Hello all,
I can recall my first time playing with a Virtual Boy, it was a display at Toys R Us in New York. I played it for a few minutes, thought nothing much of it, and went on to the NES isle to spend some money on a game.

I am now in my mid 30s and starting to get nostalgic for stuff I never owned (game and watches, LCD games, old board games, video game systems, etc). I am addicted to “3D” and collect 3D comics, movies, games, magazines, art, etc. With the 3DS on the horizon I started to get interested in what the Virtual Boy was all about.

I am a huge homebrew connoisseur. I have a few pirated systems from China which can play homebrew, I am into Flash Kits and console hacking, etc. After poking around on this site for a bit I decided to take the plunge and pick up a VB.

I grabbed one off eBay. I paid $150 with shipping. The package includes the original box (which is pretty worn), the VB, controller, stand, battery pack, AC adapter, manual, cardboard battery advisement, and the original box insert. Also included were Mario’s Tennis, Red Alarm, and Panic Bomber (JP).

The unit is in excellent working condition, it looks like someone bought it, hardly used it, and stored it for years. I’m really happy with my purchase! I’ve gone so far as to order up a FlashBoy+ so that I can play with homebrew. Richard let me know that the kit shipped a few days ago, I’m really excited to play with it!

So far my only issue with the VB is in regards to my eyesight. I have poor eyesight and even with corrected lenses I need to have the focus on the VB all the way to the left for Red Alarm’s bottom most graphics to be clear. I guess its time for a prescription change! lol.

I do have a few questions for the regulars here:

1) Are there any translation projects for VB ROMs that I could patch and use on hardware once the FB+ arrives? I want to play some of the JP only exclusives and sadly I can not read or understand Japanese.

2) Have all of the known VB retail carts been dumped?

3) Any other sites for VB homebrew that users could recommend?

4) What homebrew projects should I be sure not to miss?

Here are a few images of what I purchased:

I hope to be an active member here and contribute to the on-going conversations.

Regards,
LK

1) Are there any translation projects for VB ROMs that I could patch and use on hardware once the FB+ arrives? I want to play some of the JP only exclusives and sadly I can not read or understand Japanese.

There’s a translation of the intro to Space Squash, that’s about it I think.. but trust me there’s no game with much of a story. I think SD Gundam is the one with the most text but most of it I assume is like “My robots will defeat your robots!” etc.

2) Have all of the known VB retail carts been dumped?
All of the games that was released in stores, yes. But some of the cancelled games that existed in prototype form still haven’t surfaced like Dragon Hopper and Faceball 2000, even though we scored a great win with Bound High, that game rocks.

3) Any other sites for VB homebrew that users could recommend?
I don’t know of any others myself

4) What homebrew projects should I be sure not to miss?
Keep and eye on Castle of Doom and Capitan Sevilla II, two platformers that are looking promising and are still being worked on.

Btw dude, you need to buy Wario Land. It’s mandatory.

Howdy LK,
Welcome, you picked the best VB site already.
Like your tale and great you made the plunge, it is a very fun system.
Enjoy the scene just take your time and check it all out, even the basic demos are fun to view with a flashboy.