What exactly is the Virtual Boy?

[Samster]

Hey, all! Samster here, with a kinda strange question. The gamers who have been around for way longer than I have might have heard tales of a Nintendo console called the Virtual Boy. And I’m not actually sure what it is.

Spoiler: Virtual Boy

At first, I thought it was some kind of attempt at a VR headset thingy, due to the name. But after seeing this picture, I’m even more confused. .o. Any of you pro gamers put there know what this thing did? What kind of games did it have?

 

[AricAttack]

Hey, all! Samster here, with a kinda strange question. The gamers who have been around for way longer than I have might have heard tales of a Nintendo console called the Virtual Boy. And I’m not actually sure what it is.

Spoiler: Virtual Boy

View attachment 19112

At first, I thought it was some kind of attempt at a VR headset thingy, due to the name. But after seeing this picture, I’m even more confused. .o. Any of you pro gamers put there know what this thing did? What kind of games did it have?

You’ve never heard of the virtual boy?

Well basically, its like a great headset, but you can’t move around and look in different directions, and the only colors are red and black, it was a massive failure, even worse then the Wii U.

Many of the reasons that people complained, were because of like

•It doesn’t have a head strap

•The red and black would hurt your eyes.

You can figure out the rest.

But if you want to learn more

 

[AricAttack]

What kind of games did it have?

It had games like Tetris, Mario tennis, a Mario game where you have to get up a bunch of floors (kinda like, Mario bros) a speedboat game which was tough, a boxing game, wario world, and some others. basically just tried to use a 3D Mechanic in games, but since it didn’t have a head strap and used just red and black, it didn’t do well.

 

[Jisenku]

If it only had color and a head strap... it would have been a huge success

 

[Artisan]

It was short lived and featured exclusive games like Jack Bros. @Marc if you are interested in collecting SMT type stuff and Star Fox 2 which might be on the SNES classic. They made the colors red and black because it was cheap and easier on the eyes.

If it only had color and a head strap... it would have been a huge success

Idk then it would be more expensive and it would be a downgraded 3DS but at the time it would've been better.

 

[Jisenku]

It was short lived and featured exclusive games like Jack Bros. @Marc if you are interested in collecting SMT type stuff and Star Fox 2 which might be on the SNES classic. They made the colors red and black because it was cheap and easier on the eyes.

Idk then it would be more expensive and it would be a downgraded 3DS but at the time it would've been better.

Wayyy better!

 

[Duffy]

It was an infamously obscure console that was wayyy ahead of it's time. The tech just wasn't ready at the time. So many other things could be said about it, but they have likely already been said.

 

[AricAttack]

You’ve never heard of the virtual boy?

Well basically, its like a great headset, but you can’t move around and look in different directions, and the only colors are red and black, it was a massive failure, even worse then the Wii U.

Many of the reasons that people complained, were because of like

•It doesn’t have a head strap

•The red and black would hurt your eyes.

You can figure out the rest.

But if you want to learn more

I meant VR not great lol.

 

[EnderLord]

Late, but I've heard of this. Frankly, it already looks like it would hurt your eyes with those colors, and the fact you would look through the lenses.

 

[roosters123]

The Virtual Boy was a veryyyyyyy early version of what the google cardboard is. It was VR headset that was connected to a controller and had games such as Mario Tennis and Tetris however the tech just wasnt there at the time.
There was no gyroscope or sensors and the screen was extremely low resolution and it was red. Due to these factors it was a very poorly selling console and was very quickly discontinued. However it did light a spark for the VR consoles of today and the concept itself was extremely solid.