Nintendo Virtual Boy Thread

BLUEVOODU · February 13, 2018, 11:20:15 PM

lol... ok... I know there isn't much interest in the Nintendo Virtual Boy... but there has to be a thread dedicated (at least 1) to the Nintendo Virtual Boy. A retro / Old School board wouldn't be right without it.

I actually still have my Virtual Boy. Speaking of that... I need to make sure the batteries didn't corrode in it.

BLUEVOODU · February 17, 2018, 01:45:13 PM

I pulled the batteries out of my Nintendo Virtual Boy today... thankfully they didn't corrode. I couldn't believe when I checked the date on the batteries... 2003. So they had to have been mid 90's batteries. LOL... they were the old Duracell batteries that had the battery tester on them. You would hold both ends of the tester and it would tell you how much battery life was left. I think they brought the idea back later to Duracell. But I haven't see it as of late.

LOL... here's a commercial for those batteries:

retro junkie · February 17, 2018, 04:00:51 PM

You are so fortunate. I do not use Duracell due to the problem of leakage. I do not have that problem with any other battery brand.

I almost had a Virtual Boy. I was in a Blockbuster way back at a point when they were dropping the Virtual Boy rental. I had it in my hands, in a plastic case with games, for around twenty dollars. I just did not have the nerve, chickened out at the last moment. Although I wished that I had gone through with it, I really have no regrets. Not sure I could handle the way the unit produced the images.

They had around three or four of them.

BLUEVOODU · February 25, 2018, 10:59:30 PM

yeah... there's really no regrets in it. I bought it at full price with birthday money way back in the day. Red Alarm is a pretty cool game... I bought that and I Think Mario Tennis came with it. Pretty good games they were.

I mentioned this a long time ago.. but when I was playing at night... the red would give me greenish vision after taking the Virtual Boy away from my face. In some cases, it really looked a little like night vision. My guess is that this came from exposure to the color red.... but It definitely was interesting.

targetrasp · February 26, 2018, 12:48:39 AM

There are 3 cones in your retina that perceive color, one does red, one green, and one blue. Blue has the shortest wavelength in the color spectrum, red has the longest making green closer to red than blue. The most common color blindness / deficiency is Red / Green. I'd bet all three of these facts play into your seeing of green, I just can't explain how!

BLUEVOODU · February 28, 2018, 03:16:40 PM

Yeah... I don't know... it was certainly weird though! It happened more than once.

But I did have some good times with the Virtual Boy. I really did like Red Alarm and Mario Tennis on the system... they were a lot of fun to play. They were also pretty intuitive gameplay and controller wise.

targetrasp · February 28, 2018, 08:17:15 PM

I don't think I enjoyed a single game on the virtual boy. I did enjoy the look of it on my desk, and everyone asking wtf is that

BLUEVOODU · February 28, 2018, 11:04:39 PM

Quote from: targetrasp on February 28, 2018, 08:17:15 PM
I don't think I enjoyed a single game on the virtual boy. I did enjoy the look of it on my desk, and everyone asking wtf is that

I take it you tried Red Alarm and Mario Tennis? I also have the Japanese copy of V-Tetris... that game was ok. I Think I need to play it again to see if it holds up to my memory.

targetrasp · February 28, 2018, 11:34:59 PM

When I bought my virtual boy I got it at a flea market without a stand and the guy said it didn't work. I don't think he realized the battery compartment was in the controller, because all I had to do was put batteries in it.

I purchased the unit, red alarm, Mario tennis, and Mario clash for $20.00. I think I got a stand on ebay at the time for another 20 - 40 and the replacement eyepiece for 5ish.

I cleaned it up, put it together, and left it on my desk. Once the novelty wore off it wasn't my thing. Mario clash was Mario bros, tennis was ok but nothing like what was out on the other systems, and the pace for red alarm wasn't great. I set on my desk for a while as a conversation piece until it became ebay fodder.

While I regret selling every video game or console I've ever let go of, the only fun I had out of it was finding and refurbishing it.

BLUEVOODU · August 30, 2018, 07:29:35 PM

@targetrasp Idk.. I had a lot of fun with Red Alarm and Mario Tennis. That's me though. I get what you mean on the pace of Red Alarm... it was a little slower. I found it to be a super unique game and a lot of fun.

I think Red Alarm needs its own topic at some point here.

targetrasp · September 10, 2018, 11:23:21 PM

My tastes have changed a lot in the 15 or so years we're talking about, I'd love to give it another shot, but I doubt there's much there for me.

BLUEVOODU · September 17, 2018, 08:30:35 PM

There probably isn't My tastes have actually changed more in the reverse direction of yours. Even since I ran the previous site. Part of this is due to my stupid adulting opportunities LOL.

I haven't broke mine out in years. I think it's time to revisit it.