(Credit: Will Greenwald)
The Virtual Boy is the black sheep of Nintendo's console family. Released in 1995, it was awkward to use, and its start red-and-black "3D" visuals were infamous for causing headaches. Unsurprisingly, it lasted only a year and ended its run with just 22 games. Unless you owned one, those titles have been effectively unplayable for 30 years—but that changes on February 17. Virtual Boy games are coming to the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 as part of Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack, with a $99.99 shell accessory designed to replicate the original system.
I got my hands on the games and hardware at a recent Nintendo preview event. Part of me—the classic game collector—was thrilled at the idea of revisiting the Virtual Boy titles and displaying one on my shelf. But another part of me quickly remembered why the system failed in the first place—and why its integration into Nintendo Switch Online isn't likely to change its reputation.
$99.99 Nostalgia: Holding History in Your Hands
The new Virtual Boy is a physical enclosure designed to hold your Switch or Switch 2, with lenses that let you stare at two halves of the system's screen, enabling stereoscopic 3D. It isn't new technology, and in that sense is similar to older phone-based VR headsets like the Google Daydream View.
What really makes the Virtual Boy shell stand out is how faithfully it reproduces the original system's design. It looks identical to the Virtual Boy, with its red-and-black plastic body, black rubber facemask, and wire tabletop stand. It even has a molded focus slider and IPD knob, even though they aren't used (IPD adjustment is handled through the Nintendo Switch Online Virtual Boy app). Visually, it's indistinguishable from the original, and that makes it great for collectors. Nintendo reps didn't let me open the shell to see how the Switch or Switch 2 fit in it, though.
A controller is missing from the mix, and that's a little disappointing, as it was both a unique and significant part of the original system (it's where you inserted the game cartridges). It had two grips, each with a direction pad and two buttons, providing directional input with both thumbs. That might be standard now with dual analog sticks on every major gamepad, but it was pretty unheard of in 1995. The Switch and Switch 2's Joy-Con controllers have more than enough inputs to support Virtual Boy games, but you won't be able to get the full original Virtual Boy experience without the controller.
Even without a controller, the shell looks great. It's the same dedication to the original style that the NES Classic and SNES Classic got, and that means a lot.
Unlike typical VR headsets, the original Virtual Boy wasn't a head-mounted display. Instead, you placed it on a table and shoved your face straight into it. The stand let you tilt the system up and down, but that was it.
(Credit: Will Greenwald)Since the new Virtual Boy is so dedicated to the bit, all of that applies to it, too. Insert the Switch, put the combo on a table, and mash your face in. I did all of that, and it was predictably awkward. It wasn't entirely uncomfortable, unlike some headsets with their too-tight straps or unbalanced weight, but that's because I kept my head in a specific position while using it. Of course, that leads to its own discomfort over time; my neck began to ache a bit after a while. Fortunately, Virtual Boy games have built-in pause timers to remind you to take a break every 10 to 30 minutes. That was implemented to reduce eye strain, but it can also help protect your neck.
As for eye strain, I didn’t really feel it while playing games with the new Virtual Boy. Their black-and-red graphics weren't pleasant to look at, but everything was sharp and in focus. In fact, the games were sharper and easier on the eyes than the times I tried a real Virtual Boy in the past. Part of that is thanks to the Switch 2's much higher resolution and frame rate. Its 1,920-by-1,080 120Hz screen provides about six times the number of pixels as the two 384-by-224 50.24Hz displays the original Virtual Boy had for each eye; even the original Switch's 720p 60Hz screen shows three times as many pixels. More than that, though, is the fact that both Switch consoles have screens. The original Virtual Boy's displays used red LED columns and rapidly rotating mirrors to form images, and that’s a lot harder to look at for any period of time.
You do need the stereoscopic accessory to play Virtual Boy games on your Switch or Switch 2, but if $99.99 for a plastic shell is too much for your tastes, don't worry. A $25 cardboard model is coming that also lets you play the games. It doesn’t have the same collectible cachet as the plastic shell, but it's cheaper. It also reminds me of the Nintendo Labo VR Kit headset, and that’s heartwarming. Labo's concept of building video game accessories and toys out of cardboard was really charming and clever, and it's disappointing that it didn't catch on.
Launch Games: Wario Land, Tetris, and More
So, Virtual Boy games look better on the Switch, even if playing them isn't any more comfortable. But what about the games themselves?
The good news is that some of the best Virtual Boy games will be available for the Switch and Switch 2. That bad news is that it isn't saying much. The Virtual Boy didn't have system sellers, and even the nearly uncontested top game on the system, Virtual Boy Wario Land, is only just OK.
Virtual Boy Wario Land isn't much more than a version of the original Wario Land for the Game Boy. The levels differ, but the visual design and gameplay are essentially identical. You play as Wario, and run through semi-linear levels, stomping and charging into enemies and picking up every coin and treasure you can find. Just like the Game Boy game, the Virtual Boy version lets you grab garlic to become larger, just like with mushrooms in the side-scrolling Super Mario Bros. games. There are also three hats that grant extra powers.
The big difference between Wario Land on the Game Boy and Wario Land on the Virtual Boy is the addition of background layers you can interact with. Some levels feature background sections that gain depth through stereoscopic 3D, and Wario can jump on special blocks to switch between foreground and background layers to proceed. Likewise, some enemies and obstacles swoop in from the background, again using the system's 3D to improve the effect. Virtual Boy Wario Land is fine, but it's also very basic, especially when compared with the Wario Land sequels on the Game Boy and Game Boy Advance that launched a few years later.
Most of the other games for the system are significantly less complex than Virtual Boy Wario Land. In fact, they're more comparable to earlier Game Boy and NES games than to SNES games, or even to some Game Boy titles released in 1995. For example, Teleroboxer is Punch-Out!! with robots, and fewer opponents. Galactic Pinball is a pinball game with four fairly basic tables. 3D Tetris is Tetris played in a 3D space, which makes the gameplay feel more awkward than addictive (there’s a reason 2D Tetris still reigns supreme to this day). Golf is golf.
The two more ambitious games that I tried are Red Alarm and The Mansion of Innsmouth. Red Alarm is a Star Fox-like rail shooter that could have been one of the Virtual Boy's biggest games, except for a fatal flaw: everything in the game is made of wireframe models with no shading. The stereoscopic 3D gives a sense of depth, but there's no way to tell if what you’re flying into is open space or a wall. This is one of the few games on the system to feature actual 3D modeling rather than just stereoscopic depth for 2D sprites, though the frame rate isn't exactly great. Calculating what to make red instead of black might have actually turned it into a slideshow.
Finally, among the launch games, there's The Mansion of Innsmouth, which never actually came out in North America. It's a first-person dungeon crawler inspired by Lovecraft, with branching paths, mazelike levels, and real-time combat. That's impressive for the Virtual Boy, but that doesn't say much. The movement is tile-based, and the walls have little detail, so I spent most of my time looking at the same handful of screens. Combat consists of blasting monster sprites sliding across a fixed environment, and since ammunition is limited, you’re better off avoiding the conflict. The rest of the gameplay involves finding an exit on each floor and, maybe, an orb that displays a map. There isn't much else to it.
Those are the launch games, and Nintendo will release nine more throughout 2026, including two canceled titles that weren’t ever actually released on the original Virtual Boy: D-Hopper and Zero Racers. D-Hopper is an overhead adventure game, and Zero Racers is an F-Zero-like racing game. The former looks similar to Jack Bros. (one of the officially released Virtual Boy games coming to Nintendo Switch Online this year), while Zero Racers has the same wireframe graphics as Red Alarm. The other games include Mario Clash (original Mario Bros. in 3D), Mario's Tennis (tennis), Virtual Bowling (bowling), V-Tetris (2D tetris, with some visual background depth), Space Invaders Virtual Collection (Space Invaders in 3D), and Vertical Force (a 2D shoot 'em up).
The remaining eight games released for the original Virtual Boy haven't been confirmed for Nintendo Switch Online. I'd love to see SD Gundam Dimension War on the service, but I wouldn't hold my breath on Waterworld, a game based on the movie (though it would be very funny).
Trickle-Feed Frustration: Missing Features and Delays
Nintendo's slow feed of Virtual Boy games on Nintendo Switch Online is typical, but it shouldn't be. These aren't beloved GameCube and N64 games like Luigi's Mansion or The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, respectively, that can keep your attention for a long time with their visual charm and mechanical depth.
This is a total library of 22 officially released games and two canceled ones, none of which are as complex as the best Game Boy games like Donkey Kong '94 and The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. There's nothing coming to the Virtual Boy months from now that will make anyone giddy. However, what's outright maddening is that the Virtual Boy app's most interesting and potentially useful feature won't be available at launch, either.
Remember how I mentioned that the monochrome red graphics of the Virtual Boy were one of the biggest factors of its failure, because they were so harsh on the eyes? With the new one, you'll be able to change the color palette to yellow, green, or Game Boy-like gray. Just not at launch. The feature is coming at some point later this year. I'm completely baffled because this is a grayscale palette swap feature, and it’s not complicated. It's not even as complex as the SNES' Super Game Boy accessory, which colorized gray Game Boy games with custom palettes (which is tech I'd much prefer).
More Collectible Than Playable
Despite my complaints, I'm happy to see the Virtual Boy's resurrection on February 17, with a detailed shell that emulates the original system. I'm also happy to see a less expensive cardboard version available, keeping the tiniest ember of the Labo spirit alive.
That said, this didn't need to be a Nintendo Switch Online feature with Nintendo's typical game drip feed and subscription-gated peripheral availability. If any Nintendo system could have its complete library put on a collectible system or game card/peripheral bundle, it's the Virtual Boy. The entire system is almost purely collector bait, and I say this as an extremely baitable video game collector. Instead of the Nintendo Switch Online treatment, this should have been a package ready for stores like the NES Classic, SNES Classic, and Mario and Zelda Game & Watches.
What I'm most looking forward to is putting the Virtual Boy shell on a shelf and glancing at it from time to time. The games are fun for a few minutes, but, like the system itself, there isn't much staying power compared with the other Nintendo Switch Online systems, such as the SNES, Game Boy Advance, GameCube, and Sega Genesis. The Virtual Boy was a novelty when it debuted, and it still is.