More and more, Virtual Boys are becoming extremely rare. Proof of this is that their worth has been recently skyrocketing.

Finding mint condition Virtual Boys is also getting extremely hard to find. Most are scratched up, have bent visors, etc. For someone who is a condition freak like myself, I find it harder and harder to find VBs that suit my picky needs. In many ways, it’s almost like I am compelled to buy all the mint VBs I find because I honestly don’t think they’ll last long.

With display (ribbon cable) issues, I see more of these systems being thrown and tossed around like they’re useless. Seller stupidity at it’s finest.

So I’m making this thread in almost a tribute to the once great VBs of eBay, who found themselves in the unfortunate situation of being owned by someone who treats them like a rotten banana simply because they have an easily fixable issue.

First up…
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Huge-Super-Nintendo-Virtual-Boy-System-Lot-/120976178248?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c2abdfc48

What a cruel fate these consoles were given. I won’t even touch on the fact that most of the SNES consoles aren’t yellowed, which makes their cases EXTREMELY valuable to people like me, but look at the poor VB. Wedged in there. No bubble wrap. No care.

Whoever buys these deserves to be hit on the head by his purchase. Preferably with the box end of the AC cable.

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[Benjamin Stevens]

I like your VB passion, DaytonaUSA! 😉

It’s a good thing that you probably didn’t see the auction a while ago for a Virtual Boy, which someone had painted white. :/

http://www.planetvb.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=16861#forumpost16861

• This reply was modified 12 years, 2 months ago by Benjamin Stevens.

Oh dear lord! I don’t know what’s worse. The fact he painted it, the fact he painted it poorly, or the fact 20 people bid on it O_O.

And thanks, haha. I love mint condition consoles, and I’ve always gravitated towards the underdog consoles. My favorite consoles are the Dreamcast, Saturn, VB, Gamecube, N64, and Master System.

I think that I actually liked it white, it reminded me or R.O.B. Although, as DaytonaUSA said, it was painted badly. I have my own store and I have most of the consoles that I have custom painted (very well) blue to match the decor of the store…will the VB community excommunicate me if I paint my extra VB blue?

Runnerpack pointed this out to me yesterday, I think it fits this thread as the seller recommends you drill your VB to allow the bit to get to the deep screws, drill it!!! the guy is nuts, he should spend the small amount of bucks and get the bits ground down a little (it takes no time at all for any half decent engineering shop to do) to fit the deep holes.

Personally i have no problem with painting or coating a console, so long as its a decent job and don’t look like its done with correction fluid.

@foil_lone_wolf, post us some pics of your blue console collection, I’m interested to see them.

auction shows, picker shows, pawn shop shows, they are all the rage now. the history channel, spike, discovery channel, and more all feature shows about finding and selling things. i’ve been a thrift store shopper for years and have watched prices sky rocket in the past 3-5 years. at one point you could pick up a genesis with a few games for under $5. now its hard to find a genesis (with everything needed to play) for under $20.

I try to keep in mind that all the kids who didn’t care for their stuff are now in the late 30s and looking to buy those experiences back

i think these things have been the driving force behind the recent vb console price hike. to cash in right now you would need to sell systems with ribbon repairs. i say “cash in right now” because i don’t think this is going to last. in another 10 years we will have the later generation buying up stuff and they aren’t going to care about the same systems the generation before them did. however, by the time we reach this point we will have less systems in excellent condition to trade and sell.

as for packaging, i can’t agree more. i was a gold lever power seller on ebay for a few years. every single feedback i received was almost always directly related to my excellent packaging. i can’t understand how someone can ship something as fragile as the vb by simply stuffing it into a box. it is so important to ask sellers how they package before you buy. i’d rather pay over my budget if it means i’ll get what i paid for in the condition advertised.

foil_lone_wolf wrote:
… will the VB community excommunicate me if I paint my extra VB blue?

I wouldn’t expect any excommunication if I were you, but I would anticipate a wide range of opinions on your paint job, whether those opinions be posted on the thread or not. I myself am curious to see your blue VB when it is done, as well as all your other already blue systems. I’m especially curious to see how you will handle making it blue around the VIRTUAL BOY logo.

I like paint jobs, when they are done with something like car paint and look professional. I like them even more when the person gets custom vinyl done to replace the painted over logo. I think someone could paint a VB and make it look great. Though at least in my own opinion, I don’t see the VB as anything but red. Red suits it. It’s all you see when you play! haha

I like them even more when the person gets custom vinyl done to replace the painted over logo.

I don’t get the custom vinyl, I just cover and paint around, a little more work but I prefer to keep the original.

a wide range of opinions on your paint job

I myself have a wide range of opinion on my own paint job. It has been a learning experience. The NES was the first I did, and had to learn how many layers and amount of dry time on the plastic surface, so there is a big run on top I don’t like. The SNES, PS2, and N64 all turned out really well. We even did a custom SNES for a customer, and to make it POP we painted the indented “Super Nintendo” white. (Not on my own though). The wii was a bit of a rush job, I didn’t have any primer for the glossy surface, so it went badly.

Now as per request, I have posted some pics on my website for you to peruse.

http://www.allaboardgames.ca/custom-systems.html

I really like the custom that you did on the SNES Foil Lone wolf. Nice work.

I must admit that you surprised me. I didn’t think that I would like the systems painted blue, but I do, in fact, think that they all look nice. I like the blue N64 the best. Looks like some of the others just need a little touch-up work done here and there.