I came across these buttons on ebay while searching for Nintendo promo items. As soon as I saw them, my VB senses immediately began to tingle!
The title from the auction didn’t mention these to be VB promo items, and this is most likely because the buttons themselves don’t say Virtual Boy anywhere on them. Below, I’ll go over a few reasons why I’m convinced that these buttons are indeed VB promo items.
1. The first reason is the most obvious, and that would be the usage of the colors red and black. We have a black on red button and a red on black button. Nintendo has released variants of VB promo items this way many times, a few examples would be… well there’s the black on red and red on black VB Coupons, keychains and pens for example.
2. Then there’s the word “individual”, which I believe they used to emphasis the individuality of the Virtual Boy and how it’s enjoyed only one person at a time.
3. My last reason, these buttons came from a seller that acquired a ton of Nintendo promo items directly from the company that produced them. I, myself, have purchased a few rare display items from this seller in the past. It is very likely that this seller was just unaware of these being VB items simply because they are not a VB collector. (I’ll attach a photo of the sellers sales agreement)
Are there reasons to believe these are not VB promo items?
The word “Individual” is very unique and interesting indeed. It must have been a rejected idea, though, as I don’t think I’ve seen it on anything else. It could be a reference to the Virtual Boy’s “Individual Adjustability,” but that is certainly debatable. I definitely can’t see how the red and black motif doesn’t point to the Virtual Boy.