Virtual Boy
 | |
 The Virtual Boy with its controller | |
| Developer | Nintendo R&D1 |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Nintendo |
| Generation | Fifth |
| Release date | |
| Introductory price | ¥4900[1] $US179.99[3] |
| Units sold | 770,000[4] |
The Virtual Boy is a tabletop portable video game console made and built by Nintendo. It is a 32-bit system featuring a red monochrome display and uses mirror-scanning technology to display images in stereoscopic 3D. Released in 1995 exclusively in Japan and North America, the Virtual Boy was an attempt to create a successor to the Game Boy. However, the console did not sell much, and Nintendo stopped making the system and games for it within months after its release.
The Virtual Boy is best known for games such as Mario's Tennis and Virtual Boy Wario Land; the former was packaged with the console in North America. A full list of games for the system can be found here. In total, only 22 games were ever released for the Virtual Boy.
In September 2025, Nintendo announced in one of their Nintendo Directs that a Virtual Boy accessory for the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 would be released. It is a type of cardboard that allows a person to play Virtual Boy games in 3D on the Nintendo Switch Online service. They also announced a shell shaped like the system for the Switch and Switch 2.[5] Starting February 17, 2026, a collection of Virtual Boy games became available for Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscribers, including two previously unreleased games, Zero Racers and D-Hopper.[6]
Hardware
[change | change source]
The Virtual Boy is a red system on a black stand. There is a black visor on the back through which the user can look into like binoculars to see the game screen. Like its predecessor, the Virtual Boy can only display four colors, except its palette consists of three shades of red against a black background. The game cartridge is plugged into a slot at the top of the system.
The system uses an LED display. At the time, LCDs were not used because they presented two problems during testing: they would blur when objects moved on the screen, and users would see double images instead of depth; therefore, a vertical line of 224 tiny, high-brightness LEDs was used for each eye. These LEDs flashed on and off rapidly in specific patterns. This line was then magnified by a lens, and a vibrating mirror reflected each line at a specific moment into each eye, creating a full image through the human eye's persistence of vision.
The Virtual Boy controller is black and features red A and B buttons, as well as gray Start and Select buttons. It includes a black D-pad on both the left and right sides. While the A and B buttons are round like those on other Nintendo controllers, the Start and Select buttons also share this unique round shape, unlike the rectangular buttons on controllers for Nintendo's earlier systems.
The Virtual Boy features an extension port that would have allowed players to connect two systems via a link cable for multiplayer. A link cable was planned for release in Q3 1996,[7] but this never happened because of the system's poor sales.
History
[change | change source]The Virtual Boy was invented by Gunpei Yokoi, creator of the Game & Watch and Game Boy. He worked on the system for four years with Reflection Technology, Inc.,[3] a company based in Massachusetts that made a red LED eyepiece display during the 1980s. The Virtual Boy was codenamed "VR32" while it was being made.
Virtual Boy prototypes have some differences from the final mode. The controller was originally purple and featured red, blue, yellow, and green buttons, similar to the Super Famicom, although similar shade of purple was later used for the Nintendo GameCube controller in 2001.
During the Virtual Boy's development, Argonaut Games—creators of the Super FX chip and the first Star Fox game—worked on a virtual reality system for Nintendo titled the Super Visor. It was eventually scrapped in favor of Gunpei Yokoi's Virtual Boy.[8]
The Virtual Boy was first shown publicly under its final name at the Shoshinkai '94 event in Japan.[9]
The system's production was rushed as consumers awaited the then-upcoming Nintendo 64.[3]
Problems
[change | change source]Due to the rapid flashing of the LEDs, many users experienced nausea, dizziness, or headaches after extended play. To address this, an "automatic pause" feature was included, which prompted players to rest their eyes by pausing the gameplay every 15–30 minutes. Consumers also disliked the console for its high price, eye and neck strain from playing it, and the system requiring a stand.
Legacy
[change | change source]The Virtual Boy sold poorly and is remembered as one of Nintendo's few market failures. The system sold 770 000 units before Nintendo discontinued it.[4] Many games for the Virtual Boy were also canceled, with some never moving beyond the conceptual phase, such as a Donkey Kong Country title.[10]
Years later, Nintendo released another system capable of displaying 3D depth, the Nintendo 3DS, which became a commercial success.
The Virtual Boy has appeared in some of Nintendo's games. In Luigi's Mansion 3, there is an item by the elderly inventor Professor E. Gadd named the "Virtual Boo", which Luigi uses as a communication device. It has a similar monochromatic red color display as the Virtual Boy itself. Professor E. Gadd made an ironic comment that the sales of the Virtual Boo would "fly off the shelves".[11][12]
References
[change | change source]- 1 2 "バーチャルボーイ" (in Japanese). Nintendo.co.jp. Retrieved April 17, 2026.
- ↑ "VIRTUAL BOY LAUNCH DATE ANNOUNCED". Planet Virtual Boy. Nintendo of America. May 11, 1995. Retrieved April 17, 2026.
- 1 2 3 Edwards, Benj (August 21, 2015). "Unraveling The Enigma Of Nintendo's Virtual Boy, 20 Years Later". Fast Company. Retrieved April 17, 2026.
- 1 2 Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition (2011 ed.). Craig Glenday. 2011. p. 69. ISBN 9781405365468.
- ↑ "Vuelve la Virtual Boy de Nintendo, ahora como accesorio de la Switch" (in Spanish). 2025-09-13. Retrieved 2025-09-14.
- ↑ Middler, Jordan (January 27, 2026). "2 unreleased Virtual Boy games are coming to Nintendo Switch as part of the NSO Expansion Pack". VGC. Retrieved April 17, 2026.
- ↑ "Gaming Gossip". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 86. September 1996. p. 34.
- ↑ Hamill, Jasper (September 26, 2018). "Secrets of lost Nintendo console revealed by British gaming pioneer who led its design". Metro. Retrieved April 17, 2026.
- ↑ "Virtual Boy is Born at Shoshinkai November, 1994". Nintendo Power. No. 68. January 1995. p. 52.
- ↑ Machacek, Paul [@Paul_Mach1] (March 7, 2019). "Your use of the word "play" is optimistic. We never got a full playable level working. Merely a short side scrolling split-level jungle background with DK walking/running/jumping on it. There were some rats running about as well (which i lifted from a GB Battletoad game!) Enjoy" (Tweet). Retrieved April 17, 2026 – via Twitter.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ↑ Doolan, Liam (October 16, 2019). "Introducing The Virtual Boo, Professor E. Gadd's New Communication Device In Luigi's Mansion 3". Nintendo Life. Retrieved April 17, 2026.
- ↑ Kohler, Chris (October 16, 2019). "Luigi's Latest Parody Nintendo Console Is The Best One Yet". Kotaku. Retrieved April 17, 2026.
