Hi everybody!

I just bought my first virtualboy system, The system has display issues (already sent runnerpack a pm). I paid $26 plus shipping for the system. Has unbroken stand, battery pack with some battery corrision, and part of the eyecover. Also picked up mario tennis for $5 shipped.

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Hi, again, lwizardl! PM reply sent.

Welcome to the forum. You got a great deal on that VB. I’m looking forward to getting it working for you. Have you played much VB before? If not, you’re in for a real treat, I gotta say 😉

Welcome to the forum happy VB gamer.

Welcome! Great deal you got! If you’re looking for a quick and effective way to clean the battery corrosion, CLR cleaning product will take care of it in less than a minute. I used it on my DMG restoration and all I did was take the springs/contacts out and dipped them in a tiny little bit of the liquid or you could apply it to a q-tip and clean other areas that are hard to reach.

Welcome to the community! RunnerPack has fixed one of my virtual boy’s displays, and that was an extremely good deal on the vb. I wish I was that lucky. So far I only have three games for mine, but I have had so much fun with the vb!

RunnerPack wrote:
Hi, again, lwizardl! PM reply sent.

Welcome to the forum. You got a great deal on that VB. I’m looking forward to getting it working for you. Have you played much VB before? If not, you’re in for a real treat, I gotta say 😉

Hey RunnerPack, Sent you a reply and will be using your services soon to get the vb working. Also told a friend about you so he can get his VB working also 🙂

I have played the Virtual boy before but that was back in like 1999 when I was working seasonal stock for toysrus. I used my lunchbreak to try out some games. Played Red Alarm and after like 10-15 minutes I got a headache. Going to give it another try 🙂

glaros wrote:
Welcome to the forum happy VB gamer.

Thank you glaros

retronintendonerd wrote:
Welcome! Great deal you got! If you’re looking for a quick and effective way to clean the battery corrosion, CLR cleaning product will take care of it in less than a minute. I used it on my DMG restoration and all I did was take the springs/contacts out and dipped them in a tiny little bit of the liquid or you could apply it to a q-tip and clean other areas that are hard to reach.

Thank you retronintendonerd, I will get some next time i’m out shopping.

modeltfordman wrote:
Welcome to the community! RunnerPack has fixed one of my virtual boy’s displays, and that was an extremely good deal on the vb. I wish I was that lucky. So far I only have three games for mine, but I have had so much fun with the vb!

Thank you modeltfordman.

I noticed that my system came with part of the eye covers. It has the plastic lock piece but is missing the full rubber section. Are they normally found like this or is the plastic piece also normally missing?

Is there a cheap way to replace the missing rubber section or will I have to buy on of the expensive ones off ebay 🙁

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Welcome to Planet VB fellow Michigander.

Thanks MegaSilverX1,

Didn’t think i would see another Michigan person so fast. I’m in Battle Creek, What area you from?

Welcome! Funnily enough, I’m also from michigan. I live in sterling heights.

HoMenace wrote:
Welcome! Funnily enough, I’m also from michigan. I live in sterling heights.

Well I guess the VB fans are strong in michigan 🙂

Welcome man!

oh, I’m not from michigan.. 😛

lwizardl wrote:
Thanks MegaSilverX1,

Didn’t think i would see another Michigan person so fast. I’m in Battle Creek, What area you from?

I’m in Grand Rapids.

VirtualRolf wrote:
Welcome man!

oh, I’m not from michigan.. 😛

Ha Ha

MegaSilverX1 wrote:

lwizardl wrote:
Thanks MegaSilverX1,

Didn’t think i would see another Michigan person so fast. I’m in Battle Creek, What area you from?

I’m in Grand Rapids.

cool man I usually am near there for the Jafax anime convention. but not going this year

lwizardl wrote:
I noticed that my system came with part of the eye covers. It has the plastic lock piece but is missing the full rubber section. Are they normally found like this or is the plastic piece also normally missing?

Is there a cheap way to replace the missing rubber section or will I have to buy on of the expensive ones off ebay 🙁

Welcome! VB is so much fun; you have to get games like “Bound High”. But you can’t play it while someone is sleeping, or in an apartment complex; it’s very frustrating and can cause screaming! 😉

Having the plastic frame is most of the battle; the foam shield tends to die after awhile, exterior fabric starts separating from the base material.

I bought a replacement foam shield new in box for just a few dollars. But of course, that was a decade ago. I have a red-orange 3D printed frame, bought a sheet of red foam material from Hobby Lobby. I confess I haven’t cut one out yet, but it should work perfectly. It would help immensely if you had access to an original for a pattern; or if you could sweet-talk someone here into tracing a pattern for you…

😀

I’m not from Michigan, but welcome anyway. 🙂

lwizardl wrote:
Is there a cheap way to replace the missing rubber section or will I have to buy on of the expensive ones off ebay 🙁

I’ve seen a couple people make their own… not sure how well they work, as I’ve never used anything other than an original.

IIRC, someone posted a drawing of one flat with dimensions a while back (maybe RunnerPack?). It seems like it should be pretty easy to go to a fabric store, pick up some thin foam/cloth material, and cut one out.

The hardest part would probably be finding the right material… it’d have to be more rigid than felt, but not scratchy like a lot of foam. I’m not familiar with a lot of fabrics… maybe the cloth coated foam like the original is commonly available. Otherwise, you could cut one out of a thin plastic material, like one of those flimsy plastic binders. You’d probably want to put some rubber/foam (or maybe even just electrical/duct tape) over the edge so the sharp plastic doesn’t cut into your face though.

DogP

Here’s the relevant thread: http://www.planetvb.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=3688

(HorvatM and 133MHz posted the visor measurements, but I posted the mounting plate dimensions).

I always thought this would be a good side project for someone to do and sell on the forum.

-Eric

RunnerPack wrote:
Here’s the relevant thread: http://www.planetvb.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=3688

(HorvatM and 133MHz posted the visor measurements, but I posted the mounting plate dimensions).

Yep… that’s the one! I knew you had something to do with it.

If you know anyone that’s good at sewing, you could possibly make it similar to a hat brim (plastic or cardboard with a cloth cover). Or, maybe instead of sewing, spray it with a rubber material like plasti-dip. Something that’d probably be okay as-is (simply cut to shape) would be a silicone rubber mat (as long as it’s not too heavy to hold shape or too thin to stay in place on the pegs).

If you really want to get fancy, you could probably make a mold, line it with thin black cloth, and fill it with oogoo ( http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Make-Your-Own-Sugru-Substitute/ ). The cloth should stick well to the silicone, and would pretty quickly give you a cloth coated silicone eye shade. It’s probably a lot of setup for a one-off… but it’d probably work well if someone wanted to make a batch of them.

DogP

vb-fan wrote:

Welcome! VB is so much fun; you have to get games like “Bound High”. But you can’t play it while someone is sleeping, or in an apartment complex; it’s very frustrating and can cause screaming! 😉

Will keep an eye out for it.

Having the plastic frame is most of the battle; the foam shield tends to die after awhile, exterior fabric starts separating from the base material.

Will give it a try on making my own.

DogP wrote:
I’m not from Michigan, but welcome anyway. 🙂

The hardest part would probably be finding the right material… it’d have to be more rigid than felt, but not scratchy like a lot of foam. I’m not familiar with a lot of fabrics… maybe the cloth coated foam like the original is commonly available. Otherwise, you could cut one out of a thin plastic material, like one of those flimsy plastic binders. You’d probably want to put some rubber/foam (or maybe even just electrical/duct tape) over the edge so the sharp plastic doesn’t cut into your face though.

Gonna give it a try to make one for now until I can buy a real one.

RunnerPack wrote:
Here’s the relevant thread: http://www.planetvb.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=3688

Thanks for the link RunnerPack

DogP wrote:

If you know anyone that’s good at sewing, you could possibly make it similar to a hat brim (plastic or cardboard with a cloth cover). Or, maybe instead of sewing, spray it with a rubber material like plasti-dip. Something that’d probably be okay as-is (simply cut to shape) would be a silicone rubber mat (as long as it’s not too heavy to hold shape or too thin to stay in place on the pegs).

If you really want to get fancy, you could probably make a mold, line it with thin black cloth, and fill it with oogoo ( http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Make-Your-Own-Sugru-Substitute/ ). The cloth should stick well to the silicone, and would pretty quickly give you a cloth coated silicone eye shade. It’s probably a lot of setup for a one-off… but it’d probably work well if someone wanted to make a batch of them.

Gives me a couple ideas on ways to do it.

Thanks everyone 🙂

(I took a bit too long to post this, but I might as well…)

Those are all excellent suggestions, DogP. The only problem with something plastic- or silicone-based is the lack of “breathability”. You don’t want your face getting sweaty or your lenses fogging up 🙂

We basically have three problems to solve. Our visor candidate has to:
1. …block out light,
2. …be comfortable against the face,
3. …be able to attach to the VB.

With the optional fourth goal of being cheap and easy to make using commonly available parts. At a minimum, it should be cheaper than the OEM one, or else what’s the point? 🙂

Number one is pretty easy. Even if what you use isn’t fully opaque, you can add more layers, add a layer of something opaque, paint it black, etc.

Number two is a bit more difficult, because there are many factors that affect “comfort”. There’s the breathability thing, making the edge soft enough to avoid getting marks on your face (which even Nintendo didn’t manage), and even making sure it doesn’t put the user’s eyes outside the comfortable focus distance of the display (which is pretty much taken care of by using the original as a template, but I thought it should be mentioned).

The third requirement is also pretty easy, since we have the measurements of both the plate and original shade. We just need the material at the interface to be stretchy enough to slip over the knobs. After that, it’s just a matter of making holes in the right spots. Of course, this assumes you’re even using the original plate. If you don’t have the plate, you just have to fabricate something that will attach to the VB, and use whatever method you want to attach the visor to that (including just making the whole thing one piece).