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Look, I'll be honest – I never owned a Virtual Boy. In fact, I never even touched one, but neither of these things feel particularly shocking when A) the bizarre-looking hardware never released in Europe and B) it's Nintendo's worst-selling console ever, with a reportedly massive differential between it and second-worst. When Wii U outsells you by over 10 million, something has gone wrong.
Needless to say, going into a preview of the Switch and Switch 2's Virtual Boy classics library, my bar was set rather low. A powerful force of morbid curiosity pulled me towards the alien device like my head was magnetized to its peepholes, as I prepared myself for eye strain, a sea of red pixels, and an understanding of why the hardware never really took off. But, after a short stint with the re-released device, I can only apologize to the Virtual Boy for literally being unfamiliar with its game.
Seeing red
The Virtual Boy's whole deal is its 3D graphics – there's a real depth to the visuals that I now realize Nintendo essentially just refined in order to take a second shot at the 30-year-old tech with the 3DS – but they're far more striking than I thought they would be. Sure, everything is soaked in crimson hues, which takes some getting used to, but the 3D really works.
I have a short go at Wario Land, where certain sections see our mustachioed protagonist get sent to a deeper part of the side-scrolling level for a brief diversion, as well as Galactic Pinball where the slanted pinball machine serves as a constant flex for the effects on offer, the flippers straight in front of my eyes sending the puck flying into the distance. Realism obviously isn't the result here, but it's enough to say – as you should be able to with any good gimmick – 'Huh, that's neat!'
Admittedly, it takes some fine-tuning to get yourself the intended experience. I used the shiny, plastic Virtual Boy accessory which replicates the original release (a cardboard version is also on offer if you want a cheaper alternative), which you can handily tweak the height of in order to line it up with your eyes. Even at the right level, it still feels somewhat easy to fall out of the intended range of the 3D effect – I occasionally had to lift my head slightly, or lean in a bit further to fight off the blurred visuals and regain the effect I was meant to be looking at. However, you can make further tweaks to the image to make the experience more comfortable, so it could be that I didn't manage to find the settings that fully suited me in the short time I had with the accessory.
Sadly, around 10 minutes with the device wasn't enough to check out the full library of Virtual Boy games on offer via Nintendo Switch Online, but it was enough to make me realize I've been underestimating this console this whole time. Don't get me wrong, I can understand why a pricey device with a limited selection of games – all of which are, again, bright red – might not have been the most appealing thing in the world in 1995. That's especially the case considering the eye strain the original was known to give people – even in my short session, my eyes felt rather fuzzy by the time I re-emerged into the real world in Nintendo's Europe HQ.
But, even if I can't imagine sitting myself down for a full, non-stop evening of 3D Tetris, for retro enthusiasts, collectors, and anyone interested in an oft-overlooked portfolio of Nintendo's past, this re-release feels like a real treat. The tech works well, and this is certainly a more affordable way to try out the hardware if you've never had the chance. Is it the future? Sales from 30 years ago tell us that that's almost definitely not the case – at least, not as a standalone console – but given the room to finally exist simply as a cool gimmick, this is a throwback I'm welcoming with open arms.
While you're here, be sure to take a look at our roundup of the best Switch 2 games you can play today.
