The Virtual Boy is one of the gems of 90s tech that often gets overlooked but for those who had it, it was the pinnacle of Nintendo fandom and failure.
With a price point of $179.99 at launch it was quite the expensive console, and the eye-straining red screen did little to entice gamers as it was seen as a step back from the way games were progressing at the time. With the Sega Game Gear showcasing handheld color technology, the Virtual Boy didn't wow players with graphics, and the "virtual reality" that utilized the harsh red screen to play tricks on the brain was more of a novelty. Thus we were left with what might have been and of course, the memes.
"The eye-straining red screen did little to entice gamers..."
Our very own QTB co-host Nick left this little gem on Reddit gaining over 7.5k upvotes (and counting...)
There were only a handful of games that came out for the Virtual Boy, most notably, a Wario game and a Mario Tennis game. Those were the must-haves and central Nintendo IPs they used to sell the console.
It was fun to play, but after about 5 minutes of staring at this type of screen with no reprieve, it had to be eye-damaging... it was headache-inducing.
Nick was the only kid I ever knew growing up who actually had the Virtual Boy. I remember going over to his house and playing it in his immaculately kept room clad with plaid! Apparently, he received it from a wealthy relative, because they were like, "Hey, Nick's a gamer!" and that was enough. Here's the box art from Japan.
I wonder if this was more popular in Japan...
Sit back and enjoy the nostalgia with the original 1995 commercial for the Virtual Boy