The Nintendo Virtual Boy

[@acatacho]

That boxing game looks insane for the age. You could pass that as a modern indie game with how detailed and polished it looks.

[@TheBrotherGrim]

I had one of these when I was a kid and Teleroboxer was definitely the fav, not that there were many games to choose from. It's insanely hard, but the art style is so cool and it looked great in the 3D

[@estherstreet4582]

This thing's graphical style seems to be "16-bit but ~more~" and I think that's pretty common in a lot of modern indie games these days, so it's weirdly familiar.

[@acatacho]

@@estherstreet4582 YE, that makes sense, I reckon it is a good thing, I personally love that aesthetic.

[@OtakuUnitedStudio]

The Legend of Mystical Ninja games on N64 actually had a reference to Teleroboxer. The giant robot fights were structured the same way.

[@TheBrotherGrim]

@@OtakuUnitedStudio Oh nice! I never got to play that one

[@JDBennett1656]

About a decade ago, I found one of these for $30 at a flea market in the middle of nowhere Delaware. I made my poor father drive around to gas stations looking for an ATM with me because the guy took cash only. Its in perfect condition, its one of my favorite things to pull out at parties. Its really hard to describe what that screen actually looks like in person.

[@clouds-rb9xt]

Is it any good?

[@ZingaMadinga]

I play my virtual boy games by emulating them on my phone, and putting my phone into a Google cardboard, and connecting a Bluetooth Xbox controller. The 3d actually looks really good

[@ZingaMadinga]

Man $30 dollars is what I hope to pay for something like this one day. Virtual boy is great

[@Super_Bros.]

@@ZingaMadinga A decade ago it was easy to find these for $30 but modern day it’s more than 400$ boxed. 😂

[@doomisforu]

​@@clouds-rb9xt Yes, it is I have one the red screen is not that bad. It actually has really good black levels against the red leds.

[@chrisfratz]

If you have an Oculus quest 2, there is a native virtual boy emulator you can get from the side quest Homebrew store allow you to play games in their proper stereoscopic 3D, there's awesome a virtual boy emulator on PC designed for the Oculus rift headsets. Speaking of I need to go back and play more of VB Wario Land, that's a genuinely good platformer, and the stereoscopic 3D in that game is pretty good for a 2D sprite based platformer.

[@erinrodriguez5740]

Yeah even on an oculus go with an Xbox controller virtualboy go is great

[@chrisfratz]

@@erinrodriguez5740 I forgot that was the name of it since even though I have a quest I prefer running stuff on my PC instead so I use the rift emulator which is an open VR port of the VBjin emulator. I didn't even know Virtual Boy Go had an Oculus go port, but I guess it fits with the name.

[@erinrodriguez5740]

@@chrisfratz good stuff, this vr community, runs way better than a 3ds trying to run this

[@HoopleBogart]

Holy fuck I need to try this. That thing has been a hunk of junk ever since I completed superhot and re4VR.

[@Juicyboi_]

Is this something I can find for PCVR?

[@choppercove]

I've been anticipating a video on this horrible amazing device.

[@DollyBoy_1923]

Such a beautiful nugg

[@redcrimson1028]

I see what you did there lol wish I had one of these. Man nintendo made some huge mistakes in their career. So making some to this day

[@thedjgamer-productions]

We all wish we had a friend like James

[@someoneelse1534]

Can confirm

[@ovaerd]

Mine is called Rikard. He is INDEED an impressive specimen!

[@Juanus14]

Growing up with James is pretty good, too

[@Super_nan124]

Dank pods “we all need a James}

[@ollie94374]

fr

[@Jakefiz1]

Man ive seen tons of videos about this guy over the years mostly avgn style roasting it for being a failure and eye straining but none of them actually opened it and explained the really cool technology behind it and helping the world appreciate it for what it is! Great content as always James :)

[@notpumkin]

Exactly my thoughts. I love VR nowadays and I never realized how ahead of its time this thing actually was.

[@Jawmsie]

The realization that the virtual boy's display operates on an overengineered version of the principle that the fans with the LEDS in them that made funky patterns worked on may have just blown my mind.

[@toomanyinterests]

The moving mirror system is similar to some early televisions from the 20's and 30's which used mirrors mounted on a drum or in a spiral to display an image. There were even a few experimental ones that displayed colour. There's a video demonstration online of a mechanical colour television that has been built using an original mirror screw and modern LEDs and electronics, it's a fascinating design.

[@piratebear3126]

Someone else pointed it out, but playing Wario Land on the Oculus Quest was mind blowing. The treasure rooms use the stereoscopic 3D to essentially have full 3D environments. Great game to emulate anyway, but it’s awesome to see the full 3D effect on a decent screen in 2023.

[@speedyink]

The VB screens look sharp and crisp. The real hardware actually looks great in person, it's just hard to film and always looks crap in videos

[@SeJoHu]

I will never forget the virtual boy my parents got me and my brother. We both had huge 90s glasses and couldn't fit them into the eye shade, and if we played without our glasses, we got horrible headaches, which was apparently not unique to our experience. We had it for like a week before my parents returned it.

[@toomanyinterests]

I have that problem with my stereoscope, can't fit my glasses in the eye shade. The focus adjust doesn't adjust enough for me so I have to balance my glasses on the other side, between the lenses and the photo. Makes looking at 3D photos rather fiddly, but at least I can do it. There's nowhere to fit the glasses in on the Virtual Boy.

[@Trygon]

This is amazing. I thought I knew what the virtual boy was, but seeing it pulled apart, mirrors spinning, and display nakedly showing it's only scanline was REALLY informative. What an absolute little marvel.

[@YokiDokiPanic]

fun fact about the break warnings. When they were developing the Virtualboy, there was a Japanese study done to see if extended play is bad for your eyes, especially for young children. The results were actually very positive and the conclusion was that this was pretty good eye exercise as long as it's calibrated correctly. BUT the study took a bit longer than anticipated and Nintendo wanted to be safe from lawsuits and covered the damn thing in warning labels and programmed a break warning anyway, branding it as a danger to kids' health for no reason.

[@k0lpA]

It did cause a lot of eye strain though, especially with the wrong IPD

[@coonyman10]

James will just come in with one of the most comprehensive videos on a 30 year old piece of obscure tech like it's nothing. I love it.

[@theSam91]

When you took it apart and showed the insides was amazing. The fact they produced that thing in 1995 to an affordable(?) price point for the masses is astonishing to me. The single line of LEDs for the display is genius.

[@MrBarcode]

I had a virtual boy and most of the games growing up. I think my dad got it in a bundle on clearance from KB toys before they were discontinued. I loved the console but sadly had to get rid of it while moving some years ago. Warioland, Redalarm, Teleroboxer were all the best games for the system. I had the mains adaptor as well. I used the controller like you mentioned but the mains lead cable was resting on the table too much and the clips holding it in place broke so by the end I had to hover it off the table to play. it had the added benefit of being forgotten by my parents every time I was grounded from the genesis or PS1 so I could dig it out of the closet and go nuts with it for a week or so

[@beatlesshmeatles]

oh my goosshhh KB Toys!!!!! what a throwback!

[@houstoner]

I had one as a kid in the 90s. My dad got the unit and all the available games for like $50 at a KB Toys clearance. If I had to guess, I probably spent at least 100 hours playing it, maybe more. It was def before it's time. I found the best, most comfortable way to play it was laying down with the kickstand on chest. I wasn't allowed to have a TV in my room until I was 16, but I had this lol. Thanks for sharing, the nostalgia hit pretty hard.

[@GaminylGames]

James man, just showing the exterior of the console and explaining the ports and how it was powered, the lens adjustments, hearing the mirrors, the LED screen, etc - that alone is the best coverage I've seen of this thing. but then you went and did an entire teardown and explained how it works internally? Other than maaaaaybe if Digital Foundry and LGR worked together but damn I really can't imagine anybody else covering this in this much detail while being positive and entertaining. I'm glad im here pre-channel-blowup

[@CbasRielo]

I've seen a lot of people cover the VB but never actually go in depth on it, nice video!

[@matiasaguilar2500]

Oh man this channel is really good, sometimes retro gaming content gets way too overproduced and clean and structured. I love this because this feels like we entered your house and you're showing us all the cool stuff you have

[@ForgottenChronicler]

I actually managed to get my hands on one of these with the Blockbuster rental case but unfortunately the glue on the lenses came off and I haven't been brave enough to try soldering it myself lol. But as someone born years after it came out and owning multiple VR headsets it does amaze me how ahead of it's time the V Boy was, definitely a shame it couldn't succeed

[@Xomby]

I got one of these on clearance in winter of '95. wish I had gotten more of the games, but the ones I had I recall putting quite a few hours into. I remember actually playing it on long car rides using the battery pack........... [shrug] a system I enjoyed, but years later everyone poops on things that "look bad" or "have bad graphics". at the time, it was way better than the "R-Zone" headmounted game (also had it). Teleroboxer is brutal. love it to pieces.

[@paperbros2508]

0:10 incorrect, it was discontinued in early 1996

[@Chris13586]

5:38 fun fact, there was gonna be a traditional Bomberman game for the virtual boy, and was even gonna make use of the cancelled 2 player adapter, but the game didn’t last long before being cancelled, due to the virtual boy’s failure

[@whompronnie]

One big issue of course is the way you had to play it, hunched over like a modern bell tower resident. Nintendo had originally planned for it to strap to your head, which might have been more comfortable for adults, but they worried it'd put too much strain on baby necks.

[@Zanpaa]

Shank Mods has an amazing video on making a portable Virtual Boy from a defective unit, and it has great technical explanations about the whole thing (including what each chip does)! Low Spec Gamer has a great history of how the Virtual Boy came to be, including why you don't strap it to your face like it was originally meant to.

[@ZingaMadinga]

I wish those were being sold, because I don't wanna have to shell out for a virtual boy, take it apart for the mother board, and put it in a handheld, when I could just emulate the games on a handheld. He says he had to use a real mother boardrs from a VB because you won't be able to play the cartridges without one, but that makes no sense, because as far as I know, the Analaouge Pocket dosent use a gameboy motherboard, but it can still play the games off of the cartridges

[@sparkywilson1405]

It's okay - just okay. I remember laying on my stomach and playing until my neck hurt. I also remember having it in my lap on car rides. Wario Land and Teleroboxer deserve rereleases, or graphical remakes.

[@TheBrotherGrim]

A Teleroboxer remake or sequel would make me so so happy....Me and probably like three other people, but still. I loved that game. Wario was gold too.

[@ZENITH_System_3]

I brought my virtual boy with me on vacation for after hiking when I was tired and it was actually very peaceful and almost tranquil playing some games in nature

[@TheBrotherGrim]

I got one of these for Christmas one year, and i actually loved the thing. I had the power adapter and Teleroboxer was definitely my favorite game, even if i constantly got stomped. Playing the VB years later on a VR emulator was amazing, being able to swap the color from red to something more comfortable was mind blowing. I've always loved these things, even with all the hate they get.

[@Kramburger11]

Quick bit of advice/minor nitpick for future videos: try not to have any CRT monitors on in the background while recording, since they make a super high-pitched buzz that's a bit annoying for people like me who can still hear it (although this sound might be from the VB in this case). Maybe roll off the audio frequencies above 10kHz when recording a CRT to mitigate this as well. The content is still enjoyable regardless. Keep it up! (Nice cheeky "James Channel" in the magic eye image, btw!)

[@moonprison4681]

God... This entirely 🥲

[@ExpandDong420]

That's the reason why I can't stand CRTs. It pierces my ears and goes right to the displeasure center of my brain

[@Games_for_James]

I applied a filter to remove the 15khz range because I’ve had complaints before. I can’t hear it though so it’s hard to tell if the filter worked. I’ll kill off more of the top end in my next video. I didn’t think I even had any running this time. Maybe the VB was making noise 🤷‍♂️

[@LowellLoveMusic]

​@@Games_for_Jamesas a musician my advice is find out what your exact hearing range is and filter out everything outside of that range! Cheers

[@Archer690Channel]

if you use a spectrum analyzer or spectrometer you can see the high frequency beeps and if your video editor has a notch filter you can match the freq and the problem is solved without killing the sound of hi hats and the S. not like it makes a huge difference tho since yt will most likely downgrade the audio quality on playback depending on the user settings

[@xcaiusto]

I think this is the best showcase of this beautiful device, thank you James.

[@joeofloath]

I have played one of these, it was a really unique experience. The owner had attempted to write a doom-like FPS for it but I don't think it worked out, which is a huge shame.

[@ZingaMadinga]

Imagine doom for virtual boy.

[@fruit_smoovie]

Your channel is becoming one of my favorites, I just love watching you geek out about about cool shit like this.

[@mpixl9965]

If you have a homebrewed 3DS or 2DS you can play virtual boy games via an emulator called "Red Viper", it has the standard features you would expect from a modern emulator, but also some more unique things like being able to change the red colouring to anything you want, and it can even replicate the 3D effect with the stereoscopic slider on 3DS type models!

[@hullian1113]

3:39 What people don’t often know is that the SNES (and this!) version of Waterworld has the best soundtrack in retro videogames. All I’ll say is… Map Theme.

[@NickkAtNyte]

It's neat seeing the scan line coming from the bottom left to the top right at a diagonal. I don't think I've ever seen a scan line go that way before.

[@rrrandommman]

I had no idea it's display was a single line of LED lights with a vibrating mirror, that's such a clever way to reduce processing requirements.

[@Slash0mega]

the lense might have nothing to do with making it bigger, it just might just allow your eyes to focus on the image as if it was 5 feet away rather than a few inches, so you can actually see it. (i get this theory from how vr do)

[@unity-blabs]

In the last month or so, a virtual boy emulator for 3ds got updated to run at full speed and with full 3d effect! And you can change the color of the screen from red

[@IVR02]

Pretty much my only experience with the Virtual Boy is a kiosk model that's been on display at a game store in my area for years. They used to have it running, but they switched it off during COVID. Still, I'm glad they've at least kept it on display. Come to think of it, that store is also the only place I've seen a Vectrex in person, so that's something.

[@_00FF00]

Yeee buddy. Glad to see stuff like this saved. Video editing suggestion: High frequency filter for audio. There's a very high-pitched whine throughout the game clips. Think crt screen whine but more piercy.

[@MangInutil]

This looks so cool. Now I lowkey wanna see Nintendo making this again, although I don't know how can they compete nowadays...

[@carlosemilio5180]

Labo VR. It got just as much support too!

[@snappycat360]

now i see why he gave it a good rating, he didnt use the actual screen so his eyes still function

[@Mountain-Man-3000]

I played on one for about 15 minutes as a kid. Didn't realize at the time how rare that opportunity would be.

[@bpexodus]

This thing is an EYESORE...Literally!

[@bok..]

thanks for taking it apart i love to see the internal hardware

[@NamelessMoreOne]

That's the first time I've seen someone take the time to point out positives of the platform and games.

[@NALTOHQ]

YAY VIRTUAL BOY LOVE! We stan the VB in this house.

[@SuperXzm]

Frankly, with all those "Virtual Boy Bad" videos I never expected how sharp and easy on the eyes was the actual VB. Teleroboxer, tennis and wario land were great.

[@CantankerousDave]

The clock ticking or drum machine or whatever that is in the background is too quiet to be it’s own thing, but is just loud enough to be impossible to ignore. I don’t often get a chance to say that something set my teeth on edge, but it damn well set my teeth on edge.

[@Games_for_James]

I’m working on the volume issues for the backing track before my next vid, the source audio fluctuates. It sounded loud enough through my laptop speakers but I was in a quiet room

[@Wolfshalifi]

Water world was such a good movie

[@K9arcade]

I had a sneaking suspicion you were going to cover this next. It fits your eclectic mix of awesome retro goodies. Nice to see these games in a better light.

[@legohalonascarfan3]

Thanks for explaining and showing the mechanism for how the virtual boy displays graphics, I was completely unaware until now. I knew it was way ahead of it's time, but the tech involved really proves that.

[@MaxwellTornado]

I sure do love the constant high pitched static.

[@Games_for_James]

Yeah, being a mechanic for 14 years means I can’t hear it and it’s too late to fix it. I’ve since learned how to watch for it and how to remove it.

[@MaxwellTornado]

@@Games_for_James Damn. Sorry to hear that, mate. Hope you won't lose the rest of it.

[@Games_for_James]

@@MaxwellTornado age takes the top end off anyway, I’m sure I’ll be fine. I wear earmuffs a lot more than I used to now too.

[@numptypootis8012]

The Virtual Boy looks like something that's meant to sit in the garden

[@CocoHutzpah]

This is the first time I've seen how the screens work. Rather clever

[@bozobo3822]

I've just picked up a Virtual Boy. I absolutely love it. Massively underrated.

[@JACKHARRINGTON]

i like how you used the exact shade of red youtube uses so i don't know if i've watched this video yet

[@Games_for_James]

Ahaha, I didn’t even realise

[@GingerNingerGames]

The best part about this is there's a little bit of this technology in modern VR if you own a Vive or an Index, the base stations use the same tech to throw reference dots around the room for the controllers and headset to track with.

[@cryomaniac1366]

3:33 this made me realize this would be really really cool for a terminator vision style simulation

[@doc_sav]

I was obsessed with this when I was a kid. People say they were being clearanced for $35-$40 when they were discontinued, but that definitely wasn't the case where I lived, or else people were buying them up very quickly. It definitely had flaws, but at the time I still contend it was an unparalleled experience.

[@OceanPacific921]

Great video! I always wondered what it looked like on the inside! I have three Virtual Boys, including the store display you showed a picture of. My preferred way to play was laying on my back with the Virtual Boy balanced on my face. My favorite game on it is 3D Tetris. Wario is really good too though.

[@Dfturcott]

Now for a long time because it was so different you couldn’t play the games anywhere but 30 years later someone finally made a app so you could play them on your phone and i got to play old games I hadn’t seen in decades but the down side is they named the app “virtual friend” and, now I feel like I can’t let people see my phone. “Dave what’s the lions score?” “I don’t know, check my phone, I have a score tracker.” “Ok, Facebook, KZbin, Amazon, vir….virtual friend? Dave…. are you okay?”

[@CatGoomba64]

Bought one of these a few years ago and in my limited use, it's actually a great console. Wish it got support for longer than a few months because this could have been something really special once devs were able to better understand the hardware

[@OZ-10]

This is the first Virtual Boy video where the creator included audio from the games and not just gameplay with a voice over. Dope

[@ZingaMadinga]

Virtual boy is definitely heavily underrated. It really deserves more than what it got. It had the games going for it, and had POWER. Really, the headache inducing red graphics (which I've never been bothered by) and the fact that it wasn't that portable since it was a table top device really hurt the virtual boy. I like the virtual boy.

[@chrisfratz]

Love that the Magic Eye in this video says the name of the channel.

[@Helios8170]

"It's the vircha boi" -James, 2023

[@mikethetowns]

The most accurate review of Virtual Boy Golf I have ever seen.

[@Rohirin]

I had one of these and tried to use it in the car. I have never felt sicker in my life. The only two games that I got came with it in a bundle. They were Tennis (which I was good at), and Clash (Which I could never do well at). Never could get my hands on the Wario game.

[@Zack-xu2zw]

I thought he said "it's the virgin boy" in the beginning lmao love your videos, dude

[@adrianfernandez7930]

Today I learned that golf is golf. James’ wisdom knows no bounds

[@Israfel36]

I remember playing these in stores when I was a kid... Can't believe that was 30 years ago, holy shit.

[@bsheaves]

When it comes down to it the Virtualboy was WAY ahead of its time. If it wasn’t rushed and became a commercial success, the modern video game market maybe completely different. VR style games may have taken off far sooner

[@fitz7696]

5:53 I'm sorry but Mario Wonder's background level mechanics looking nearly identical to Wario Land for the VIRTUAL BOY, of all things, is so funny for some reason. Even in all red and without the stereoscopic effects, it just looks so charming. Also, I assume everything in Red Alarm is wireframe because players get SO mad when they get shot by something they can't see. That's why lots of games give you an outline or a way to sense enemies nowadays, but you couldn't do that with a monochrome display like this.

[@aaronhenry2306]

Honestly, this was ahead of the time I will eventually get one of these

[@latergator9622]

I think the way James handles those eye shades was the most delicate I've seen him handle anything

[@Games_for_James]

Sooo hard to replace if I damage it

[@MissAkashiya]

Underrated?? HOMIE THEYRE EXPENSIVE HOW DO I RATE SOMETHING I CANNOT HAVE??

[@AmyNumberSeven]

My boy Nester! I forgot he got a game besides the Pilotwings cameo! He was a mascot for Nintendo Power, and his straight man was Howard Lincoln, the chairman of NOA at the time.

[@johnboydojo]

I'm so happy someone made a Virtual Boy emulator for the 3DS. I've never seen a physical Virtual Boy console, let alone played one!

[@Jen_RS]

Awww yaaaas! I remember this thing being setup on demo in a store. Played it while my parents went shopping. Never could convince them to buy one. So cool to see it on here!

[@Ongomar]

Seeing that vibrating mirror technology to make a display is really awesome, especially considering it is from 1995

[@ofp8574]

I got a Virtual Boy when I was a kid, came with this black, foam lined plastic carrying case with a handle. I used to just lay the system on my face and play laying on my back, if memory serves. I mainly played Wario Land. I still have it, but the right screen started acting up and now no longer works at all. One day I'll probably fix it, as I did enjoy that game, and it wasn't the same without the 3D effect.

[@jakehallam2113]

Oh boy, can't wait to watch the latest episode of Australian Vintage Gaming Nugget!

[@pirki4893]

Who would have thought without the games, Virtual Boy is a tinnitus simulator

[@Gunbudder]

0:23 for those unable to view magic eye images, the hidden image here says "James Channel". i'm lucky that my vision can be corrected enough to enjoy these things and i loved doing the magic eye puzzles growing up. i figured out a way to very quickly view them, and i feel for anyone who is not able to enjoy them

[@Fresh1O1O]

James, if you ever come to the US, my hometown has a videogame museum/arcade. They have like 600 different games. From pinball, to cabinet style, to newer arcade. It’s 20 usd for the entire day, with all machines on freeplay. I spent like 8 hours there and got to play maybe half the games.

[@redpanda84]

The launch date for this product was on July 21 in Japan that's a bad period for good sales because of the Summer holidays and they removed it from the market in December that was the best period for the Christmas sales. It had a bad marketing choice but they did something similar 15 years later with the Nintendo 3DS release, this time without the VR glasses.

[@Wheelz_]

No Jack Bros makes me sad, the best SMT game

[@Games_for_James]

it's one of the ones I'm missing :( it's sooooo expensive

[@baetIIDX]

@@Games_for_James It definitley is worth picking up if you get a good deal on it. It's one of the best VB games, better than VB Wario Land im willing to say

[@Games_for_James]

Even a good deal is several hundreds of dollars for just the cartridge. I’ll own it one day though

[@pesoen]

i bet that 95%(if not more) of us came from dank pods or one of his other channels :) we love you James, keep it up, love the old tech :D

[@AllGasNoBreakfast]

James I love your honesty! "I don't want to lie to you, so these chips make it work." 😆

[@user-gj1lb6xp3t]

I had one of these as a kid and I thought it was awesome, that pinball game was the one I played the most. I wish I would've held on to it.

[@bergauk]

Your video is the first video I think I've ever seen that does a good job showing off just how capable the Virtual Boy really was. I had no idea it looked that good.

[@GenericSweetener]

Given the way these screens work it's a wonder that any of them still sync properly

[@GreyMatterShades]

VR today has the same problem in marketing that the Virtual Boy had. Unless you can actually see the images in stereo 3D (with head tracking in the case of modern VR), you can't appreciate how cool some of the stuff looks.

[@billygoatguy3960]

i have a hard time believing that mirror rig was cheaper to produce than an LCD screen

[@mastertonberry9224]

I am a simple man. I see new James Channel, I click

[@Butterbean32]

I first tried a Virtual Boy a few months ago at Super Potato in Tokyo. Incidentally, the game they had on it was Red Alarm, and honestly was pretty impressed, and I thought the speakers were pretty good too. Thanks James

[@PrimaryTheCat]

My second favourite James on YT reviewing a Virtual Boy

[@zacharycastro7838]

I had no idea the tech for this system was so cool! Thanks for taking it apart and showing it off. 🙏🏼

[@KeegoTheWise]

“YOU CALL THAT BOXING? HA!” 　　　　　- Johnny

[@YaGirlZero]

The 3ds is the best emulator for it btw, the updated emulator was released recently and the reason it's the best... well, it actually uses the thing's 3d function.

[@YaGirlZero]

Btw, James mentioned it in this video, there is no virtual console for 3ds for virtual boy, but, there's a brand new emulator, from the same person who made one that was... not quite as filled out years before, I believe.

[@Games_for_James]

Yeah! I’ve been playing with it and I’m happy to say it works great!