The system bombed, with total sales not even nearing a million units worldwide. It cost its creator, Gunpei Yokoi, his reputation and brought the unassailable Nintendo juggernaut into public disrepute, before being quickly shelved a year or so after release. 32 bits of power, straight down the plughole.
Check out our top Virtual Boy game guide here!
The System:
The hardware itself is cleverly designed to achieve a true 3D effect, but there were many shortcomings and tradeoffs in the system's design. The late Game Boy creator Gunpei Yokoi was tasked with creating the next-big-thing in gaming, and his vision was compromised from the get-go, thanks to the limited availability and prohibitive cost of multi-colour LEDs. The red and black screen was easier on the eyes and also the most inexpensive combination to produce, but it wasn't exactly flashy and it made showing off the game's graphics in magazines and on TV a chore.
The Virtual Boy was always sold as being a portable console; there were plans for a head-mount on the cards, as well as for a two-player connector cable, but neither materialised. As it was, the system was definitely not travel-friendly. The unit really requires a stable surface at mid-chest height, since the stand only compensates for angle, rather than height off the tabletop. Resting on your back and situating the unit over your eyes also works. The eyepiece is made of soft but resilient foam-rubber. It's thin enough to block out all the light and withstand bending and folding, but the edges can be a little rough – particularly if you have your face jammed in there, or you're lying on your back with the weight of the unit pressing the foam into your forehead and cheeks.
The construction is solid but the components on the inside, such as the two separate oscillating mirrors (responsible for the 3D effect), are known to be touchy. You really want to make sure you're not knocking it around too much when it's on, so car travel and rabblerousing nephews are big no-nos, lest there be tears and broken consoles. The metal stand has a plastic clip on the top, where the Virtual Boy slots in. The legs fold outwards in a V, and the unit has a clamp-style knob for adjusting the angle of tilt. Overall, it's stable but feels a little flimsy – particularly the L-shaped metal clamp and stand on which the unit sits. Treat it gently, or risk warping or breaking it; if you do, good luck replacing the component on its own, bucko.
The Controller:
Nintendo know how to make controllers, and the Virtual Boy is no exception. The quirky mirror-image layout of the controller's face and reverse is unique. The double D-pads, on the extreme left and right of the controller's face, are an interesting way of adding the second dimension of movement for some games, such as Red Alarm and Teleroboxer. It also let some games make accommodation for leftie players who preferred to play with the D-pad on the right side. The reverse of the controller also had two circular triggers (strictly on/off digital in function), which is a boon, since the B and A buttons kind of limit gameplay options. The second D-pad does get utilised in some titles as a secondary set of action buttons though.
The controller's long handles have grooved fingerholds and the A/C adaptor and battery pack actually slot straight into the back of the controller, keeping the weight of the unit down, but adding a lot of heft to the controller. It plugs directly into the bottom right of the unit, next to the unused play-link input slot. The unit can last for about six hours of play on six AA batteries, but an A/C adaptor is a good option if you're going to be investing a lot of time into games like Wario and Galactic Pinball.
Comfort and Effects:
So how does it all come together? The unit makes provisions for near and long-sighted people with a focus adjustment, as well as an angle adjustment that tweaks the shape of the display. The black and red image runs at a resolution of 384 x 224 at 50hz, meaning that it's plenty sharp and with almost no blurring when the screen scrolls. In terms of complexity, the system can crank out 2D that's about on-par with the SNES in terms of sprite size and complexity, but the limited shades red-into-black actually make games like Wario Land look like high-resolution Game Boy games with decent parallax 3D effects. The amount of depth depends on the game itself; some, like Mario Clash, are limited to a single room's depth, but are convincing, thanks to good sprite scaling. Others, like the 3D wireframe shooter Red Alarm, actually allow you to adjust the level of depth of the 3D effect. In games like this, looking down a corridor feels like you're looking a good distance out towards the horizon.
The image itself is actually quite small. It doesn't take up your peripheral vision as you might expect, given the bulk and width of the unit. The aspect ratio is 4:3; if you need to set the image focus back as far as it can go, then it actually makes the image even smaller – albeit clearer. It's not exactly a bold leap into a sensory-enveloping 3D world, but the eyeshade effectively cuts out distractions. The lack of a head mount and height-adjustable stand make the unit awkward to use, but that's the least of the Virtual Boy's comfort woes. In truth, claims that the unit will send you blind are severely exaggerated, but kids really shouldn't use this thing for extended periods. Nintendo actually strongly recommended taking long breaks every 15 minutes to prevent eye strain – and the company is on the money here. While staring at any light source for long periods is about as inadvisable as repeatedly licking the top of a 9-volt battery, the Virtual Boy's red on black is actually pretty easy on the eyes. The key is to play in a dark room and make sure you take those breaks. Your eyes will get sore if you play the thing for more than an hour or so, even on and off. Such is the limitation of staring at bright screens close to your eyeballs.
In the sound department, the Virtual Boy's sound chip is really only a little more sophisticated than the Game Boy. Most music is harsh, midi composition, with occasional sampled dialogue, thanks to a decent cartridge size – but even some GB games could pull that off too. The kicker is in the placement of the speakers – on either side of the goggles. It actually makes the two-channel stereo effects sound like full surround sound; the addition of a headphone jack is also a boon. It's also loud enough to bug your neighbours and co-workers, so take advantage of the headphone jack.
Conclusion:
For the Nintendo enthusiast who wants to experience everything the brand has offered, this is a no-brainer. The 3D effects are certainly a novelty, but the number of quality games can easily be counted on one hand, and finding a brand new system can be a little trickier than finding a dodgy and well-worn one on eBay. Still, we paid roughly US$100 for a brand new Japanese system, and games range in price from US$4 to about US$20 for a boxed copy with instructions. More obscure Japan-only titles can fetch as much as US$200 or more, however. All up, it's an affordable venture for collectors and definitely worth playing – just make sure you rest your eyes, or they'll shrivel up like raisins and fall out of your head.
Check out our top Virtual Boy game guide here!
Check back shortly as we delve into the best games the Virtual Boy has to offer. Is it worth your time and money? Or should this one stay in the pages of history?