Another big youtuber takes a stab at Virtual Boy.
The typical “it’s red! the games aren’t well suited for it!” etc stuff that we expect, but at the end after praising the homebrew community there’s a line worth thinking about.
(paraphrased)
“Do they really like it or is it because it makes them ‘quirky’?”.

Who here likes the Virtual Boy unironically? I think there are a fair few (not talking about anyone here) that do own one because it’s just a curious piece and/or because it’s that Nintendo failure, but at least I know for me personally, I like the VB uniroincally. I like most of the games, the controller, the console design, the 3D and I like putting my head in it.

I wouldn’t be on here if I didn’t love the little red guy. I am a bit jealous that he has more Virtual Boy games then I do though.

I like it because I like it. Some random dude on the internet can think whatever he wants, doesn’t make any difference to me.

(I don’t care if someone has a large Youtube channel, you’re still a random person on the internet)

Same here! I still have my original Virtual Boy from my middle school days in good shape and i like the system and its games unironically. Same goes for the Atari Jaguar, which i also had two times during my middle and high school days as well. My collection is not that big but i’m still happy to own Virtual Boy: Wario Land and the other games. Seriously Nintendo, stop with your stupidity and re-release the Virtual Boy titles!

Many years ago as i first heard above the Virtual Boy i just whabt it because its a curious thing. As a German Child in 1995 i never noticed about it because it was never released here. Then in 2010 i buyed my first one, not because i know i like it, just i whant it for my collection. Then when i had it i began to love to play with it. The only red Color was never a Problem for me. Some Games like Wario Land or Mario Clash and Teleroboxer or Vertical Force where realy much fun for me to Play.
Then it changes to not “i have it because its corious” to be a lovely thing for me wich i play not all the time but everytime again like old Gameboy Games and so on.
So yes i buyed it because i did not realy know what it is as a curoius thing but then it become an important console for me that i never will miss 🙂
Also what i love on the VB is the small but great Hombrew and Fan scene that i learn to know here 🙂 without Planet VB the VB will not be the same for much of the guys here i think and thats also a great thing.
Also all few years when a whole new Game comes in im realy excited alao if its only a small Game, i hope that will be for much more years like that (or faster releases 😀 ).

[Morintari]

To me it’s not a piece of 90’s garbage at all as the AVGN would have you to believe. And as far as “Scott the Woz” goes with his comment he’s seen better my reply is not for the time! The VB is older than him! So what exactly is a VB? Simple, I describe it as an interactive laser show in complete 3D! This is coming from an old guy that grew up with atari and can live with all red graphics.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by Morintari.

To me, it was quirky when I started collecting about 4-5 years ago. Especially since I own some variant of every “mobile” Nintendo console. However, I have fallen in love with it and now I love it unironically.

Yeah, very similar to AVGN, “these games are good, but they’re on VB, so they’re bad!” That drives me batty because any console in the world is only as good/bad as its library. So yeah, I see that the VB has a small library, and that’s bad, but both Scott and AVGN are guilty of saying that certain games are good “except” that they’re on VB. Uhh, good games = good console.

Obviously anyone who instantly gets a headache is going to dislike the VB no matter what, and I get that. I guess I’ve never had a problem with headaches or anything, and I’ve played VB for some long periods of time. People complain about the 3DS too, and I always play that with the 3D turned all the way up, every time. So I guess I don’t know what I’d think of the VB if it made me nauseous.

I’m also a huge Game Boy geek, so the pixely monochrome and relatively simple games are right up my alley.

As far as the “quirky” comment: anyone who has put time into playing their VB, and not for the purpose of telling someone else about it, is not trying to be quirky. It’s funny that he brings that up when he himself owns so much of the library, and obviously isn’t a fan of the console.

And what’s the deal with complaining that the different D-pads usually do the same thing? I can think of at least 5 games where they do different things; should the right d-pad do nothing at all in games that don’t need that many buttons? How has this become such a common talking point when badmouthing the VB? It’s just part of the bandwagon I guess.

I dunno, his video didn’t seem too negative to me. I think he properly assessed a lot of stuff, even if he made a few factual errors (for instance, color was NOT possible with this technology back them). When I tried out the VB as a kid, I didn’t like it. The controller was confusing, I don’t think I adjusted the headset correctly, and the games being demoed were super-simple (and for that matter, didn’t showcase the controller in a positive light). But after seeing Ben Heck’s teardown/rebuild of the VB, I really got an appreciation for how amazing the technology was for the time. And then I started to think about how much potential the controller had. I like it unironically, and not to be quirky. I think if a few things happened differently, it could have been a success, and gaming might be in a different place today. To me, it’s almost like a peek into an alternate universe. LOL And I kind of want to prove the VB can be a good console to play games on.

Virtual boy is unorthodox as a video game console, and that’s a good thing. Nintendo in its core, is a toy company and Gunpei knew that well. It is a unique 3D toy, which served its purpose. The reason why people still fusses that Virtual Boy is a bad console is because it was overhyped as a ‘Virtual Reality machine’.

I agree with Knightcrawler in that I also think the video wasn’t as negative as one may perceive. Most of the Youtube reviewers make fun of the console for “not being portable” because you need to plug it into an A/C socket, the games being displayed in red only and its small library of games. They are also comparing it to today’s VR technology and thus the Virtual Boy looks “ancient” in many aspects. I think the Virtual Boy had (has) something going and was ahead of it’s time for what it had to offer. Scott poked a little fun at the system, but yet tried out the games that he had and liked most of them. I just purchased a 3rd Virtual Boy (needs a ribbon repair but works great) because I think it’s a one of a kind console and I wish more Virtual Boys would be saved from the trash or getting destroyed! I love the games and especially the controller since it is one of the most comfortable to use and I hope we see more homebrew games released in the near future. It’s fans like us and Planet Virtual Boy that keep the Virtual Boy alive and strong, no matter what some Youtuber says about it, good or bad.