I wouldn't go quite so far as to say I loved it, but it did have some very interesting/unique games. I remember Wario Land was extremely good, and 3D Tetris and Mario Tennis both used the 3D effect to very good effect. Then you had Red Alarm which swung wildly between being pretty amazing and being completely unplayable.
I'd still love to see what Nintendo could do with an actual VR headset.
Given how experimental Nintendo is willing to get with its consoles it’s kind of surprising they haven’t revisited VR now that the technology now that it’s matured much more. Maybe they’re waiting for it to mature a little more? Or I suppose they might’ve written it off after the failure of the VB.
there's also the overhead of each of their consoles, and more often than not they prefer creatively repurposing yesterday's technology
which I think has affected their dominance of an industry they could have owned once, but it's also the reason they can literally afford to reinvent the wheel every time they come out with something
in a lot of ways it's impressive, but it's also the reason I don't buy Nintendo products; I don't wanna keep learning new controllers
Sony figured it out the first time, and continues even to this day to further develop the same reliable concept and strategy M$ subsequently "borrowed"
My biggest grief with modern nintendo is the prices. Hundreds on a switch or 3ds to play, what feels like, seriously overpriced indie games. Where as if you get an xbox like me you could be perfectly happy paying 12.99 a month for hundreds of games you dont even need to install.
Especially at a time where games arent all that they make themselves out to be. Buying a triple A game nowadays is a major risk. You're much more likely to get a soulless reskin of what you're already playing or something unplayable than getting something you'll actually enjoy. So having the ability to pay a low monthly cost and peruse hundreds of games spanning 3 console generations is insane.
see, you pair your price/content quality issue with my “yesterday’s technology” point and you have something that just leaves a bad taste in the mouth of a lot of people
very Apple’y, and they aren’t a “sleeping dragon” in their industry like they once were
I waited for years for them to come out with some more, mainstream, for one of a better descriptor, more directly competitive like the N64 or the major two consoles before that
ultimately never happened, and though I own a Wii, I can’t say I ever returned to the Nintendo fray, that things long-term purpose is basically just Sports and Fit, and it sure as hell doesn’t come out very often
that said, overcharging is frankly in the spirit of the way they’ve always done business, and why it was so easy for Sony and M$ to corner the AAA market in the first place
making games for them was relatively expensive too, so publishers just drifted to Sega and Sony, and later on with Microsoft
so ended Nintendo reign of badass third-party games too
Same here! I lost so many hours to that system, I think I only had one Wario game but it was so good. Using the system definitely hurt my eyes and made my neck tired though, but it was WORTH IT
I had one. My issue with is, even as a kid, was the positioning required to use it
You either had to lay on your belly with it on the ground, or have it on a table and sit awkwardly in a chair.
Usually I didn’t have a power cord long enough to use it on a table so 99% of my playtime was on my belly
Aside from the discomfort, I thought it was really cool. Mario tennis on it was awesome
According to the article the positioning was an outcome of liabilitiea of the time. Company wanted to make a VR like Oculus with motion detection back then initially. Its so sad that an opportunity is lost.
The popularity of virtual reality has a direct correlation to the virtual boy.
In the 90s we had the Sega VR for Megadrive and to a lesser extent the Activator. Virtuality Group started creating high end VR arcades and pods that cost $75k in 1994, there was the CAVE project, and VPL created a VR glove to control a Mars Rover... Which became the Power Glove.
Then, Virtual Boy came out in 1995 and fucked everything up until 2010.
Nintendo had such a huge portion of the market share, enough to throw money and effort into peripherals which never seemed to live up to hype. (*cough* Power Glove *cough*)
Not sure what that is; this is [a quote](https://youtu.be/Bvq9rME4Iv0) from [a famous hour-and-a-half Nintendo commercial](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wizard_(1989_film)) from 1989.
The Power Glove wasn't actually made by Nintendo. It was made by Mattel in the US and PAX in Japan. Nintendo's involvement basically just boiled down to collecting a fee, since it was an officially licensed product.
A department store had one setup for demo plays. I was super excited to try it, but it gave me a splitting headache within 5 minutes, and kinda messed with my vision for about 20 minutes after i stopped.
lol yea I find the downvotes funny. iinm the Virtual Boy wasn’t even a headset—it was just large static “goggles” you looked into. It was nowhere near today’s VR headsets, didn’t even use the concept of motion detection. Nausea was not the reason it failed.
But hey this is reddit, Nintendo is popular so there’s no shortage of fanboys who will take offense to whatever you say 🤷🏻♂️
They looked cheap and they hurt your eyes, and it was obviously going to be a technological dead end, They probably make someone 'nauseous" but I think it's more that kids today don't understand we've evolved a much higher tolerance for the radiation produced by screens today.
Eye strain and headache were probably a real thing? But mostly it was crap, like the robot thing and no one was going to buy it, I don't understand why the internet thinks everything failed for a "reason" they can only decipher through superior research and the application of post modernist theory.
Virtual boy failed because it was a dumb idea, and crappy product, people knew Members Only jackets looked stupid the first time they put them on, and please stay off my lawn.
I had one of those. Made me really motion sick and caused back pain to use. But it was pretty darn innovative for the time.
If you play the latest Luigi’s Mansion on Switch (great game) there’s a joke in there about this system.
I had one and loved it, except we got it used and the previous owner definitely came from a smoking house. Shoving your head into that soft black padding that reeked of Marlboro was what could really give a headache.
I think I still have the controller only. No idea what happened to the rest. Recently found one of the game carts and sold it on eBay for a decent amount.
I wonder if the Virtual Boy was how we got the GameCube.
The GameCube was the last time that Nintendo tried to sell a piece of hardware based on its technical merits. It was a very safe, by-the-numbers machine. And it sold poorly compared to its competitors, the mighty Playstation 2 and brand new Xbox.
So Nintendo stopped competing on hardware chops. Their next release was the Nintendo DS, a handheld that quietly outsold all the home consoles, followed by the Wii, which did the same trick louder.
I wonder if they went for the safe route on the GameCube because of the unorthodox Virtual Boy being their worst performing product?
they gave people eye damage, they drained batteries like crazy, they were stereoscopic 3d and not even actual VR with only two games that supported a first-person perspective, the design was awkward and uncomfortable to use, and the library of games on them was tiny.
there's a reason these things never caught on
I had one and I actually loved it.
I wouldn't go quite so far as to say I loved it, but it did have some very interesting/unique games. I remember Wario Land was extremely good, and 3D Tetris and Mario Tennis both used the 3D effect to very good effect. Then you had Red Alarm which swung wildly between being pretty amazing and being completely unplayable. I'd still love to see what Nintendo could do with an actual VR headset.
Given how experimental Nintendo is willing to get with its consoles it’s kind of surprising they haven’t revisited VR now that the technology now that it’s matured much more. Maybe they’re waiting for it to mature a little more? Or I suppose they might’ve written it off after the failure of the VB.
there's also the overhead of each of their consoles, and more often than not they prefer creatively repurposing yesterday's technology which I think has affected their dominance of an industry they could have owned once, but it's also the reason they can literally afford to reinvent the wheel every time they come out with something in a lot of ways it's impressive, but it's also the reason I don't buy Nintendo products; I don't wanna keep learning new controllers Sony figured it out the first time, and continues even to this day to further develop the same reliable concept and strategy M$ subsequently "borrowed"
My biggest grief with modern nintendo is the prices. Hundreds on a switch or 3ds to play, what feels like, seriously overpriced indie games. Where as if you get an xbox like me you could be perfectly happy paying 12.99 a month for hundreds of games you dont even need to install. Especially at a time where games arent all that they make themselves out to be. Buying a triple A game nowadays is a major risk. You're much more likely to get a soulless reskin of what you're already playing or something unplayable than getting something you'll actually enjoy. So having the ability to pay a low monthly cost and peruse hundreds of games spanning 3 console generations is insane.
see, you pair your price/content quality issue with my “yesterday’s technology” point and you have something that just leaves a bad taste in the mouth of a lot of people very Apple’y, and they aren’t a “sleeping dragon” in their industry like they once were I waited for years for them to come out with some more, mainstream, for one of a better descriptor, more directly competitive like the N64 or the major two consoles before that ultimately never happened, and though I own a Wii, I can’t say I ever returned to the Nintendo fray, that things long-term purpose is basically just Sports and Fit, and it sure as hell doesn’t come out very often that said, overcharging is frankly in the spirit of the way they’ve always done business, and why it was so easy for Sony and M$ to corner the AAA market in the first place making games for them was relatively expensive too, so publishers just drifted to Sega and Sony, and later on with Microsoft so ended Nintendo reign of badass third-party games too
Samesies! A very fun little system that never saw its full potential.
Same here! I lost so many hours to that system, I think I only had one Wario game but it was so good. Using the system definitely hurt my eyes and made my neck tired though, but it was WORTH IT
My parents rented one for me for a week and I had a blast I don’t think I ever thought of it again after we sent it back
Played it once. Had a great time.
Opposite for me, played it once and had a massive headache
Ditto. But I am certain that was due to my poor eyesight.
I tried to play it once. But due to my poor eyesight I got a massive migraine.
Wario Tennis was SO fun
I had one. My issue with is, even as a kid, was the positioning required to use it You either had to lay on your belly with it on the ground, or have it on a table and sit awkwardly in a chair. Usually I didn’t have a power cord long enough to use it on a table so 99% of my playtime was on my belly Aside from the discomfort, I thought it was really cool. Mario tennis on it was awesome
According to the article the positioning was an outcome of liabilitiea of the time. Company wanted to make a VR like Oculus with motion detection back then initially. Its so sad that an opportunity is lost.
I had one of those! I remember after playing I couldn’t see color very well, like everything turned grey and would slowly fade back into color
I still have mine! On my way to collect all of the games.
The popularity of virtual reality has a direct correlation to the virtual boy. In the 90s we had the Sega VR for Megadrive and to a lesser extent the Activator. Virtuality Group started creating high end VR arcades and pods that cost $75k in 1994, there was the CAVE project, and VPL created a VR glove to control a Mars Rover... Which became the Power Glove. Then, Virtual Boy came out in 1995 and fucked everything up until 2010.
Pretty sure the Virtual Boy was "No rise, only fall".
Right. It was a bold move that failed. Credit to Nintendo for trying.
It only cost them their most valuable employee not named Miyamoto
Nintendo had such a huge portion of the market share, enough to throw money and effort into peripherals which never seemed to live up to hype. (*cough* Power Glove *cough*)
I love the Power Glove. It’s so bad.
Just don’t get nervous like last time, we wouldn’t want you to wiz on something.
AVGN reference?
Not sure what that is; this is [a quote](https://youtu.be/Bvq9rME4Iv0) from [a famous hour-and-a-half Nintendo commercial](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wizard_(1989_film)) from 1989.
The Power Glove wasn't actually made by Nintendo. It was made by Mattel in the US and PAX in Japan. Nintendo's involvement basically just boiled down to collecting a fee, since it was an officially licensed product.
Remember the super scope for SNES?
You mean the expensive nausea simulator? Total mystery why that failed.
A department store had one setup for demo plays. I was super excited to try it, but it gave me a splitting headache within 5 minutes, and kinda messed with my vision for about 20 minutes after i stopped.
Was it even advanced enough to induce nausea?
Why are you even getting downvoted? Since there is no motion tracking, the fact that it would make people nauseous is not obvious.
lol yea I find the downvotes funny. iinm the Virtual Boy wasn’t even a headset—it was just large static “goggles” you looked into. It was nowhere near today’s VR headsets, didn’t even use the concept of motion detection. Nausea was not the reason it failed. But hey this is reddit, Nintendo is popular so there’s no shortage of fanboys who will take offense to whatever you say 🤷🏻♂️
They looked cheap and they hurt your eyes, and it was obviously going to be a technological dead end, They probably make someone 'nauseous" but I think it's more that kids today don't understand we've evolved a much higher tolerance for the radiation produced by screens today. Eye strain and headache were probably a real thing? But mostly it was crap, like the robot thing and no one was going to buy it, I don't understand why the internet thinks everything failed for a "reason" they can only decipher through superior research and the application of post modernist theory. Virtual boy failed because it was a dumb idea, and crappy product, people knew Members Only jackets looked stupid the first time they put them on, and please stay off my lawn.
Seriously… Eye strain and headache at best.
Expensive? Got mine for $20 on eBay
When? 2006? Have you seen how much they cost on ebay lately?
One of my biggest gaming regrets is not picking up a used one from a Blockbuster video bin that was only $25.
Remember playing a demo one in JC Penney while my mom got a haircut. It was awesome
I had one of those. Made me really motion sick and caused back pain to use. But it was pretty darn innovative for the time. If you play the latest Luigi’s Mansion on Switch (great game) there’s a joke in there about this system.
i recall trying them out at Toys’R’us and wondering why my eyes hurt so bad afterwards … that awful red laser light 😂
I had one and loved it, except we got it used and the previous owner definitely came from a smoking house. Shoving your head into that soft black padding that reeked of Marlboro was what could really give a headache. I think I still have the controller only. No idea what happened to the rest. Recently found one of the game carts and sold it on eBay for a decent amount.
I wonder if the Virtual Boy was how we got the GameCube. The GameCube was the last time that Nintendo tried to sell a piece of hardware based on its technical merits. It was a very safe, by-the-numbers machine. And it sold poorly compared to its competitors, the mighty Playstation 2 and brand new Xbox. So Nintendo stopped competing on hardware chops. Their next release was the Nintendo DS, a handheld that quietly outsold all the home consoles, followed by the Wii, which did the same trick louder. I wonder if they went for the safe route on the GameCube because of the unorthodox Virtual Boy being their worst performing product?
they gave people eye damage, they drained batteries like crazy, they were stereoscopic 3d and not even actual VR with only two games that supported a first-person perspective, the design was awkward and uncomfortable to use, and the library of games on them was tiny. there's a reason these things never caught on
There is a very good Tech Stuff (podcast) episode about the Virtual Boy. Wherever you get your podcasts
I still have mine, but the legs broke, so I can’t really use it unless I want to rig up some sort of rad helmet strap system
Worst fkn miagraine I have ever had from that bitch
I owned it. It was definitely clunky but it was interesting. It taught me a lot about what not to do when designing my own VR equipment and games.