The controls are complex — this game uses every button and d-pad on the controller and expects you to use all of them frequently — but one you get used to them it is a great time.<\/p>\n 3-D Tetris has multiple game modes, also.\u00a0 There is the standard endless mode, a mode where you have to fill in the edge of a layer but not the center and then fill in the middle, and lastly a Puzzle mode where you have set numbers of moves to build a specific shape with the pieces you are given.\u00a0 \u00a0The puzzle mode is clever and well worth spending quite a lot of time in.\u00a0 The game saves which puzzles you have completed and a high scores table for all modes.\u00a0 This is the best ‘Blockout’-style game I’ve ever played!\u00a0 I like it a lot, it’s fantastic.\u00a0 I think it’s an A-grade hit. I think making the well only five layers deep instead of the fifteen or so of Blockout makes the game better, it increases the tension and speed of a previously pretty slow game.\u00a0 3-D Tetris is a standout title here that should have been a hit.\u00a0 I am pretty surprised to see some negative impressions of the game with this re-release, but I think people will like it if they spend the time to learn the controls and gameplay.\u00a0 It’s really great.\u00a0 Score: A-.<\/strong><\/p>\n Galactic Pinball<\/strong> (Nintendo R&D1 \/ Nintendo, 1995) – Battery save.\u00a0 This game is on the Switch Virtual Boy service, and I have a cart copy.\u00a0<\/em> Galactic Pinball is a really good, but very difficult, space-themed pinball game.\u00a0 The ball here is a puck instead of a ball, which fits well, really.\u00a0 While I can understand why some people bounce off of this game quickly because of the punishing difficulty and how common it is for your puck to go straight down the drain within a second of you launching it into the playfield, if you keep at it and get more used to the game, Galactic Pinball is a fantastic A-grade title.\u00a0 This game is one of the best electronic pinball games on retro consoles.\u00a0 It has four tables, each one screen in size, and there is a lot to do on each one.\u00a0 There are ramps, bonuses, minigames, easy to hit targets, hard to hit spots, and so much more.\u00a0 Where most earlier pinball games on consoles were significant downgrades from arcade pinball, this one is right up there with real pinball quality.\u00a0 It is very good stuff.\u00a0 This is a pretty addictive, well made game.\u00a0 I keep getting Game Over, but go right back to try again because the graphics are nice and gameplay is compelling and as varied as you will find in the genre.\u00a0 This game is right up there with Alien Crush and Kirby’s Pinball Land for my favorite pinball games on any older platform, and as far as options and variety of stuff to do on the tables goes this game outdoes either of those games.\u00a0 You’ll just need to try to stay alive to see it.\u00a0 The game has battery save for your high scores on each of the four tables, which is great.\u00a0 Score: A-.<\/strong><\/p>\n Golf [aka T&E Soft Virtual Golf]<\/strong> (T&E Soft \/ Nintendo, 1995) – Password save.\u00a0 This game is on the Switch service.\u00a0 I don’t have a cart copy for real VB.\u00a0<\/em> This game is, well, it’s golf. I’m not a genre fan.\u00a0 This title makes decent use of the 3-d effect, with 3-d rendered courses, and T&E Soft were an accomplished golf game developer so I’m sure the mechanics are solid, but it’s nothing special as a game.\u00a0 It has a swing meter and one 18-hole course, standard stuff.<\/p>\n The Mansion of Innsmouth<\/strong> (Japanese game, previously Japan-only release) [aka Insmouse no Yakata or Innsmouth no Yakata]<\/em> (Be Top and I’MAX, 1995) – Password save.\u00a0 This game is on the Switch Virtual Boy service.\u00a0 I don’t have a cart copy though obviously I should have one.\u00a0 <\/em>Innsmouth is a first-person dungeon crawling shooter.\u00a0 This isn’t as advanced as Wolfenstein 3-D or Doom, however.\u00a0 Instead, as in a classic first person RPG, you move from square to square with the right d-pad.\u00a0 Left or right rotate 90 degrees, and forward and back move to the next or previous tile.\u00a0 Meanwhile, the right d-pad moves a cursor around the screen.\u00a0 You have a gun with VERY limited ammo, and need to shoot monsters with the gun when you move onto a square with a monster on it.\u00a0 Try to stay alive and not die!\u00a0 It won’t be easy; not only do you have only a handful of shots, but also there is a very tight timer in every level.\u00a0 You can find health, bullets, an orb, and a key on each stage, and you need the key to move on as the goal in each level is to bring that key to the exit door.\u00a0 To help you out you can bring up a map of the level, showing where you have gone.\u00a0 This is a simple but intense game.\u00a0 It has branching paths — each run is only 13 levels, but there are nearly 40 available in total.\u00a0 I think whether you find the optional orbs likely affects your route, and possibly other factors.<\/p>\n Visually, Innsmouth is a classic first person dungeon style game, except in a mansion.\u00a0 It uses perspective lines to look like you are in a 3-d environment, though everything is largely static, you flip between screens instead of moving smoothly, so it likely isn’t truly 3d under the hood.\u00a0 Still, the stereoscopic depth looks quite nice.\u00a0 One odd quirk is that you can’t see left or right paths or doors when you are actually at a crossroads.\u00a0 You see them a tile in front of you, but when you are on that space, all you see is flat walls.\u00a0 \u00a0Fortunately, arrows in the bottom left and right corners appear when there are side paths, telling you that you can turn to go that way.\u00a0 As for a language barrier, this game isn’t translated, but while the title is in Japanese, all in-game status bars and passwords and such are in English, so it is entirely playable.\u00a0 This is a simple and intense game, but it is good.\u00a0 It can be frustratingly difficult to stay alive, but it is a horror game so that fits.\u00a0 By 1995 it was hardly impressive for the genre but it’s a fun B game experience.\u00a0 I think that had it released in the US back then it would have sold reasonably well and be remembered as one of the more interesting Virtual Boy games.\u00a0 The password system works fine but of course on Switch you can always just use savestates there instead.<\/p>\n Red Alarm<\/strong> (T&E Soft \/ Nintendo, 1995) – No saving (and limited continues).\u00a0 This game is on the Switch Virtual Boy service, and I have a cart copy.\u00a0 <\/em>Red Alarm is the VB’s other top system-seller, in second place after VB Wario Land.\u00a0 T&E Soft was mostly known for golf games and Hydlide, but with this game they made it look like they were an accomplished shooting game studio.\u00a0 This was, in fact, just about the only such title they made.\u00a0 Despite this, Red Alarm is an impressive technical feat which looks great and plays fantasticly.\u00a0 Nintendo knew this, because back in ’95, this was one of two games, with Wario, which was available in Virtual Boy demo stations.\u00a0 I remember that my local Sears got a VB demo station, and we tried it there.\u00a0 I played both games at different times and was quite impressed, but as I said earlier not quite enough so to buy one, particularly once it was clearly doomed.\u00a0 Sears got out of selling videogames soon after ’95, but up to that year they had a big games department.\u00a0 Anyway, Red Alarm is a wireframe 3d space shooter.\u00a0 You fly through tunnels and other enclosed environments, shooting enemies and collecting items that some of them drop.\u00a0 This is a relatively simple game, though it does use every control on the gamepad, and is fun to play.<\/p>\n For controls, you turn with the left d-pad, strafe in all four directions with the right d-pad, change your speed with A and B, change views with Select, and fire with R.\u00a0 While clearly at least somewhat inspired by Star Fox, but this isn’t on rails, you have free movement within the confines of the stage.\u00a0 Most enemies die in one hit, but some stronger minibosses and bosses are tougher.\u00a0 The difficulty is well balanced; this game starts easy but steadily gets harder as you go.\u00a0 Due to the limited continues, even with the savestates the Switch adds, this game will still be at least a decent challenge.\u00a0 As far as shooters go this game is probably somewhat average in challenge, but it’s well designed and lots of fun.\u00a0 The simplicity does wear after a while, you just fly and shoot everything, but it is at least good, certainly.<\/p>\n Overall, Red Alarm’s wireframe 3-d graphics and fast action combine for the best example of the VB’s power of any released title.\u00a0 The game may seem on video to make no sense due to the walls being just wireframes, but in stereoscopic 3-d the walls and floors and ships all actually make sense and work in 3d space in a way that’s hard to explain unless you’ve played it.\u00a0 Everything pops and looks like objects or walls or ships or people, even without any textures on anything.\u00a0 It’s impressive how well the style works.\u00a0 This is a pretty cool game that makes great use of the hardware and is quite fun to play, as well.\u00a0 It’s a solid B to low A title.\u00a0 Score: A-.<\/strong><\/p>\n Teleroboxer<\/strong> – (Nintendo R&D1 \/ Nintendo, 1996) – Battery save.\u00a0 This game is on the Switch Virtual Boy service, and I have a cart copy.\u00a0 <\/em>Teleroboxer is a boxing game.\u00a0 It is kind of a first person take on Punch-Out, apparently; I have never played a Punch-Out game as I am not a boxing fan, but I have tried this game.\u00a0 Teleroboxer is very hard, but the 3-d effect looks great and the game does seem to be pretty good for its genre.\u00a0 The game makes great use of the VB controller by putting each fist on a d-pad.\u00a0 The result is controls that are pretty much ideal for this kind of game in a way impossible on previous systems.\u00a0 The problem is that the developers seem to have expected people to actually master those controls, because this game will crush you.\u00a0 Worse, if I re call correctly, I think that you can only get the real ending, or fight the final boss, or something like that, if you win every single match.\u00a0 Recalling that this game has a battery save that’s a bit harsh, but I guess it is a challenge that some will want to take on.\u00a0 Punch-Out has an enduring fanbase, and they definitely should play this game if they haven’t.\u00a0 It’s great looking and plays very well.<\/p>\n Virtual Boy Wario Land<\/strong> (Nintendo R&D1 \/ Nintendo, 1995) – Battery save.\u00a0 This game is on the Switch Virtual Boy service, and I have a cart copy.\u00a0<\/em> An absolutely exceptional, incredibly fun game that is only held back by being pretty short and fairly easy, Virtual Boy Wario Land is an outstanding, must-play title.\u00a0 This game is first one everyone’s Virtual Boy games list, and it is first on mine as well.\u00a0 Its game mechanics, visual look, controls, and moveset are probably the best of any Wario game ever made.\u00a0 This is a beautiful game with great use of stereoscopic 3d effects and large levels you will love to explore and look for stuff in.\u00a0 The VR component, that all you can see is the game and nothing else, enhances the experience and makes the game even more compelling and immersive than it already is.\u00a0 I am a huge, huge fan of the first Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 for Game Boy– that game is a 10\/10 masterpiece on my list — and this is the only other game with similar gameplay design to that one; after this Wario games changed.\u00a0 So yeah, I love this game.\u00a0 It has been quite a while since I played through this game back in 2008 but I fondly remember it as one of the better experiences I have had in a game.\u00a0 And returning to the ‘VR’ component, thanks to the stereoscopic 3d and it being all of your vision, the final boss particularly was creepy in a way that I don’t think I would ever have thought in a regular game on a single screen.<\/p>\n However, VBWL has a problem: it is very short.\u00a0 Presumably to make it out near launch, the game is held back by its seriously lacking length.\u00a0 VBWL has ten platforming levels, plus three bossfight-only mini-stages.\u00a0 There are ten treasures to find along the way, one per level.\u00a0 The first Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3, for comparison, has a good 40-odd levels, and bosses are at the end of levels instead of being levels all of their own, and with 15 treasures hidden among them.\u00a0 The first also had a world map, and you’d return to some levels later with them changed by your actions in other stages, but there’s none of that here, it is just a linear adventure.\u00a0 The VBWL levels are quite a bit longer than Wario Land 1 levels, so a longplay with all treasures of VBWL is a bit over an hour while one of WL1 is two and a half hours, but still VBWL is at most half the length of its predecessor, and is at least as easy or maybe even easier.\u00a0 Neither game is especially difficult, which is fine with me, I love them regardless, but the short length is a problem.<\/p>\n Despite its limitations, VBWL is one of the all time great platformers.\u00a0 It is a must-experience game with some of the best stage and boss designs I have ever seen.\u00a0 If it had as much content as the first Wario Land this would be the best game in the series, but it doesn’t, so that one edges it out. Still, it’s an outstanding game that easily deserves an A score, and probably deserves an A+.\u00a0 It is so sad that there aren’t any more games after this that play like this, it’s basically the perfect concept for a platformer with exploration.\u00a0 Buy a Switch 2 Virtual Boy headset or cardboard VR for this game, you won’t be disappointed.\u00a0 Score: A+.<\/strong><\/p>\n Announced Titles Coming Later That I Have for VB:<\/span><\/p>\n Mario Clash<\/strong> (Nintendo R&D1 \/ Nintendo, 1995) – No saving.\u00a0 Upcoming Switch Online title.\u00a0 I have this game on cartridge.\u00a0<\/em> Mario Clash is basically a sequel to the 1983 arcade game Mario Bros, except with two layers now to fit with the stereoscopic 3-d of the system.\u00a0 Some enemies can be defeated with a simple turtle shell throw, but some require you to throw a shell at them from the other layer and hit the enemy on the other side, which makes for a fun challenge.\u00a0 It is an interesting game with a lot going for it, but it has one critical flaw which makes it hard to play on real hardware, there is no saving or passwords and this game has like a hundred levels on a console you don’t want to be using for a long time.\u00a0 That is not a good combination.\u00a0 It’s a shame, too, because the visual look is good, the stereoscopic 3d makes lining up your throws when you need to hit enemies on the other layer not that hard, and the game does change as you go, introducing new enemies, level layouts, and themes regularly for a while.\u00a0 However, why did this game actually ship like this, without a battery or password to continue from where you left off?\u00a0 It makes no sense, Nintendo doesn’t usually make this kind of mistake!\u00a0 There is a level select at the start, but you can’t start from any point or unlock new start points since there is no saving.\u00a0 With saving and an actual ending, instead of the ‘finish all the levels and it just loops’ arcade style design they went with here, I think that Mario Clash would be a pretty good game.\u00a0 As is, on real hardware, it is a good game that almost nobody is going to finish.\u00a0 As such, I am excited for the rerelease of the game, because playing this game in stereoscopic 3d and with savestates will be a pretty seriously great game-changer for this title.\u00a0 It should transform this game from a game that is great fun but difficult to get very far in to an all-around good experience.<\/p>\n Mario’s Tennis<\/strong> (Nintendo R&D1 \/ Nintendo, 1995) – No saving.\u00a0 Upcoming Switch Online title.\u00a0 I have this game on cartridge.\u00a0<\/em> This tennis game is still one of Mario’s best tennis games ever, particularly in 3d.\u00a0 Mario’s Tennis is a simple game, with one basic court ant a half dozen characters to play as, but it is very well designed.\u00a0 The controls are rock-solid and the game is incredibly fun.\u00a0 There are only a few modes, including singles or doubles and single matches or a mini-tournament, and there is no multiplayer since Nintendo never released the VB link cable, but what is here is great.\u00a0 It makes great use of the hardware, as well — stereoscopic 3d depth works wonders for making it easy to judge where the tennis ball is.\u00a0 It’s weird that the launch packin game isn’t available with the launch of this service, but… okay?\u00a0 Maybe they didn’t want to get in the way of the just-released Switch 2 Mario Tennis game, but not releasing this at launch is an odd decision.\u00a0 Really the only problem with this game is that it doesn’t have multiplayer. Ah well.\u00a0 Mario’s Tennis is an A-grade title regardless, in my book.\u00a0 This is one of my favorite Mario tennis games ever, second behind only the N64 game.\u00a0 The good controsl and great use of stereoscopic 3d make up for the limited content.\u00a0 Score: A-.<\/strong><\/p>\n Vertical Force<\/strong> (Hudson Soft \/ Nintendo, 1995) – No saving.\u00a0 Upcoming Switch Online title.\u00a0 I have this game on cartridge.\u00a0 <\/em>Vertical Force is a pretty good vertically-scrolling shmup.\u00a0 It has five levels, very nice visuals and music, and two gameplay layers, with an upper one and a background layer that you can switch between.\u00a0 In that respect it is similar to a past stereoscopic 3d shmup, Blade Eagle 3-D for the Sega Master System, except Vertical Force is a lot better than that game.\u00a0 You would expect Hudson, a longtime developer of good shmups, to make a good one here and they do.\u00a0 Vertical Force is one of Hudson’s easier titles in the genre, it won’t take shmup fans all that long to complete the game, but it is a lot of fun regardless.\u00a0 The controls are very good and it makes reasonably good use of the stereoscopic 3d with the two layers you switch between, and of the VB controller — the right d-pad controls which helper ship you have out, for quick access to each of them.\u00a0 Vertical Force may be easy, but it shows why Hudson, the developers behind the Star Soldier series, were one of the better studios at making classic 3rd or 4th gen style shmups.\u00a0 This is very much one of those games, do not expect a bullet-hell game in any way, but it is better for it; I love 4th gen shmups deeply but have never had all that much interest in most bullet hell games.\u00a0 Vertical Force is great fun while it lasts.\u00a0 Score: A.<\/strong><\/p>\n Jack Bros.<\/strong> (Atlus, 1995) – Password save.\u00a0 Upcoming Switch Online title.\u00a0 I have this game on cartridge (though I have the Japanese version).\u00a0 <\/em>Jack Bros. is a top-down maze action game.\u00a0 In each stage you explore a somewhat small level made of single-tile-wide paths, fighting enemies and finding stuff.\u00a0 The game is a simple dungeon-crawling action game and is certainly fun to play, but I don’t love this game as much as some people seem to.\u00a0 The game plays well but isn’t anything really special, and it doesn’t make much use of stereoscopic 3d — basically this is just a flat-plane game with the only real 3d element being that you can see the next stage in the background down below the current level.\u00a0 That’s neat, but of the VB games I own this is one of the least impressive on a ‘how much use does it make of the stereoscopic 3d’ scale.\u00a0 Even so, the game is certainly good, at least.\u00a0 It does control well as you go around fighting foes and making your way through each screen.\u00a0 The password system works fine, though savestates will be nice.\u00a0 Playing the game in English without paying the ludicrous amount for a US copy will be nice, too; this games doesn’t have a lot of text but there is some story and it’s in Japanese in the Japanese version.<\/p>\n V-Tetris<\/strong> (Locomotive \/ Bullet-Proof Software, 1995) – No saving.\u00a0 Upcoming Switch Online title.\u00a0 I have this game on cartridge.\u00a0 <\/em> This game is regular 2d Tetris, but with a slight 3d effect, in that the playfield pops out over the background.\u00a0 As with Jack Bros. this game makes almost no use of the VB apart from a background layer, and it doesn’t have the save battery of 3-D Tetris to keep track of your high scores or the multiplayer of classic Game Boy Tetris, but what is here is good and plays great, just like you expect from classic Tetris.\u00a0 There’s not too much reason to play this over Game Boy Tetris really, but it’s well made.\u00a0 There is one new mode, Type-C, where you can flip between multiple playfields, but it’s still not very 3d, or impressive compared to classic GB Tetris.\u00a0 Still, with savestates on the Switch this should be more interesting than it was before; at least now you will be able to save your scores via savestates!<\/p>\n *Virtual Fishing <\/strong>(Japan-only release) Locomotive \/ Pack-In-Video, 1995) – Battery save.\u00a0 Upcoming Switch Online title, for the Japanese version of the service only; this is not coming to the US\/EU Virtual Boy application.\u00a0 I have this game on cartridge. <\/em>\u00a0This game is a fishing game, which is a genre I\u00a0 dislike more than just about any other.\u00a0 I bought it anyway because it was cheap and it’s a Virtual Boy game, so why not?\u00a0 You sail around, looking for fish.\u00a0 It is every bit as boring as either real fishing or any other fishing game, but it does have a neat 3d-style underwater fish camera once you hook a fish.\u00a0 You will need to control the line well in order to reel in the fish without the line breaking, and you get to see the fish underwater while doing so.<\/p>\n Announced Titles I Don’t Own for Virtual Boy:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Space Invaders Virtual Collection<\/strong> (Japan-only release) (Taito, 1995) – No saving.\u00a0 Upcoming Switch Online title.<\/em> This is a very expensive import-only title. i don’t have a real cart, haven’t justified the expense yet. It looks like just Space Invaders but with a 3-d mode, so it isn’t just a straight port, it does have an exclusive mode.\u00a0 I’m looking forward to finally playing it.<\/p>\n Virtual Bowling<\/strong> (Japan-only release) (Athena, 1995) – No saving.\u00a0 Upcoming Switch Online title.<\/em>\u00a0 This Japan-only bowling title is impressive, but insanely expensive.\u00a0 From what I’ve seen it seems pretty good, I wish I owned a cart.\u00a0 The game has a nice ‘following the ball down the lane’ animation that I’d imagine looks really cool in stereoscopic 3d.\u00a0 Now I’ll be able to play it.<\/p>\n And of course Dragon Hopper<\/strong> and Zero Racers<\/strong>, the unreleased grails of Nintendo’s vault.<\/p>\n The Rest of the Released Virtual Boy Library<\/span><\/p>\n The One I Have<\/span><\/p>\n Virtual League Baseball <\/strong>(US ver.)<\/em> (Kemco, 1995) – Password save.\u00a0 I have this game for Virtual Boy.<\/em>\u00a0 This baseball game is pretty basic in terms of features, particularly for 1995, but I think it makes up for it with its stereoscopic 3d batting.\u00a0 Virtual League Baseball is a simple baseball game.\u00a0 It has a zoomed-out field view like an early NES title, so you can see the whole field on a single screen.\u00a0 Personally I greatly prefer this over the close in zooms of a lot of baseball games of the day, I find those pretty much unplayably awful due to having to field either from the minimap if there is one, or just by awful guesswork.\u00a0 This look may be simpler but I think it is a lot better.\u00a0 The gameplay here is similarly simple, with one-button design and no fielder selection, you just move all of them together.\u00a0 It does the job well enough.\u00a0 Pitching and batting are the main draw, of course.\u00a0 This is a 2d game, but the stereoscopic 3d allows for a much better sense of where the ball is than in anything made for one screen.\u00a0 That alone, along with being able to judge balls in flight based on their trajectory well due to the 3d, elevates this title to solidly fun status, I would say.\u00a0 I like Virtual League Baseball, it’s a fun B game.\u00a0 \u00a0Sure, the only modes are a password-save tournament or single games, there is no season mode or stats or such, but it’s fun.\u00a0 Considering that the game does not have a license and uses international teams with made up players, it could show up on Switch, there is no limitation.\u00a0 The Japanese version has licensed Japanese league teams and uses super-deformed players, while the American version as redrawn with realistic players and as mentioned uses international teams, to the US version would be the one to re-release.<\/p>\n The Ones I Don’t Have<\/span><\/p>\n Nester’s Funky Bowling<\/strong> (US exclusive release) – The other bowling game on Virtual Boy, this one… why aren’t we getting it, again?\u00a0 It was a first party published game, after all.\u00a0 It does use a character from a Nintendo Power comic of the day, but surely Nintendo still has the rights.\u00a0 The bowling screen here isn’t as impressive as Virtual Bowling, it just has a static image of the lane that the ball rolls down instead of a more 3d trip down the lane, but I’m sure it’d still be a fun time.<\/p>\n Panic Bomber<\/strong> – This Hudson puzzle game title is now owned by Konami.\u00a0 Maybe we will get it eventually, since we are getting Vertical Force?\u00a0 We’ll see, I hope so.\u00a0 Panic Bomber is a Tetris-styled game, but starring Hudson’s primary mascot, Bomberman.\u00a0 The game released on SNES and Turbo CD in Japan as well as Virtual Boy, but here in the US the VB version is the only one released here.\u00a0 I wish that Nintendo had localized the SNES version alongside this VB release, as it has some good multiplayer that is absent here, but at least you can play the story mode on VB with English text.\u00a0 This is a game I’ve always meant to get several versions of but somehow never have.\u00a0 I still need to get it for both VB and Turbo CD.<\/p>\n SD Gundam Dimension War<\/strong> (JP exclusive release) – This game is also licensed.\u00a0 It is a simple strategy game with a poor reputation.<\/p>\n Space Squash<\/strong> (JP exclusive release) – I hope that the rights to this game get figured out and it shows up on Switch, either here or as a separate purchase, eventually, because I’ve always wanted to get Space Squash.\u00a0 I’m not sure why I still don’t own it but from what I’ve seen it appears to be a fun 3-d tennis style game, one of those ball and paddle games where the paddle is in front of the screen and you hit the ball down into the screen.\u00a0 Those games often have perspective issues, but here in stereoscopic 3d I’m sure it would work well.\u00a0 Indeed some find this game too easy.\u00a0 I’d like to know what I think of it.\u00a0 Maybe I’ll just need to finally get a copy.<\/p>\n Virtual Lab<\/strong> (JP exclusive release) – This badly rushed puzzle game is infamous for its bugs, glitches, and subpar mediocrity.\u00a0 It’s no wonder it has not been announced for rerelease on the Switch.<\/p>\n Waterworld<\/strong> (US exclusive release) – I get why we aren’t getting this one, licensing.\u00a0 It’s apparently a pretty average third-person shooter with some Defender influence, so I definitely want to get it someday because even if it isn’t great I love Defender and like shooters, but I don’t have it yet.<\/p>\n Other Unreleased Games<\/span><\/p>\n The other major unreleased games that we know were finished are a couple of games which had ROMs leak previously, Bound High<\/strong>, Faceball (Niko-Chan Battle)<\/strong>, and Virtual League Baseball 2<\/strong>.\u00a0 You can play those games on an emulator or flash-cart if you want, but not legally, and it’d be fantastic if we could do that.\u00a0 Bound High is another game like Dragon Hopper with a game where you jump around as a character on an overhead-view level.\u00a0 After Dragon Hopper releases it’ll be interesting to see which of the two is better.\u00a0 I very much hope that Bound High shows up on Switch in some format eventually.\u00a0 Nintendo was going to release it so hopefully they have the rights.\u00a0 Virtual League Baseball 2 would have also been from Kemco, who do still exist.\u00a0 Like the first it has exclusively international teams.\u00a0 Faceball would be a pretty great one to see, if the rights could be figured out.\u00a0 It is a first-person shooter, and those look great in stereoscopic 3d!<\/p>\n If you look at Wikipedia’s list of cancelled Virtual Boy games<\/a>,the rest of the titles listed are almost certainly unfinished, or in some cases maybe never even started.\u00a0 I don’t know if any of the rest ever got far enough to be worth wishing would leak from most of those, if anything of those projects has survived the past 30 years.<\/p>\n Anyway, this is incredibly exciting stuff. Will Zero Racers be the best game ever? Probably not. But in 3-d it probably will look pretty cool and play well, like Red Alarm. The VB needed more actual 3d games, and that was one! I am really excited for this, it’s kind of a dream come true to soon finally be able to play Zero Racers… wow.<\/p>\n Conclusion<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n So, it is real, the Virtual Boy is back, and yes I have the re-release shell from Nintendo.\u00a0 As with everyone else with both a real Virtual Boy and the new version I have been comparing them, and despite some weird software decisions, such as that you have to press the Close button on the touchscreen after exiting the software so you can’t quit out to the system menu while the Switch 2 is inside the Virtual Boy, I have no real complaints.\u00a0 The games are great, the visual look of the system and ingame graphics is fantastic, and while it is disappointing that no Virtual Boy controller was released with it, the controller options that do exist are decent enough to do, though I would buy a Switch VB controller immediately if they release one.<\/p>\n I admire Nintendo’s dedication to the Virtual Boy’s stereoscopic 3d nature.\u00a0 I have seen a lot of complaints online from people who just want to play the games in 2d on their televisions, but while it would be nice to have some kind of streamer mode that allows someone to play in their headset while outputting 2d to a stream in order to help boost user engagement with the console, I support and agree with Nintendo’s decision to lock the app behind a VR-only wall.\u00a0 Most games on the console were designed around the 3d effect, and without it games like Mario’s Tennis, 3-D Tetris, and Red Alarm are much more difficult.\u00a0 I have seen many complaints over the years from people who only played games like those in emulators and then bashed the games because of issues which do not exist when playing the games in a headset.\u00a0 It is for reasons like that that I fully support requiring stereoscopic 3d for Virtual Boy games.\u00a0 Could the games play on a regular screen, with just one eye’s image?\u00a0 Yes, of course.\u00a0 But it would be a worse, compromised experience, and many people would only play that and then would criticize the console and games for “problems” which don’t exist when playing the games properly.\u00a0 Better to just require the correct hardware and endure the resulting wave of criticism from people who won’t buy any headset option and don’t care that on a regular screen many games would be compromised experiences.<\/p>\n I wonder, how many comments in VR game threads or discussions are a constant stream of “why isn’t this game available outside of VR?”\u00a0 Did Half-Life Alyx videos or discussions spend as much time complaining about that it is a VR exclusive as anything else, for instance?\u00a0 I watched the occasional video about VR but didn’t follow VR games closely enough to be able to answer that, but I sure do know that the comments are tediously constant about the Virtual Boy.\u00a0 Would V-Tetris work fine in 2d?\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Would 3-D Tetris?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Again, every game can be made to work on a single screen, but some developers decide that they want to reserve the title for only the intended way for it to be played and make it VR only.\u00a0 Nintendo is one of those and I respect that.<\/p>\n As for the games, I covered them above, but the Virtual Boy library is really pretty fantastic.\u00a0 It’s almost all A and B grade games, and many are really good!\u00a0 The VB library is weird and ideosynchratic, but it’s also quite good.\u00a0 The first party Nintendo titles are great, and some of the third-party-developed games, such as those from T&E Soft, are also very well made.\u00a0 It is a system which deserved great success but tragically failed to accomplish that because sometimes people don’t understand Nintendo’s genius weird ideas as well as they should, and Nintendo, the most high-standards game company around, has little patience to keep struggling platforms around unless, as with the Wii U, they have no choice.<\/p>\n In conclusion, I hope that the Switch gets a Virtual Boy reproduction controller soon, that would be amazing.\u00a0 But until then I will be enjoying the Switch Virtual Boy app, and you should be also.\u00a0 It is well, WELL worth it, either for the cardboard version if that is all you can afford or for the full model.\u00a0 Either way, I recommend playing it by looking down into the system while lying on a bed; I find that a quite comfortable way to play Virtual Boy.\u00a0 The VB may not have many games, and it may cause eyestrain if you play for long play sessions, but the games are great and I am not one to have ever gotten headaches from the thing.\u00a0 Most people won’t be among the few with such a reaction either.\u00a0 Buy a Switch Virtual Boy.\u00a0 It’s great.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nintendo just made the Virtual Boy’s libraries available to modern gamers, in 3d, with a re-release of the Virtual Boy as a VR shell to put your Nintendo Switch or Switch 2 in.\u00a0 It is pretty amazing that this happened, … Continue reading \n
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\nI am still kind of shocked this is real, but… it is!\u00a0 It is absolutely incredible that Zero Racers (and Dragon Hopper) are actually coming to Switch Virtual Boy.\u00a0 It’s amazing but true and I am incredibly excited.<\/p>\n