Growing up in Australia I was never able to try out one of Nintendo’s most famously failed experiments – the Virtual Boy – given it never hit our shores. But as a kid that pored obsessively over video game magazines (and eventually websites), I sure knew about it. I would read about the harsh, monochromatic red screen, the limited game library, the awkward physical design and the warnings of potential vision damage, and yet all I wanted to do was try it.
So fast-forward to the announcement of Virtual Boy games coming to the Nintendo Switch Online library along with a dedicated peripheral replicating the original hardware, and it’s finally my time. The reveal maybe didn’t have as ecstatic a reception on the global stage as it did in my house, and at $140 plus subscription fees for a pretend version of a failed console I’m not exactly surprised, but the Virtual Boy for Switch/Switch 2 is out soon on February 17 and I’ve had the opportunity to check it out ahead of time.
At a recent preview event (you’ll also be able to read my impressions of some other future launches right here), Nintendo had some demo units of both the full, replica Virtual Boy peripheral as well as the cheaper cardboard version on hand for us to try out.
Both products are exclusively available to purchase by Nintendo Switch Online members and the games themselves are only playable if you’ve got the top-tier ‘+ Expansion Pack’ membership, and at $139.95 or $29.95 respectively, neither option is exactly cheap when totalled up. That puts this whole idea firmly in the ‘sickos only’ category, if you ask me, so my biggest question before diving into 1995’s version of virtual reality was – am I enough of a sicko to invest in this?
The short answer is, probably? But I was surprised to find I almost prefer the Nintendo Labo-esque cardboard experience to the full-on plastic facsimile of the original Virtual Boy.
In the cardboard version, the Switch/Switch 2 console slots in with the Joy-Cons still attached, so you’ve gotta hold the whole thing up to your face the entire time you’re playing. I don’t expect even the most dedicated folks to have marathon Virtual Boy gaming sessions, but if that’s your plan the arm fatigue will probably be an issue. But as far as how the whole thing fit my face – and glasses – and the quality of the build (there’s foam and rubber and stuff involved as well), I was pleasantly surprised.
The big, proper NSO Virtual Boy device looks fantastic, and works great as a throwback gadget with all of the incredible this is what the future looked like in 1995 design of the original device. This one is designed to sit on a table with its adjustable legs, and you’re expected to sort of just sit at it with your face pressed into the goggles, freely holding your controller and playing. Watching someone else in the room sit and play like this in 2026 is…amusing.
I found this one didn’t fit my face quite as well, no doubt owing to the backwards jump in design principles, and it didn’t really do anything for me that the cardboard version couldn’t for the extra $110, aside from freeing my arms. All the knobs and dials you’d expect are there, but any that were to do with adjusting the hardware/screen inside the Virtual Boy are non-functioning, since there is no actual hardware inside this new version – all the processing and display still happens on the Switch console you’ve slotted in behind the visor. The fact that there isn’t a Virtual Boy controller included either, means you’re paying a premium and still not really getting the full retro experience.
The Virtual Boy’s approach to VR all the way back in 1995 obviously wasn’t anything like what we know of the technology today, with no locomotion or tracking of movement to create explorable worlds. Instead, you’re still getting a stationary game screen, but with added stereoscopic depth akin to watching a 3D movie, playing Nintendo’s own 3DS console or maybe even more closely – using one of those old View-Master toys (prizes if you remember those). The biggest limitation was its monochromatic red display, not the most comfortable thing to look at for long stretches of time.
The library of games exemplifies that, with a lot of familiar video game staples of the era. In the short time I had to play with the Virtual Boy I managed to try out four of the seven launch titles (more are coming as the year unfolds). These were the 2D platformer with a twist, Virtual Boy Wario Land, a first-person boxing sim, Teleroboxer, Galactic Pinball and 3D Tetris. Wario Land was a definite stand-out, perfectly capturing the feel of Wario’s solo platformer outings while introducing stereoscopic quirks like obstacles that move toward or away from the screen, or teleporters that send Wario between the foreground and background, taking advantage of the greater sense of depth.
Galactic Pinball was another fun way to experience a classic game with a new level of depth (again, for 1995), and like Wario I was surprised at how good it felt to play – something I was not expecting across the board after everything I’d heard about the Virtual Boy. No doubt there’s been some smoothing over thanks to the Switch’s emulation and modern display in comparison to what I assume was a much more primitive and jarring vision in the OG hardware.
As for Teleroboxer and 3D Tetris? Well, I sucked hard at those, so we’re just not going to talk about them.
I think the most salient point to be made from my short time with the Virtual Boy for Nintendo Switch/Switch 2, in both its forms, is that my short time felt like enough. There’s a lot of value in being able to revisit (or visit for the first time) these old-school experiences, if only to put into perspective how far we’ve come in just 30 years, and the different and the almost-humbling ways in which our actual modern world differs from the forward-looking folks of 1995.
Which is all to say, I’m definitely going to keep that pre-order I placed for the full-sized Virtual Boy when it was first announced, because I am a sicko. But if you wouldn’t paint yourself with a similar brush, it’s an expensive curiosity. Already an NSO + Expansion Pack subscriber with $30 burning a hole in your pocket, though? I reckon you could have a bit of fun with the cardboard version, you might be surprised at how these games actually hold up!
Virtual Boy release and Virtual Boy (Cardboard Model) launch for Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 on February 17.
A Nintendo Switch Online subscription is required to pre-order/purchase, and a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription is required to play.
Previewed at an event hosted by Nintendo Australia.
