The recreated Virtual Boy may represent a new era of Nintendo, or at least the company’s willingness to respect its past failures. For the $100 recreation of the nearly 31-year-old virtual reality console, Nintendo isn’t just handing us a toy that’s a nostalgia trip wrapped around a Switch 2 accessory.
The “big N” went out of its way to offer an experience as close to that of the original Virtual Boy with a few extra modern-day conveniences. Gamers who never had the chance to play the original VR console may only find it an anachronistic, awkward footnote of Nintendo’s storied pedigree. Elder players who tried the console in their youth may receive a pang of fond nostalgia before they go back to playing comfortably on their couch. But for those who desire to understand Game Boy and Virtual Boy designer Gunpei Yokoi’s vision for this past era of gaming, it’s a fascinating kit.
Nintendo invited me to check out the Virtual Boy accessory and play through all seven titles launching with the device on Feb. 17. I hunkered over a desk with my face pressed up to a pair of goggles and got lost in a sense of discovery. The revamped Virtual Boy isn’t a console; it’s a time capsule. Those who stick their head up to the two red-tinted lenses aren’t players; they’re explorers of one of Nintendo’s most derided devices of all time.
Ogle those goggles and that red and black screen
The Virtual Boy accessory doesn’t include a screen itself. In fact, there are little to no electronics inside the unit. Instead, you place a Nintendo Switch 2 without the Joy-Con 2 inside the top hatch, close it up, and rely on the red filter and the twin lenses to help recreate the original console’s parallax view. Nintendo also told me the peripheral can accept the original Switch and Switch OLED instead of a Switch 2 with the help of an adapter. So no, you don’t need to buy Nintendo’s $450 console just to play this retro recreation.
Unlike Nintendo’s other Classics collections, through a $50-per-year Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription, the new Virtual Boy receives a special menu for accessing your games. There are seven to start with at launch, including Galactic Pinball, Teleroboxer, Red Alarm, Virtual Boy Wario Land, 3D Tetris, Golf, and The Mansion of Innsmouth. These all appear in a menu with icons made large enough to spool through when staring through the goggles.
The old Virtual Boy played games at a 384 x 224 resolution in each eye. Today’s Switch 2 screens run at 1080p, which means these titles are likely running at an upscaled resolution. Nintendo wouldn’t tell me exactly what size each game was playing, but it’s clear from my time with the accessory that these games were upscaled to some degree. The images looked clear enough to read text without any need for squinting.
The Virtual Boy recreation has soft plush sides that sit on either side of your face. The original console used plastic goggles that were more uncomfortable. Still, the device expects users to lean forward on a desk and play with a controller where the buttons aren’t even visible. And still, I felt surprisingly comfortable. Instead of the old wired Virtual Boy controller, Nintendo expects you to make use of any regular Switch controller, like the Joy-Con 2, Switch 2 Pro, or your own personal favorite. Missing out on the controller makes it feel a little less like a true recreation of a 30-something-year-old device, though any modern control scheme will be more comfortable than the alternative (and it would inevitably make the new Virtual Boy more expensive).
These games don’t feel modern, but that’s the point
I wasn’t playing for long enough to feel any strain in my hunched-over form or bear the inevitable eye strain that will come from playing with a screen two inches from my face. The games themselves are an odd bunch. Galactic Pinball won’t hold your attention for too long, and 3D Tetris is a mind-bending take on the original that at times feels more annoying due to your limited view of the field. If I had to tell you to play one of these games, it would be Wario Land. The game feels like an old-school Super Mario Bros. title, though with a use of foreground and background platforming sections that make each level feel far more dynamic.
See More
