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Understood
@gablauRegistered October 15, 2006Active 12 years, 11 months ago
24 Replies made

Wow, I am not the only one who writes here, I am impressed (:-)

However, Wario Land is just a good game. It is better than lots of 2 Dimesnsional Platformers that were released in the 80’s and 90’s.

Wario land is pretty much the same as the Mario series on the NES and the Gameboy (before Gameboy Advance). It is not really 3d, other than the two plane setup (background and foreground action). And yes, it is a good “Mario” game. I for one loved the first two Gameboy Mario editions the most. As a GAME, the Golden Coins, were better than Wario Land.

My top favorite on the VB, believe it or not, Galactic Pinball. Why?
Well, I played many, many pinball games and Galactic Pinball can claim to be really different. As a GAME. The sliding puck, the “ice surface”, the side games, the entire setup was designed by a very original mind, whoever he was. And it takes full advantage of the 3d ability of VB, which unfortunately not many of the VB game does. My only gripe: it is too easy, I can play it 2-3 hours, a single game. Even then, I usually just forfeit the last couple of pucks, because I have to do something else. Perhaps they should have put a three puck mode, but I don’t want to complain because it is still my favorite.

And of course the grossly undevalued Mario Tennis, which is ultra-cute, fun, fully 3d, great little game. Excellent level settings, if you clumsy, you can enjoy it, if you are very good, you can enjoy it. One thing I will never understand, why only 7 players (instead of the logical 8, if there are tournaments).
Mario Clash is okay, something one would play if he has an empty half an hour. Red Alarm is not bad, but too easy. I went all the way through on Normal the second time I ever tried (not on Hard however).

Golf is horrible. I mean, it maybe a standard golf game, but that’s where the red-black, 4 shades is just grossly insufficent.

I just got baseball, it is not bad so far, although to control the outfield with limited color (who is who), by moving together kind of limits the possibilities.

Vertical Force standard shooting game, absolute kills the fun that the score vanishes at the moment you lose the last player and it is never shown again. That is downright stupid and irritating. And at certain points the visibility becomes confusing due to the monochrome nature of the game

Panic Bomber, Tetris spinoff. Why isn’t any score? No matter how much the designer tried to pretend that this is some adventure game, it isn’t.
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So, overall the entire selection of VB games suffer from some fundamental design problems, the type which were mostly solved by the mid 90-s. I wonder, despite the monochrome nature, if the first series of games were up to par with the rest of the game world, would VB have still failed. I don’t know, because it does have some other problems too (you can’t share the fun, not even a TV hookup) and most kids enjoy that the most (competing against each other), not even two player mode in most games I know, but still, the ultimate downfall in my opinion was the fundamentally poorly designed games in comparison with the existing other game technologies at the time.
And I understand that these are the better ones, some of the rare ones are really lousy (yet collectors pay big bucks for them).

During the early 90s the term “virtual reality” became a fad. Yet, nothing which would lead toward virtual reality succeeded. The LCD stereoglasses came out too early, when the picture was still flickery and headache generating, the HMDs are extremely expensive, the Virtual Boy was a flop for several reasons. Here we are a decade and a half later, and not one step closer to virtual reality. While technologically it would be very possible, since everything needed for it has been invented, yet there is not even a trace became reality. Too bad, because it would be really neat.

Worse yet, now that the LCD screens became popular, even the LCD stereoglasses won’t work, so going backwards even in that technology.

Gabor

How awesome would it be to play Red Alarm on a big screen TV?

The truth is that most VB users fell in love with this game, because of the 3d effect and its unique nature. The actual games are not so great at all, compared to hundreds of games out there. You mention Red Alarm. It is not bad, but pales in comparison with the Descent series in the 90s. I played Descent with the 3d stereoglass on my computer, and believe me, it is far, far better than Red Alarm (while the concept is pretty much the same). The same applies to most other VB games (they have a much better equivalent which can be played in 3d).

The VB lovers should get out and find and buy a 3d stereoglass (LCD stereoglass, LCD shutterglass in other names) and try it. You will be all surprized how very excellent the 3d quality is, how great games can be played that way. Don’t get me wrong, I love my VB, play it regularly, but many other options are available in the 3d world.

Gabor

From the article:

In this astonishing photo, a model is wearing a new gadget, from electronics manufacturer Toshiba, that enables the wearer to experience a full 360-degree view on a 40 centimetre dome-shaped screen.

This picture must be a joke. Since the whole contraption is not independently suspended, the person turning his head will turn the entire unit, thus there can be no 360-degree view.

Also, anyone who is involved with the 3d technology knows that the so called HMDs (head mounted device) are long available, barely larger than an ordinary eyeglass, provide perfect three dimensional view, allow head rotation and 360 degree view, if the software supports it, only these in good quality are very expensive.

Gabor


https://edimensional.com/index.php?cPath=21

do these glasses make any game seem 3d like in virtual boy 3d? and do they make emulated games on virtual boy on pc look good?

Absolutely YES.
I am using these LCD stereoglasses for many years. They are absolutely excellent. The 3d effect is perfect. Almost all those games can be played in real 3d (like VB) which uses DirectX, and most these days do.

The VB emulators however, don’t use DirectX, but the glasses still allow
3d display, but only the glass which has the interlace 3d capability.
Not all do. I don’t know whether eDimnensional do or not, I have several brands of these glasses, but none specifically eDimensional.
If you can put your hand on an old H3D set of glass, its controller allows software independent interlace mode, and that’s what works for me with the VB emulator.

Gabor