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"A 3-D game for a 3-D world."

Okay, so the Virtual Boy was a failure. You know, I know, we all know it. It strained your eyes if you played for more than fifteen to thirty minutes at a time, there were like, fourteen games, and it came out only a few months before the Nintendo 64. It even gave virtual reality a bad name, even though it was not a virtual reality machine (since it didn't do any form of head tracking).

So why bother? Well, to be fair, some of the games are really fun, for one. It's also an interesting anecdote in Nintendo's history, seeing how it was their first attempt at gaming in 3D, but most importantly, it was Gunpei Yokoi's last major project there (he would still create the WonderSwan for Bandai). Sadly enough, Yokoi never intended for the Virtual Boy to be released in that state, Nintendo's management pushed for it... so we basically got Yokoi's prototype. Who knows what would have happened if things had gone differently? What if he lived, and the Virtual Boy had been properly finished? We'll never know, we can just appreciate this small step in gaming history for what it is, and was.

The List[]

Box Art Title Genre Description
3D Tetris 3D Tetris Puzzle This is a rather strange, but awesome, take on Tetris. You're literally playing Tetris on a 3D field. Can be confusing but after you get used to it it's a pretty solid puzzle game that makes an interesting twist on the traditional formula.
Galatic Pinball Galactic Pinball Pinball It's Nintendo-developed pinball exclusive for the VB, what's not the like? Samus cameo too!
Hyper Fighting VB cover Hyper Fighting Fighting What the hell, is that... yes, it is! A solid homebrew port of Street Fighter II.
Innsmouth No Yakata
Innsmouth No Yakata First Person Shooter Innsmouth No Yakata is the best kept secret of the VB: A first person shooter!! Horror themed (the title comes from a Lovecraft novel), it has you sprinting through a cursed house. Depending on how fast you find the way out, is the ending you get.

Features one of the best uses of the VB pad.

Jack Bros Jack Bros. Action Kickass spin-off of the Megaten series...for some reason this game was made, but it's a fairly solid action title on the VB. It plays a lot like Gauntlet, but there's only 6 stages so if you manage to beat it quickly it's a fairly short-lived game. Still worth a playthrough, however.
Mario Clash Mario Clash Platformer Despite a lot of flack as being one of the worst in the Mario series, which is mainly because people hate the Virtual Boy (don't blame them), it's still a solid platforming game taking cue from the original Mario Bros. Now with tons of different levels! The gameplay is a bit slow though, and if you've never played the original Mario Bros. you probably would find this radically different from every other Mario title.
Mario Tennis VB Mario's Tennis Sports The first Mario Tennis game; and one of the best titles in the VB library. While it doesn't stack up compared to it's sequels, it's still a really great title and beats all of the other handheld Mario Tennis games in terms of quality and fun. If you ever decide to play a Virtual Boy game, this is one of the essential ones.
Nesters Funky Bowling Nester's Funky Bowling Sports FUCK YEAR! Remember Nester from Nintendo Power? Well here's the only Nester game ever made...and one of the few American-only Nintendo developed titles. While a basic bowling game for it's time, it's by no means a bad one, although a lot of it's value is the novelty of it being the only game truly starring Nester.
Panic Bomber Panic Bomber Puzzle Port of the infamous PC-Engine game of the same name, if you're looking for another puzzle game that isn't 3D Tetris for the VB, this is it. It's basically falling blocks-type game with a Bomberman twist, and it's fucking awesome. Also it's the only English version of the game released.
Red Alarm Red Alarm Shooter Here's another essential VB title. While only published by Nintendo, this still remains as one of the top games for the system itself. It makes the best use of the rather strange and offbeat controller the Virtual Boy had, and has solid gameplay to go alongside that. Only problem is the fact that it's a wireframe game, and in result there is some problems detecting what exactly are walls or not.
Gundamvb SD Gundam Dimension War Strategy This is just here to taunt you, it costs a shitload of money maybe $1000.

Feel free to emulate though, it's a great strategy game and the last game for the VB. Don't forget your 3D glasses!

Teleroboxer Teleroboxer Fighting If it wasn't for VB Wario Land, this would be THE essential Virtual Boy title. This is a kickass game developed by Nintendo themselves that is a new take on the Punch-Out! formula, and it's still a genuine challenge. What makes this game even more interesting is that you're using the dual D-pads to control each fist, so there's a lot you can do separately at the same time. It's too bad Nintendo will always ignore this as a potential franchise due to the system it was on...
Vtvb V-Tetris Puzzle More normal Tetris than 3D Tetris, so ...variety! Japan only.
Vfvb Vertical Force Shoot 'em Up Yeah it's a decent little game that let's you go up and down to shoot enemy ships from different altitudes. Definatly worth getting if you want a virtual boy!
Vfishvb Virtual Fishing Sports A nice little fishing game that makes good use of the systems's 3D! Japan only but Virtual Boy has no region protection, and you don't need to read much!
Wario Land VB Virtual Boy Wario Land Platforming Now THIS is the game that makes the console worth owning. Packed full of content, VB Wario Land is often considered the best of the series; and I think if you played it you'd see that too. It's a really great and awesome title in general, with the ability to travel on different layers of the same level introduced to the series (Paper Mario does this years later) and other little interesting things. Also the boss fights are fucking awesome.

Videos[]

Fifth Generation
Consoles 3DO - Commodore Amiga CD32 - Capcom CPS Changer - Atari Jaguar - Casio Loopy - SNK Neo Geo CD - Nintendo 64 - NEC PC-FX - Apple Pippin - Bandai Playdia - Sony PlayStation - Sega Saturn
Handhelds Nintendo Game Boy Color - Tiger game.com - SNK Neo Geo Pocket - Tiger R-Zone - Nintendo Virtual Boy