You gotta give it to Nintendo though for experimenting and trying to do something different. Virtual boy, 3D gaming, portable console, motion controls..regardless on whether it fails or not..Nintendo is always trying to find new and different ways to play video games
Nintendo: Video games are toys. Sony: Video games are movies. MS: Sony is right! Maybe Nintendo is right? Nah, Sony. Hell, let's play the monopoly game.
Welcome to the Virtual Boy club, John. Still have mine from when i was a kid. Was really ahead of its time. Teleroboxer and Warioland are my favorites.
They probably think it's not worth the effort. Virtual Boy is considered a failure and Nintendo probably doesn't want to support a system that most people hate
Virtual Boy was a commercial failure, and considering how japanese people value honor, I guess they would never try to make profit out of what they see as something shameful. Just my guess.
Well, there you go. Despite the absolute disdain from most people in the gaming world for decades, it's apparently actually a surprisingly good experience in reality. I've only played the Virtual Boy emulators for VR in the likes of my Quest 3, and I personally thought the experience there was actually pretty cool. I honestly think if this thing had just strapped onto your face securely that it would have been far more compelling and, dare I say it, a much bigger hit. But it is what it is.
If they'd waited two years they could've made it affordable to do color and like half the problems people had are gone. A 1997 Virtual Boy could've also had substantially better processing than the 1995 one did. It was a little bit ahead of its time.
John your passion for the medium is inspiring! The pure joy you get from telling us about the VB is priceless. Kudos to Richard and Alex for playing along, this is top tier content guys 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏
Golf on Virtual Boy is still a good title. I love the music in that game. I got mine during the fire sale along with 3 games. Mario Tennis, Red Alarm, and Golf.
I think the word they were looking for is Kinetoscope, those old "movie vending machines" where you would drop a coin in the slot and look into a viewing window to see a short film. Quickly became the most convenient way to watch porn.
The entire Virtual Boy library across all regions is a mere 22 games. It's hard to even think of that. People dunk on the Sega CD's limited library but it was over 200 games.
I can remember walking into Torc Software in West London back in the early 90's and seeing the Virtual Boy on the counter with the shop owner Robin and all the customers loving playing on it. I didn't get to use to use it so I'm grateful for your review John. Cheers, happy memories!
Finally! It is great to hear the good things the VB could do, not just why it failed. Got one at launch and I was a happy kid! The "resolution" is really neat and crisp, not like any other screen of the time, but yes ,was only red and black . Still got mine...
I've always liked the Virtual Boy myself, as a kid I got one on clearance new in the late 90s for $27 and had a great time with it. Wario Land and Mario Clash were the main reasons I wanted one.
great to see john enjoying virtual boy! he didn’t mention too much about games he’s played, but red alarm, galactic pinball and mario tennis are some of my favorites!
I rented one from Blockbuster back in 1995ish, with teleroboxer and Golf i believe, the 3D was really cool and the controller is probably the most comfortable Nintendo gamepad to hold next to the Wavebird
Asa Virtual Boy owner since the 90's, I do feel the headache complaint is seriously overexaggerated. I used to play Red Alarm in a moving car and don't remember ever getting a headache. Motion sickness? Yeah. Headache? No. On a relevant note; Quest 3 has a pretty sweet Virtual Boy emulator which is a really fun experience. Not as good as the OG Virtual Boy, but more comfortable for sure.
I love thinking back to those tech items I saw as a kid where they failed because (in a sense) the concept was way too far ahead of it's time. Someone mentioned the Phillips CD-i on another channel and now this. I've been totally thrown back in time this week! Right concepts, wrong eras!
This brought me so much joy. It is the neatest little thing, everything he said is 100% accurate. So gimmicky, but with that Nintendo quality. Truly bizarre. 😂
I always loved virtual boy even back when they released it, rented the console from blockbuster many times, only was able to afford one when they went on clearance after it failed.
The nightmarish ergonomics compounded the uncomfortableness induced by the Virtual Boy's screen (before the internet existed to demonstrate the proper setup). Also at the time people were using CRTs so motion clarity was not as big a factor.
I had a Virtual Boy as a kid and thought it was the coolest thing ever. I only had Mario Tennis, Warioland, and the boxing game though. I just never found another game for it anywhere, so I eventually sold it at a yard sale years later to buy Beast Wars, lol.
VR Virtual Boy emulators are the best way to experience this system nowadays. You may not get the supreme clarity and black levels, unless your HMD has OLED in it, but it doesn't have to be stationary. You get that perfect 3D screen that floats in place and you can look around without it following you.
I feel like having the automated standing desk helped his opinion of this device a ton 😂. I tried one long ago as kid and it was neat, but i had to lay on the floor to use it, and also severely needed glasses. These days The Quest 3 with prescription lens inserts is the way!
The screens on the Virtual Boy are not exactly "screens" in the typical form. Each screen is a single vertical line of 224 leds (so, a resolution of 1x224) and instead of drawing horizontal lines, it draws vertical lines. With the help of an oscillating mirror next to each screen, and in sync with the leds, it draws each vertical line directly in your eye, not in a screen. It's kind of crazy, but it's how it works. Explaining it better. Imagine that the mirror is at 0°, the vertical led strip (224 pixels) draws the 1st line of the image. As the mirror oscilates, when the mirror is at 0'5° the led strip draws the 2nd vertical line of the image, and so on until it makes 384 colums, 50 times per second. It gets "proyected" directly in your eye thanks to the mirror.
I got the virtual boy when babbages or whatever the place was called sold them off for 20 bucks and loved it so much i wish they would have made so many more games for it.
My brother and I bought the virtual boy when walmart was selling them at a big discount because it was a flop. Looking into that thing was a bit magical. Playing mario tennis, teleroboxer and mario clash was actually very entertaining imo. I wanted to crawl into that red and black world and just stay there as a young teen 😁
I bought one of these in the early 2000s and sold it in the 2010s. After playing it over the first weekend I got it, it only came out us a novelty to show friends. I only had two games for it though.
I remember trying out the Virtua Boy at a Blockbuster years ago when it came out. I kind of wish I’d have bought one back then but I remember thinking that it would never take off with only shades of red and being inside of that peep box. 😂
I've never used a Virtual Boy but John just confirmed what I thought all these years: Virtual Boy is not a true VR device (It's more like a 3DS for your face). Back then it likely damaged VR's reputation so hard the effects are still felt today, and still lots of people don't take VR gaming seriously.
If Nintendo tries something and it fails, sooner or later they'll try again, with a better solution, and it'll succeed. Virtual Boy became the 3DS. WiiU became the Switch.
I played a Virtual Boy for a short period of time back when it came out. I don't remember much about the quality of the games (I think Wario Land was the only one I played that was decent). I do remember it having a uniquely high-quality screen in terms of contrast, but at the same time being limited to shades of red and having to sit uncomfortably still and slouched just to play it wasn't worth it.
@moosemaimer Labo was a very limited thing. Basically, you can play a few games in an awkward 3rd person view, then there were a few motion tracked minigame things. Nintendo should definitely do a proper VR + Switch hybrid.
I wonder if there could be a way to mod the virtual boy to attach a strap to it so you can wear it like a VR headset. Maybe it could be more comfortable that way. Fascinating... (In Rich's accent)
After buying a VB on launch day I returned it to Toys R us after a week for a full refund. I used "headaches" as a reason to return it. Massive flop for Nintendo.
Correction, John has bought a peepbox.
John needs to duct tape it around his face like AVGN did lol
😂 I gotta go find that video now again
feels like taking an eye exam!!!
I still have my Virtual Boy and I've always loved it. Wario Land is incredible, Red Alarm and Mario Tennis are a blast.
Same. Red Alarm was also my jam. The hate it got was definitely overblown.
You gotta give it to Nintendo though for experimenting and trying to do something different. Virtual boy, 3D gaming, portable console, motion controls..regardless on whether it fails or not..Nintendo is always trying to find new and different ways to play video games
Can't deny that it makes things more funny. (:
You forgot printeable stickers for the gameboy, i remember pokemon yellow having the 151 pokemon spaces so you could print the pokedex.
Nintendo: Video games are toys.
Sony: Video games are movies.
MS: Sony is right! Maybe Nintendo is right? Nah, Sony. Hell, let's play the monopoly game.
think those things in the past unless switch 2 has something different but kinda doubt it.
Welcome to the Virtual Boy club, John. Still have mine from when i was a kid. Was really ahead of its time. Teleroboxer and Warioland are my favorites.
John is happy!! Looking at his smile makes me happy…he is back to his childhood. ❤
Always wondered why they never ported Virtual Boy games to the 3DS. It would have been a perfect fit.
there is a virtual boy emulator for hacked 3dses and it works great
I think they'd rather pretend it doesn't exist lol
there is a VirtualBoy emulator for 3DS.... support 3D and everything
They probably think it's not worth the effort. Virtual Boy is considered a failure and Nintendo probably doesn't want to support a system that most people hate
Virtual Boy was a commercial failure, and considering how japanese people value honor, I guess they would never try to make profit out of what they see as something shameful. Just my guess.
Well, there you go. Despite the absolute disdain from most people in the gaming world for decades, it's apparently actually a surprisingly good experience in reality. I've only played the Virtual Boy emulators for VR in the likes of my Quest 3, and I personally thought the experience there was actually pretty cool. I honestly think if this thing had just strapped onto your face securely that it would have been far more compelling and, dare I say it, a much bigger hit. But it is what it is.
If they'd waited two years they could've made it affordable to do color and like half the problems people had are gone. A 1997 Virtual Boy could've also had substantially better processing than the 1995 one did. It was a little bit ahead of its time.
John your passion for the medium is inspiring! The pure joy you get from telling us about the VB is priceless. Kudos to Richard and Alex for playing along, this is top tier content guys 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏
Golf on Virtual Boy is still a good title. I love the music in that game. I got mine during the fire sale along with 3 games. Mario Tennis, Red Alarm, and Golf.
Huge missed opportunity not to release a VB game collection for the 3DS
"The Peep Box" deserves to be an animated short
I think the word they were looking for is Kinetoscope, those old "movie vending machines" where you would drop a coin in the slot and look into a viewing window to see a short film. Quickly became the most convenient way to watch porn.
The entire Virtual Boy library across all regions is a mere 22 games. It's hard to even think of that. People dunk on the Sega CD's limited library but it was over 200 games.
That's the fun thing about it. You can collect most of the library
Like the Sega 32X. NTSC library has 36 games, PAL 1 exclusive, NTSC-J 1 exclusive and Brazil 1 exclusive. Quite possible to collect.
I can remember walking into Torc Software in West London back in the early 90's and seeing the Virtual Boy on the counter with the shop owner Robin and all the customers loving playing on it. I didn't get to use to use it so I'm grateful for your review John.
Cheers, happy memories!
👮👮👮🚔🚔🚔🚓🚔👮♂️👮♂️
Hands up John, let go of your Virtual Boy.
Rich's face when he said "without having to bend over and look inside", priceless.
Finally! It is great to hear the good things the VB could do, not just why it failed. Got one at launch and I was a happy kid! The "resolution" is really neat and crisp, not like any other screen of the time, but yes ,was only red and black . Still got mine...
Personally I've always loved the stylistic quality of the red and black visuals.
I've always liked the Virtual Boy myself, as a kid I got one on clearance new in the late 90s for $27 and had a great time with it. Wario Land and Mario Clash were the main reasons I wanted one.
Every single pixel is extremely sharp, and you can see them all 😂
John is going to need a stronger pair of glasses real soon.
🤣🤣🤣
Now John must go to the Nintendo Museum and buy the Virtual Boy shirt and keychain
Actually uses precise timing with a vibrating mirror to take a single led line to create a full display.
the title sounds a bit weird :D
LOL
Oh no.
xD
Oh. Oh my...
On the contrary, it’s not surprising at all this year
How have the other two never heard of peepshows and peepboxes? Lmao😂
great to see john enjoying virtual boy! he didn’t mention too much about games he’s played, but red alarm, galactic pinball and mario tennis are some of my favorites!
I love mine. Had to have a few of them. Also the controller is so friggin amazing.
My favorite childhood migraine machine!
John has become The Virtual Man.
I used to have a virtual boy as a kid. Had wario, red alert, Mario clash, and Mario tennis. Virtual boy wario is awesome.
Thanks guys. I needed a laugh today 😂
5:45 you can tell Rich has checked out out of this nonsense 😂
Full length (60+ minutes) review please!
The Virtual Boy is awesome. Good job John!
I rented one from Blockbuster back in 1995ish, with teleroboxer and Golf i believe, the 3D was really cool and the controller is probably the most comfortable Nintendo gamepad to hold next to the Wavebird
Asa Virtual Boy owner since the 90's, I do feel the headache complaint is seriously overexaggerated. I used to play Red Alarm in a moving car and don't remember ever getting a headache. Motion sickness? Yeah. Headache? No.
On a relevant note; Quest 3 has a pretty sweet Virtual Boy emulator which is a really fun experience. Not as good as the OG Virtual Boy, but more comfortable for sure.
I love thinking back to those tech items I saw as a kid where they failed because (in a sense) the concept was way too far ahead of it's time. Someone mentioned the Phillips CD-i on another channel and now this. I've been totally thrown back in time this week!
Right concepts, wrong eras!
This brought me so much joy. It is the neatest little thing, everything he said is 100% accurate. So gimmicky, but with that Nintendo quality. Truly bizarre. 😂
What a SCOOP!
I always loved virtual boy even back when they released it, rented the console from blockbuster many times, only was able to afford one when they went on clearance after it failed.
The nightmarish ergonomics compounded the uncomfortableness induced by the Virtual Boy's screen (before the internet existed to demonstrate the proper setup).
Also at the time people were using CRTs so motion clarity was not as big a factor.
I had a Virtual Boy as a kid and thought it was the coolest thing ever. I only had Mario Tennis, Warioland, and the boxing game though. I just never found another game for it anywhere, so I eventually sold it at a yard sale years later to buy Beast Wars, lol.
VR Virtual Boy emulators are the best way to experience this system nowadays. You may not get the supreme clarity and black levels, unless your HMD has OLED in it, but it doesn't have to be stationary. You get that perfect 3D screen that floats in place and you can look around without it following you.
I actually miss this thing. I loved it when I had it.
I feel like having the automated standing desk helped his opinion of this device a ton 😂. I tried one long ago as kid and it was neat, but i had to lay on the floor to use it, and also severely needed glasses. These days The Quest 3 with prescription lens inserts is the way!
The screens on the Virtual Boy are not exactly "screens" in the typical form. Each screen is a single vertical line of 224 leds (so, a resolution of 1x224) and instead of drawing horizontal lines, it draws vertical lines. With the help of an oscillating mirror next to each screen, and in sync with the leds, it draws each vertical line directly in your eye, not in a screen. It's kind of crazy, but it's how it works. Explaining it better. Imagine that the mirror is at 0°, the vertical led strip (224 pixels) draws the 1st line of the image. As the mirror oscilates, when the mirror is at 0'5° the led strip draws the 2nd vertical line of the image, and so on until it makes 384 colums, 50 times per second. It gets "proyected" directly in your eye thanks to the mirror.
that is covered in the video
I got the virtual boy when babbages or whatever the place was called sold them off for 20 bucks and loved it so much i wish they would have made so many more games for it.
In 30 years you'll be pulling out the PSVR2 and all 12 games.
Also a Virtual Boy owner - Mario Tennis bangs!
I only vaguely remember playing mine, I do remember taking it apart though...
If you want to avoid neck cramps while using the Virtual Boy, I recommend laying down and placing the headset with stand on top of you.
Beautiful VR 🤩
Don't do it, John! Your eyes, we need your eyes!
My brother and I bought the virtual boy when walmart was selling them at a big discount because it was a flop. Looking into that thing was a bit magical. Playing mario tennis, teleroboxer and mario clash was actually very entertaining imo. I wanted to crawl into that red and black world and just stay there as a young teen 😁
BEST DF video EVER!!!
12 year old me loved my virtual boy. I played a ton. And no headaches.
I bought one of these in the early 2000s and sold it in the 2010s. After playing it over the first weekend I got it, it only came out us a novelty to show friends. I only had two games for it though.
Now you need a flash cart so you can play Faceball
I remember trying out the Virtua Boy at a Blockbuster years ago when it came out. I kind of wish I’d have bought one back then but I remember thinking that it would never take off with only shades of red and being inside of that peep box. 😂
I wonder if it still has that great 90's new nintendo packaging smell.
Enjoy! John.
So when we getting frame gen and an upscaler with the virtual boy?
Finally,y years of defending the Virtual Boy have been vindicated. They're not at all portable or convenient but actually playing one is pretty fun.
Hell yeah!
I love VB, but I have three. Two are just to keep the one alive. 😂
I've never used a Virtual Boy but John just confirmed what I thought all these years: Virtual Boy is not a true VR device (It's more like a 3DS for your face). Back then it likely damaged VR's reputation so hard the effects are still felt today, and still lots of people don't take VR gaming seriously.
I hope we get an eventual DF Retro episode on it.
The real secret to using the stand is to play VB laying down in bed. The stand rests on your chest to hold the unit upright. Best way to play.
Of course he has.
If Nintendo tries something and it fails, sooner or later they'll try again, with a better solution, and it'll succeed. Virtual Boy became the 3DS. WiiU became the Switch.
John, John, John
I played a Virtual Boy for a short period of time back when it came out. I don't remember much about the quality of the games (I think Wario Land was the only one I played that was decent). I do remember it having a uniquely high-quality screen in terms of contrast, but at the same time being limited to shades of red and having to sit uncomfortably still and slouched just to play it wasn't worth it.
i now want a peep box
3ds having a 50hz mode is news to me, very interesting!
Switch 2 VR looking good!
The true Nintendo handheld...
It's a shame such a legitimately good Wario Land game is stuck on the virtual boy
For the money you could either get a Somnium VR1 or a Virtual Boy...
If you ever need it repaired John let me know i repaired them.
I remember gamestop had clearance sales for 20 bucks
I couldn't use the virtual boy for over 30mins. I don't have VR legs either so there is that.
Wish they would have finished Donkey Kong Country 2 and VB Mario Land for it
This makes me wish Nintendo had a modern day VR system, so we could play these retro games (in addition to new ones obviously).
Wasn't there a LABO kit for that?
@moosemaimer Labo was a very limited thing. Basically, you can play a few games in an awkward 3rd person view, then there were a few motion tracked minigame things. Nintendo should definitely do a proper VR + Switch hybrid.
Still have mine!
I bought one back in the day. Still think it’s awesome. Hah
DF RETRO ON THE VIRTUAL BOY LETS GGOOOOOOOOOOOO
I wonder if there could be a way to mod the virtual boy to attach a strap to it so you can wear it like a VR headset. Maybe it could be more comfortable that way.
Fascinating... (In Rich's accent)
Bigscreen type vr headset for SW2....?
I didn't know this existed I'm interested. But not more interested in the direction Alex went with that peepbox boy tangent.
I think he was talking about those projector view boxes like they had in Bioshock Infinite, he should've made that reference.
Virtual boy but I want a Burguer boy
The Nintendo Peep Boy
I’m curious… how did all 3 of you meet? Obviously you all have different nationalities.
I’m curious about that too.
They work for Eurogamer
Mario Kart 8 Wii U Lobby
Does it have PSSR tho
I heard it will upscale your game boy games with an adapter 🤪
5:03 Proctologist desk?
But does it have 4k ray tracing 🤔
Considering the way it makes the image is a led array and moving mirrors reflecting the rays into your eyes, yeah. It's full physical raytracing haha
After buying a VB on launch day I returned it to Toys R us after a week for a full refund. I used "headaches" as a reason to return it.
Massive flop for Nintendo.
oh Boy 😅
i’m a Real Boy😊
?
Big Peep Box fan btw
Some things are just a waste of money.
John is the first ever virtual boy fanboy! Miyamoto revealed they were emulating virtual boy through Nintendo switch, so I hope that becomes publicly.
It's a red pimax
Alex is right, there used to be booth like "peep boxes" where you pay to look in and see pictures of naked women.