Nintendo Brings Back Virtual Boy in the Weirdest Possible Way

The longest Nintendo Direct ever has come and gone, and one thing that I keep changing my mind on is the reveal of the newest retro console to be added to Nintendo Switch Online, the Virtual Boy. Some quick background, being the Nintendo fanboy that I was/am, I totally drank the kool-aid on how cool the Virtual Boy was going to be, and got one for Christmas in 1995 along with a few games. I did enjoy it, and me and a few friends played it back and forth, particularly Galactic Pinball, which had a high score table that saved with a battery backup, so even though we couldn’t see each other’s gameplay due to the nature of the console, we could still compete.

So I’ve been a fan of the Virtual Boy since its arrival. I still have the VB and will occasionally start it up to play something for a bit. Though these days I’m much more likely to play its games in 2D via emulation as it’s much easier to pop in and out of a quick game that way. Plus on an emulator you can change the screen from red and black to black and white, which really helps some of those great sprite based graphics pop.

So when Nintendo first announced that Virtual Boy was coming to the Switch and Switch 2, I was pretty surprised and excited. But of course they had to be Nintendo and do something completely crazy along with it, in this case you can’t just play the games in 2D on your Switch. Instead, you have to play them in 3D, with an additional piece of hardware, either the plastic replica Virtual Boy that you slide your Switch 1 or 2 into, or a cardboard replica that you put your system in instead. The cardboard version looks very much like the Nintendo Labo VR, and I’m curious if that’s exactly what it is.

As soon as I saw that replica Virtual Boy, my first reaction was that I was definitely getting that. Then about a day later we got the prices for these things, and it’s $100 for that plastic replica. That is really steep. But at at the time I still thought I had to have it regardless. Now that it’s been a few days and I’ve had time to process it, it’s really left me with mixed feelings. $100 is a pretty hefty asking price for a non-functional plastic case, and that’s on top of the fact that you need the more expensive ‘expansion pack’ version of the Nintendo Switch Online paid service. Right now I have the expansion pass, but I usually don’t. I decided to spring for it this year after getting the Switch 2 so I’d have access to the GameCube library, and the Zelda Switch 2 upgrades. But honestly I didn’t think I would keep the expansion pass when it expires, and just go back to my regular online subscription, which then would mean I don’t have access to the Virtual Boy library and I wasted $100 on that case!

My last and biggest gripe about the way they’re handling the Virtual Boy lack of discoverability. With systems like the SNES, NES, and Game Boy, you’re given a large number of games in their respective libraries. There’s bound to be a few hidden gems in there that you’ve never heard of or never got the chance to play. Now that they’re all available to you, you can try them out easily and maybe discover a new favorite retro game. But with the Virtual Boy library, you’ll need to purchase either a $25 cardboard accessory, or a $100 plastic one, just to try it out. If you’re not already a fan of Virtual Boy, or at least extremely curious about it, there’s no way you’re going to order an extra bit just to dip in and try some games you’ve never played. That kinda sucks! People are just not going to try these, I don’t think.

So there we go, my thoughts on Virtual Boy appearing on Nintendo Switch Online. It is a real monkey’s paw kinda situation here, as we finally get it, and they were really weird about how they went about it. Thanks for reading my ramblings about a system from 1995 that no one cares about, and likely will continue to think about very little in the foreseeable future.