Original Post

Wow!
Not only is Virtual Boy coming to NSO, the mad lads at Nintendo are making a VB replica that you open up and put the switch into, and then you can experience 3D like the real thing!

14 games were said to come, I don’t remember them all but I saw 3D Tetris and even some japanese like Virtual Bowling and Insmouse no Yakata.

I mean… I have the real thing but this is still really awesome to see! I wonder if by using their thing, your field of vision is bigger?

Only thing I don’t like is requiring the accessory(or cardboard version), it’ll limit the potential player amount. What would be the downside of offering 2D play?

  • This topic was modified 2 months, 3 weeks ago by Protoman85.
12 Replies

Is this real life?

I can’t believe they’re even creating a mini VB and even the cardboard model, I just love it!

Let’s all be prepared for VB prices in general to continue to climb even higher than they already are…

I don’t think you’ll be required to have the accessory to play – it’ll just be what they use to try and recreate the 3D aspect. No reason it shouldn’t work fine without that in docked or handheld mode.

  • This reply was modified 2 months, 3 weeks ago by L___E___T.
  • This reply was modified 2 months, 3 weeks ago by L___E___T.

This would have actually been an amazing opportunity to finally go back and get Dragon Hopper wrapped up and out the door.

Such a shame.

Who thought we would live long enough to see Nintendo actually re-release Virtual Boy games at last. Although i have this unnerving feeling that Nintendo might now target sites hosting Virtual Boy roms, including Planet Virtual Boy, and take them down… :\

  • This reply was modified 2 months, 3 weeks ago by KGRAMR.
  • This reply was modified 2 months, 3 weeks ago by KGRAMR.

I’m really curious if we’ll see any unreleased games. They did it with Starfox 2, I don’t see why they couldn’t here.

If I may ramble for moment, I want to share the pretty mixed feelings I have on this.

On one hand I’m very glad any Virtual Boy games are getting rereleased at all, including several third party games. I’m not sure how they even got the rights to Virtual Bowling, Insmouse no Yakata, and the Locomotive games considering the studios behind them have been long defunct. However, the way they’ve advertised Virtual Boy Classics is a lot different from how they’ve advertised the other Nintendo Classics in the past. They do not normally announce this many games right out the gate, and unlike the other consoles they never said that more games beyond the ones shown would be added at a later time. The exact wording they use is “the fourteen classic games shown here are planned to be released over time”. Compare that to the Game Boy/Game Boy Advance Classics announcement where they say “more games will be added to this library” and show a handful of titles.

That really makes it feel like these are the only games that’ll ever be added, and while it is an impressive library already I find it hard not to be kind of bummed thinking about the high possibility that this will be it. Seeing a console with such a short lifespan finally be given a second chance at life but with another end already in sight is disappointing. They’ve already gotten the rights from (presumably) Konami to rerelease Vertical Force so it’d be a shame if Panic Bomber doesn’t also see a rerelease, and Nester’s Funky Bowling seems like another glaring omission since that’s likely under the ownership of Nintendo themselves. But most of all it’d be sad for unreleased games like Zero Racers and Dragon Hopper since this is probably their one chance of ever seeing an official release. I could be wrong, maybe they will add more later on, but it really feels to me like they’re implying this is all of it.

They could be going about it this different way because of the Virtual Boy’s negative connotation and possibly trying to gauge interest, but if that’s the case then my hopes are even lower because I’m already seeing people think this is a stupid addition to Nintendo Switch Online. I don’t know if the stigma around it will ever truly peter out. It also doesn’t help that the peripheral is $100. That’s really steep considering it doesn’t even come with a controller, and I doubt many people will be thrilled to buy a $25 piece of cardboard as the cheaper alternative. Much like others in this thread I assumed the peripherals were optional and you’d be able to play in 2D, but listening to the trailer again they say “in order to play, you’ll NEED this dedicated accessory”. Though on the Nintendo website I couldn’t find any mention of it being a requirement, so I’m not too sure.

I don’t want to sound ungrateful because I really am glad they’re finally making these games available to a wider audience, but it’s just hard not to want the absolute best for something so long underappreciated, y’know? I dunno, I get a bit of a sour taste in my mouth thinking about all of this. Let it be known though that I will absolutely buy the Virtual Boy replica no matter what because that thing is awesome. Also I’m going to attach the images of the full lineup since no one’s done so yet.

  • This reply was modified 2 months, 3 weeks ago by JomSpoons.
  • This reply was modified 2 months, 3 weeks ago by JomSpoons.

UPDATE: Took a closer look at the trailer and noticed this fine print. It seems like a peripheral will be required after all, which is a shame. I’m sure we’ve all heard stories of people playing Virtual Boy games through emulators, often in 2D, and then becoming a fan who’s compelled to buy a real Virtual Boy to experience the games in proper. Limiting the Virtual Boy Classics to only people who buy a peripheral first alienates a lot of players who otherwise might’ve bought it had they gotten to try the games. Hopefully they go back on this and add a 2D mode by the time it launches next year.

Attachments:

Yeah I also missed that stipulation at first – but sadly it is mandatory. I do wonder if the Labo VR kit will work as is.

Because all it is at the end of the day is running VB games in 2D side by side and using lenses like an Oculus VR.

I’ve pre-ordered both sets, and already have the full membership, but I’m not expecting great things from this and it will never be a replacement. I have a Meta Quest 3 too and haven’t yet tried VB emulators on that, but I don’t ever expect that to be a replacement for Virtual Boy games on real hardware.

Virtual Boy is an amazing system – owning one gets better year after year I feel. It really has become a luxury toy!

Wow!
Who would have thought it, that Nintendo support the VB in this way?
Wonders (will) never cease! 😉
I like the plastic dummy VB fo playing verry much, what a good idea!
The cardboard VB looks funny, reminds me of the Promo Paper Visor from the E3/Shoshinkai.

It feels like an April fools’ joke, doesn’t it? They chose to not rerelease Virtual Boy games on 3DS and instead do this?

On the bright side: does this mean we can get new official replacement stands and eyeshades? 😉

  • This reply was modified 2 months, 2 weeks ago by HorvatM.

I am not really excited about this, I won´t buy it.
I play on my real VB unit, instead of using my Switch 2 to play VB games.
But perhaps all this media hype helps discovering new things like information on unreleased games or even unreleased games.

I wish it would have at least come with the controller and didn’t require the NSO subscription to play.

 

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