Long term, no. Short-medium term I think yes it could.
Over the decades we have had news continue amazingly to trickle out of what was in development by words minimally, but up the scale from a few images, some developers speaking up with packets of info, and to the top tier of a dumped demo or moderately to finished prototype like Bound High.
The quality bar had been under the development of being raised into a second generation of titles that really did work the system a bit better. Had Faceball, Bound High, Dragon Hopper, that potential Mario game, the f-zero style copy game, and others made it, it could have caught on for a longer time.
But we know what happened, Nintendo pulled in a way a Sega, they wanted to purge the old distraction because they had something in the wings, but unlike Sega who like morons rushed out the Saturn a half year early while killing off their money makers (GG+Genesis/MD) Nintendo thought the Ultra/n64 would make 1995 and cause a split, so they slit the throat of the VB development. Had they not done this we could have had at least another 1-2 maybe 3 years of time on the hardware depending how future games would have worked out, and odds are we would have seen more even imported like Space Invaders and maybe Insmouse. We likely if sales were fine easily would have had more Hudson properties too, perhaps Atlus, who knows.
It never would have been a long term success as the hardware was strange and unfairly lied about and panned over so called eye damage. Partly because some people have health issues they discovered, but largely media troll hype mixed with selectively illiterate wankers who refused to setup the knob and slider and then got a headache or eye strain which was their fault alone. Gameboy still would have stagnated either way which would have helped too, but once Pokemon/Pocket Monsters dropped VB would have been very ignored too, but as N64 fizzled due to a lot of lies and cartridge size/costs in later 1997 who knows maybe VB could have been the filler system waiting for a new 64 title.
Long ago I had posted (2019) that I had a number of systems as I kept/turned over some, I did keep one. VN100121414 the topmost listed in the blockbuster case I had solder fixed.
Today I got a 2nd keeper unit, amazing dumb luck had to meet someone at a local shop a mile up the road, got an insane deal since one eye currently is out (I’m going to shop ideas to fix this, see things have changed in 3 years since.) This one was not only complete but also had the virtual tap+ac adapter combo, they had it booked at $150 but I had a 25% off coupon so with tax it was $120(rounded up.)
The serial on this one is VN101618920
Currently keeping it on display until I figure it out with all the lovely backup parts I’ll keep stored. 🙂
Someone put it in there probably. The US box was just an empty box primarily just made for Blockbuster as a rental placement piece. At the minimum there should be at least the game holder white cardboard piece.
When I got my VB in the beginning of 2019 I got a steal and it was in there. Mine still has all the cello around it sliced nicely along the top so the box is like new, no dumb stickers either from rental by some miracle, and it had the cardboard in there. I just can’t remember if it(original owner or intended) also had like the VB info fold out in there.
As am I. I would still like to find more of the games and not resort to ebay, we know how people behave on there where there’s reality and what something is actually worth. :\
I’ve got 9 games for mine, would like to add more. It’s hard to really find a definitive list of these I think at times. What I do have are batman & robin, battle arena toshinden, daytona usa, indy 500, mortal kombat trilogy, panzer dragoon, star wars jedi adventure, star wars millennium falcon challenge, and star wars rebel forces.
I kind of find myself often unsure what I’m realistically missing. I know some are just not happening because some people have more money than sense so without a huge stroke of luck a few are just unobtainable. I’d think things like Nights, Virtua Cop, Virtua Fighter, Batman Forever, MK3 and Primal Rage would be more doable than say like Apollo 13 or Jurassic Park unfortunately. I do NOT want new that’s deranged collector pricing, just the game and hopefully the little clear sleeve at most which I figure is reasonable.
If someone were to reply to this, probably should quote or PM me as I get notices for messages.
Ever test this with a portable battery? I’m curious how long your standard 10000mah one would last as far as making the VB portable since the old AA battery life was a joke.
I’m very hit and miss on reading vs logging in and I haven’t checked in since late last year. This is impressive. I’ve loved voxel work since putting way many hours on the old Maximum Overkill Comanche DOS PC game in the earlier 90s.
This is something if it grew into a full fun game in some future period I’d be intent on following.
Reminds me of an old dock based/usb GBA kit I had probably 15 years ago where it could read/write games and their saves too either to a flash cart it came with, or at least with saves, to a legit game.
You know your honest best bet would be despite the name of the site, try GBAtemp forums. They’ve been around 20 years now and they’ve gone between skirting the law to just being a legit site that covers the hacks, releases (not actual rom downloads), kits, etc. People there can give you help on it, probably step by step or point you to someone who really can. I’ve been a member there off and on for most of that time, still keep an account there, so trust me they’re likely to be able to help more than anywhere else.
I know it’s probably a no, but what if there was an interpreter in the middle?
The argument I keep reading here is, Virtual Boy is only capable of four shades of mono (but in red due to red LED) basically. Well the little handheld that could from 1989 called Game Boy was only capable of four shades of gray basically too. Yet come mid-life of the SNES we got Super Gameboy.
All those pre-existing games could have a color palette swapped in over the top of the original mono output, they were preset or made by the user, and then later games had SGB colors installed minimally and upwards towards the meatier selection that Donkey Kong 94 had.
It makes you wonder, could someone pop something in the middle here, to allow VB, even if it’s not done on a VB itself, to do something similar. For years they’ve had a way to emulate the SGB in a SNES emulator, where you just feed it the GB game and it goes.
I’m looking for r-zone carts too, loose is all I’d care about preferred at least. I just have Daytona and the Star Wars Jedi pack-in. I like my XPG but it has rotted since early summer since I’ve got nothing to play on it new.
I don’t ship international but if you’re in the US I’ve got a couple of them. One is great but the ribbons were so toasted I removed them and the led pcbs. It would be perfect for that job. If you PM me I could swap emails and continue this.
Agreed that is a great find and if that date were to hold true odds are somewhere something playable exists. Add that to the mental note of try me with dragon hopper if they’re ever found.
Less solid err firm connection. It’s connected but not like 100% worth in I guess pressure contact to the board. There’s no break but being less firm a light touch less power is conveyed causing a dimmer outlook. I’ve seen this in the process of solder fixing stuff. Maybe it just wasn’t heated enough and there’s a gap maybe old glue not sure. More heat and pressure during the process solves it.
Ehh, seems well enough done, and I can see the argument for 32X but it is just an opinion. 32X didn’t last long probably around the time VB did really, and both lacked games. Sega though even if some corners were cut and a few things kind of sucked, they did get the far better 3rd party support. But to really compare seems stupid, we’re talking a Genesis add-on device with more pushing power for games and then a 3D monotone stand alone system that didn’t get a fair shake.
Top Gear Rally was my favorite of those more serious style racers, World Driver was too which they also worked on if I remember right. I think what was said there is a line of crap just to pass the buck. Unless Nintendo when boss games folded either bought the rights to some/all of their stuff, or they have a good means of influence to force such a thing it’s just an excuse so there’s not a wall of begging and hammering to get that put out there. If you blame Nintendo you know whining will get you nowhere vs if he says he has it and just doesn’t feel like it.
I’ve heard of some making that gameboy emulator into a cart with the best working stuff for it. I dabbled a little when I had that crusty kit for a short while the flashboy. Maybe some day when the new wave gets out there I’d try it again. It’s a shame though it never got developed more as old gameboy would really give some added choice to the thing to do.
