Am I immune to the virtual boy or is it unfairly hated? (Virtual boy)

[marvelvscapcom2]

Hello everyone


So just about 3 weeks ago I finally completed a gaming goal I have wanted to complete for quite some time since I can remember and that is obtain the virtual boy.  I always wanted one but never could find one for a obainable price. I've always loved it and never knew why.  It's just iconic in it's presence. It's stance.  It's sillouette.  It's part of gaming history. I have envyed looking at it for the past few weeks.  It sits perched on my desk.  It's beautiful in many ways.   






Now I know many of us have seen the angry video game nerd video or the countless hatred comments towards it.  So of course my main interest in it is to own the piece of history and as a conversation piece of Nintendos many different efforts and attempts in gaming.  I really want to make my room look more like a curration of different consoles to display a companies endeavors throughout history.   I assumed i'd hate it like everyone else and not play it beyond the first try.  But I went in extremely unbiased and gave it a fair chance.   And after piecing together, the stand, the eye foam and the original insert that holds the eye foam.   I purchased my first Virtual boy game .   Mario Tennis and fired it up in all it's glory. 


Liked It







So I waited for the iconic Headache of doom associated with playing the VB for more than 10 minutes. Only to find myself 1 hour and 20 minutes in with no feeling of pain outside of occasional itches under the eye piece that would have to pause the game and scratch.    Outside of that.   Visually I found the red colors kinda neat and cool.   It's like a digital matrix and being a part of another red and black world. I found it no less intrusive than the green colors of the gameboy.  It's even more visible than that.  It's kinda like a world where the shadows watch you.   A world where red and blue are of the same.  It's just red.  Warm almost.  Inviting.   




So after playing Mario Tennis for well over an hour straight.  I've decided that not only do I already long to play it again,  it's also a incredible game.  Like probably either 2nd or 1st best Mario Tennis game i've played.   It's addictive.  Simple. And boy does it give the challenge.   It's just like the arcade games of old.   Simple.  Right to the point but you can't put your finger on why they lure you back each and every time.   It's magical




The Gripes






Of course like any console their are some gripes.  Although way more minor than the hate videos suggest.  One of them being the stand and comfort of leaning into the VB to play it.   I couldn't play longer than 5 minutes hunched over like this without getting uncomfortable.   But I circumvented this by playing the VB another way.    Which is lay down on the floor comfortable with some pillows supporting your head and just rest it up against your face with it's legs on your chest.   It's comfortable as sleeping with a face mask on.   






Outside of that,  the sounds were amazing for a handheld game of it's day.  The graphics were beyond ambitious imo for early 90s tech and I really think the virtual boy is unfairly hated.   I thought it might have been a fluke but I really just genuinely liked the game.   Of course I have to try other games but Tennis isn't even supposed to be as good as Wario Land.   Wario Land is supposed to be even better so I can imagine i'll love that too.


Why the VB is so hated




The reasons are very distinct.  I'm starting to lean towards a smeer campaign that was mass perpetrated by the conspiring powers that be during the 1990s or some organized secret society that was hateful of the virtual boy. Mob members. Someone was paid off.  The boxer took a dive.  Of which the skeleton crew still lingers today.  Polluting forum threads with villainy and angst towards the all holy red lord itself.  The savior of handhelds.  The one to sacrafice itself for gameboy to prosper.   Dark underbelly of society stuff.  Sega most likely paid to influence negative publicity of the console.  It surged mainly in arcades, early editorials.  Hidden stuff.   Never in the mainstream media.  And It mysteriously perished within only a few years of it's launch.   



The Virtual boy very well could have been a scientific expiriment to test the long term brainwashing effects of the red lights on the human brain.  A failed attempt at global domination by the japanese government.   But it may have worked on me because I like it a lot.   I want to play it again.   I'd probably do anything the console told me to.   I feel like the red lights have a deeper meaning and considering it's out of Nintendo's norm to cancel failed consoles early (wii u).   I think the motives weren't exactly underlined.  I think the virtual boy extends deeper.   I think it's a mind control device of sorts.   I think it collects data till this day.




As a whole this might be because I wasn't playing the VB or alive during the moment in which it came.  Perhaps it was a marketing let down.  Because it isn't Virtual Reality.  But I mean it's pretty close. I found it to be not only not bad, but good,  Maybe even fantastic.   


I am excited to piece together, teleroboxer, wario land, the baseball game and a few others that are good.   It's a shame it's library was cut so short.    It might actually be my new favorite console in terms of wanting to seek games for it and collect for it.   It has my full happiness and passion of the hobby currently.     I needed this too.   A great return to retro collecting as I have been in modern games for a while. 






What is your stance on the Virtual Boy?  Is it unfairly mistreated?  Or do you hate it also?   

[desocietas]

I never understood the hate personally, but maybe I was the target audience for it. I had my mom rent it for me several times from Blockbuster when I was a kid, lol 

I was too young to want us to buy it, though, so our money was just going to Blockbuster rather than Nintendo.

[bikingjahuty]

I've never played it so I can't say I like it or dislike it either way. Personally the red and black graphics are kind of unappealing, and it doesn't look that ergonomic when playing it.

[marvelvscapcom2]

I never understood the hate personally, but maybe I was the target audience for it. I had my mom rent it for me several times from Blockbuster when I was a kid, lol 

I was too young to want us to buy it, though, so our money was just going to Blockbuster rather than Nintendo.

Did you end up seeking to buy one again when you began collecting or do you plan on buying one for the memories? Also did it come in the big black box?  The rental box from blockbuster is very rare and awesome.  

Thanks for sharing.

[kamikazekeeg]

I've never used one myself, but it's failure and derision isn't unwarranted.  It's a bad design, it didn't have many games, it was fairly expensive at the time, and the marketing made it out to be a bigger deal than it really was.

Nothing wrong with liking it if you do, the novelty of the device is still nifty, and it's a great display piece, but there's a lot of obvious reasons that have been long talked about as to why it never went anywhere.

[desocietas]

Did you end up seeking to buy one again when you began collecting or do you plan on buying one for the memories? Also did it come in the big black box?  The rental box from blockbuster is very rare and awesome.  

Thanks for sharing.

It totally came in that big black box with the foam insert. It was great.

I don't plan on buying it, but part of me does wonder about trying it again. I remember setting it up into a good position while I sat on the ground (which we did often in the gaming area of my house at the time) but I don't remember it being super uncomfortable. I was also like 12 or 13, and kids are used to being in bad postures anyway. I played a good amount of Mario Tennis, and I thought the 3D was really well done with it. The red and black didn't bother me a bit either... I guess I was just really immersed into it. It's definitely hard to look at screenshots of it now, but I wonder if it's actually as decent as my nostalgia tells me it was, haha.

[sworddude]

The games aren't bad and some are pretty good

The joke with the virtual boy why so many people hate it is because you can't use a virtual boy for over 30 minutes withouth your eyes literally burning out. it becomes a physical hazzard when you would actually use it for a bit of an extended amount of time wich isn;t that long.

I'm pretty sure the eye hazzard and negative press were one of the main reasons why sales were terrible and not many more games were made.

[marvelvscapcom2]

Did you end up seeking to buy one again when you began collecting or do you plan on buying one for the memories? Also did it come in the big black box?  The rental box from blockbuster is very rare and awesome.  

Thanks for sharing.

It totally came in that big black box with the foam insert. It was great.

I don't plan on buying it, but part of me does wonder about trying it again. I remember setting it up into a good position while I sat on the ground (which we did often in the gaming area of my house at the time) but I don't remember it being super uncomfortable. I was also like 12 or 13, and kids are used to being in bad postures anyway. I played a good amount of Mario Tennis, and I thought the 3D was really well done with it. The red and black didn't bother me a bit either... I guess I was just really immersed into it. It's definitely hard to look at screenshots of it now, but I wonder if it's actually as decent as my nostalgia tells me it was, haha.

I just put my second hour into Tennis today and not an ounce of headache yet for me.  Maybe we are the only 2 humans immune to it's wrath lol.  I'm so pleasantly surprised by the console as a whole.   I came in with high standards too because I like it and it actually met them and more.  I do agree if you play it on the stand on a desk and lean into it, it's very uncomfortable on your back. It's my only gripe so far.  But I use it like this....   




I know this isn't a virtual boy but the same applies, just the stand can either be removed but I use it to prop itself on my chest and I elevate with pillows so it kinda just rests against my face.  It never gets crampy that way. 



As a whole I second that the 3D was done very well on it, and the game that I do have is very fun. I think your nostalgia is telling the truth because it's pretty cool right now for me.  I long to play it more and i've already played a bit. I'm excited to piece out the other 4 or so good games it has.     

[marvelvscapcom2]

The games aren't bad and some are pretty good

The joke with the virtual boy why so many people hate it is because you can't use a virtual boy for over 30 minutes withouth your eyes literally burning out. it becomes a physical hazzard when you would actually use it for a bit of an extended amount of time wich isn;t that long.

I'm pretty sure the eye hazzard and negative press were one of the main reasons why sales were terrible and not many more games were made.

Was it really a hazzard for the eyes though? Like with medical confirmation?  I just want to check to make sure.  Or was it just rumors in the press? Because I know the huge siezure warning on the box was a huge thing back then but even 3DS has it now.  It was the first time a game company was honest about that epileptic people could have siezures playing it.   Do you think that's part of the negative press.  Maybe it scared customers off? 


I know i've played about 2 hours straight and I don't have a headache yet.  My eyes don't hurt either.  I know that's a rarity with the console though.  Maybe my eyes are hardened from my 10 hour binges watching Call of Duty.   And I crank the brightness on my TVs so maybe i've just nuked my eyes and made them strong against lights.   Im not sure


Thanks for all the imput everyone. 

[oldgamerz]

It looks vary uncomfortable for tall people to play it and also for people that are not as tall. In my opinion it should have at least been in color. But that may have nuked the eyes back them since color screen might have been too bright

[droaa]

There's a game store not far from where I live and they have Virtual Boy on display and you can actually play it. I dont know about you but less than a minute of using it and I felt off for sometime after the fact.

[kamikazekeeg]

There's a game store not far from where I live and they have Virtual Boy on display and you can actually play it. I dont know about you but less than a minute of using it and I felt off for sometime after the fact.

It's probably similar to modern day VR, where some people can barely last a minute, some have to take breaks every half hour to hour, or some have no issues.  I played 20 minutes of PSVR on Resident Evil 7 and had no issues with it other than the headset being uncomfortable and hot and would be kinda miserable to play for longer than a half hour I feel.

[droaa]

There's a game store not far from where I live and they have Virtual Boy on display and you can actually play it. I dont know about you but less than a minute of using it and I felt off for sometime after the fact.

It's probably similar to modern day VR, where some people can barely last a minute, some have to take breaks every half hour to hour, or some have no issues.  I played 20 minutes of PSVR on Resident Evil 7 and had no issues with it other than the headset being uncomfortable and hot and would be kinda miserable to play for longer than a half hour I feel.

I have PSVR and I have no issue with that afar from as you say hot and uncomfortable at times. You have to take breaks in between as well. If anything, it may have to do with the res coloring which is not easy on the eyes

[turf]

I like the Virtual Boy. There’s a few really good games. Seriously good games. Wario Land is good. Mario Clash is great.

I don’t get the hate other than it’s fun to hate. It’s not super-comfortable to play, but it’s doable. There are some really fun games that you just can’t plah anywhere else.

I put mine on the kitchen table on top of a couple of books. It eases the neck strain of looking down.

[tripredacus]

I have used it before, but my experience wasn't that great. I think because it was not very comfortable and It wasn't very clear for me due to wearing large glasses back then.