I wanted to create this thread to see if anyone is interested in sharing their two cents on what they think COULD of happened if the virtual boy went a different route.

This question has been on my mind for the past several months: “What if the Virtual Boy was released as a handheld/portable gaming device”? Or it could be something different or a what if scenario that you have in mind? Share it! But that quote above that I mentioned, that pretty much encouraged me to create this thread, so I apologized if this topic has been debated.

Do you think it could of been possible to release a virtual boy handheld/portable gaming device without having to worry too much about the 3D effect or any other possible problems?

For example, could the average gamer play any of the virtual boy games on the Nintendo 3DS with 3D mode turned on? How about if the 3D mode is turned off, is the game still playable or would you need to keep the 3D turned ON while also holding the Nintendo 3DS close to the eyes for better results?

Anyways, sorry for the long post but I just always wondered how the virtual boy would of turned out if it was an actual gameboy/handheld device. Perhaps it could of lasted more than seven months or a few years before actually shutting down for good. Also, if you have a better idea on what you think Nintendo should have done with the virtual boy then myself and I’m sure others would love to read it!

cheers everyone!

tetris911 wrote: if you have a better idea on what you think Nintendo should have done with the virtual boy then myself and I’m sure others would love to read it!

I’ve thought about this several times and I feel that Nintendo failed on 2 accounts that’s why the Virtual Boy was such a flop. Nintendo really had a chance to change gaming forever and they failed.

First I feel that Nintendo should of packed a VCR tape in w/ the Virtual Boy. It would have previews of games to come but have breaks in the middle showing how to properly align the system.

Second software support the system should of had a packed in Metroid game.

Nintendo was too selfish and they wanted all profit and no effort and now the Virtual Boy is a by word in gaming history

Not sure where I heard this from, but apparently Hiroshi Yamauchi thought limiting which 3rd parties got VB devkits to increase software quality was a good idea. Clearly it wasn’t.

i had forgotten where i read that as well and morintari was kind enough to link me to the article. HERE

“Third party support which is usually so muscular w/ Nintendo hardware was surprisingly light on the ground. And it so transpired w/ Yamauchi’s orders. In a somewhat misguided attempt that the Virtual Boy only got the very best of standard software. He only sure that only a few select companies were allowed to see the technology and permitted to sign up for development. It was a bizarre method of quality control that ultimately backfired. As the system struggled to gain any kind of third party support after it’s catastrophic week sales. In fact only 22 games were ever released in it’s entire life span.”

Retro Gamer issue 64 Page 59 second column first paragraph.

as for my thoughts… i think that even if they had marketed it correctly, had avoided all the failed demo units, that it still would of flopped. we have to remember that they brought to market a production unit. even Yokoi felt it wasn’t ready for the public in its current state. i’m sure a second generation of software would have helped, but beyond that i don’t think anything else could have saved the system to the point that it flourished with a proper hardware sequel.

had they waited to release it, had it been exactly what Yokoi had in mind, had they not limited the developers, had they marketed it for the niche system it was?? those are all interesting ideas. i find it hard to speculate because of the time in which it was released, the popularity of 3D during that time, the obscurity of “indy”/homebrew development during that time, and the type of technology available then. there were just way to many cultural and technology factors that were out of their hands. i suppose in an alternate universe a full 3D depth of field, colored system made by nintendo, was released. it was successful and had hundreds of amazing titles made for it. if anyone ever opens that portal, please PM me. i’d like to visit.

Lester Knight wrote:
i had forgotten where i read that as well and morintari was kind enough to link me to the article. HERE

“Third party support which is usually so muscular w/ Nintendo hardware was surprisingly light on the ground. And it so transpired w/ Yamauchi’s orders. In a somewhat misguided attempt that the Virtual Boy only got the very best of standard software. He only sure that only a few select companies were allowed to see the technology and permitted to sign up for development. It was a bizarre method of quality control that ultimately backfired. As the system struggled to gain any kind of third party support after it’s catastrophic week sales. In fact only 22 games were ever released in it’s entire life span.”

Retro Gamer issue 64 Page 59 second column first paragraph.

as for my thoughts… i think that even if they had marketed it correctly, had avoided all the failed demo units, that it still would of flopped. we have to remember that they brought to market a production unit. even Yokoi felt it wasn’t ready for the public in its current state. i’m sure a second generation of software would have helped, but beyond that i don’t think anything else could have saved the system to the point that it flourished with a proper hardware sequel.

had they waited to release it, had it been exactly what Yokoi had in mind, had they not limited the developers, had they marketed it for the niche system it was?? those are all interesting ideas. i find it hard to speculate because of the time in which it was released, the popularity of 3D during that time, the obscurity of “indy”/homebrew development during that time, and the type of technology available then. there were just way to many cultural and technology factors that were out of their hands. i suppose in an alternate universe a full 3D depth of field, colored system made by nintendo, was released. it was successful and had hundreds of amazing titles made for it. if anyone ever opens that portal, please PM me. i’d like to visit.

That’s funny — I’ve thought about the “alternate universes” where VB was a success. The problem with visiting one, is knowing for sure you get back to the RIGHT ONE. As in the tv-show, “sliders”. But think of all the excellent VB games one could get!

(I actually don’t believe in multiple universes; the “multiverse theory” is really just different branches of TIME, infinite in potential but only one is valid; see “BTTF2″…)

I also think they “canned” it too easily. As soon as sales were seen to be lagging, there were several decisions that could have been made to change the outcome. I’ve always heard the Japanese are “honor-conscious” — fine, but too focused on “honor and dumping a FAILURE” may well have dumped a lot of profit… 🙁

I love Sliders! Another lost classic from 1995 :). Good point though, you may get stuck in VB success world if not careful.

Another good point about canceling the VB so soon. I had typed a response earlier which was lost when my browser crashed -.- but what I had said was that the VB’s demise reminds me of a TV show that is canned after 13 episodes and lukewarm ratings. The best example is Seinfeld, which I think was struggling to find an audience until 2-3 seasons in. If they hadn’t persisted through the growing pains of gaining popularity, the show would now be forgotten and probably scoffed at for being so unusual.

So much time and money had been sunk into the VB for development, what’s another “little bit” (millions) to promote it and at least recoup some more losses? Better yet, maybe if the red and black limped into 1998 with adequate sales, they could make an offer to send our VB unit with $50 to Nintendo so they could install full color LED displays and return the units to us with a copy of the new Bound High sequel or something.

Also, that is rather strange about the 3rd party support. I’ve heard the 3DO was ruined to some extent because they licensed to ANY third party developer…which led to many poor quality games. Maybe Nintendo could have found a happy medium between those extremes 🙂