In the 80s, a time when Virtual Reality was a rather futuristic but unattractive concept for developers due to the technical limitations of the time, one of the most respected and important members of Nintendo, Gunpei Yokoi, creator of the successful and very called Game Boy, felt that the ''Virtual Reality'' would be the future of the videogame industry; And from there the idea of developing a console that was capable of fluidly emulating an augmented reality at the same time as a 3D sensation, the console was portable and could be played cooperatively; Something quite visionary from every point of view, because no one had tried something like this before. And much less thought for something like entertainment.
In 1991 the development of the console began, with its code name ''VR-32'', was announced in 1994 as ''the first console capable of displaying stereoscopic 3D graphics'' and launched in 1995 the Virtual Boy a portable console developed and distributed by Nintendo. It had a total of 800,000 units sold in the world. And it was discontinued and the year after its release because it had not succeeded in Japan or in America. It featured a rather short games catalog of a total of 30 games, of which only 22 were released in the rest of Japan. It is considered the first major failure of Nintendo. This is how this console was born, or at least it is a good summary.
Reasons for their failure
Some important points by which the virtual boy can be considered a failure
Cause headache. Yes, the bad point that both mention the Virtual Boy and one of the main reasons why this console failure, is true, but not entirely, I mean, the console used a 32-bit processor whose potential is divided to create two images, one for each eye, which is the way to generate a 3D effect. Each of the images was created by a row of 224 vertical leds, a lens and a system of mirrors that rotated 50 times per second, the leds that were used were only red, which were the cheapest to use, it happens that final console only reflected the black and red, being with the console playing playing normally noticed that the red lighting was very strong and annoying to the eye, and to remove the console from above and receive the blow of light after having been in the dark and with that red glow, the contrast you get is the real big cause of headache. But playing a dark room the experience is not so bad. The same is very bad so I do not recommend playing it for 20 minutes.
It was an uncomfortable console trying to sell to the public as a ''portable console'' something that although it is true, it was not at all a virtue, looking in a way related to the portability of the Game Boy, and nothing to do, because you could only play while sitting and in a very uncomfortable posture, because the Virtual Boy's own parales had to be on a flat surface at all times, if it was not quite unstable. It is also necessary to take into consideration that 6 AA batteries are necessary to make it portable, that although it is not such a bad thing, knowing that even the Classic Game Boy demanded 4, it is annoying to know that unlike the Game Boy that lasted with 4 AA batteries 15 hours with 30 minutes, the Virtual Boy with 6 AA batteries only lasted approximately 2 hours on, corroborated by me.
Its game catalog was very short, 30 games around the world, of which only 22 came to America. In addition most of the games did not take advantage or use the technical specifications of the console, they were games that you could see in the **Game Boy **Games such as Tetris, Golf or Galactic Pinball were games that did not bring anything really new, only2 games tried to show that ''Augmented reality''.
It was promised that the console was going to be able to have a cooperative or multiplayer mode, something that could never be due to the need for a special cable that had never been sold. There were a couple of games that were supposed to be played by up to 8 players, but the cable just did not come out. In addition to that accessories were needed to improve the comfort of the console. At least it is appreciated that there was a power adapter that saved you from having to spend a million in batteries, but it was very uncomfortable to be connected to a socket and at the same time play, because with the short cable of the Virtual control Boy was limiting you more than how limited it was to play normally.
Although not everything was bad of the Virtual Boy
The Virtual Boy despite his faults and errors in his design had surprisingly good things, or that do not get to be bad at all.
Their games, which despite having a very reduced catalog of games, some were very good and shone by having a special essence or having ideas very well implemented in this console. At this point I want to individually highlight a few games. How can Teleroboxer be a game that I own and could enjoy a lot, it is a robot fighting game in the style of Punch-Out but totally in first person, it becomes quite immersive and it is a game that enjoys a very high difficulty, it is one of those who best takes control of the Virtual Boy.
There is also the ''Virtual Boy Wario Land'' as the name says is a game of the Wario Land Saga exclusive to the Virtual Boy that turned out to be a very good game, perhaps the best game of the catalog of the Virtual Boy to have a very good gameplay, a decent implementation of 3D, a great soundtrack and for being one of the best Wario games to overcome even Wario games of other consoles. Unfortunately only the Virtual Boy came out and there are no signs of any Remake or close remaster.
There are also others that must be highlighted without going into them much as Red Alarm can be a** Star Fox** style game that knows how to take advantage of the 3D console, although in general it is a very simple game. And Mario Clash which is something like a remake of the Mario bros of all life, although adapting its mechanics to shine the 3D effect of the console which is not bad, but the game does not take long to be repetitive. And the Mario Tennis that was the first in the series, and came out on this console, was also the best-selling game.
Its merits the Virtual Boy is a console with some good and bad merits, it is the first console to play decently the 3D, the first portable console with a 32-bit processor (which I never use in any game) is the console that cheaper to be sold officially, liquidated in some stores for $25 and games in $3, and some parts of Latin America gave them away for the purchase of a Super Nintendo*.
His control, despite the fact that many complain about him, being "uncomfortable" or "different" for me is one of his strengths, since he is one of the most original that Nintendo has taken, comparable even to the one of Game Cube, which also criticized quite a lot in its time. This command of **Virtual Boyvv has *6 buttons, and 2 crossheads, two left wing buttons that are the STAR and the Select, two right wing that are the typical A and B and two back that would be the L and the R respectively, besides a crosshead on each side of the remote, which was quite strange but quite practical when playing games such as Teleroboxer as they gave a unique dynamism to the game, also directly connected the batteries or the power adapter on the back of the remote. A single drawback that I see the control, is that the cable is very short; and at the time of using the power adapter becomes a whole bundle because it connects directly to the control, then you end up entangling everything.
The Sound, if when you tried the Virtual Boy by chance you felt immersed, give thanks to the fantastic Stereo surround sound that has the console, its volume is very good, high and not at all stun. Many consoles should be envious of this virtue.
In conclusion:
First of all, although this console can be considered a resounding failure, we must know that the vast majority of people who judge and marginalize this device have never had close contact with it, they just repeat the echo that it is a bad console without even having tried it before, and it is normal because it was not a well distributed console and very few are those that have survived the passage of time, also unlike other Nintendo consoles this had very few sales being around 800,000 thousand sold throughout the world, something that is quite short compared to the 87 Million sales of the Classic Game Boy and the 31 Million of the Game Boy Color so they are very rare to achieve, we must also take into account that 23 years have now passed since it went on the market, so one in very good condition can be quite expensive, they tend to be a very popular piece among video game collectors, especially Nintendo, because of its rarity, and it is undoubtedly an essential part of their history. So if you have one in good condition and with a box, let me tell you that you have a treasure.
In very personal is not bad console; Or at least not at the level that they usually put it, had and has its flaws and its big flaws that made the console not have the expected success or up close, there were missing exclusive games and highlights that would face for it, they should also have I invested a little more money and time in developing this console better and not having cut the expenses to go out cheaper. Many errors that fortunately have not been repeated, and it is good because although it was a failure, it did not stop the company from continuing to make very good consoles and taking very good games today.
¿And is it worth having one?
Yes and no. If you have a collection it is essential to have it, it is a part of the important history of videogames and aesthetically it has an amazingly retro and eighties look that should not be missing in your game room.
If you do not have a collection, it's not worth it, it's an uncomfortable console, it has very few games that are really worth enjoying on that console, it's complicated to play in it for more than 10 minutes and some games can hurt you in the view, usually costs almost what a current console. It's not a bad console, it's just not good and it's not worth spending what it usually costs for it, there are cheaper ways to go blind.
¿Do you still want to try it?
These lucky since there are currently several emulators, in fact there is one in particular that is the best, for Android, which emulates very well the three-dimensional effects and the augmented reality experience that the Virtual Boy was looking for.
¿And you know what's best?
That you can vary the color of the games, you no longer have to endure the bright red characteristic of the console. And most importantly, many users say that does not generate the typical dizziness and headache that generates the original console. I'll leave the link below at the end.
Thank you very much for reaching the final, this was an analysis I wanted to do for a while, investigate too much and several data that you put is completely corroborated by me that you will not find anywhere else, like the duration of the 6 AA batteries in the console that nobody had been idle before to see how long it lasted. I thank the user @gabox because of the read and I made part of my summary of the history of this console, I will leave your post below, is extremely interesting and covers more closely the story of the development of the Virtual Boy by Gunpei Yoko. The vast majority of the post and images I use are from my authorizations taken by me with a SONY DSC-W620 camera. And the gif and images that of several pages that I will leave here below, although the rights belong completely to Nintendo-
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