Virtual Boy

The Virtual Boy (バーチャルボーイ, Bācharu Bōi?) was the first portable game console capable of displaying "true 3D graphics." Most video games are forced to use perspective to achieve the illusion of three dimensions on a two-dimensional screen, but the Virtual Boy was able to create a more accurate illusion of depth through an effect known as parallax. In a manner similar to using a Head Mounted Display, the user places his face inside a pair of rubber goggles on the front of the machine, and then an eyeglass-style projector allows viewing of the monochromatic (in this case black and red) image. It was released on July 21, 1995 in Japan and August 14, 1995 in the US and at a price of around $180. It met with a lukewarm reception that was unaffected by continued price drops. Nintendo eventually discontinued it the following year.

Technical information
The system does not have a full 384 x 224 array of LEDs as a display. It uses a pair of 1 x 224 linear arrays (one per eye) and rapidly scans the array across the eye's field of view using flat oscilating mirrors. These mirrors vibrate back and forth at very high speed (they are what produce the mechanical humming noise from inside the unit) and can be damaged if the Virtual Boy is hit, knocked over, or used while in rough motion (such as in a car). A full-size display, while mechanically simpler, would have increased the Virtual Boy's physical size and unit cost to the point where the system would become uneconomical. Every Virtual Boy game has the option to pause automatically every 15-30 minutes to remind the player to take a break, to prevent undue eye strain and possible headaches.



Monochrome display
The Virtual Boy is iconic for its monochromatic use of red LED lights. The use of the red LED lights was chosen for being the least expensive, the lowest drain on batteries, and for being the most striking color to see. The use of other LED colors proved to be too cost prohibitive and would have forced the system to retail for over $500. It would not be until 1996 that high-efficiency indium gallium nitride (InGaN) blue and green LEDs would became available from Nichia. During development, a color LCD was experimented with but was found to just cause users to see double instead of creating the illusion of depth.

The Virtual Boy, which uses an oscillating mirror to transform a single line of dots into a full field of dots, requires high-performance LEDs in order to function properly. Because each pixel is only in use for a tiny fraction of a second (384 pixels wide, 50.2 Hz scan rate = approximately 52 µs per scanline), high peak brightness is needed to make the virtual display bright and be comfortable for the user to view. The two-screen system demanded a fast refresh rate, unlike the original Game Boy which had blurry motion, so using an LCD was not an option.

Controller
The Virtual Boy, being a system with heavy emphasis on three-dimensional movement, needed a controller that could operate along a Z-Axis. The Virtual Boy's controller was an attempt to implement dual digital 'D-pads' to control elements in the aforementioned 3D environment.

The controller itself is shaped like an 'M' one holds onto either side of the controller and the part that dips down in the middle contains the battery pack. There are six buttons on the controller (A, B, Start, Select, L and R), the two D-pads, and the systems 'on\off' switch. The two directional pads are located on either side of the controller at the top. The 'A' and 'B' buttons are located below the pad on the right side and the 'Start' and 'Select' buttons are located in the same spot on the left side. What would normally be called 'shoulder buttons' ('L' and 'R') are located behind the area where the pads are, on the back of the controller, functioning more as triggers.

In most games for Virtual Boy, like Mario Clash or Jack Bros, the directional pads are interchangeable; both do the same thing. For others with a more 3D environment, like Red Alarm or Teleroboxer, each pad controlled a different feature. For Red Alarm one directional pad controls pitch and direction of the protagonists' ship, while the other controls forward, back and strafe movement. For Teleroboxer, each control pad, in conjunction with the trigger\shoulder buttons, controlled the position of the corresponding fist of the character.

One of most unusual features of the controller is the extendable power supply that slid onto the back. It housed the 6 AA batteries required to power the system. This could be substituted with a wall adapter, though a 'slide on' attachment was required to accomplish this. Once the slide on adapter was installed, a power adapter identical to that which is included with the SNES could be attached to provide constant power.

EXTention Port
The system's EXT port, located on the underside of the system near the controller port, was never officially supported as no official games were ever published, nor was an official link cable released.

Product failure
The console was designed by Gunpei Yokoi, inventor of the Game & Watch and Game Boy handhelds. While compact and seemingly portable, Virtual Boy was not intended to replace the Game Boy in Nintendo's product line, as use of the system requires a steady surface, and completely blocks the player's peripheral vision. According to David Sheff's book Game Over, Gunpei never actually had intended for the console to be released in its present form. However, Nintendo had grown impatient with the amount of time that he had taken with the project. It wanted to focus on the Nintendo 64, and quickly rushed the Virtual Boy to market.

Hype surrounding the device before its  release included public musings by Nintendo that the device might resemble a gun set vertical, projecting a 3D image in the air above it. The actual device was considered a disappointment compared to this description when it arrived.


 *  '...the Virtual Boy produced very impressive 3-D effects, although the monochromatic graphic style proved to limit the appeal of the visuals.'  - (NOA website)

At the time, Nintendo was considered nearly invincible in the videogame market with the massive success of the NES, SNES, and Game Boy and its ability to hold arch-rival Sega at bay as the Nintendo 64 was being developed. While Nintendo's decline of dominance was mostly due to the emerging PlayStation console, some market analysts and video game historians point to the release and failure of the Virtual Boy as the "beginning of the end."

The Virtual Boy was a flop in the marketplace, for several reasons:


 * To fill in for the long delay in the development of the Nintendo 64, it was pushed to market before it was ready. Not only was it rushed out the door, but the public was unwilling to spend so much money on what they saw as a stopgap videogame system, especially knowing the Nintendo 64 was coming shortly.


 * It was marketed as a portable system, but it was not as portable as gamers thought it should be. Due to its size and weight, the Virtual Boy was nearly impossible to use while in motion, and doing so could cause damage to the unit.


 * It was considered too expensive, with a $180 initial price.


 * The console's box and manual warned that the display could cause eyestrain and eye problems, especially for those under 7 years of age. Despite having been added primarily for liability reasons, the warnings frightened away potential buyers. Some that did buy it suffered from headaches from short times spent playing games on the machine.


 * Many believed there was a poor selection of games available at launch, and very few software developers wanted to invest time and money in such a new, unproven gaming system. This led to a circular supply-and-demand problem and resulted in a system with few games available. In total only 22 titles were available between the North American and Japanese markets. Additionally, there were few plans for any flagship titles (such as Metroid, Zelda, or Star Fox) or popular third party titles (such as Final Fantasy or other Squaresoft games) to be released. Other game problems were related to the format of the console itself, which did not seem especially suited for certain types of games, giving players the impression that it was a rather limited system.


 * The base of the system could not be adjusted vertically. This meant that the system has to be placed on a table to play (which could be uncomfortable) or that users had to lie down to use it. The base was also somewhat flimsy and replacement parts were not very common.
 * Due to the nature of the Virtual Boy system, other players could not watch, which took away the social aspect of gaming. A multiplayer option was in the works, via a cable that would hook two units together, but the product failed before such an addition could be made.


 * Because of its failure in the Japanese and American markets, the console was never released in Australia or Europe. This contributed to a supply-and-demand problem (undersupply) for Nintendo products (especially Super Famicom and SNES games) in the middle of the 1990s that existed mainly due to continuous delays of the Nintendo 64.

The failure of the Virtual Boy was regarded by many as the catalyst that led to Gunpei being driven from Nintendo. According to Game Over, the company laid the blame for the machine's faults directly on the creator.

In 2001, before the release of Super Smash Bros. Melee, the Virtual Boy made a reappearance in the Trophy Collection Room on a shelf which could only be seen in the Japanese version. Due to its failure, however, Nintendo of America decided that it was best not to completely expose that particular system in the localized version since that version would then be sold in Europe and Australia; exposing the system to the EU and AUS audience would trigger confusion.

Despite the system's consumer failure, the system continues to maintain a small cult following. Further speculation into the subject, shows that some of the leftover old systems still remain on the market by individual sellers. A second hand one sells for £100 in Gamestation (popular UK game retailers)

Trivia

 * None of the Japanese games were packaged in shrink-wrap like the American versions.
 * Some Virtual Boy games have been bought by collectors for more than a thousand dollars.
 * In the movie Runaway Bride starring Julia Roberts, Richard Gere checks into a hotel where the receptionist is playing a Virtual Boy.