Why Nintendo's Virtual Boy Was An Epic Failure

In 1995, Nintendo tried to cash in on the virtual reality craze... sort of. That year, the company released the Virtual Boy console, which didn't technically count as virtual reality. It offered gamers a 3D experience they couldn't get on TV screens or handheld devices. Unfortunately, the Virtual Boy didn't click with customers, and it was discontinued less than a year after its debut. With around 770,000 units sold, it remains Nintendo's worst-selling console of all time. 

We got our hands on a vintage Virtual Boy at the retro video games store VideoGamesNewYork in Manhattan's East Village to get a better idea of why the system stumbled out of the gate, existing as a bizarre blemish on Nintendo's otherwise impressive record. To learn pretty much everything there is to know about the history of the Virtual Boy, we highly recommend visiting the Planet Virtual Boy website, where you'll find an exhaustive, comprehensive library of almost everything ever written or researched about the Virtual Boy.

Tech Insider tells you all you need to know about tech: gadgets, how-to's, gaming, science, digital culture, and more.

[roadroller]

Virtual boy: W-who are you?
Virtual Reality: Im you, but stronger.

[sidneyhemphill]

And now we have VR on everything now. Nintendo was ahead of the times, but tech wasn't there.

[drudill]

I remember my mom got me this as soon as it came out. So I was excited to go to my grandmas with it so that I could show it to my cousin. I'm in the kitchen playing an intense game of Mario Tennis. Anytime the other team would score, I would curse. And every time I would curse, my cousin would laugh, but he would laugh way too hard at me simply just saying curse words. This happens a few more times. They score, I say a different curse word, my cousin laughs way too hard. So I finally pull my face from the game and my grandma was standing there with her mouth agape. Before I could blink, my grandma came across the table and slapped the hell out me. My cousin was sitting there laughing the whole time still. That's my most vivid memory of this system.

[MRJABERable]

Remember demoing this at a Toys R Us in the 90's and wanted one so bad. Parents never bought me one. Glad they didn't now

[qwerp]

This video is probably going to get more views than sales of the Virtual boy.

[es]

Begged my mom for this. Had 3 games. Gave me headaches. Stand broke. Used it for 2 months. Good times.

[Miimu]

I bought a game from Gamestop. The girl handed me the bag and said, "Hope you enjoy it! It's a really fun game." and smiled at me.



I said, "You too."

[supergamer-xt]

28 YEARS AGO NINTENDO VIRTUAL BOY WAS RELEASED IN UNITED STATES ON MONDAY AUGUST 14, 1995.

[ericrosario]

Rented it as a child and now I have a lazy right eye at times

[zuko]

Good thing we have Virtual Reality now.

[noonecandeflecttheemeralds]

In conclusion: no one wanted a game system that gave them a headache every ten minutes

[lesterarriola]

Is that Paul Rudd at the beginning? Lol

[RetroRespawn]

Owning one today, its pretty exciting. The screen rendering method is incredibly clever. Unfortunately it released in an unfinished state.

[cadman]

The Virtual Boy system also had a rather tragic epilogue. Gumpei Yokoi, the system's designer and one of Nintendo's most celebrated imagineers, was forced to resign over the whole debacle, and a few years later he was hit by a car and killed. This incident might not have happened if not for the system's failure and his subsequent forced retirement. So not only was the Virtual Boy a terrible system, but it also took from us the creator of Metroid, Kid Icarus, and the original GameBoy. Sure, the Atari Jaguar sucked but at least it didn't kill people.

[TKnightcrawler]

Nice video. I wish you would have talked for a minute about the homebrew scene, though. In the description you mention Planet Virtual Boy, but it would have been cool if you mentioned that they now can make link cables, controller-to-USB adapters, and the flash cart that you are playing on. They're even close to making entirely new carts for homebrew games. And then there is the awesome, but expensive, Street Fighter II port.

[zacharywinkle]

"Remember Nintendo's Virtual Boy? Probably not."

Hey, dude, that's the best game system ever dude. The Wii U can't even touch the power of it.

[limagalang]

the guy doing the voice over is my favorite male of insider

[yamigekusu]

I still have mine, and I love it to pieces. One of my all-time favorite games was released on the system (Mario Clash)

[DJKID]

Why don't Nintendo try to bring it back. Now we have technology for it.

[argindenieceerfe]

Windows 95 and Virtual Boy Release: August 24, 1995