Okay… Now correct me if I’m wrong, but does this statement sound better?
“The Virtual Boy can display black and 3 shades of red onscreen out of 128 possible shades. With careful programming, it’s possible to have 128 unique shades onscreen at once.”
I’m also trying to factor in all that you said though. Before you said, basically, you can have 128 unique shades of red onscreen. Are there any limits to that?
What does that mean to a non-programmer though? What is the total number of unique “shades” possible onscreen? What is the effective limit most games use, not counting special effects?
That explanation is much appreciated, but it’s difficult to condense into simpler terms, without having to dedicate an entire paragraph of explanation. Would you say most released games used color variation anywhere between 32 and 128 “shades”? By your description, is the “master palette” the same as what’s allowed onscreen?
norty wrote:
Is there anyone that is skill enough with the technical “Moonside palette” of the virtual boy, and can try to contact this guy ?
A virtual boy version of Earthbound can be an extremely exciting news 🙂
What he meant by “Moonside palette” is an area in the game called Moonside. It’s a spoiler to speak of to anyone who hasn’t played EarthBound, so I can’t say more. Basically, the palette of Moonside is very simple, good for the groundwork of a Virtual Boy theme.
As said above, this wouldn’t mean the game would work on a real Virtual Boy. It’d be a SNES game limited to red, maybe not even actual VB limitations (4 onscreen reds + black, out of a 32 red palette).
If you wait long enough, you could save up and just buy Jack Bros for its going value. If you are only collecting Virtual Boy, there isn’t really anything wrong with splurging a bit to finish the collection.
vb-fan wrote:
Different processors, but it generates two parallaxed images, which are combined for the “lattice display”. Suppose a game came out that embodied the same theme, layouts, treasures etcetera; one could write assembly from machine code, and then programming a VB cart from assembly should be possible.
With no code to port, what you described is just as difficult as creating a game from scratch.
Better, talk someone out of the source-code.
That’s an even bigger “if” than finding a prototype cartridge. Very seldom has source code ever been found. The most notable source code discover I know of was for Star Fox 2 (SNES), which the playable prototype was compiled from. Almost never does that happen though.
Surely the novelty of owning something no one else has, in the case of Virtual Boy games, has worn off. That nothing has surfaced implies that no cart has gotten out of N’s control.
A lot of private collectors don’t think about such things, hence why you never find them online in communities. The only hope there is for the private collector to sell off or drop dead.
At the risk of sounding pessimistic, there is a time limit. I’m in America — we’re heading towards 20 trillion debt, which many spokespeople and offices have recognized as “unsurvivable”. I think everyone is only a couple years at most away from a big global collapse. No one will be interested in playing VB games then. It would be nice if I’m wrong, but it sure seems like stuff is building.
There are always rumors about games like DH, and Zero Racers, and Goldeneye existing as carts (or ROMS) in private hands; wish we could know if there really are. I knew for years that a real Faceball proto existed, I knew someone who knew the owner; and that very prototype gave us the games here on PVB.
Still, you’re right, all we can do is wait and hope.
As I said before, there are are plenty of examples to prove my point. Prototypes can always surface, no matter how late. Bio Force Ape on Famicom was one such game. There was never any evidence of the game’s existence on a cartridge, it was only known about in a couple issues of Nintendo Power. It had been hoaxed before on Digital Press, before eventually being found for sale on a Japanese auction site. There was no rhyme or reason behind the game surfacing, nobody specifically went out and bought it off someone. The exact same thing could happen to Dragon Hopper in the future as well. Someone may very well put a prototype cart of it on eBay or other such auction site. Someone might come to PVB saying they bought it at an estate sale. Anything is possible. Going by historic prototypes, there are better odds of the game surfacing on its own than through deliberate searching.
vb-fan wrote:
How hard is it to make a 3DS game compatible with VB (that is, dump the ROM and modify the code)?
Would they have access to the original DH storyline? It’d be nice if their accomplishment (should they try) be as close to the original as possible. Same hidden stuff, easter eggs, etcetera…
If a remake was made for 3DS, it would be 100% incompatible with the Virtual Boy as it would most likely be built from the ground up. Even if it was done as a 3D Classics release, it wouldn’t work on Virtual Boy. The only option would be a Virtual Console re-release, where yes the original ROM is being emulated.
This hope for a Dragon Hopper remake for 3DS is rather dumb I find, it will never happen under normal circumstances. The only hope is to find the Virtual Boy prototype.
Sure it’s 2014 and there’s still no sign of it, that doesn’t mean it won’t ever be found. Many prototypes for other systems have only been found recently. In fact, most prototypes surfaced through natural channels, such as auction sites or through public collectors who chose to release the ROM. Many happen beyond the control of common people like us.
Others still haven’t either, like nearly any first party proto for N64 and 64DD. Nobody has found Mother 3 disks yet, or any Zelda 64 protos. It doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Most likely, any proto that hasn’t been found yet is in the hands of a private collector who refuses to release the ROM.
We must all be patient, Dragon Hopper could still be found.
It’s strange, I’ve never had that issue with not being able to see red after playing Virtual Boy. I play my VB for an hour, I peek back out to post on PVB and all the reds look fine to me.
Upon testing out my second solder fixed Virtual Boy, I too am in the original hardware camp. Moreover, I find it silly how anyone would not want to play a real Virtual Boy. If they are not going to last forever, why not enjoy them then? Save Oculus RIft for when most VB systems don’t work anymore.
Well, in this sense you could call it a “pixel” as the LEDs are used as such in the Virtual Boy.
It’d be more impressive for some dust to be obscuring one LED / pixel line than for an LED to have stopped working. That’s really the only thing that comes to mind with such a display malfunction. A black line means one of the 224 vertical LEDs has died, because they reflect off the oscillating mirror to create a full 2D picture.
Glover wrote:
I think this sort of contributed to Nintendo’s high levels of caution when the DS was first announced. I remember at that year’s E3, they stressed several times that it was intended to be a “third pillar” for Nintendo’s system lineup, alongside Game Boy Advance and GameCube. It was positioned very deliberately as not necessarily being the successor to the GBA, just in case it was a tremendous flop… but, of course, that’s ancient history and the DS went on to become one of the most successful game consoles ever. 🙂
The last time they had introduced a system so drastically different from its precursor really was when the Virtual Boy was launched.
A similar thing happened with the Wii, only it was with Nintendo’s name. Should still be some sources lying around, but I remember from the days of the Wii launch that Nintendo said they wanted the Wii to appeal to non-gamers so they would be de-emphasizing the inclusion of the Nintendo name on the Wii product and marketing.
Similarly, in some staff interviews I think, Nintendo has always regretted placing their name so prominently on the Virtual Boy. I know someone said they marketed it as a video game but should have instead treated it as a sort of electronic toy, because it was just so different. I think that last note is in hindsight though.
But about the Nintendo name, that’s something I find very neat with the Virtual Boy. Nintendo is printed everywhere on the Virtual Boy and its accessories. It truly was just like a SNES or Game Boy as far as Nintendo products go. Flip through a Virtual Boy game booklet, it’s cool seeing everything formatted like any other system, just with a few more “how to set up the virtual boy display” and precautions. It’s such a shame so many people disliked it. 🙁
Considering how many unreleased games have been released to the public, including completely unknown games with no leads (Bio Force Ape) and even some Nintendo titles (Earth Bound, Starfox 2), I think it’s simply a matter of time before more Virtual Boy titles surface. Of course, a little encouragement always helps, but so many unreleased games over the years have just up and surfaced online one day from a generous collector, out of the blue. Some have had donation drives but lots were dumped and spread publicly just from sheer interest from parties involved.
