Yes, the Virtual Boy, the only cartridge based game console that it’s ROMs were completely worthless for until now, has it’s own flashcart finally. I figured I’d post this thread for two reasons: to create awareness, and to make my $150 or so expense help you decide without spending the money.
The box:
The cart:
Apparently this product has been created by some dude named Richard Hutchinson who has created some cool video game hardware in the past.
I bought the FlashBoy because I have a Virtual Boy and love it dearly. Mario’s Tennis originated there, and there’s some great Nintendo-released games you’ll never be able to play if you don’t own the system (such as the best side scrolling version of Wario Land and a quazi-Punch-Out!! sequel called Teleroboxer). One of the huge downsides to the Virtual Boy’s failure is that many games for the system sell for over $200+ on ebay due to their rarity, plus some other good ones like Jack Bros. going for over $50. I felt the price of this flashcart was justified in that sense.
The first major downside: No saves. The guy making these is not a modchip manufacturer or anything. He makes them by hand and it takes him hours to make one. Adding a save feature would be extremely expensive. The good side to that however is no expensive games really make use of any saving. Wario Land is the only game where saving is a must-have, and that game can be had for under $8.
Another downside: One ROM at a time. The ROM has to be “padded” to the maximum size allowed by the VirtualBoy for it to properly run. Since the VirtualBoy is hardly a portable console, this isn’t such a big deal. When you are done playing a game, just plug the device into the PC, erase the game and load another.
Everything else is pretty much what you’d expect. It plays every ROM I’ve tried (over 20) and it plays them flawlessly. It comes with the flashcart, a USB cable, and a CD filled with homebrew and programs to flash and pad the ROMs. I received it very fast, despite being on a waiting list and having it come from overseas.
Is it worth the price? It’s hard to say as I am a Virtual Boy fan (I even permanently fixed the “glitched display” problems that eventually plague all the systems on the side for a while). If you were even once tempted to buy some rare games for the console on ebay, it’s probably for you. Then again, anyone playing a Virtual Boy in 2008 must have some sort of insane love for the system.
It can be purchased here: http://www.vr32.de/modules/newbb/viewforum.php?forum=7 (again, there’s a waiting list) and just wanted to post my review since ~$150 for the thing is a lot of money. Figured I’d be the guinea pig.
source: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2752804
if anyone ever tries to start a vb zelda project, here’s a mock up hud i once made. it is based on the idea to use the right d-pad for items just like the n64’s c buttons in ocarina of time or majora’s mask. 🙂
