V-Tetris retrospective: Red blocktober | Virtual Boy Works #14

[@jonothanthrace1530]

I'm surprised you didn't mention Pokemon Puzzle League, which was my personal instant go-to for "puzzle game set along the outside of a rotatable cylinder."

[@TackyRackyComixNEO]

Same here, it's the first thing I thought of and the easiest point of comparison to me.

[@Director714]

Pokemon Puzzle League for the N64 had a similar 3-D mode, as the one you detailed in the end of this excellent video.

[@blairfarrell1706]

I'm so happy when these come out early enough for me to enjoy with breakfast. The first headline has Bullet Prood, easy enough typo.

[@anthonyzayler5449]

Thanks for the video Jeremy. Always a treat waiting to be found!

[@NukeOTron]

Wait, so... Mode C is like that 3D mode from Pokemon Puzzle League, but with actual Tetris? ...and Puzzle League made it work by keeping the playing field tube-shaped instead of using a background layer.

[@TanookiSuit]

You're correct about that. I've got the game and it's fun in any mode, but that one stands out as a harder more interesting take no one ever ignorantly ever tried to repeat and it works.

[@GermsOilCotten]

I love this channel. Been watching for some time now. Just wanted to say I love this stuff.

[@luisguillermojg]

Beginning this episode with a Chemical Brothers reference is a sure fire way to make sure I'll love it. Thank you.

[@MissAshley42]

Woah! Trippy visuals before Tetris Effect and rotating wells before Pokémon Puzzle League.

[@Poever]

My first Virtual Boy game...I got it for squat from a toy convention a year (2011) before I got my actual system. Yes, that recent. And we all know V-Tetris is the superior choice of Tetris on VB

[@wiiu42]

This really reminds me of Tetris Effect.

[@dogeymon83]

It’s not really true this title never reached America. There were multiple game stores in my area, several of which were independently run but one was EBX, which was technically EBGames. They all carried V Tetris and had plenty of copies all the time. EBX is the store I got a copy for $2.99 at. In hindsight, I wish I had bought every copy they had.

[@winterwraith1934]

Indeed. I also bought mine at EB soon after picking up my VB for around $20 at ToysRUs. I also grabbed the Bomberman puzzle game, golf, baseball, and Vertical Force at the same store, all Japanese versions. The employe with whom I spoke told me they had sold out of domestic games but the Japanese games were fully compatible and they had a bunch at the warehouse. I don’t even care about baseball but I was buying every title I could find for my bargain system since they were so cheap. I did manage to find the US versions of Wario and Teleroboxer at some point. I wish I’d tried harder to find all other titles but oh well, I’m glad I got what I got! Oh, and Mario Tennis came with my system, alas sans box…

[@joshuaburton154]

cant wait to see what you do next!! keep it up this is my fav channel on youtube

[@apostlenik809]

I suppose the fact that this game didn't take advantage of VB's 3D capabilities could have been the reason it wasn't released outside of Japan. Great video as always Mr. Parish!

[@JomasterTheSecond]

It's like, 10:30 pm. I should be asleep. But I'm watching a retrospective on Virtual Boy Tetris. Hell yeah.

[@unwiredben]

I bought V-Tetris here in the US at Gamestop back in 1997... when Nintendo pulled the plug on the Virtual Boy, Electronics Boutique started clearing out all the games. Since the system lived a bit longer in the US, they imported a bunch of the Japanese titles and stocked them too. I ended up with the Japanese titles T&E Virtual Golf, V-Tetris, Virtual Pro Yakyu '95, and Virtual Force from those sales. See the thread at groups.google.com/forum/#!search/virtual$20boy$20electronics$20boutique$20vtetris/rec.games.video.classic/oZj4XRw3SOY/c-tezhv1JpkJ

[@GameplayandTalk]

It is a bummer that this never came out in the States, but back in the day it was a fairly cheap import and some chains even carried it (like Electronics Boutique). I really enjoyed this one despite its simplicity and put a lot of time into it.

[@Skawo]

Huh. Is it possible to clear a line in mode C just by rotating the well, then?

[@JeremyParish]

It is not.

[@Skawo]

@@JeremyParish Hmm. Unfortunate.

[@thechrononaut1]

This makes me actually want to play a Virtual Boy.

[@GardevoirBoy]

It's nice how your Virtual Boy videos are in Grey and Black instead of Red and Black, so people don't get seizures. I think the Virtual Boy should have Grey and Black to begin with. No wonder Gunpei Yokoi had self-pity for himself after the Virtual Boy's failure. It was unfortunate that Gunpei Yokoi could not recover after the Virtual Boy's failure and died less than a month after his 56th birthday. It was caused by an accidental car crash.

[@MrJWTH]

Timmy Menard That is not the reason he went with this colour scheme. In the first Virtual Boy video Parish mentioned that he wanted to emulate the original colour scheme but that it would have been destroyed by KZbins’ compression algorithm if he did that so he decided to go for quality over nostalgia.

[@LorenHelgeson]

That loop mechanic on Mode C looks like a great concept. Thanks for NOT bringing this one stateside, Nintendo.

[@SuperFirstSecond]

Its not Tetris, but Pokemon Puzzle League on the N64 has a similar cylinder mode.

[@METR0lD]

I really should track down a copy of this game. I always enjoy breaking out my Virtual Boy every couple years for some nostalgia.

[@JeremyParish]

This is still affordable and definitely worth owning if you have a Virtual Boy! I picked up a copy for myself after creating this video.

[@METR0lD]

@@JeremyParish Yeah, I'll have to start checking eBay for it. I'm one of the unfortunate people who paid $180 on launch day for my Virtual Boy...

[@MosoKaiser]

That layer rotation mechanic indeed looks quite cool! Also, I wonder if the prices for this one on the 2nd hand market are going to shoot up right about .... now! :D

[@youtubed3951]

They really should re-implement that layer rotation in current games to up the ante. Tetris/Puyo Puyo sorta has it in the sense it switches between games...but a strictly tetris one would be good. imagine it as a Tetris 99 feature

[@mattdgroves]

Really dunking on clowns in this episode. Did a clown hurt you :)

[@rabiroden]

I imagine with the the lack of 3Dness, Nintendo didn't think the game brought the wow-factor to really sell people on the Virtual Boy

[@staguar]

Boom! Tetris for Jeremy!

[@MapleMilk]

No idea why they didn't bring the rotation back

[@Trainy2]

Wow that is cool concept for Tetris . They could have incorporated some Nintendo characters instead of clowns n whatnot and released it over here and it would have been a classic

[@fearanarchy]

Can't wait for next time. Spash Squash is my #2 Fav VB game after Teleroboxer

[@JeremyParish]

Space Squash is pretty rad, if a bit sparse on content!

[@fearanarchy]

That future episode with that Innsmouth game will bookend that statement I assume. Are we also getting to see the 2 leaked unreleased games?

[@JeremyParish]

Faceball and Bound High? Yes.

[@KuraIthys]

That's an interesting version of tetris, but yeah, it doesn't do much with the '3d' features of the system. It's actually kind of hard to believe the virtual boy was designed the way it was. I mean, I get they were working to a budget, and had technical limitations. I can forgive the monochrome graphics, but where on earth did they get the idea that a VR system incapable of 3d was a good idea!? I mean, come on now. This is 1995 - they could've at least given it something similar in capabilities to the SuperFX chip on the SNES. In fact, though it wouldn't work as is in the virtual boy, due to architectural differences, what stopped them from just dumping a modified SuperFX chip in there in the first place? Can't have been THAT much of an extra cost, and the lack of 3d capabilities really undermines the system... I mean, it would never have been a portable n64 in terms of power, but surely SOME 3d capabilities would make sense? Even rudimentary ones, like being able to display a few hundred solid shaded polygons would've gone a long way... But no... I swear the virtual boy is the poster child for not thinking through your design choices...