The Virtual Boy was Nintendo's biggest flop. It was a console where you could play games in black-and-red 3D. I remember the first time I tried it out, actually. I was in Sears back in 1995 and they had a demo of it set up. I was so excited to try it out and...it was terrible. It had weird visuals, gave me a headache, all of that. Still, nostalgia is a funny thing and Nintendo announced yesterday how all the old Virtual Boy games will be coming via the Switch Online service. Plus, according to Polygon, "Nintendo's releasing a new Virtual Boy headset to use with the retro games. You'll insert your Switch 1 or Switch 2 screen directly into the accessory in order to get the stereoscopic 3D effect. There will also be a cardboard headset to allow dabblers to experience Virtual Boy games." The throwback console will run you a cool hundred bucks, but the cardboard option is only 25 smackers.
The Virtual Boy was always more interesting as a concept than in practice. It wasn't even really ahead of its time as we still are struggling as a society to figure out what to do with these so-called virtual reality/augmented reality headsets (even Apple couldn't crack it). If you have a Switch or Switch 2 and want to fiddle around with the old games that could be fun for an hour or two. Just get ready to possibly have an awful headache afterwards if you're anything like me.
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