This is incredible. I feel very motivated to learn GB Studio now.

Part two is now online. It’s the story of how and why I bought a giant mystery box of PS1 and Dreamcast games — and what I found inside.

Read it here, and please consider subscribing so you get future posts in your email inbox.

Part three, in which I consider what it means for a game to be “rare” and talk about a recent SNES find, will be online in a week or two.

I wonder what happened here:

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Jack-Bros-Nintendo-Virtual-Boy-1995-/224154758871?_trksid=p2047675.m43663.l10137&nordt=true&rt=nc&orig_cvip=true#viTabs_0

I decided to be brave and just dive in with a screwdriver. It turns out these things are actually very easy to open. All the faceplate controls are on a daughterboard, so the two halves of the case come apart without any fuss.

And there are barely any caps in there at all, so I guess I’ll stop worrying about that for now.

Here’s what Block Kuzushi looks like on the inside, if anyone is curious.

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Yeah, I know about that. Might be helpful. But there has to be something more detailed out there somewhere.

VB is a lot of fun, but it sort of punishes you for loving it. I own three systems, and all have needed repairs to their displays. The games are hard to find and increasingly expensive — and a lot of them aren’t great (although a few of them are really cool and worth playing).

If you’re a collector who’s looking for a challenge, VB can be a great hobby. But it’s not for everybody.

In my case, everything looked fine, too. It was only by unplugging and reseating those wire connectors that I discovered/resolved the problem.

They work sorta like the ZIF ribbon connectors you see on newer boards. There are little plastic tabs on each connector that you have to lift with a fingernail.

There’s a better than decent chance that your problem has nothing to do with these connectors. The only reason I’m suggesting it is that there’s a chance, and it’s easy enough to check.

You might as well. It’s an easy thing to check.

Another time one of the speakers on one of my VBs wasn’t working. Unplugging and reseating the connector that ran between the sound board and the motherboard fixed the issue.

If that doesn’t work, and contact cleaner doesn’t work, then you’ve eliminated all the easy-fix causes and you can start focusing on other things.

The one time I had an issue like this, it turned out to be a bent pin on one of the wire connectors leading into the motherboard. I removed the connector, straightened out the pin and then everything was fine.

If you’ve been messing around inside the VB, or if someone else has, it’s worth checking.

Virtual League Baseball is the only Virtual Boy game I own CIB, and the reason is that I found my boxed copy for like $10 shipped.

So, to echo what others have said: don’t worry about breaking the seal. Video games (especially common ones) aren’t an investment. Their purpose is to bring you enjoyment.

Thanks. Glad to know my hunch was correct. I guess it makes sense that some Blockbusters would have sold off their display units along with the rest of their VBs.

I’d recommend grabbing Klonoa if you can find it. It’s fun, playable without Japanese reading comprehension, and it makes good use of the Wonderswan’s vertical/horizontal orientation switch ability.

Just wanted to chime in to say that the Hyperkin stand is excellent. A near-perfect replica of the original. If you’re reluctant to buy it because you think it will look or feel cheap: it won’t.

I just tried out the Mac version with a few different ROMs, some padded and some unpadded. I didn’t encounter any problems. The games loaded right up, exactly as expected.

This is really excellent, because it makes the Flashboy a ton easier for me to use. Thank you for the effort you put into this app.

Let me know if there’s any further testing you’d like done in MacOS.

Great. I’ll give it a try and let you know in the forum thread.

Dear god yes. A MacOS-compatible FlashBoy programmer would be amazing. The need to drag out my old Windows laptop is my main obstacle to working on my backlog of VB roms.

The one that came with my PS3 has always worked fine for me.

You could probably get a Japanese copy of Jack Bros for less than the price of a repro.

Okay, well. I’m glad it’s normal, at least.

It does worry me a little that the wire sheathing fails under normal strain, though. I wonder if the engineer who picked out the wires was the same one who decided to glue on the display ribbons?

That’s basically how it works, but you should really watch some YouTube “how to solder” videos before you try it. There’s some craft and technique to it. It’s not as simple as just melting some metal to the board. Especially if you’re using cheap equipment.