Hi everbody,im a new member on this site and i cant wait
to share my stuff and thoughts with the cocommunity.
been lurking this site for years and im excited to now be
a part of it.I’ll post pics and stuff to my profile soon.

Welcome aboard!

Another new member? Welcome to the club and on the website too!

Thanks guys,with the virtual boys 20th anniversary approaching
its a good time to be a member

Hi and welcome!

Welcome!!

vuefinder83 wrote:
Hi everbody,im a new member on this site and i cant wait
to share my stuff and thoughts with the cocommunity.
been lurking this site for years and im excited to now be
a part of it.I’ll post pics and stuff to my profile soon.

Please allow me to reintroduce myself, because my first introduction was straight pitiful!
(I must’ve been overly excited about joining the cocommunity😄)

My Name is Joseph Dacosta (JOEY D). I was born June 15th 1983 in Providence Rhode Island. I was 12 years old back in 1995 when the Virtual Boy was released, and ever since I first played one at my local Toys R us on a Floor Model Display, I knew it was something special.

Today, im a hardcore collector of pretty much all the Video Game Systems that I grew up with, but im “Extremely” passionate about the Virtual Boy. Im just Glad that I finally get to discuss the VB with people that actually share the same interest in it as I do, for my friends and family couldn’t care less.

Thank you for taking the time to read my reintroduction. I’ll see you guys around the community.

Attached is a recent Photo of myself 🙂

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I wish I had noticed the Virtual Boy more when it was originally released. I was 13 years old when the Virtual Boy launched, and since I didn’t get a paying job until I was 16 years old, that meant that I would have had to have relied on my parents buying me the system and its games at the time. Unfortunately, years before, I had made a promise to my parents, as I’m sure many kids desperate for a new video game system have, which was: “Mom, if you buy me a Nintendo, I promise I will never ask for another video game system ever again!” My mom had no problem ensuring that the promise was kept. Thus, I was on my own, with what little allowance I had, for new systems, and since I was already invested in the Super Nintendo and very much looking forward to the Nintendo 64, trying to afford any other system just didn’t seem within my means. I do remember Virtual Boy games being on the shelves at a local store named “Hills” at the time. Nevertheless, I just don’t remember there being much hype about the system among my friends or in the video game magazines, to which I was subscribed. Thus, it just never really caught my attention, and never would until about only 4 years ago.

I also very much enjoy collecting for all the systems I grew up with. Just what exactly are all of the systems that you grew up and for which you collect now? As for me, the very first system that my brother and I ever had was an Atari 2600, which my mom bought for us around the time that the NES was being released, so I’m guessing it was on clearance and the price attracted her to it more than anything else. Then, my brother and I begged my mom for an NES a couple of years later, thinking it would be the last system we’d ever need. After that, we were pretty much on our own for systems, aside for the fat gray Game Boy that my mom bought each of us. I can’t remember if we got that before the NES or not. Other systems that we ended up getting during childhood were the Super Nintendo, Atari Lynx, and the Panasonic 3DO. Those systems were shared between my brother and me. I then later got just about every Nintendo system, so Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, DS, 3DS, GameCube, and Wii. I still do not own a WiiU, and I actually don’t know if I ever will, since I now only have a passion for retro games, and my cutoff for what is considered “retro” is actually the Virtual Boy. Thus, all systems made after Virtual Boy just don’t grab my interest that much, and while I’m not opposed to buying and playing some of those games, I certainly have no desire to collect for any later system.

The biggest systems that I collect for are the Virtual Boy, which I now consider to be the best system ever made, the Atari 2600 and 7800, and the Atari Lynx. I pretty much have “fully complete” game collections for the 7800 and the Lynx, and my NTSC loose cart collection for the 2600 is embarrassingly close to being finished. My Virtual Boy game collection was complete at two different times, but I since got rid of the 2 copies of Virtual Bowling that used to be in my collection. One day, I will very likely acquire it again and probably hold onto it for good, at which time my Virtual Boy game collection will then be fully complete once more.

Hey, nice, I was born on a June 15th as well. Only in 1987.

I honestly don’t even remember the Virtual Boy in 1995, all I remember is Super Nintendo. Then again, I didn’t get Nintendo Power, and didn’t get to go to the stores much. I don’t remember seeing a single commercial for it. The first I heard of it was in like 2000 or something when my brothers friend wanted to trade my n64 for it. Since I had only recently got that I said no, but I did get to use it for like a week, with Red Alarm and Golf. I really enjoyed Red Alarm, like, really enjoyed it. It was that nostalgic moment that made me get back into the system.

Cool picture =P

Benjamin Stevens wrote:
I just don’t remember there being much hype about the system among my friends or in the video game magazines, to which I was subscribed.

Yea I dont remember the hype either. I specifically remember first hearing about the Virtual Boy from a NBC/BlockBuster video “Must See 3-D Sweepstakes ” commercial, soon after that, I ran into a VB floor model display at a local Toys R Us and a platform display at a local Blockbuster video. Alot of my friends at the time didn’t know what a Virtual Boy was even months after its launch, and the ones who had heard about it didn’t like it. Even though I first played the VB around its launch date, it wasn’t until late 1997 when I first purchased one from a flea market along with a ac adapter set, Teleroboxer and Panic Bomber all for the low price of $35 brand new.

Benjamin Stevens wrote:
Just what exactly are all of the systems that you grew up and for which you collect now?

My first video game system was the Atari 2600 jr, it was purchased for me and my older brother by my parents from the same Toys R Us that introduced me to the Virtual Boy many years later. Mario bros for the 2600 holds a special place in my heart as thee first video game that I ever played. Systems after that, Nintendo NES, Action max, Gameboy original, Sega Genesis, Sega Game Gear, Super Nintendo, Virtual Boy and the N64. I never cared much for video game systems after the N64, they made me pretty sad because the games were starting to not look like games. Even though I collect games and stuff for all these systems, im in no rush to complete any of them. Just the Virtual Boy. Sounds like we both had a awesome childhood.

speedyink wrote:
Hey, nice, I was born on a June 15th as well.

Cool, Happy belated Birthday Dude!

speedyink wrote:
Cool picture =P

Thanks, picture him walking down the street holding a Blockbuster rental case 🙂

Welcome to the community Vue.

Attached is a recent Photo of myself 🙂

That is awesome. You HAVE to have that set as your avatar pic.

vuefinder83 wrote:

I specifically remember first hearing about the Virtual Boy from a NBC/BlockBuster video “Must See 3-D Sweepstakes ” commercial…

Speaking of Blockbuster, that reminds me. My best friend of more than 20 years now remembers buying a Virtual Boy and some games at Blockbuster Video very shortly after the Virtual Boy’s commercial failure, so it was probably in 1996 or 1997. It wasn’t too long ago that I asked to see his Virtual Boy collection, and to my surprise, the VB rental case that was included with his purchase at Blockbuster was the extremely rare TravelMaster hard case. Little is known about it, but from what I gather, that case must have been received by Blockbuster stores before the more common one with the Virtual Boy logo. I don’t remember any store besides Blockbuster that would allow Virtual Boy units to be rented out at the time, so I can’t imagine that the TravelMaster case was actually intended for stores besides Blockbuster, but I’d be curious to know if anybody else remembers other stores besides Blockbuster having hard carrying cases for VB systems and/or renting out Virtual Boy systems and games.

vuefinder83 wrote:

Cool, Happy belated Birthday Dude!

Thanks, picture him walking down the street holding a Blockbuster rental case 🙂

Heheh, likewise!

Haha, that is an awesome idea. Looks like you have a nice collection.

Dave_ wrote:
Welcome to the community Vue.

That is awesome. You HAVE to have that set as your avatar pic.

Thanks Dave_. I would love to make that my avatar, but im to dumb to figure out how to size it to make it fit. I’ll figure it out sooner or later though.

Benjamin Stevens wrote:

the VB rental case that was included with his purchase at Blockbuster was the extremely rare TravelMaster hard case.

Ah yes, the TravelMaster hard case. There isn’t much that I can tell you about this case, but check this out Ben…

I work for the school department, and about two and a half years ago or so,there was a very old elementary school in the Riverside section of East Providence that was set for demolition. Myself and a few other guys were called to go there and help salvage any old furniture and desks that could be donated to other schools. Well, imagine my excitement when I walked into the old music room of the school and saw 3 TravelMaster case’s stacked on top of each other, yea I almost died…I opened up each case to take a peek inside and they were all filled with random speaker wires and stuff. I then asked my boss if i can keep the case’s, but he said there were still teachers that were supposed to return to the school to gather the rest of their stuff and said it wouldn’t be a good idea (agreed). Anyway, we didn’t finish the job that day so we all had to return to the school the very next day,but this time I brought my Blockbuster rental case with me for comparisons, and they were all the same cases,only the foam in the TravelMasters were completely ripped out of them. I left a note with my cell # taped to the case’s saying that i would buy them but I never received a call.

I did take alot of pictures of all the case’s together. I’ll have to search around for my old cell but when I find it I will definitely post the pics.

vuefinder83 wrote:

I work for the school department, and about two and a half years ago or so,there was a very old elementary school in the Riverside section of East Providence that was set for demolition. Myself and a few other guys were called to go there and help salvage any old furniture and desks that could be donated to other schools. Well, imagine my excitement when I walked into the old music room of the school and saw 3 TravelMaster case’s stacked on top of each other, yea I almost died…I opened up each case to take a peek inside and they were all filled with random speaker wires and stuff. I then asked my boss if i can keep the case’s, but he said there were still teachers that were supposed to return to the school to gather the rest of their stuff and said it wouldn’t be a good idea (agreed). Anyway, we didn’t finish the job that day so we all had to return to the school the very next day,but this time I brought my Blockbuster rental case with me for comparisons, and they were all the same cases,only the foam in the TravelMasters were completely ripped out of them. I left a note with my cell # taped to the case’s saying that i would buy them but I never received a call.

Wow… that’s incredible. Was there evidence that foam had originally been in the cases and was later ripped out, or could it be that the cases never had foam for the Virtual Boy inserted into them? I’m wondering now if, perhaps, those cases were originally intended to hold other things, and once Southern Case learned that one of the types of cases they had already been making would be a perfect size for the Virtual Boy system, they simply converted one of their existing cases into a Virtual Boy system carrying case.

vuefinder83 wrote:
I would love to make that my avatar, but im to dumb to figure out how to size it to make it fit. I’ll figure it out sooner or later though.

This one should work if you’d like.

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Benjamin Stevens wrote:

Was there evidence that foam had originally been in the cases and was later ripped out, or could it be that the cases never had foam for the Virtual Boy inserted into them?

I remember remnants of glue and foam present under the Lids and bottom of the cases. I’ll never be able to say for sure that these cases once housed Virtual Boys, but what I can say is these cases were identical to the TravelMaster case that was compared to the BlockBuster case on this site.

I only wish the owner called me, if not to sell me the cases, then so I could’ve atleast asked if they remembered where they came from.

Benjamin Stevens wrote:

I’m wondering now if, perhaps, those cases were originally intended to hold other things, and once Southern Case learned that one of the types of cases they had already been making would be a perfect size for the Virtual Boy system, they simply converted one of their existing cases into a Virtual Boy system carrying case.

Sounds possible to me.

speedyink wrote:

This one should work if you’d like.

Thanks! I really appreciate that. I’ll set it up soon.

Welcome 🙂

Welcome Vuefinder83! ^^

Benjamin Stevens wrote:

vuefinder83 wrote:

I work for the school department, and about two and a half years ago or so,there was a very old elementary school in the Riverside section of East Providence that was set for demolition. Myself and a few other guys were called to go there and help salvage any old furniture and desks that could be donated to other schools. Well, imagine my excitement when I walked into the old music room of the school and saw 3 TravelMaster case’s stacked on top of each other, yea I almost died…I opened up each case to take a peek inside and they were all filled with random speaker wires and stuff. I then asked my boss if i can keep the case’s, but he said there were still teachers that were supposed to return to the school to gather the rest of their stuff and said it wouldn’t be a good idea (agreed). Anyway, we didn’t finish the job that day so we all had to return to the school the very next day,but this time I brought my Blockbuster rental case with me for comparisons, and they were all the same cases,only the foam in the TravelMasters were completely ripped out of them. I left a note with my cell # taped to the case’s saying that i would buy them but I never received a call.

Wow… that’s incredible. Was there evidence that foam had originally been in the cases and was later ripped out, or could it be that the cases never had foam for the Virtual Boy inserted into them? I’m wondering now if, perhaps, those cases were originally intended to hold other things, and once Southern Case learned that one of the types of cases they had already been making would be a perfect size for the Virtual Boy system, they simply converted one of their existing cases into a Virtual Boy system carrying case.

Found another TravelMaster case in a school. Height wise, this one is just a little bit smaller than a BlockBuster or TravelMaster case. This one has different latches as well.

The ones mentioned in one of my previous post were the exact size of a BlockBuster case. (Wish I can find that damn phone)

Weird how I keep finding these cases in schools though.

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