Virtual Boy Games on 3DS

[digitalpress]

Aha! Got you to look.

Doesn't it seem like it SHOULD happen? Has anyone heard any rumor of Nintendo putting Virtual Boy games on the 3DS? I see they're planning a "Virtual Boy Red" color, it would be very awesome to see the games re-released.

This being asked from a guy whose website is black and red.

[c0ldb33r]

damnit you got me.

I was excited.

You're right - it makes perfect sense. Either on the eshop or as a collection on a physical cart. I'm happy to take either :D

[mb7241]

Yeah, you got me too... I could definitely see this happening at some point, though it remains to be said whether or not they'll still be in the simple 3D vector graphics (i.e. eShop/emulation) or if they'll turn them into full-color games.

c0ldb33r: O_O Send me some of that internet speed, lol :p .

[Belmont008]

Got me three, I've never played virtual boy but I remember growing during its short time. Would be interesting to play some of those games. Digital distribution is becoming the trend but I'd prefer some physical copies.

[Penguin]

This comes to mind, remember this joke?
http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/1818/virtualboysp11080777092.jpg

[TonyTheTiger]

Are they actually referring to the red 3DS as a Virtual Boy throwback or is it just coincidental? I've been under the impression for a long time that Nintendo would sooner erase the Virtual Boy from the annals of history.

While faithful ports, and maybe full color enhanced versions, would be awesome I just don't know if Nintendo has the cajones to celebrate what is popularly seen as its greatest embarassment.

[spoonman]

I have thought about VB games on the 3DS since it was first shown at E3! It would make perfect sense and it's really their only chance to try and make a few bucks from some of these classics again.

And yes they do look great on the 3DS! You can see how they look on the 3DS by grabbing the files from this site.
**Rom link removed**

http://jailbreakscene.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/3ds_virtualboy_5.png
They also have some great examples of the Sega Master System 3D games too

I just hope Nintendo can pull this off before someone does it through homebrew.

[Gamereviewgod]

I've said this since the system was announced. At the very least, put out some games like Wario Land and you know what? Maybe people would stop bashing the VB hardware so readily. Despite not having much, a lot of the library was great.

[ubersaurus]

I've been wanting to see that since the VC was announced for the 3ds. I hope Nintendo goes for it, though admittedly I don't know how easy the emulation would go. I'd love to be able to play VB games without having to shell out of the VB itself (and find space for it) and still get the 3D experience. I remember liking Wario Land, Mario Clash, Mario's Tennis, and Red Alarm from playing them back in the day, and quite a few other games looked pretty interesting as well.

[Leo_A]

I think the big road block will be cost. There are just a few games worthwhile enough to rerelease. So I'm not sure I see Nintendo going through the trouble of porting them (The more likely of the two so they can offer optional colorization) or developing an emulator for such a small group of releases.

And unlike the niche Game & Watch rerelease line, there's so much negativity towards the system, especially from the masses that never played one but were told it failed, that I think Nintendo might prefer to continue ignoring it like they've done the past 15 years. For the Game & Watch, people either never heard of it, have no recollection of it anymore, or have fond memories of it. I'd expect to see effort channeled into a rerelease program for their classic arcade games before seeing this, to be honest. Seems like there would be more money to be had there, a larger potential lineup, and greater demand from gamers.

And would they want to release games that, in some cases, all but required the 3D effect to be playable on a handheld that otherwise fully supports optional 2D viewing for those customers that can't view the 3D effect or prefer running it in 2D? I've been told that the excellent Wario Land release is one such game that probably wouldn't translate too well in 2D due to the excellent use of the 3D effect in the title (I've never played a Virtual Boy, I have a lazy eye so I can't).

Would be nice to see it happen. I think the 3DS is the perfect avenue for this and there's some nice games, it seems, that deserve to not be forgotten. But I bet they don't.

[Cornelius]

I don't know, Leo. I think some of that "remember how terrible" vibe the VB has might actually drive sales today, at least for a portion of the market. Then there is another portion of the market that might be in the "wish I could have tried it out" category. We "these games are good and deserve recognition" gamers are a very slim market, but we do exist. But yeah, now that I type all this it occurs to me that 95% of the people that buy 3DS games still probably have never even heard of the VB.

And yet the G&W Ball reproduction exists in the Club Nintendo marketplace.

[Aussie2B]

I would imagine that the fascination with the G&W series these days stems largely from its inclusion in Smash Bros.

[Gameguy]

Can Virtual Boy games even be ported over to the 3DS properly? I haven't read up on how the 3DS displays 3D but wouldn't it be different to how the Virtual Boy did it?

[Cryomancer]

I've been playing some VB games in an emulator, in 2D. They still look really cool, even without the 3D effect. The graphics are similar to the kind you see on pinball LCDs, where it's just different brightnesses of one color, and they look pretty awesome. And Wario is a really good game. I'm all for it.

[Leo_A]

Can Virtual Boy games even be ported over to the 3DS properly? I haven't read up on how the 3DS displays 3D but wouldn't it be different to how the Virtual Boy did it?

They both achieve their 3D effect through providing different screens for each eye.

[goatdan]

I like the thought of this, although I would hope you could change the color from red to anything-but-just-red. And I think that is where the cost would be...

[NE146]

While I agree it would make sense.. it also would have made sense to make Game & Watch Gallery 5 ever since the first DS Phat came out, but they have yet to do it :bawling: (no, the lazy japanese Nintendo Club ones don't count).

But yes.. virtual boy on the 3DS. Why the heck not.. shove it as a 3D classics download. If they could spend the time making NES Xevious 3D, then they can port the VB games too. But knowing Nintendo's penchant for oddly avoiding the coolest things they could do with their IP that fans would love, I kind of doubt it will ever happen

[j_factor]

I would imagine that the fascination with the G&W series these days stems largely from its inclusion in Smash Bros.

Game & Watch Gallery came well before that. It was pretty popular, as I recall.

[Drath]

Nintendo isn't one for recalling failures; featuring games from a failure handheld on a close-to-failure handheld system? Probably not happening.

[Baloo]

Game & Watch Gallery came well before that. It was pretty popular, as I recall.

The first G&W Gallery was on the original Game Boy, then 2 and 3 were on Game Boy Colo and 4 was on GBA.

All are way awesome updates of the old LCD Game & Watch games which frankly, get boring after a while.

[spoonman]

I have thought about VB games on the 3DS since it was first shown at E3! It would make perfect sense and it's really their only chance to try and make a few bucks from some of these classics again.

And yes they do look great on the 3DS! You can see how they look on the 3DS by grabbing the files from this site.
**Rom link removed**

They also have some great examples of the Sega Master System 3D games too

I just hope Nintendo can pull this off before someone does it through homebrew.


Umm.. That wasn't a ROM link it was an archive of LEGAL 3D pictures to show what the VB games would look like on your 3DS using the 3DS's picture viewer.
This is why I don't post more than a few posts every year. :(

[PapaStu]

Umm.. That wasn't a ROM link it was an archive of LEGAL 3D pictures to show what the VB games would look like on your 3DS using the 3DS's picture viewer.
This is why I don't post more than a few posts every year. :(

This is your third post in 4 years on the forum. The pic you provided is tagged 'jailbreak scene' and shows an emulator running VB romz. Your post states to go there and grab the 'files'. I made a leap and nuked the link. It appears that I was wrong. So go and drop it back in again if indeed it was nothing more than pics. It's not like I banned you, scolded you or did anything else to your post.

Would I like VB games on the 3DS? Sure. Do I think that it'll happen? Probably not.

[kupomogli]

Game & Watch Gallery came well before that. It was pretty popular, as I recall.

I think she means Game & Watch is as popular as it is now because of Super Smash Brothers. Much like how the Super Smash Brothers games created other niche followings, like how popular Earthbound is now compared to before(even before it was a popular game, but now it's really out there,) or how Fire Emblem's popularity in the US mostly stems from Melee and Brawl.

[BetaWolf47]

We're more likely to get remakes of the good games than ports of them. I'd like to see Atlus put Jack Bros. on there with redone graphics and music, and Virtual Boy Wario Land made in full color. If VB games were released again in any way, shape, or form, they wouldn't be referred to as VB games.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Remakes, probable. Ports of a VC type? Reasonable doubt comes to mind. LOL

[c0ldb33r]

I'd be happy with remakes as opposed to simple ports.

I'd be especially happy if the ports contained versions of the originals :D

[spoonman]

This is your third post in 4 years on the forum. The pic you provided is tagged 'jailbreak scene' and shows an emulator running VB romz. Your post states to go there and grab the 'files'. I made a leap and nuked the link. It appears that I was wrong. So go and drop it back in again if indeed it was nothing more than pics. It's not like I banned you, scolded you or did anything else to your post.

Would I like VB games on the 3DS? Sure. Do I think that it'll happen? Probably not.

Well, thanks for admitting your mistake. People can Google it if they want to see the pics in 3D on a 3DS.

Actually I've posted way more than that. Somewhere in the last 10 years my account was wiped and I started over. I think it was originally created in the late 90's.

http://frankeivind.net/blogg/wp-content/2011/05/nintendo_3ds_virtual_boy-530x397.jpg
Isn't an emulator. It's just a picture (from the linked files) on a 3DS screen.

Miyamoto has actually brought up the idea of VB games on the 3DS saying "Something like that could happen". So I'm not holding my breath, but if they are going to release games like Urban Champion as a 3D "Classic" I am guessing anything is possible!

[TonyTheTiger]

If they use the Virtual Boy name they would have to get the spin doctors working to retcon it from a mere commercial failure into a 3DS predecessor that was ahead of it's time. I can envision them marketing it as the beginning of the story. "See where it all began!"

Essentially they'd have to get people to actually believe that the Virtual Boy didn't crash and burn because it was the joke people remember it as but rather because the public just wasn't ready for it at the time. Perhaps due to all the water under the bridge and fuzzy memories it might actually work.

[Aussie2B]

Essentially they'd have to get people to actually believe that the Virtual Boy didn't crash and burn because it was the joke people remember it as but rather because the public just wasn't ready for it at the time.

I already believe that. :P

[substantial_snake]

I don't have any experience with the Vrtural BOy but I do see potential for a 3D classics line for all of the weird 3D experiments they can get the rights to.

I would love a Missile Command 3D SMS release.

[j_factor]

If they use the Virtual Boy name they would have to get the spin doctors working to retcon it from a mere commercial failure into a 3DS predecessor that was ahead of it's time. I can envision them marketing it as the beginning of the story. "See where it all began!"

Essentially they'd have to get people to actually believe that the Virtual Boy didn't crash and burn because it was the joke people remember it as but rather because the public just wasn't ready for it at the time.

The Game.com was a DS predecessor that was ahead of its time. The public just wasn't ready for it. Now where's the Game.com DS ports? :)

Instead of Sonic Classic Collection for DS, they should have ported the Game.com version of Sonic Jam!

[spoonman]

The Game.com was a DS predecessor that was ahead of its time. The public just wasn't ready for it. Now where's the Game.com DS ports? :)

Instead of Sonic Classic Collection for DS, they should have ported the Game.com version of Sonic Jam!

Haha.. I hope that was a joke. :P
I think the Nintendo Game & Watches from the 80's had that tech beat.

I would like to see some Atari Lynx and Game Gear games on the 3DS VC though. Lynx Paper Boy & STUN Runner come to mind.

[R.Sakai]

At first I was like "eh, ew"

Then I realized I'd probably buy new copies of Wario Land and Jack Bros. to play on something that didn't require some assembly to use.

Wario Land is the only Mario game I've played to 100%, More people need to have played it, and I'm down for more people being able to play it. It really was a damn good game :)

[TonyTheTiger]

If they do end up doing something like this they really should add 2 player support to the games that should have it.

[Nz17]

I'm reviving this thread not to ask, "Will Virtual Boy games appear on any of Nintendo's modern consoles' eShop as part of the Virtual Console?" (I believe at this point we can pretty much correctly conclude that the answer is, "Nope.") I'm reviving this thread to ask, "Why doesn't it happen?" In your opinions, what is the answer? Lack of good VB games? Lack of VB games? Lack of 'real' interest? Difficulty in programming a VB emulator? Shame over the commercial failure of the VB?

We know this much: It isn't because Nintendo of America or Nintendo of Europe is denying us what Japan has. Nintendo of Japan certainly hasn't made VB anything appear on the Wii, 3DS, or Wii U. (Unless you count cameos in Warioware games, which while appreciated, are really just recreated slices of VB games.)

[The Adventurer]

NintendoLife did a series of youtube videos showing VB games displayed in 3D that could be viewed directly on the 3DS in 3D. It was pretty cool. So we know its POSSIBLE for VB games to display properly on a 3DS.

At this point I suspect there simply aren't enough VB games Nintendo owns to make building a custom emulator for 3DS to make it worth their wile.

[SparTonberry]

Yes, I think it is that Nintendo doesn't see it as ultimately profitable to invest in development of a Virtual Boy emulator.
Given that only 22 games total were released (although there were some prototypes, and I'd really love to see Dragon Hopper if it was supposedly finished), and even then I don't think more than half of THOSE have a chance of being released (licensing). And even then probably the only game with a signficant demand is probably VB Wario Land.

[celerystalker]

I think it's the lack of interest to generate profit. You'd get some curiousity buys and a niche audience, but it's likely to be a poor seller, like many things many of us would like. The thing that has driven VB prices on the secondary market is the same thing that has pushed Jaguar CD and 32X library prices-a small library that's plausible to collect. There's a cross-section of buyers who would also go after those games on 3DS, but they're sadly probably correct to think that there isn't money there.

I think they might have a better chance if they collected some of the games in a "Lost Mario Works" collection that would bring together a compilation of the obscure Mario franchise games: Wario Land, Mario Clash, Mario & Wario, Mario's Super Picross, VB Mario Tennis, Hotel Mario, Mario Teaches Typing, etc. Mario is probably a more viable marketing platform than Virtual Boy, so I think we'd have a better shot at that.

[The Adventurer]

Selling some kind of 'Virtual Boy Compilation' release, rather then sell individually on the VC. Might actually be a better idea. Have Mario Clash, Mario Tennis, Virtual Wario Land, Teleroboxer, and Red Alarm in a single release and you've basically hit all the important bases.

[Tanooki]

And Galactic Pinball too, but I agree with the above post. There needs to be a download, and if popular a physical release (like how DuckTales went) where you can get a package of the 1st party titles for like $20-30. I bet you it would sell very nicely as a 3DS download since you could do the 3D without the googles.

[Leo_A]

The best chance something like Wario Land has, is to distance itself from the Virtual Boy if it were to be rereleased.

Port and colorize it and position it as a 3D Classic, with no mention of its Virtual Boy roots. And satisfy the fans that are aware of its nature with a setting that can be triggered for original graphics.


I'm reviving this thread to ask, "Why doesn't it happen?" In your opinions, what is the answer? Lack of good VB games? Lack of VB games? Lack of 'real' interest? Difficulty in programming a VB emulator? Shame over the commercial failure of the VB?

I feel like my response earlier in this thread was pretty much right on the mark. To sum up the basic points, it goes pretty much like this.

1. Poor reputation
2. Too expensive to port
3. Too expensive to emulate

But it all goes back to the Virtual Boy's reputation, much of it unfairly earned, as a miserable failure. Sadly, that's not reflective of reality since Nintendo surely knew this was a risky proposition. So that it failed wasn't exactly a shock and shouldn't be held against it to the degree that it has been. I'd say that the Wii U is far worse of a failure with expectations like selling 10 million units alone in 2013, a figure that only now has been reached. They half expected this result with the Virtual Boy, but the Wii U was supposed to be a hit coming off the Wii with its 100 million units sold.

Despite its commercial performance, those that have actually played this and given it a chance have realized that the Virtual Boy has several good games. But much like E.T., too many that know little to nothing about this have been spreading how big of a disaster this was for too many years. That makes it a difficult proposition to justify the expenditure to make some of this material available again.

It's the absence of their early 80's arcade library that is the much more puzzling of the two, and is more deserving of complaints from folks like ourselves. Easy to excuse this, but difficult to justify something like Mario Bros. not being available in arcade form on modern Nintendo platforms.

[The Adventurer]

But it all goes back to the Virtual Boy's reputation, much of it unfairly earned, as a miserable failure. Sadly, that's not reflective of reality since Nintendo surely knew this was a risky proposition.

Oh yeah it was. Nintendo knew full well when the put the system in stores that it was going to flop. But that's business, when you reach a certain point of development and you have contracts with all your manufacturers and developers its cheaper over all to kick your flying turd out the door, rather then shut down the process mid stride. Its just one of those things.


Its also why the DD64 eventually came out in Japan to piss poor support/reception. But at least they didn't push that out in North America too.

[Leo_A]

I really doubt that they knew it was going to flop. At least at some point in the process until fairly late in the going, they must've thought they stood a solid chance of succeeding.

But they undoubtably had to of known that the risk was very high. But they must've also thought it was one worth taking.

[The Adventurer]

Not true, early on it might have looked like a promising bit of tech. But as development went on it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the VB was never going to be a GB replacement purely based on how cumbersome it was.

Nintendo's mistake was trying to turn a bit of novelty technology into a flagship console. If they had licensed the tech to a toy company or something, it might have been a success n some fashion. But as a Nintendo backed console it was doomed to fail.

And when you spend millions developing a turkey, you might as well get a few hundred thousand back on your investment to take the sting out of it. And yes, maybe it might randomly be a success despite itself. But that's usually a realistic expectation.

It's the same reason obviously bad video games are still published (see: Aliens Colonial Marines or Sonic Boom). It's not that company's want to push out turds, it's because they HAVE to after certain amount of money is pumped into it.

[FieryReign]

Don't think I've ever heard so much clamoring for VB games before. People are really digging at the bottom of the barrels from the past. What's next, requests for Nintendo's CDi lineup on WiiU?

Aside from the Wario game, there is nothing worthwhile to play on the system. You can't really expect them to redraw red pixel art. Or do you really like staring at fugly bloody graphics?

The thing was a piece of garbage, anyone defending it or Nintendo for bringing it out is just talking out their ass. They really thought the thing was portable? Did they really expect us to be walking around with big retarded visors strapped to our heads? Or for people just to ignore the headaches and eye strain? I honestly don't think that was their vision for the future. They obviously didn't use quality control and just pushed it out the door. They put too much trust in Mr. Gameboy hoping for lightning to strike twice. Somebody at Nintendo didn't have the cojones to tell him it was a stupid idea.

[Leo_A]

I don't think we really disagree. Nintendo had what they thought was a promising idea, but likely realized fairly late in the going that they were going down the wrong track. That of course left them the choice to either kill it and eat the loss, or experiment and follow through with it and glean what they could from it. Not like they had to worry too much over an experimental failure, considering their reputation and business position at the time.

If nothing else, by following through, I bet this early experiment in 3D gaming provided some valuable research for the preliminary stages of the development of the 3DS, over a decade later.


But as development went on it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the VB was never going to be a GB replacement purely based on how cumbersome it was.

I wasn't paying attention to the media at that time, but I would hope that they weren't even trying for that since at least in retrospect, it seems like an idiotic idea to replace a portable line with something as cumbersome and bulky as this. Rather, to borrow a word that I think didn't appear in Nintendo lexicon until a number of years later, I imagine/hope it was an attempt to create a "third tier" of Nintendo hardware.

That said, the Game Boy line sure seemed pretty static back in 1995...

[Leo_A]

Meant to edit all this into that post above...

Oh well


What's next, requests for Nintendo's CDi lineup on WiiU?

http://www.nintendolife.com/forums/wii_u_virtual_console/would_you_buy_the_philips_cd_i_mario_and_zelda_gam es

Came across that recently, so there does seem to be be someone out there that actually wants to see that happen. And I can understand how it bugs a Zelda fanatic that there's some videogames out there with that plastered across the title screen, that they don't have access to.

Of course, few would actually ever play through these games. A much better wish would be to see Nintendo craft a playable game out of the Link to the Past based BS Zelda broadcasts from the Satellaview, since people would actually enjoy such a thing and it would be more than just a mere curiosity for most.


Aside from the Wario game, there is nothing worthwhile to play on the system.

I suspect that Wario Land really is what everyone has in mind with this idea. That, and it just seems like a neat idea to rerelease early 3D attempts from Nintendo, on today's 3D capable Nintendo platform.

Hopefully they remake that Wario Land game one of these days. A remake, rather than a port or emulation, is a much more sensible option in my eyes. So something more along the lines of the Game & Watch conversions, that turns this...

http://www.mariowiki.com/images/7/71/Game_watch_fire_widescreen.jpg

Into this...

http://www.mariowiki.com/images/8/82/Fire_GW4.PNG

Although the geek inside of me would love to see the option of original graphics like they provide with those G&W releases, even though I'd never really play it with that setting.

[Jorpho]

Is there actually a full-speed Virtual Boy emulator with sound for any platform at the moment? Last time I checked, there was no such thing, or at least it was pretty CPU-demanding.

Of course, lack of emulation doesn't rule out the possibility of remakes – except unless they kept the development materials around, trying to replicate things with nothing but an actual VB sounds laborious.

[Tanooki]

Fiery that's a bit over the line both on the VB and even the CDi stuff (well some of it.)

Leo is right, people want it. I've seen stories over the years wanting VB stuff a lot more than the CDi, but in the present market where the 3DS is fine and the WiiU is an anchor I've seen more of these stories pop up and the comments feeds strongly show(they're long) people having an interest. Surely it would be dumbassed entirely to make a physical release as it's still a gamble, but it's nothing Nintendo hasn't done before (again Leo - Game & Watch Gallery 1-4 classic vs modern modes.) With the 3DS already doing 3D you could take the existing materials and just either recode or emulate the old game, then do a modern colorized version (in this case I'd make the red a throwback fun mode for those wanting it.)

Sure the library was crap for size but the games there were actually fairly good. Nintendo gambled and rightly lost on that one, too much $, stuck to a table, and a vocal minority even helped bury it bitching about eye damage and head aches. Wario Land is key, but second to that 3rd party left to the side here (as Panic Bomber is on TG16 CD too and Super Famicom), Mario Clash, Nester's Funky Bowling, Teleroboxer, Galactic Pinball, and Red Alarm as good candidates to do the conversion. As a 3D Classics type download item it could work. Mario and Wario would sell itself. Red Alarm is star fox lite, and the sports and pinball stuff people tend to be attracted to on various platforms.


Jorpho (and others) http://www.emulator-zone.com/doc.php/virtualboy/vbjin.html <-- emulator
VB Emulator FOR the 3DS!
http://www.planetvb.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=30678#forumpost30678
https://gbatemp.net/threads/red-dragon-3ds-nintendo-virtual-boy-emulator-port.374558/

Snatcher Demo 1 just release for the Virtual Boy
http://www.planetvb.com/modules/news/

People still make games and port to it, plus protos have been popping up and getting finished up! (if needed) or just released as they're done too.
http://www.planetvb.com/modules/news/

Even Hyper Fighting (aka Street Fighter 2)
http://www.planetvb.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=395

Unreleased(officially) games, some like Faceball, Bound High, english version of Space Squash, and others have popped up too.
http://www.planetvb.com/modules/games/?u

Surprisingly people do give a shit about the Virtual Boy and it has an active development community both with emulation, emulation on other hardware, and also releasing lost games and making/porting their own and come out with slower regularity.

[celerystalker]

Don't think I've ever heard so much clamoring for VB games before. People are really digging at the bottom of the barrels from the past. What's next, requests for Nintendo's CDi lineup on WiiU?

Aside from the Wario game, there is nothing worthwhile to play on the system. You can't really expect them to redraw red pixel art. Or do you really like staring at fugly bloody graphics?

The thing was a piece of garbage, anyone defending it or Nintendo for bringing it out is just talking out their ass. They really thought the thing was portable? Did they really expect us to be walking around with big retarded visors strapped to our heads? Or for people just to ignore the headaches and eye strain? I honestly don't think that was their vision for the future. They obviously didn't use quality control and just pushed it out the door. They put too much trust in Mr. Gameboy hoping for lightning to strike twice. Somebody at Nintendo didn't have the cojones to tell him it was a stupid idea.

I would never try to defend it as a smart business decision in the least. This post sure leads me to believe that you've never played one, though, to say the games are fugly and that there's nothing other than Wario Land worth playing. There was never good business sense involved, but just objectively playing the games, most look great in motion, and several are quite fun. Teleroboxer is a truly fun game, as are Mario Tennis, Mario Clash, Vertical Force, and Panic Bomber. Do those games make it a good purchase? No. However, as they exist and are fun to play, it's not insane to be interested in a re-release or re-make.

The CD-i lineup... actually, in several other threads I've said this, too, but Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon are fun games with goofy cutscenes that really recall the days of Nintendo's Valiant comics and cartoons. When they were being developed, only 2 wildly different Zeldas had been released, so all of the complaining about their inconsistencies with the main series are ridiculous. They have their issues, but most people who have actually played them tend to have a positive opinion of them, and the same goes for Hotel Mario. I hated Zelda's Adventure, but I don't blame people for wanting a way to officially try it out without spending tons of money.

Overall, both of those systems are poor values. People aren't crazy to want to play legitimately curiousities or quality games that came out on them, and your post makes it sound like you've not actually played any of this on real hardware and are just taking the very typical hardline stance of someone who read about this all online and watched some AVGN reviews.

Edit: I like Tanooki's mention color re-makes with the option for a classic red mode, too.

[SparTonberry]

Don't think I've ever heard so much clamoring for VB games before. People are really digging at the bottom of the barrels from the past. What's next, requests for Nintendo's CDi lineup on WiiU?

Aside from the Wario game, there is nothing worthwhile to play on the system. You can't really expect them to redraw red pixel art. Or do you really like staring at fugly bloody graphics?

The thing was a piece of garbage, anyone defending it or Nintendo for bringing it out is just talking out their ass. They really thought the thing was portable? Did they really expect us to be walking around with big retarded visors strapped to our heads? Or for people just to ignore the headaches and eye strain? I honestly don't think that was their vision for the future. They obviously didn't use quality control and just pushed it out the door. They put too much trust in Mr. Gameboy hoping for lightning to strike twice. Somebody at Nintendo didn't have the cojones to tell him it was a stupid idea.

Actually "Mr. Game Boy" had struck gold a few times. Game & Watch, Metroid, Game Boy...
It's said Virtual Boy was actually an unfinished console and Yokoi quit Nintendo because they rushed his invention out half-cooked. (though we'll never know what he wanted because of his death a couple years later when he was probably still under NDA)

[Guntz]

Don't think I've ever heard so much clamoring for VB games before. People are really digging at the bottom of the barrels from the past. What's next, requests for Nintendo's CDi lineup on WiiU?

Aside from the Wario game, there is nothing worthwhile to play on the system. You can't really expect them to redraw red pixel art. Or do you really like staring at fugly bloody graphics?

The thing was a piece of garbage, anyone defending it or Nintendo for bringing it out is just talking out their ass. They really thought the thing was portable? Did they really expect us to be walking around with big retarded visors strapped to our heads? Or for people just to ignore the headaches and eye strain? I honestly don't think that was their vision for the future. They obviously didn't use quality control and just pushed it out the door. They put too much trust in Mr. Gameboy hoping for lightning to strike twice. Somebody at Nintendo didn't have the cojones to tell him it was a stupid idea.

I can play this game too, watch.

The Virtual Boy was incredibly unique and too ahead of its time, anyone berating it or Nintendo is just talking out of their ass. The Virtual Boy wasn't meant to be portable like the Game Boy at all, it was portable in the tabletop sense of the word in that it didn't need a TV or speakers or even an AC adapter to work. Nintendo did not release a headstrap, so no I don't think they expected people to wear them while walking around. The Virtual Boy doesn't actually cause headaches or eyestrain, that usually happens if stupid people fail to configure the IPD and focus before using. Although the VB is experimental, it still had an incredible Nintendo quality to it, from the product design to the instruction manuals to the controller. Nearly every individual part of the Virtual Boy has the Nintendo logo on it somewhere. I for one am happy that we have one more game console to remember Gunpei Yokoi by, even if a lot of people hate it.

I own two solder-repaired Virtual Boy consoles and a nice stack of games, it's one of my favorite Nintendo consoles, believe it or not. After having played a fully working VB, I believe 90% of Virtual Boy haters have never actually played one. I for one can tell you that the red graphics aren't anywhere near as harsh as online pictures might have you believe. The soft glow of the LEDs works with the black background to put my eyes in low light mode, where it's easier to take in the red. After a while you will not really notice that everything is in red. I am probably at a massive advantage in that I can play VB for hours and still be able to see in full color in real life shortly after playing, must have something to do with my tolerance for red.

I suspect the main reason why a lot of people say they hate VB is they've only ever looked at screenshots or watched YouTube videos. Both of those sources are almost always displayed against a white web page. That and the images aren't being viewed on the original LED display, which just increases the harshness of the reds. Also, most virtual boy screenshots are really poor, like they were copied from magazines.

[The Adventurer]

My love/interest in the Virtual Boy come from very brief plays on Demo units at SEARS back in the late 90s. That shit blew my mind. The fact that its games are so inaccessible is a frustration of mine as a gamer.

[Rickstilwell1]

Is there actually a full-speed Virtual Boy emulator with sound for any platform at the moment? Last time I checked, there was no such thing, or at least it was pretty CPU-demanding.

Of course, lack of emulation doesn't rule out the possibility of remakes – except unless they kept the development materials around, trying to replicate things with nothing but an actual VB sounds laborious.

The modded Wii has a good one called Wiirtual Boy. I believe it is the best Virtual Boy emulator in existence.

For some reason I haven't been able to find a working rom of Mario's Tennis though (and this includes not working on the crappy PC emulators either). Maybe if I get lucky I'll find a different rom set that identifies the one I downloaded as a bad dump.

[Tanooki]

Good post Guntz, and I know my eyes are 'rare' too as I could take it for hours on end and not end up having issues popping out of it, nor did it ever once make me sick or give me headaches. Portable is subjective, it just wasn't tethered to a tv, but yeah no one ever sold a head strap either. I think it probably was a somewhat unfinished work from talk in the days, as it appeared more likely they had attempted to do RGB and the colors were so bloody expensive in the day they settled on RED to speed it along and get it out for a better (sub $200) price, I think it was $170. I've had most of the US library and a couple of the cheap JP titles too as I've owned it off/on twice since the original retail buy in the 90s. My issue with it isn't that it's crap, it's crap that it's treated like that, got few releases, and little respect so I ran out of stuff to play being bored with it. Had the development community of the last 2~ years been around 4 years ago when I last had one I'd still own it. With all the prototypes coming out finished, or unfinished and people finish them up via hacking, the new games (street fighter 2/turbo clone, that fish game, etc) and the rest been there I'd be satisfied. I'd also have bought that VB flash cart because people charging like a 1000 for Gundam and Space Invaders can suck it.

[Manhattan Sports Club]

I hope this happens eventually. Dragon Hopper is one of my most wanted prototypes of all-time along side Twelve Tales and Sonic 1 beta.

[Tanooki]

Dragon Hopper I read there are a few protos around, but no one is talking as much to straight up admit they physically own it, so who knows. Given the date it should have come out in the US it's likely a finished game and floating, somewhere. Bound High never made it out either, but that one has a ROM you can find online.

[Niku-Sama]

wait the VB failed? I thought they were releasing a hatsune miku game on it on may 26th?

[SparTonberry]

Nintendo did not release a headstrap, so no I don't think they expected people to wear them while walking around.
That would've been a lawsuit waiting to happen.

I played my Game Boy ONCE while walking around before realizing it's a bad idea.
But of course you see idiots running around while staring at their phones instead of where they're going all the time. I remember reading a story once of supposedly NY making laws because of people on their phones walking into traffic regularly. :P

[Tanooki]

Of course people don't have common sense, why do you think they now have to have texting/reading bans while driving. You know because while you're reading you can still use your psychic powers to see the road and your telekinetic ones to manipulate the pedals and wheels. I mean who doesn't do that? Geez.

[The Adventurer]

Maybe I'm just special, but I never had a problem walking and reading.

I certainly would never text and drive though. But walking? My Peripheral vision works just fine.

[Tanooki]

I can see very wide and clear too, but going by the amount of stupid videos online of people texting and falling into a fountain or something/one else I think we're in the minority or just pay attention a bit better.