Ok. I just wanted to be sure, because if that metal plate on the bottom of your platform display unit was custom, then there might’ve been a chance the visor plate was custom as well.

Benjamin Stevens wrote:
the platform display’s instructions state that it included a Virtual Boy system with “Mario Tennis”

And thats another reason to believe that the white box Virtual Boys were Not for the store displays, as the white box says ” Virtual Boy W/O Software “.

Does the metal plate behind the visor of your platform display look exactly like the one in the attached photo?

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   custom-vb-visor-plate.jpg
   

Upon further inspection of this “special wire” I can see that it appears to be another contoller cord.

Picture-1 shows the display with the head unit removed to reveal the controller cord that connects to the head unit.

Picture-2 shows the back of the display, where one can clearly see what appears to be another controller cord within the rail that the head unit slides up and down on. Its plugged into another controller port on the bottom of the rail.

I’ve never seen this wire packed with one of my “New” white box Virtual Boys. Wich is another reason why I think the store displays had their own Virtual Boys specifically for them packed in a store displays shipping box.

I could be wrong, these are just my thoughts.

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   controller-cord-1.png
   

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   controller-cord-2.png
   

Benjamin Stevens wrote:
am I right that all Virtual Boy systems used with such displays came in the standard retail system boxes, or were these systems specially packaged inside the boxes for the displays, along with the large displays to go with them?

I truly believe that all Virtual Boys that came with the store displays were once packaged inside the box that the store displays were package in. Why? Because store display VB units have a custom metal plate behind the visor that allows you to screw the visor on so nobody stole them off the display. If you look at the instructions on how to assemble a platform display ( pictured on this site in the store display section ) you’ll notice that it says nothing about screwing the visor in, wich leads me to believe that the head units already came with the displays with the visors already screwed on and all an employee would have to do is lock the head unit in place.

Its thought that all USA white boxed Virtual Boys were for the store displays, simply because the box says ” for interactive display “, but I truly believe these units were for exactly what the box says ” for interactive display ” meaning “display” it out of the box and let people “interact” with it. They did come with everything needed to do so other than a game.

Now, I’ve owned 3 white boxed Virtual Boys ( yeah I know I have a problem ) and one seller could only tell me he got it from a Nintendo employee. The other 2 sellers both mentioned old videogame conventions / tradeshows in the 90S, and one of them even went as far to say that he had the job of going around and securing these units to tables at such tradeshows / conventions.

Another reason why I Feel white boxed VBs and VBs that came on the store displays are different, is because the counter display and the floor model display have a special wire included with them that I never seen packaged with one of my white boxed units, wich out of the 3 I owned 2 were still “New”.

Im currently at work but I’ll try posting a picture of this wire tonite when I get home.

Thats pretty cool! I wonder if these suffer from the same glitchy display problems as the Virtual Boy.

Wow! Very good observations, Ben. Not only very informative but also a really good read.

Thank you very much for that!

Attached is a picture of this unit as a whole for documentation purposes.

Zoom in on this picture and you can clearly see the information in the squares as mentioned.

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   virtual-boy-oddity-2.jpg
   

Lester Knight wrote:
i don’t think it was anything special. it is hard to tell but to me it looks like a few drill holes for mounting to something. if this was indeed from the home of a nintendo employee, perhaps this person simply mounted it in their cubicle or via a custom stand that allowed for more sturdy testing/debugging/etc. i’ve never seen mention of these holes found in other VB units (testing units, dev units, etc), which makes me think it isn’t anything “official” at all. if anything, it has a neat history (wish we really knew the details). as far as value, its looks like an off-the-shelf VB with some holes in it that shouldn’t be there.

Idk man, its not just the part that the stand attaches to thats different, its the whole plate that has the 6 screws on it as well. To me it just seems like alot of work to customize that entire part just for a employee to work comfortably. I wish I knew the real story behind this unit, its been on my mind ever since I lost the auction years ago.

Pictured below is a drawing of what those “holes” actually look like.

( I had to draw them because I cant get a clear enough image of them, so please excuse my bad drawing skills )

Anyone ever see anything like that before?

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   mock-up.jpg
   

Here’s the item description from the auction, I figured I’d throw it in. Its very blurry because at the time my cell phone didn’t have a screenshot option, so I had to hold the camera up to the computer monitor. But heres what it says.

” we recently had the pleasure of coming across an estate of a longtime Nintendo employee. We were able to obtained a lot of rare and hard to find Nintendo items.

This is a Virtual Boy system. It comes with the Virtual Boy head unit, controller, stand, eyepiece and visor as well as the Virtual Boy AC adapter tap. It does NOT include the actual AC adapter. The stand is still in the original bag and the cord for the controller is still unraveled. I dont believe this unit has ever been used, but it does have some scuffs from storage over the years. The battery compartment is nice and clean and appears to never have had batteries put in it. ”

To the seller of this unit, this was just an average Virtual Boy. But to a VB collector, its a treasure.

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   vb-oddity-description.jpg
   

HP Lovethrash wrote:
That is weird looking alright…those silver holes almost look like a threaded spot for something to screw in. With the bottom piece being so flat, I wonder if this unit was attached to some prototype tabletop stand. I’m not familiar with the store display units, did they have this kind of special arrangement on the bottom?

Also, is the part of the foam visor that should go against your forehead missing? It almost looks that way.

Im very familiar with the store display units, and I can say with 100 percent certainty that this is not one of them. All store display units have a normal under side with a serial number. And the visor is just a normal one, it just seems like that because of the sellers camera angle.

Had me some cake today, it was good! 🙂

This was actually a cake my girl made for me a few years ago.

I tried blurring out my name on it but I suck at that kind of stuff.

I cant believe its been 20 frickin’ years already! 1 more year and the boys old enough to drink. 😜

Happy 20th Birthday Virtual Boy!

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Vertical Force is a game for the VB that I wish came out with a part 2. Its a very impressive title.

I’ve been playing Panic Bomber alot lately. I absolutely love the 3-D animated effects that you get when you cause a 4-chain reaction or higher. I swear thats the reason why they put this game on the Virtual Boy. Pluss the music is just fantastic!

Spotted another VN9 unit online.

VN90009107[8]

This VN9 unit was complete with its box and has its full registration card still attached.

The serial on the card is a normal VN1 number.

the picture was to blurry for me to make out the whole number, but it was definitely a VN1 number.

Benjamin Stevens wrote:

If they did truly make these for the Virtual Boy, it would sure make a nice display for one’s VB collection! 🙂

Yea definitely! But I doubt that a Browser System that has more than 1 or 2 Virtual Boy Paddles on it exist. It would definitely be a epic way to display all official and homebrew Game Paks though.

Anyway, just realized that I never posted a picture of the back of the Display Forms.

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   reverse-side-of-display-forms-rotated.jpg
   

HoMenace wrote:
Do you by chance know the story behind your white box US system?

The seller of this particular white box demo unit could only tell me that he got it from a Nintendo employee sometime in the 90s. I got some serious questions about these white box demo units. (I’ll make a thread about them soon)

HoMenace wrote:
One of the cases has a sticker on it that reads: Property of NMI, 4820-150thAvenue N.E., Redmond, WA 98052 USA.

Lol, I was bidding on that one last year or so, but then I got called into work on a last minute notice and lost track of the auctions ending time. Im glad to see that it went to a passionate Virtual Boy collecter.

Benjamin Stevens wrote:

1. To be sure, when you say “USA Demo Unit,” you are referring to a Virtual Boy system that originally came in a white box, right? It should look like the one in the following link, but it should also have “VUE S RA / Virtual Boy W/O Software / For Interactive Display / Made in Japan” written on the front and certain other sides of the box:

Yes, that is correct.

Benjamin Stevens wrote:

2. Also, if you take a USA Super Nintendo AC adapter, or otherwise any AC adapter that will work in a Nintendo or Super Nintendo that was commercially released in the United States, and you try to insert its end into the tap that you are referring to as a “USA Tap,” will it fit?

I plugged in 4 official Nintendo USA ac adapters and they all fit. The ac adapters I used all say for use with Super NES and Virtual Boy. The sticker inside the Tap says (usa) next to the model number and has english text.

My Japan adapter taps all say (jpn) next to the model number and have Japanese text. So im quite positive that this is an official Nintendo USA adapter tap.

I tried plugging in a japan ac adapter into this tap and it did not fit.

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I just have a quick question. I have an Adapter Tap that has the same skinny rectangles as the ones on the Mosaic Tap. The mold number under the cover is 1. It is a USA Tap and came packed inside one of my USA Demo Units.

Has there been discoveries of USA Adapter Taps with these features?

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   usa-adapter-tap-skinny-rectangle-mold.png
   

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   usa-adapter-tap-mold-number-1.png
   

I’m curious as to why my Numbers havent made it on the list yet? I wanna be cool too, just like everyone els 🙂

Anyway, here’s another one from my collection.

VN10001030[5]

Its another USA White Box Demo Unit.

Benjamin Stevens wrote:

Was there evidence that foam had originally been in the cases and was later ripped out, or could it be that the cases never had foam for the Virtual Boy inserted into them?

I remember remnants of glue and foam present under the Lids and bottom of the cases. I’ll never be able to say for sure that these cases once housed Virtual Boys, but what I can say is these cases were identical to the TravelMaster case that was compared to the BlockBuster case on this site.

I only wish the owner called me, if not to sell me the cases, then so I could’ve atleast asked if they remembered where they came from.

Benjamin Stevens wrote:

I’m wondering now if, perhaps, those cases were originally intended to hold other things, and once Southern Case learned that one of the types of cases they had already been making would be a perfect size for the Virtual Boy system, they simply converted one of their existing cases into a Virtual Boy system carrying case.

Sounds possible to me.

speedyink wrote:

This one should work if you’d like.

Thanks! I really appreciate that. I’ll set it up soon.

Dave_ wrote:
Welcome to the community Vue.

That is awesome. You HAVE to have that set as your avatar pic.

Thanks Dave_. I would love to make that my avatar, but im to dumb to figure out how to size it to make it fit. I’ll figure it out sooner or later though.

Benjamin Stevens wrote:

the VB rental case that was included with his purchase at Blockbuster was the extremely rare TravelMaster hard case.

Ah yes, the TravelMaster hard case. There isn’t much that I can tell you about this case, but check this out Ben…

I work for the school department, and about two and a half years ago or so,there was a very old elementary school in the Riverside section of East Providence that was set for demolition. Myself and a few other guys were called to go there and help salvage any old furniture and desks that could be donated to other schools. Well, imagine my excitement when I walked into the old music room of the school and saw 3 TravelMaster case’s stacked on top of each other, yea I almost died…I opened up each case to take a peek inside and they were all filled with random speaker wires and stuff. I then asked my boss if i can keep the case’s, but he said there were still teachers that were supposed to return to the school to gather the rest of their stuff and said it wouldn’t be a good idea (agreed). Anyway, we didn’t finish the job that day so we all had to return to the school the very next day,but this time I brought my Blockbuster rental case with me for comparisons, and they were all the same cases,only the foam in the TravelMasters were completely ripped out of them. I left a note with my cell # taped to the case’s saying that i would buy them but I never received a call.

I did take alot of pictures of all the case’s together. I’ll have to search around for my old cell but when I find it I will definitely post the pics.