The system had its ups and downs, but I don’t find it terrible, like others.

Pros:

The graphics they had going for it. The spritework and 3D was done really well for 32-bit.

When games were done good on the VB, they were done really good. Examples are Virtual Boy Wario Land and Teleroboxer.

There are brightness settings and many screen adjustments in case you’re feeling dizzy or not used to the “virtual reality” view.

Cons:

The red and black color. This is the most glaring flaw for me in terms of the VB. I’m kind of curious on what the games would be like if they had multiple colors, like the SNES. Maybe a smaller amount of colors would be less stressful on the eyes when that close up to a game, but red and black are a REALLY odd combination.

A very small library. Kind of obvious, really.

The system’s design. Now, I like how it looks like some neat invention from the future, but it’s obviously uncomfortable to use if you don’t have a good plan on where you’re going to use it. The table’s the best option, but for a handheld system, it’s pretty weird.

I’m not sure how often this con gets talked about, but there’s hardly any “virtual reality” in VB games. Besides a tennis ball hitting you in the face in the intro to Mario’s Tennis, there isn’t much first-person going on. However, Teleroboxer does the whole first-person thing really well, and I think it shows the VB at its best when it comes to that.

What about you guys?

Pros:

• Fun games, I’ve tried several and they’re all good. Wario Land and Bound High are very high quality and fun. Red Alarm makes some very good use of the VB hardware.

• The controller. It’s very comfy and has two D-pads, the only console I know of with a feature like that. I wish the N64 did that, or maybe use two analog sticks.

• The 3D! If the VB only did one thing right, it was the 3D. After seeing the 3D on a fully working VB, I am thoroughly impressed. It’s a 1995 console and its 3D is deeper and easier to see than even the 3DS. The 3D really and truly works. Maybe it should have been called 3D Boy. Although you could say stereoscopic 3D is best for polygons, I think it also worked great on sprite-based graphics. Wario Land is a really cool game to look at.

• The name, Virtual Boy. I know I said 3D Boy is more appropriate, but man do I ever love the Virtual Boy name. I love saying it, it sounds cool, it represents an unexplored aspect of Nintendo. People only remember Game Boy, Virtual Boy is seen as a failure. What if there were more “Boy” consoles from Nintendo? How about, err, Touch Boy? (DS) …. Or maybe not haha. Still, Virtual Boy is a kick ass name, it’s a great extension of Game Boy.

Cons:

• The shitty, fucking, AWFUL ribbon cables. Nintendo should be ashamed.

• The severe lack of games. It really needed more games.

• Red and black. For all intents and purposes, the red wasn’t really the best idea.

• The rarity of the system.

• The stand. If it weren’t for the medallion, it would get a good stand.

i like almost everything about it, including the red/black graphics you both were quick to point out. i find the red very soothing and enjoyable when playing in the dark.

i dislike the red plastic lenses. their shape causes the edges of the screen to blur, forcing me to physically move my head. you can really notice this when playing the homebrew “3D Crosswords” by VirtualChris.

i get upset when i read about the things nintendo supposedly did to gunpei yokoi. like how they would shame him into demonstrating the VB and then laugh about its failure. if they had not rushed it to market, promoted it correctly, and went through with the relaunch, it may have been received better.

i wish (although this is not a complaint geared towards the talents of this board) that the VB had a larger developer following. this system has untapped potential. the vectrex has more completed homebrew games than commercial releases, there is no reason the VB can’t be the same way.

I think the pro’s and con’s have been demonstrated in earlier posts. But what I don’t get is the negative comments about the red and black. I come from the age of laser shows that were 3d and people paid to see them, they were also monochrome. To me the VB is like an interactive laser show and as far as the 3d effect goes it in my mind is right up there w/ universal studios. Most things that I have you kinda have to wonder is it 3d or isn’t it? It’s kinda like a shadow of 3d. But not the case for the virtual boy it is very 3d almost like looking at cardboard cutouts arranged in space. I don’t know why this is the only thing that I can think of is maybe it’s because you adjust it to your own eyes it’s a personal thing and it works according to you.:vb:

I like the sharpness of the graphics on the system as well as the amount of fun games it has for a console with only 22 games for it. The system also has one of my favorite controllers too.

What I’m not a fan of is the internal design of the console. How the system makes the 3D image is cool, but it seems very fragile (not that I plan on dropping the console) and the ribbon cable things that cause the glitchy display should’ve been either clipped on or soldered on rather than glued on to make a better, long lasting connection.

I didn’t outright say the red and black colors were bad, but back in 1995, color was a big deal. Nobody wanted to play something with only red for a color, that sounds more outdated than the Game Boy.

On a real VB with everything set up correctly, the red and black doesn’t hurt my eyes, it’s pretty easy to play for a long time. As someone else noted, I love the sharpness of the LED graphics, looks leagues ahead of the common LCDs of the time. LED was absolutely the way to go, but red really killed the Virtual Boy.

I don’t get the hate for the red and black. Technically, it was either that or nothing. You couldn’t get any other color LED’s at the time without being dim and power hungry, not to mention the lowered resolution to fit the two extra colored LEDs into the array.
Personally I don’t find it weird at all, I kinda like it actually. It kinda makes it seem bad ass in a way. Or maybe because Red and black was always my favorite color scheme =P

I find the display WAY easier to see than the handheld alternative that was available at that time, the original puke green gameboy screen. The VB had none of the blur the GB had due to crappy refresh rates of old LCDs. All the graphics are crystal clear on the VB.

The controller is awesome and ahead of it’s time. It’s basically a precursor to the dual analogue, which didn’t come out until a couple years later. Not to mention is just feels good in the hand.

The games are just awesome on the VB. I could probably write a couple paragraphs on just this, but I’m gonna keep this short. I like how they seemed to try really hard to make these games unique, with awesome results like Wario Land, Red Alarm, and Bound high.

What don’t I like about it?

Lack of games & ribbon cable, duh, I’m sure we all agree here.

If you break the stand your kind of screwed. The VB I played when I was younger didn’t have a stand..let me tell you, it’s damn awkward trying to prop this thing up on chairs and other random bits of furniture and successfully play. I think more accessories for playing in different scenarios would have really helped.. Most notably an elastic head band to keep it in place when lying down or sitting reclined in a chair would have been a nice option.

Other than that I don’t have too much to complain about. I find it a really solid system.

Makes my head hurt trying to imagine how they could’ve produced multi-color images with LED raster scans on vibrating mirrors. Although, if VB had been a success, Nintendo would have figured out how.

Chaz wrote:
Makes my head hurt trying to imagine how they could’ve produced multi-color images with LED raster scans on vibrating mirrors. Although, if VB had been a success, Nintendo would have figured out how.

If I were doing a full-color version, I’d use dichroic prisms (such as are used in LCD projectors) to combine three LED arrays into, essentially, a single column of full-color LEDs. After that, it’d be the same as the existing VB, timing-wise.

Personally, it’s not the monochrome part that bugs me (and I fully understand the reasons for it), it’s the low bit depth. If it had even one more bit per pixel, the graphics could be a lot better. Of course, 4bpp would just be that much better, and 8bpp would blow your mind! 😀

Pros:
-systems graphics
-sound chip
-game library
-system design

Cons:
-red and black only display
-repairing
-system design
-no head strap

I would agree with most of you on the pros and cons that have been said. I actually enjoy the red LEDs. My biggest cons however woul be the lack of great !st party games. I’m sure everyone here would have loved to have played Zelda, Metroid, or fully fledged Mario game. I also hate the lack of a strap for the system, which limits the playability for allot of people. I am actually working on a design right now that will replicate the headset Cyberdyne made using the Forte VFX-1 VR headset, but I am going to make a version for 3D printers. That way its easy for everyone to get this for their own VBs.

That sounds pretty cool, and a great use of 3D printing. I can’t wait to see your design!

The next logical step would be to completely repackage the “guts” of the VB, which would allow you to:
1) Reduce the total weight by using less plastic, and
2) Distribute the weight better by placing the parts that don’t need to be in front of the user’s eyes (e.g. the amplifier and speakers) behind the head to act as a counterweight.

That’s a great idea! My initial plan was just to make a shell that will lock firmly to the VB, can collapse down when not in use, and feature removable headphones of the users choice. What you suggest is a great next step and completely redesign the whole VB unit. I do have a non-functional unit too, so I can dismantle it and experiment to see what I can do. Now you’ve got the gears turning lol. Thanks!