blitter wrote:
What does he mean by “broken up into four layers?” If he means add depth, I don’t know of any software that can automagically 3D-ify a 2D image…

I really like your words. “Automagically”, “3D-ify”…

😛

HorvatM wrote:
Hey, don’t be so harsh on the programmers. So far it has been thought that the game was rushed to market because Nintendo was going to cancel the VB soon, and it certainly seems like it.

Several of the games were “rushed to market” ostensibly to recover at least some of the development costs. Waterworld certainly was that way. Maybe some day we can have a “remastered Waterworld”.

I really think “Vertical Force” was another; it doesn’t have much of an ending, just some text that gets put up “game over”.

ectoglow wrote:
Keith Apicary (Nathan) DID use that stuff for his VB shirt. Hey…

I wish he’d posted pics.

RunnerPack wrote:

The front isn’t bad, but the back is a little much. If you wanted a similar aesthetic, maybe you could find a company on Aliexpress that would sew up some red/blue t-shirts. Then you’d just have to use vb-fan’s paint idea, or have some made at a screen-printing place.

Have you ever found anything on that site that didn’t require purchasing of 10,000-20,000?

If a red/blue shirt can’t be found, just get two shirts and combine; sewing machines are easy to use once you get them loaded.

😉

Attachments:

1. 

   t-shirt.bmp
   

If someone wanted one to WEAR, it occurs to me it would be very easy to duplicate. They make an “iron-transfer-film” that can be copied on, or even printed on; that would easily accommodate the front logo and back images. A can of spray color for the black (even basic cheap spray PAINT will yield a very acceptable effect), and craft stores like Hobby Lobby sells paint pens that can replicate the line figures. Some of those paints are luminescent (glow-in-the-dark).

But imagine using THIS to form the line-drawings:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/9ft-Red-Neon-Glowing-Strobing-Electroluminescent-Wire-El-wire-9-feets-/271099316574?pt=US_Car_Lighting&hash=item3f1ec7495e

Some provision would have to be made for removing the EL wire for washing (velcro would lend itself well to the project); but I for one would love to see a shirt lighting up in say, a movie theater, or other dark place…

I’ve been experiencing a problem with “Bound High”. I have a wall-wart (transformer) plugged into my controller; it’s not a solid connection, had to drill out the barrel plug to fit the jack. Sometimes just as I’m about to complete the game, there is a — and the power drops out. Screen goes completely dark; moving the plug doesn’t work, have to switch off power and switch it back on. Don’t know for sure it’s a “plug problem”.

BUT — when I get power back, the whole display (both eyes) flashes, and then it loads the first screen — with a BRIGHT RED BACKGROUND. Red background persists throughout the game, making it largely un-playable (seems there are several levels of background, the brighter, the more un-playable).

(On the “Title” screen, and the “cat” logo screen, characters whose colors match the background are invisible.)

Sometimes I can switch it off for a minute or two and it will clear; other times I’ve had to plug in a DIFFERENT game — that seems to reset the screens, plugging in Bound High again starts just fine.

Benjamin Stevens wrote:
Yeah, I strongly believe that you are right. According to the current information on the ESRB’s website pertaining to the ESRB’s ratings process, for any video game that is going to get a physical release,

“the publisher must provide two key forms of content disclosure as their game is being finalized:
a completed ESRB online questionnaire detailing the game’s pertinent content, which essentially translates to anything that may factor into the game’s rating. This includes not only the content itself (violence, sexual content, language, controlled substances, gambling, etc.), but other relevant factors such as context, reward systems and the degree of player control; and
a DVD that captures all pertinent content, including typical gameplay, missions, and cutscenes, along with the most extreme instances of content across all relevant categories. Pertinent content that is not playable (i.e., “locked out”) but will exist in the game code on the final game disc must also be disclosed.”

Even if the specifics may have changed a bit since 1996, I have a feeling that a publisher would have had to have provided videos of gameplay, and as far as I know, the only way that Virtual Boy developers could create videos of their games in action would be to put a game on a cartridge and either play it on a Video Boy and make recordings from there or play it on a Virtual Boy and make a video of it. In either case, the near finished game would have been flashed to a cartridge. Thus, list updated:

1. Dragon Hopper
2. Mansion of Insmouse (North American Version)
3. Polygo Block
4. Virtual Block
5. Virtual Bomberman
6. Virtual Double Yakuman
7. Virtual Fishing (North American Version)
8. Virtual Jockey
9. Virtual League Baseball 2
10. Zero Racers

What does ESRB do with the carts after reviewing the games? I think I’ll write to them and express my anger at their failure to return the cart(s) to ME, Nintendo manager (insert credible name) — please return all Virtual Boy prototypes immediately to (insert personal address)….

PS — since there is a screenshot from “Goldeneye” (from their brochure), it’s likely some sort of cart existed for that…

Horvat wrote:

The last time he logged in is February 2nd.

Hmmm; maybe I’ll send him a PM, referring to this thread.

🙂

thunderstruck wrote:

vb-fan wrote:

Question — is it possible to have two sprites (stored images of characters) instead of one fed to both screens, so that the sprite itself looks 3D? I heard rumors once of 3D cameras able to capture images for the VB.

Yes.

Very cool. As someone who likes movies, the used-video places (who also sell used GAMES) have whole displays of plastic video-game characters. Imagine taking a two images of a figure and using THAT as a VB character!

Who is “M.K.”?
🙂

He is the guy who programmed VB Racing. You should check it out. It is pretty cool.

I did — it is! Reminds me of “Atari Racing”. That had a fun twist; at “night”, when all you could see were tail-lights, the “collision-detection” algorithms only SEE the tail-lights (just a highway of TAIL-LIGHTS, no cars!).

I don’t know if he still reads posts at planet vb. I totally understand if someone doesn’t want to share his sources. I don’t like doing it either as I always feel I have to polish everything to a perfect level to not embarrass myself.

Well, everything can “get better”; I think it’s preferable to have stuff to work with, and allow ourselves to not be “perfectionists”. (I totally understand what you’re saying, I’m there often myself.) 🙂

I have high hopes for the Star Wars game too. It is one of those games that are really impressive in 3D. I hope he is eventually releasing his engine. Would be cool to have some tool support for it…

Me too; from what I’ve heard, it wouldn’t be hard to come up with a good substitute (heck, better!) for “Zero Racers”.

‘Capitan Sevilla II’ is graphic wise really great. Like Fishbone, it doesn’t utilize the 3D effect though. It is rather easy to display something in 2D on the VB as you can simply draw sprites with a specific depth. That’s how the depth effect in Fishbone works.

Neither do most of the N games — Wario-Land and others are really 2-D games with two or three depths. Clash is 2D, even though the “boards” are 3D, and the “bonus-game” has about the best 3D and texture seen. All the “spectators” are 2D.

Question — is it possible to have two sprites (stored images of characters) instead of one fed to both screens, so that the sprite itself looks 3D? I heard rumors once of 3D cameras able to capture images for the VB.

I agree that a homebrew that actually utilizes the 3D as part of the game mechanics would be great. Obviously, realizing a game like that needs more planning and some experiments before the actual development can start. I had several games in mind that would work like that. I actually already started on a fighting-game that would be like that once but then git sidetracked with Fishbone and then even more sidetracked with Faceball.

Faceball’s pretty good; though the sprites are still 2-D. I like how the “enemies” have personalities; peeking around corners to see if you’re looking. It’s too limited though; really looking forward to the “remastered” version.

I wish VB Racing would be more of a complete game. A look into the sources would be interesting as well. It shouldn’t be to complected to make a full game out of it if the sources would be available either. I understand that this is a boring task though.

Who is “M.K.”? Would he be willing to do more on it, or release the source?

Maybe Greg Steven’s “Starwars” will outdo “Zero Racers”.

🙂

MineStorm wrote:

Yes, cheap to make, but takes time 1 hour per case.

Wow, I didn’t know that — it makes production quantities unfeasible. How much trouble would it be to have a second party make them?

If you can find a compatible connector that’d be really great. I can re-do the PCB and Hedgetrimmer will work his magic CAD skills on the case.

The closest I think we’ll find is the 2mmx2mm. Several companies make them; “through-hole” has sufficient leg length to accommodate being soldered onto the edge of a PCB. The difference in pin spacing is small, especially in the row-spacing; the only two considerations are in the 30-columns spacing, and if the part’s physical plastic fits the VB connector.

Is the cart connector (socket) a close fit in the console connector (plug)?

RunnerPack wrote:
I’m not sure what you’re proposing, here… Why would a VB have to be experimented on to find a mating cart connector? It’s a matter of removing four screws to expose the “business end” of the cart connector (and the interior of the cart slot) with no risk at all to the rest of the VB’s components. Just stick the candidate connector in place, measure its location relative to the edges of the cart slot, CAD up a case and PCB to fit and you’re done! If I had one of the connectors here, I would have done it myself long ago.

Well — my consoles are working; I’m not willing to take them apart. I guess you’re right, I don’t actually need to remove the motherboard-plug to see if it will fit — but it would certainly be useful in production to test geometry.

I know of (and alluded to) the 3D printed cases, but I’d like to know exactly how much one costs in materials and labor. Since extending the VB through custom carts will likely require adding more hardware than just a flash chip and small MCU, it might require an even cheaper method to produce the larger cases (such as casting them out of resin in a silicone mold made from a printed or CNC-machined master).

Depends on the game. The PCB to make a game work isn’t complicated, only a couple parts (unless it’s a “data-saving game” with a RAM and battery; and that’s not much more complexity). Richard posted here that a kilogram of raw material only cost something like 40 bucks (somewhere around 30 pounds), and it “will make a lot of cases”. I got the impression a case was only a dollar or two cost.

However, my point was less about the case and more about the use of Nintendo connectors, which is obviously a dwindling resource which will only get more expensive as time goes on.

I’m really thinking the 2mm connectors will work; the only considerations I can think of, is if the socket-blades are parallel to the strip (therefore allowing some “play” in the long dimension), and if the physical manufactured plastic will fit inside of the console cart-plug. The connector keys are irrelevant; the cart itself has keyed edges, faithfully reproduced in the “printed case” for my Flashboy.

I don’t see the demand becoming thousands-of-units-per-month; that might justify having a mold made (generally for short-runs they’re made of aluminum; haven’t given much thought to silicon & polyester resin — high pressure molten plastic injection is much quicker). For rather small runs with a 3D printer, if personal printer(s) aren’t desired to be tied up, there is always the option of having a “shop” produce the cases.

Are you reading this, Richard?

Gimme a couple weeks to acquire the parts and potential connectors.

thunderstruck wrote:
With a little bit of polish ‘Capitan Sevilla II’ could make a great repro. It already has great graphics. I don’t know how long the game is though as I usually die on the third or fourth screen or so. The controls are making the game rather hard to play right now. I know it is difficult to program good jump&Run controls but the game is already on such a good level that it’s the only real pain-point left.

I haven’t tried that one yet! I have it downloaded (“Capitan.vb”), and the “Star Wars” demo. I guess I’ll try them this weekend.

I seriously commend you on your work (I’ve played “Fishbone” and some others); I wish we could have homebrew-games that exploit the 3D effect. What about “Gosub 3D”? Haven’t tried that either; is it really 3D? I imagine how fun it would be to dodge TORPEDOES like it is to dodge missiles in “Red Alarm”…

I hope someone can come up with a reliable, inexpensive (including the cost to get started) method for producing carts totally from scratch without using any part of an original one. It’s not that I believe they should be preserved for their own sake (does anyone even play V. Baseball, anymore? :-P). Besides the cost factor, custom carts open the door for extending the VB platform by leveraging the expansion capabilities that were built in but never tapped (commercially). While this can be (and has been) done using existing connectors with a custom case, the cost/availability factor puts volume production pretty much out of reach for anything more complex than a flash cart or reproduction.

I know where I can get a couple of “bad-display” consoles, that I would be willing to open (and perhaps fix!), but would allow investigation of appropriate replacement cart-connectors.

Richard said it is feasible (and cost-effective) to make 3D printed carts. I have one as a “Flashboy”, and I’m very happy with it.

I could probably sell the “solder-fixed” consoles here at PVB, after we come up with a suitable stock- cartconnector.

ectoglow wrote:

Getting funds for Dragon Hopper? So… Dragon hopper again. where?!

What do we have here? We have a small group of people clearly enthusiastic about the Virtual Boy system. This is the site that would clearly attract people inclined to have made extra effort (and expense) to acquire rare games, demos, or prototypes. I myself am enough of an enthusiast to have spent ridiculous amounts getting “Space Invaders” and “Gundam”. I have all the Japanese games (except Lab and Bowling).

Of all the people who are members here — do you really think it’s unlikely that someone here HAS “Dragon” or at least knows where a copy is? Or even “Zero Racers”, nor hope-against-hope, Goldeneye? If a collector has spent 4-5 digits on such a prototype, then maybe it should not be readily available for “free dumps”, especially with the theatrics that have occurred. Best we can do is be patient, and hope that whatever obstacles that have occurred in the past to prevent acquisition can be overcome; perhaps we can pool resources, and see if there is one available to buy. I think those who have actual finances involved tend to be more trustworthy.

Maybe we could pay for a dump, which would NOT be “shared at large”, but payment could compensate for a collector’s decreased value. But first we would have to establish if one could be found, if payment was offered.

ectoglow wrote:
Its a grey piece of metal with “Virtual Boy” written in red letters on the front. Its supposed to replace that plate on the stands that always breaks. I saw one of these on ebay a few weeks ago And the seller said it came from someone here.

Anyone have any additional details? curious.

It actually plastic and says “Neartendo”. I’m trying to find someone who will sell/donate their BROKEN ORIGINAL medallion/hub to me, after they’ve fixed their stand; or perhaps LOAN it if I promise to return it. I just wanna make a wax impression…

bigmak wrote:
Oki…this thread is so off topic ..i have no idea what to say..tried to put it back on track..doesn’t seem to matter. Guess I’ll start another thread to talk about reproduction news 😛

Well, I guess I’m guilty of the “sidetrack” too. Hope you’ll forgive us. But try to think of it as what it is — enthusiasm for the system!

Towards “back-on-track”, I’m still pursuing getting a couple of console-plugs, so that we can test some connectors. It would be grand if we could come up with suitable connectors with little or no modification — then (if Richard is willing) printed cart cases and new connectors would solve the “limited-donor-cart” problem. I was conversing with a manufacturer, they do free samples; so once I get a couple console-connectors, I’ll be able to evaluate possible substitute cart-connectors. I really think the 2mm spacing will work…

BTW, anyone have a non-repairable console they’d sell?

Benjamin Stevens wrote:
Heh… well, if that is the case, then it is all the more proof to show how vital of an asset jojobean was to the Virtual Boy community, since every single released game, apart from the very easy to acquire ones, can somehow trace back to him, and yet he was treated with such harshness by so many. I must say it is pretty disappointing to me.

Thank you for your excellent and informative post. It’s a tragedy that a few can ruin it for the rest; all we can hope for is that eventually at least three games will surface; the third being “Goldeneye”, which had to be carted to generate the one known screenshot.

It’s also too bad that I wasn’t frequenting these forums several years ago; I have Gundam and Space-Invaders, think I paid ~ $850 and $450 respectively. Had them since about 2005; I would have been glad to dump them without charge — would have wanted to borrow a dumper, rather than have the games out of my eyesight.

I hope jojobean will consider coming back; just for the fun of sharing something with enthusiasts.

People can be such jerks. I used to play on a Christian message board in about 1999; all these supposed loving caring people, you should have seen the fighting. Like the guy in traffic who cut me off and shot me the finger, with his “Christian” bumper-sticker. Yeah, sure you are; I wanna be like you! 🙁
(I’m afraid everyone within a half block heard my carefully worded, non-profane rebuke of his unacceptable behavior.) But not all of us are jerks, some of us just wanna have fun.

…in 3d shades of red & black… 😛

Dor-Si wrote:

Hedgetrimmer wrote:

Guy Perfect wrote:
Distributing or selling commercial games, even if translated, is very illegal. Don’t do it. I won’t allow it to happen.

Here here Ben. (or, Hear Hear Ben. For the spelling police)

I am however intrigued as to how ‘I won’t allow it to happen’ would be implemented.

I’ve learned over the years never to underestimate the capabilities of any one individual. It’s amazing how far one’s conviction can motivate him or her to stand behind a solid set of core values and effectuate change.

With that said, I understand Guy Perfect’s position of wanting to uphold copyrights. Integrity is a key factor in my field of employment, and it may very well be the same for him.

I do, however, feel this may be going a bit too far given the fact that these reproductions are based on a system that has been dead for close to 20 years and titles that no longer contribute to their respective companys’ portfolio. Some games may still live on in variations, but I fail to see how any of these companies would consider reengineered Virtual Boy games a threat to their bottom line.

I’m not well versed in the language of intellectual property rights, but it seems like the cost to pursue “action” may outweigh the benefits for these respective companies, especially based on the very limited demand and distribution for these games. I would definitely understand the conflict if Virtual Boy games were still being produced and available for retail purchase, but they aren’t.

It’s not the fact that we are distributing these for monetary profit. Rather, these ideas have been circulating so that all can enjoy the hard work of the original people and companies that created these games. Since being written off and all games/accessories liquidated thereafter, the Virtual Boy has not yielded any benefits for those companies. I guess I just don’t the point this far after the complete demise of the system.

Now that the Virtual Boy is in the annals of Nintendo history, it seems only fitting that we, the premier Virtual Boy community in the world, carry on its legacy.

…but that’s just my two cents.

Your “two cents” are worth considerably more. I’ve signed “nondisclosure agreements”; they say things like “associated with immediate or reasonably foreseeable business interests” — N has plainly made it clear they will NEVER have anything to do with VB. They engineered and sold a system with very few games; for a few of us die-hards who fell in love with the system, there is NO “legitimate purchase” option available.

If anyone reading this has one of the missing prototypes, I’m very certain we could agree to keep it quiet, and only share with a group here that agrees to not promulgate it at large. That is the spirit of “die-hard enthusiasts”.

FTR, I am very grateful for all the carts being made available; I’ve thoroughly enjoyed playing the homebrews, and the few prototypes we have. Seeing as how the whole world economy (especially the U.S.) will likely crash in the next couple of months anyway, what’s the point of hoarding them? For what purpose? The programmers did not spend all their blood sweat and tears crafting games so just a dozen “secret clique” people would have them; they were made to be enjoyed by more.

Honor the programmers.

It’s fun, but frustrating. There’s a Youtube video of about 37 minutes of a whole start-to-finish play; I don’t believe it! Especially level 3-10 — he acts as if there’s no wind, just plays right through!

No way…

:-/