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Oct 14, 2008 • 16:08 Profile Photo Propane13

I wanted to give a shout out, and say hello to the community.

Maybe about 5 years ago, I was at a local “classic video game swap meet / party”.
While there, one of the attendants brought a virtual boy, with 2 games (Mario Clash and Mario Tennis).
The system also came with one of the Blockbuster hard cases.
I had a little desire for the system initially, but later, as the swap meet was closing, there were no takers.
So, I made an offer of $20, and brought it home. I was instantly hooked.

I’ve managed to pick up some of the commons, and last week, the “swap meet” happened again, and someone *finally* brought Insmouse.
I snagged it for $40, loose, but I was happy to have it, as I’ve bid for it a few times on ebay, and lost it each time.
The price seemed reasonable to me.

I’ve looked into this site a few times in the past, and have now decided it was time to join up.
I’m a member on atariage.com (Propane13 there as well), so if any of you have an account there, you’ll know who I am.
I’ve programmed a few homebrews for the 2600, and am fascinated with the 7800.
But, I figure it’s about time I jumped into the VB arena.
There’s just something cool about it.

So, to get started here, I wanted to ask some noob questions.
I’ll take time to dive into some of the forums, but I’ll ask some simple questions right away, to help get me oriented.

1) I see there are homebrew demos that people have made, but are there official released homebrews (on hardware)?
If so, a) where would I buy them? b) what are the favorites? c) Are the carts just cannibalized old ones, or has someone created new plastic cases?

2) Some prototypes have surfaced, and I see that some have their binaries preserved.
Are there people out there that have made copies for the community to play, that run on actual hardware?

3) My VB has started to act up on its right visor. The screen is dimming, and I see some vertical lines being drawn where they’re not.
Where would be a good place for me to go to research how to fix this phenomenon?

4) How would I find a VB cart “sleeve”? I am missing one.

Thanks, and I am glad to be aboard!
-John

2 Replies
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Oct 15, 2008 • 07:07 Profile Photo mathew

Hey welcome to planet virtual boy, im new as well i joined yesterday 😛 my virtual boy finally arrived from ebay (i live in Australia, ordered it from America)

i absoulutely love it, it is so much different to many other consoles, such a pitty it got discontinued, the 3d effect is awesome different to other consoles, i payed about 150 dollars in total for it including postage, it included 2 games teleroboxer and marios tennis, man they must of been very cheap back when they got discontinued..

anyway about some of your questions

with the problem about your virtual boys right visor being glitchy, dimming and if your seeing vertical lines through it i would suggest looking in the forums of this site

go to forums > main virtual boy discussion > The VB glitchy display problem..

it is a sticky its up the top of the threads.. have a look there, hope that helps.

now with your other questions:

1) The home brew games on this site are made from awesome people and you need to buy a flashboy cartridge wich you can find more info about on the left side bar under sections > hardware >flash carts

you basicaly put the game from the computer on it and play it on the virtual boy.. Blox 1 and 2 are great games that a guy has made!

i dont think they have put the homebrew games on old carts or new carts how ever that would be a great idea!

2) yeah some prototype games are around by serious collectors, like faceball and dragonhopper, no one has managed to get a copy of it fake or what not, if someone did have the prototype of the game they would ‘dump’ it onto the internet for download, then you could put it in a flashboy cart and play it off your virtual boy..

3)yeah like i said check the forums > main virtual boy discussion > the VB glitchy display problem thread see if what they have their to fix it helps, theyre pros 😀

4) VB cart ‘sleeve’, what do you mean in as sleeve? a sleeve to put the whole cartridge in or one of those dust protectors that stick on where the pins to connect into the virtual boy would be, if so its them – you can find them on ebay i think its a set of 4 for around 10 dollars.

i hope i’ve helped a bit in answering these questions and i hope you enjoy the site as i am, its great i love it, so much information and things all cool gadgets people have made to make the virtual boy even funner!

have you seen my question thread right under yours about japan import games, i need the question answerd if you have any idea what the answer is to a few of the questions i have.

basically, are japan import games from ebay english or japan language, because the games have like english text for the title then a bit of japan under them, as with the virtual boy i bought both of the games are made in japan yet the only japan language you see is when you start it up and it says in english read the manual or something then under it it says the same thing in japan.

thanks!

Mathew. 😀

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Oct 16, 2008 • 03:16 Profile Photo DogP

1) There are some homebrew games made, but none that have been officially released on carts. So far, all homebrew carts have been made using old cases and edge connectors, although new PCBs have been made.

2) None of the protos have been dumped and publicly released.

3) Check out the sticky on the forum… and I’ve got a page dedicated to it: http://home.comcast.net/~virtual.boy/projectvb/displayfix.html .

4) I don’t know of any place that actually sells the sleeves (I assume you mean the black plastic caps), but there are plenty of cheap common games out there that you could buy just for the cap… of course to save on shipping, it’s probably best to just order one from someone who you’re already buying a game you actually want from (or maybe ask them if they have any extra caps that they’d sell for an extra $1 or something).

DogP

 

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