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On my desk is a Nintendo console that looks like equipment stolen from a cyberpunk optical store. It’s big, it’s red and black, it sits on a tripod, it has an eyepiece, it has a lens Nintendo Switch 2 Located indoors. Hey virtual boy, I’m back.
Nintendo did a lot There have been many strange consoles over the years, but the Virtual Boy was the strangest. And the shortest life. Released in 1995 It stopped after a year, and lived on in the blink of an eye during my senior year in college. I didn’t really have time to think about buying one.
It would have been perfect for me, a Game Boy fan who loved the idea of virtual reality even at the time. Nintendo was Flirting with virtual reality in Different shapes For decades, the Virtual Boy was the big swing. But it wasn’t VR at all, really. It was a monochrome red and black 3D game console, a 3D Game Boy shaped like a tripod.
Yes, there is a lot to put on the table.
I’m paving the way because you can now order a $100 Virtual Boy game, which is a big, weird Switch accessory. It’s staring at me now, taking up a lot of space. It’s too big to fit in the bag. It’s really a tabletop console, and Nintendo created this Virtual Boy viewer as a way to play a bunch of free-to-play games with a subscription on the Switch and Switch 2.
Is it worth your money? I would call it a collectible museum piece, not a serious piece of gaming hardware. However, my kid stuck his head out and played 3D Wario Land, then walked away declaring it really cool. He loves old retro games. But I don’t know how many times his head will go back in.
I’m thrilled to be playing a Virtual Boy game, even if its existence seems vestigial now.
Nintendo’s first stab at 3D now looks like a museum piece
For comparison, I pulled out my old one Nintendo 3DS XL From the drawer where it was put away and turned on, marveling once again that Nintendo had actually made a glasses-free 3D handheld game once upon a time. The 3DS is a more capable and advanced gaming system, but consider the Virtual Boy an outdated attempt to get there first.
The Virtual Boy was a red-and-black monochrome LED display system, a tabletop-only device that was neither handheld nor connected to a television. The Nintendo Switch’s tabletop-style game modes feel like a somewhat evolutionary link to the Virtual Boy, so it’s poetic that the Switch would pop into the new Virtual Boy to play games and provide exposition.
The plastic Virtual Boy is just a weird set of virtual reality goggles for the Switch, but with a red filter on the lenses. Also, you can’t wear it. You keep your head stuck in it.
Loading Switch 2 into Virtual Boy: Take out the top and insert it. (Works with Switch too.)
Awkward and easy to use
All the trappings on this entertainment look like the old Virtual Boy but don’t work: you can see a fake headphone jack, a controller port and some kind of handle on top. I just unscrewed the plastic case, carefully inserted the key, and then installed it again. That’s all it is.
To control it, you can use separate Switch controllers or another Switch-compatible controller. Launch the Virtual Boy app – Free on the eShop, but you need to Switch Account Online Plus Expansion Packwhich costs $50 a year, or $80 for a family membership — splits the Switch’s screen into two smaller, distortion-ready displays. In the Virtual Boy, it looks properly 3D. When I’m done playing, I take the key out again.
The large, red-lensed Virtual Boy glasses stand on a table while using any controller that works with the Switch to play games.
As I said in My first jobThe large, foam-covered lens is wide enough for large glasses, and it was nice to dip my face into. Getting a comfortable angle to continue playing for a while is another challenge. The Virtual Boy’s tripod-like stand can adjust the angle, but not as wide as I want. I feel bent over while playing, which causes me a little pain. Lying on the table with the controllers in my hands helps.
The red-lensed front lens can be removed, and a subsequent software update will allow Virtual Boy games to be played in many color combinations other than red and black. You can also unscrew an internal bracket to mount the Switch 2 and slide in the included switch-sized bracket instead. the Switch lite However, it does not work with Virtual Boy.
Weirdness is my independent type
All you get now are seven of the 16 games Nintendo promised to release for the Virtual Boy. Believe it or not, there were only 22 games released for this system. The set of 16 will include two previously unreleased items, which are new to collectors.
But what strikes me now is that, when immersed in these weird retro games with their red-and-black pixelated NES-slash-Game Boy aesthetics, they feel strangely timely. Nintendo’s weird, weird, almost parallel universe vibe feels like a classic indie aesthetic that’s been big for a while now. After all these years, is the Virtual Boy finally cool?
Games like UFO 50 (a collection of new indie games designed to look like an archive of 80s games for a console that never existed) and indie consoles such as Play date panic (It’s still my favorite little black-and-white console, home to all kinds of old homebrew games) It matches my feeling of diving into and discovering these Virtual Boy games.
What a Virtual Boy game looks like on Switch 2 before it drops into the headset.
Wario Land is probably the best: a side-scrolling Wario game with multiple depth levels, it gives me Game Boy Mario vibes. Golf has multiple holes and an aiming system, which is convenient and basic (and difficult to master). 3D Tetris has you dropping blocks down a well to fill up layers, with a Tron puzzle-like feel. The design of Red Alert’s 3D wired shooter is similar to Star Fox, but pared down to simple vector lines. Galactic Pinball has several tables, and is a very fun take on Nintendo’s old-style 3D pinball game. Teleroboxer is a Punch-Out game with robots, in a style that also reminds me of an early Switch game Weapons. The Mansion of Innsmouth is a spooky 3D dungeon crawler (in Japanese) where you try to get out before time runs out…or the monsters get you.
The remaining games coming this year include Mario Tennis, another Tetris game, a 3D racer, a 3D reinvention of the original Mario Bros called Mario Clash, and a 3D Space Invaders game. By the end of Nintendo’s release schedule, a significant portion of the Virtual Boy’s catalog will be gone.
I stick my head into the Virtual Boy to play. Comfortable around the eyes, but it can make me feel pain from bending over.
Specialized novelty as hell
Worth it? Again, if you like weird and retro stuff, and are interested in missing Nintendo 3D games, then yes. But if you’re looking for the latest technology, no.
Keep in mind: you can buy cheaper A $25 cardboard set Switch glasses let you play Virtual Boy games too (or use old ones Labo VR glasses Nintendo made in 2019, if you have). This is a more logical path. There are also unofficial emulators for Virtual Boy games on the Meta Quest and Apple Vision Pro. But who said that the hypothetical boy is sane?
The cardboard Virtual Boy looks like the old Labo VR glasses. I haven’t tried it yet.
A Nintendo gaming system that represents a large collection of red glasses on a tripod is inherently silly. And I welcome its strange influence into my home, because that’s just who I am. But it’s also a testament to Nintendo’s constant interest in the latest games. Virtual reality, 3D augmented reality, augmented reality, modular consoles… Nintendo is fumbling around the edges.
Is the Virtual Boy a sign that Nintendo might make its own VR or AR gaming system again someday soon, or as an extension of the Switch 2? Who knows? Shigeru Miyamoto, legendary video game designer at Nintendo, He seemed intrigued and evasive About that when I asked him last year. But there’s no real way to guess which direction Nintendo is headed. The Virtual Boy is a reminder of that museum.