thunderstruck wrote:
Nice of you to ask. Yes, you can. It’s a bit tricky as you can not see your bat but it is possible.

Cool! I figured such.

So… have you been thinking of creating your own character sprite and filling in the missing 8th character?

thunderstruck wrote:
I was looking though the rom and figured out how the players are loaded. I eventually managed to load every character by manipulating the ram. Sadly, loading anything else then the existing players leads to a buggy mess.

If you want to you can say I managed to load MissingNo’s ugly brother.

Wait… so can you actually successfully play a round of tennis using the buggy mess character? If so, that is cool enough for me!

VirtualChris wrote:
No love for Atari? The Atari 2600 has every single game imaginable on it, plus homebrew is easy especially with batari Basic. Odyssey 2 would be the runner up.

EDIT: Oh, and Amiga was Commodore not Atari, right?

I definitely share the love for Atari!

I would have to say that the Atari 7800 is the vintage Atari system to own, since it plays not only all 7800 games but MOST 2600 games, too (specifically the ones that will actually fit into the darn system slot!)

With the Atari 2600 and 7800, I actually feel compelled to eventually collect absolutely every single commercially released game that was ever made for each system. I’ve succeeded so far with the 7800, but I have about 10 more or so to get for the 2600 to complete my North American NTSC loose cart collection.

The thing with the vintage Atari systems is that just about every single game ever made for those systems was action-oriented, which is totally up my alley and which is why I want to collect all the games. Though the NES was, admittedly, a better system, it had a lot of games made for it that I will just never play and have no intention of ever collecting, though that does still leave hundreds that are worth collecting.

One of my newest editions to the old Virtual Boy collection is a set of prints made by Hudson Soft, which can be ironed on to a T-shirt. Included in this set is an iron-on print for Vertical Force. It seems that these would have never been made commercially available in stores in Japan, so my guess is that these were handed out at a Hudson Soft booth that was set up at one of the trade shows held in Japan either shortly before or shortly after the commercial release of Vertical Force.

The print for Vertical Force is about 2 and 13/16 inches wide by 2 and 11/16 inches tall. The Hudson Soft print is 2 and 3/4 inches wide by 2 and 3/4 inches tall. The Super Bomberman print, which is oval-shaped, is 3 and 1/4 inches wide through the center horizontally and 2 inches tall through the center vertically.

Below are the Japanese instructions for the prints in digital format, and beneath these are my English translations for them, which I made using translation software programs and an online Japanese to English dictionary. I don’t plan to ever iron these babies onto a T-shirt, though.

Original Japanese Instructions:

ハドソンアイロンプリント[3枚入り]

おとなといっしょ

1. アイロン台にプリントする物(Tシャツ等)を置き、シートの絵の見える方を上にして位置を決めます。
2. アイロンを温度140°C ー 160°Cで約15秒強く押しあてます。
3. アイロンをはずして、そのまま常温まで冷やします。(水や氷を使ってはいけません。)
4. プリントする物からシートをゆっくりはがすとできあがりです。
※使用する布地は綿、混紡で目の詰まった布地ほどきれいに仕上がります。

ご注意
●アイロンの取扱いには十分注意してください
●小学生以下の方は必ず、大人の方にやってもらいましょう。
●綿、混紡以外の布地には使用しないでください。
●発水加工の物には使用しないでください。
●規定の温度、圧着時間を必ず守ってください。
●アイロンのスチームは必ずOFFにしてください。
●プリントする布地、圧着によって、何回か洗濯すると絵柄が落ちる場合があります。ご了承ください。

Ben Stevens’ English translation of original Japanese Instructions:

Hudson Iron Prints (3 pieces)

*Do with an adult

1. Place the T-shirt, etc., on which the picture is to be printed, on an ironing board and set the sheet containing the picture into position, with the side to be seen facing up.
2. Strongly press the iron against the sheet for about 15 seconds at a temperature of 140°C to 160°C.
3. Remove the iron and leave it cool to room temperature. (Do not use water or ice.)
4. Slowly peel the sheet off of the item on which the picture has been printed and you are finished.
※For a clean finish, use cotton, a blended fabric, or one of the finer fabrics.

Caution
●Please be careful when handling the iron
●Children in elementary school or below should always do this with an adult.
●Do not use fabrics other than cotton and blended fabrics.
●Water-repellent materials should NOT be used.
●Always adhere to the specified temperature and press time.
●Be sure to turn off the steam iron when finished.
●Please note that, depending on the fabric on which the picture is printed and the pressure bonding, the picture might fade or fall off after washing several times.

Attachments:

1. 

   hudson-soft-directions.jpg
   

2. 

   vertical-force-iron-on-print.jpg
   

3. 

   hudson-soft-iron-on-prints.jpg
   

Virtual_Link wrote:
That’s sad that now people are so desperate to make money on the whole “retro gaming” fad that they’re making replica Virtual Boy boxes.

Wait… that sounds like a diss on the Virtual Boy.

Cosmoliner wrote:
Hi,Anyone ever see this before on Ebay?

http://www.ebay.de/itm/RARE-Nintendo-Virtual-Boy-Lapel-Pin-E3-CES-Hudson-Soft-PROMO-ITEM-/110872108831?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19d07e1f1f

I looks great but it was to expensive(for me) 🙁 and you? 499$

What you think?

I’ve actually wondered if that seller truly plans to sell a lot of his or her Virtual Boy items that he or she has listed on eBay, or if he/she simply likes to use eBay to display his/her Virtual Boy collection to the whole world. So many of his/her Virtual Boy items will just never sell at the current prices.

speedyink wrote:

V10037488 has “PLAYLINK” (JPN Demo system)
V10047635 has “PLAYLINK”
V10065621 has “PLAYLINK” (JPN Retail System)

Unit number V10047635 is mine, and it’s a Japan Demo System. Just in case you want to fill in that blank.

Do you actually have a mosaic box and/or instruction manual to go along with the unit, and if so, does the serial number appear on the instruction manual somewhere? I question whether the unit is originally from a demo-only, mosaic box, since the serial number appears to be too high to be one. Thus, if you simply got the unit without a box or manual, along with a small, Japan-exclusive Store Display, I would say that you got a regular retail unit that happened to be included with the small store display. However, if you do have an original instruction manual showing the same serial number on it, then please attach a pic of it, and I’ll update the list.

http://www.planetvb.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=30793#forumpost30793

Here are all of the pertinent data that have been gathered up to this post:

VN10000566[0] has “EXT.”
VN10000940[8] has “EXT.” (USA Demo system)
VN10012661[7] has “EXT.”
VN10020059[1] has “EXT.” (USA Retail System)
VN10027690[9] has “EXT.”
VN10031062[7] has “EXT.” (USA Platform Display System)
V10034445 has “PLAYLINK” (JPN Demo system)
V10034454 has “PLAYLINK” (JPN Demo system)
VN10035307[5] has “EXT.”
V10037488 has “PLAYLINK” (JPN Demo system)
V10047635 has “PLAYLINK”
V10065621 has “PLAYLINK” (JPN Retail System)
V10084459 has “PLAYLINK” (JPN Retail System)
V10093028 has “PLAYLINK” (JPN Retail System)
V10111489 has “EXT.” (JPN Retail System)
VN10112924[2] has “EXT.” (USA Retail System)
VN10119664[0] has “EXT.” (USA Retail System)
V10126794 has “EXT.” (JPN Retail System)
V10135382 has “EXT.” (JPN Retail System)
VN10139732[0] has “EXT.” (USA Retail System)
V10162816 has “EXT.” (JPN Retail System)
V10167485 has “EXT.” (JPN Retail System)
V10168481 has “EXT.” (JPN Retail System, later became USA Retail System VN10413008[5])
VN10169097[1] has “EXT.” (USA Retail System)
V10178013 has “EXT.” (JPN Retail System)
V10187552 has “EXT.” (JPN Retail System, later became USA Retail System VN10321531[8])
VN10217925[3] has “EXT.” (USA Retail System)
VN10245019[2] has “EXT.” (USA Retail System)
VN10246016[6] has “EXT.” (USA Retail System)
VN10249735[7] has “EXT.” (USA Retail System)
VN10252578[4] has “EXT.” (USA Retail System)
VN10255715[0] has “EXT.” (USA Retail System)
VN10262599[6] has “EXT.” (USA Retail System)
VN10321531[8] has “EXT.” (USA Retail System, was previously JPN Retail System V10187552)
VN10341495[7] has “EXT.” (USA Retail System)
VN10344318[6] has “EXT.” (USA Retail System)
VN10397006[4] has “EXT.” (USA Retail System)
VN10413008[5] has “EXT.” (USA Retail System, was previously JPN Retail System V10168481)
VN10417713[4] has “EXT.” (USA Retail System)
VN10439397[8] has “EXT.” (USA Retail System)
VN10456891[8] has “EXT.” (USA Retail System) – Note: No rectangle around “EXT.”
VN10468045[0] has “EXT.” (USA Retail System)
VN10497150[3] has “EXT.” (USA Retail System)
VN10510512[9] has “EXT.” (USA Retail System, was previously a JPN Retail System)
VN10514686[3] has “EXT.” (USA Retail System)
VN10556567[1] has “EXT.” (USA Retail System)
VN10629160[9]has “EXT.” (USA Retail System)
VN10631799[6] has “EXT.” (USA Retail System)

Some important notes:
1. It looks like the last Japanese Virtual Boy system that was released with “PLAYLINK” on it occurred between unit # 93,028 and unit # 111,489 in the production run. If anybody has a serial number that reduces this range, reporting it to us would be beneficial. Also, if anyone has a serial number that throws a monkey wrench into the whole thing, either by a “PLAYLINK” unit falling beyond unit # 111,485 or a unit that shows something entirely unique, that would be very interesting to note.
2. Right now, it seems that a lot of North American units with serial numbers ranging from 321,531 to 510,512 could be reused Japanese retail systems. Any who might report about North American units in this range or beyond should check to see if there is that noticeable bump underneath the North American serial number sticker, indicating an original Japanese serial number sticker beneath it. This might give us a better idea as to how many Virtual Boy systems were actually made.

HoMenace wrote:
Just received another system with a new low serial number.
VN 10000566[0]

What word is written beneath the port for the link cable, if there even is a word written there?

Virtual Bomberman is one of the unreleased games that I would like to play the most, next to Dragon Hopper. Since we have a great flyer of the game here:

http://www.planetvb.com/modules/games/?u022if031

I think it would be great if the whole flyer could be translated into English.

I myself was going to try to translate the whole thing into English sometime down the road, but since I use translation software programs, it would take me a rather long time to translate it myself. I did find a partial English translation of the flyer online here:

http://randomhoohaas.flyingomelette.com/Bomberman/Virtual/info.htm

Nevertheless, if someone on this site could translate the whole flyer, that would be super great!

Quite frankly, I think any flyer or article on unreleased Virtual Boy games should take priority when it comes to translating something related to Virtual Boy into English, since those things are the only access that we have to those games at all. Thus, any flyer or article on this site that is of an unreleased game, I think should be translated into English.

Very excellent ad.

His over-the-top excitement is hilarious and perfect!

speedyink wrote:
Virtual Boy: Totally Red, to the Max!

(Anybody else remember using rad to the max?)

Oh yes… I remember that one.

Very ’90s appropriate.

HoMenace wrote:
You know what they say, once you’ve had red and black, you never go back. 🙂

If I had the ability to do so on this site, I would totally up-vote this one. 🙂

Here’s a more serious one, which I thought of:

“Virtual Boy: Go ahead, immerse yourself!”

speedyink wrote:
I figured out the correct katakana spelling off my VB manual, and actually, I put a snipe bid on that exact item! Someone has bid it up since then, its now sitting closer to 50 bucks.

Well, keep on the lookout for other Mansion of Insmouse’s to appear in the near future. They actually appear somewhat regularly on that site at good prices.

HorvatM wrote:
Do sellers there usually ship worldwide? If yes, how much does it cost?

If you use a proxy service like Buyee, you never have to worry about whether the original seller on Yahoo Auctions Japan will ship internationally, because the proxy service will be in Japan, so the original seller will always ship to the proxy service, and then the proxy service will always ship to you.

The cost of an international shipment of one CIB Virtual Boy game from Japan to the United states is typically 10 to 15 US Dollars. It’s usually best to buy games in small lots for the best overall deals. I’ve actually gone on the United States Postal Service’s website and calculated what it should cost to ship from Japan to the USA via USPS, and I was happy to find that the calculation usually came out to what Buyee was charging me for shipping, so I was confident that they weren’t jacking up the shipping costs on me with “hidden fees” in them. I imagine that anybody should be able to use the postal service website of their country to be able to approximate what shipping charges from Japan to their country would be, based on the estimated weight of however many Virtual Boy games will be contained in the package.

speedyink wrote:
Thanks again Ben, you’ve been really helpful.

You’re welcome. I assume you know how to search for all things Virtual Boy on there?

Just always do a general search with バーチャルボーイ and see what new treasures can be found. Speaking of which, there is currently a CIB copy of Mansion of Insmouse sitting at about 17 bucks, and its going to end in about 11 hours:

http://page13.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/r119586154

There’s no telling how low it will sell for, so if you want to add it to your collection, it might be good to jump on. It usually sells for about $120 or more on Ebay, but it can sell for much, much less on Yahoo Auctions Japan.

speedyink wrote:
So I looked up the Proxy service, I found spebid, is that one good or do you have a preferred one?

I simply use Buyee, which is the one advertised on Yahoo Auctions Japan. They charge a fee of 500 yen or 10% of the winning auction bid, whichever is larger. Other than that, you pretty much just pay the winning auction amount and the precise shipping charges to get your items shipped from Buyee’s warehouse in Japan to your home address. I have never had a single issue with them ever, so I have always received my items in great condition, without ever having to inquire as to where my shipment is. Buyee also offers the snipe bidding service, so they won’t place your bid until about 5 minutes before an auction ends, which helps the items not be bid up so high.

I haven’t checked much into other proxy services, but if the fees for spebid are more than what Buyee charges, then definitely go with Buyee, as it is a very trustworthy proxy service. But if its fees are about the same and if it also offers snipe bidding, then it could also be a good choice.

speedyink wrote:
Is that an OK price for the Mario clash nfr in your opinion?

Well, I do know that CIB Japanese Mario Clash Demo games sell on Yahoo Auctions Japan for the same price as the regular Japanese Mario Clash retail games, so for a grand total of about 40.00 to 50.00 US Dollars, which would probably even cover the proxy service fees and international shipping when all is said and done. Chances are, this Ebay seller got these copies for about that amount total and marked them up for some profit.

Thus, if you are comfortable with waiting a little bit for one to appear on Yahoo Auctions Japan and paying a total of 50.00 US Dollars or less to get a copy via a proxy service, then do that. Otherwise, if you don’t want to wait and are interested in getting one now, and this price isn’t too much higher to you than the 50.00 US Dollar price that, again, will likely include proxy fees and international shipping, then go ahead and get this one.

In general, it is always best to buy Japanese games from a Japanese site rather than Ebay, if you are looking for the best prices. This is often how Ebay sellers get their inventory stock of Japanese games in the first place, so there is no need to use the Ebay sellers as middlemen for such and put extra money into their pockets. Of course, the Ebay sellers do know very well that the same games that sell for low on the Japanese sites regularly sell for more on Ebay, which is why they continue to see success in their quick buys, markups, and reselling.

speedyink wrote:
I don’t know how rare this is or if the price of ok or not, but I saw the mention of Virtual Double Yakuman.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Virtual-Boy-Tsuushin-Tsushin-Magazine-Japan-Import-Virtual-Double-Yakuman-/281449624499?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4187b473b3

It is fairly rare, and it might sell for close to that amount even on Yahoo Auctions Japan, but I’d say that Yahoo Auctions Japan would be the place to look for a lower price.

Of course, since scans of every single page of the magazine already appear on the site, a lot of people tend not to buy it at all, no matter how low the price, especially if they can’t speak or read Japanese and don’t want to try to take the time to get it translated via translation software, etc.

http://www.planetvb.com/modules/articles/?s020115001

KR155E wrote:
I have recreated a Dragon Hopper screenshots pixel by pixel, using a very high res and clean scanned screenshot from the “New Products 1996” Nintendo brochure that Virtual Jockey once posted. (Wonder how he’s doing, haven’t seen him in a while…)

I tried to stay as pixel perfect as possible but had to do some estimations at the edges of the screen, since that catalogue screenshot is cut off there.

That certainly does look pixel-perfect and incredibly good. Great job!

speedyink wrote:
Well it looks like I’m the highest bidder for now..

Curious though, since it’s missing the key, how much is that going to hamper things?

I’m pretty sure it won’t be hard to get this going, It’s pretty much just the one light and the power to the VB, right? Just curious what I could possibly be getting myself into.

Oh yeah… it looks like it should not cause you much problems to get it in nice working order. If you find out that you need a key, just take the thing to a locksmith. Other than that, it looks like it will just need a replacement bulb for the sign, and it’s likely that you’ll need solder-fixed displays for the head unit if you actually plan to use the system long-term. If you would end up winning the auction and would run into any difficulties with it that you can’t overcome, just post about your issues on here, and I’m sure someone who is in the know could help you resolve your issues no problem.