What the Virtual Boy could have been

[Anonymous No.2762634]

The reason it was red only is that red LEDs were cheap, blue and green weren't. At the time. They fell way down in price just a few years later.

If they waited, it could have been a full color optional peripheral for the N64. That was its other major drawback, not enough hardware power to do satisfying 3D. Red Alarm was about the best it got.

Pair a full color Virtual Boy with the N64 and suddenly you've got something worthwhile. Yes, you'd have to reduce poly count to make N64 games run smoothly when rendering 2 views. But most N64 games were already designed to do that for splitscreen multiplayer.

Also, the N64's 320*240 resolution was pretty close to the VB's 384*224 resolution (technically 1*224 since it was a vertical row of precision timed LEDs plus an oscillating mirror that created the horizontal resolution)

If they were planned to work together from the start, with that resolution, a framerate of 60fps is achieveable providing the game is designed around those constraints. Although if you cannot turn your head, a lower framerate isn't as noticeable.

[Anonymous No.2762642]

K.

So what's your point?
Have we been bashing on it too much recently or something?

Not trying to be a dick or anything, I'm just unsure of what it is you're trying to convey other than it's specs (some of which I didn't know, so thank you) but uhhh....
Are you really trying to say this thing is getting more flak than it deserves?

[Anonymous No.2762643]

>>2762642

Not OP but it kinda gets more flak than it deserves, yeah.
Mostly from people who never played and and just want to be funny making "eye cancer" jokes and the like.

It was a colossal failure, but for being a failure, it has some redeeming qualities and some really good games.

[Anonymous No.2762645]

>>2762642

Just lamenting that with better judgement and some patience we might've had optional VR for N64 that would've been remarkably good for the time

Making it standalone was almost worse than making it red only. Because it really needed the power of the N64 to produce what most people considered satisfactory VR.

It would have been cheaper as a peripheral since it wouldn't need built in computing hardware, and games would not require that you own it. It'd just be a sweet bonus for gamers who could afford it.

[Anonymous No.2762646]

>>2762634
The virtual boy was everything it could be. If nintendo could have made more money then they wouldn't have left it on the table. Assholes could be candy dispensers if something other than shit came out out of them.

[Anonymous No.2762648]

>>2762646

No, it could've been color had they waited 3 years. That's a fact. They went red only because LED prices varied wildly by color back then.

They didn't wait because Virtual Boy was meant to tide consumers over until the N64 came out.

[Anonymous No.2762654]

The Virtual Boy is way cooler than people give it credit for. People just make fun of shit because other people make fun of shit. Bunch a sheep is all.

[Anonymous No.2762658]

>>2762654

It has some fun games, and the 3D effect is cool. But there was no excuse for it not being in color. None.

[Anonymous No.2762659]

>>2762634

SEGA put out a full color equivalent and it flopped. It was even featured in a Spike Lee film at the time and no one's even heard of it... lol

[Anonymous No.2762661]

>>2762659

Because it used Sega Genesis hardware. 16 bit VR is of course gonna suck, it can just barely muster a small number of flat shaded polygons at 15fps. In Sega's case using the SVP chip

[Anonymous No.2762665]

>>2762643

I only ever played Mario Tennis and one other one. I'm drawing a blank on which one it is, but I am aware of the limited library it had.
I wasn't too old at the time and I enjoyed it for what it was...I guess. My cousin had one. Christmas present, I assume.

in retrospect, I liked it, but I think I got annoyed with it because it DID kinda bother my eyes and the two or maybe even three games I tried out, weren't what I had hoped for because I had a hard-on for VR systems at that time and had never owned or tried one up to that point. (I thought the idea was cool and wasted foolishly expecting something more than what I got.)

Haven't touched one since then and I'm not sure how I'd get along with it now that it's been so long.

Yeah, my experience is limited, but I'm not gonna be one of those faggots that go on and on about it being shitty having such limited experience. We get enough of that as is.


Anyone in here actually have one?

[Anonymous No.2762672]

>>2762658
... except Nintendo's policy has always been based around Gunpei Yokoi's essay, "Lateral Thinking on Withered Technology", that is: create an innovative products based around technologies that have recently become cheap and plentiful.
That's why the Gameboy is black and white. Sure, the technology to do color was there— but using the dot matrix displays they did for the Gameboy was cheaper to produce, and thus sell.
That's why they didn't add full motion/tilt sensitivity to the Wii controller until later; the technology wasn't cheap enough until later on. That's also why the N64 had such pitiful RAM until the expansion pack came out; they were waiting for the price to drop.

[Anonymous No.2762678]

>>2762672

Yokoi and his team made cool games that actually look good with the red/black scheme.
Wario Land kinda makes sense since you're in underground caves the whole game. The color scheme kind of matches the gloomy, dark atmosphere these cave should have, I think it fits and never seemed weird to me.
Teleroboxer also works, you're supposed to be in first person, and it's not uncommon for robots to see in red and black, like Terminator.

But not all devs were clever like that when designing the game. The Golf game by T&E is really good, but it's really weird to play Golf in red grass. The graphics are going for a realistic look, so it looks even weirder.

>>2762665
I acquired one some years ago. It's nice if you can find it for a reasonable price and it works.
If anything, the controller alone makes it a good purchase. And the 3D effect on the VB is pretty nice, emulation doesn't do it justice. I guess with one of those new VR sets, emulation of VB should feel pretty real.

[Anonymous No.2762680]

>>2762678

I 100% guarantee you some hipster will make an indie Oculus Rift game based on the Virtual Boy aesthetic. But not an emulated VB game, you'll be able to look around freely and use touch controllers, just in the pixellated red and black style

[Anonymous No.2762689]

>>2762680

already been done for google cardboard.

[Anonymous No.2762693]

>>2762648
>If nintendo could have made more money then they wouldn't have left it on the table.

If this were the case they would have released a color version after the N64. You basically agreed with everything I said. I didn't invent the free market or the players in it. Do you really think any corporation with a profitable bit of tech will sit on it?

[Anonymous No.2762708]

>>2762693

You quoted the wrong person

[Anonymous No.2762718]

>>2762708
Actually I quoted myself. Reiterating my own point. I'll quote the wrong person so you have something to argue about though.

>What does god need with a starship?

[Anonymous No.2762719]

>>2762718

If you mean Zeus, with a sweet ride like that he can get more ass than a toilet seat

[Anonymous No.2762721]

>>2762719
Why would he bother if he created all ass? Isn't it all his ass to begin with?

[Anonymous No.2762725]

Has anybody used such LED displays since then?
Would they have offered anything over LCD back in 1999?

[Anonymous No.2762731]

>>2762634
>the N64's 320*240 resolution was pretty close to the VB's 384*224 resolution
If you don't z-buffer you can do high-res without the expansion pak.

[Anonymous No.2762865]

What's the best way to play Virtual Boy games in the modern day

[Anonymous No.2762869]

Thanks for copy pasting some garbage presumably from Wikipedia OP! I really appreciate you regurgitating information that anyone can look up so you can play the role of ~~~ACE DETECTIVE~~~

Truly, in this moment with your heightened intelligence and discovery of information us peons can't dream of comprehending, you are euphoric, for you are indeed the only person on the planet up for the task of sharing this information.

[Anonymous No.2763670]

>>2762869


Jeeze man... I had trouble discerning what OP was trying to say by starting the thread to begin with, but damn.

[Anonymous No.2763687]

>>2762865
MEDNAFEN
Turn off one of the 2 colors

[Anonymous No.2763910]

>>2763670
That's a sick puppy.

That dog don't look so good either.

[Anonymous No.2764085]

>>2762721
Zeus didn't create shit IIRC, though he technically doesn't need a starship to get it on, he fucked more than pretty much any other god aside from actual gods of fucking.

[Anonymous No.2764103]

>>2762865
use Mednafen and disable one of the colors
or change the colors to cyan/red and use radical glasses

[Anonymous No.2764137]

>>2762634
>bulky
>stationary
>eyestrain
>headaches
virtual boy was a piece of shit and NOJ forced it on other markets

[Anonymous No.2764273]

>>2762865
On a Virtual Boy.

[Anonymous No.2764321]

The first I ever saw a Virtual Boy it was already on clearance at Kay-Bee toys. NIB for $30. I remember being taken back as to when it had even come out and why it was so cheap. The employees basically said it was a piece of shit that gave people head aches and that they wanted them gone... So I passed on it. Later on in life I got one, played it for about half a year and then sold it to a good friend who did the same exact thing with it.

[Anonymous No.2764837]

>>2762654
It has good games, but fact is, the console itself wasn't good.

It's hard to find a way to play the thing which doesn't strain your neck (thus giving you a headache), and the thing is rough to look at.
Hell, if you have astigmatism the eyestrain will set in almost immediately.

It also isn't a very social console, nobody can watch you play, and it never got it's link cable. I mean, if you had a friend over, playing it would be very isolated.
If you only had one controller for your N64, at least he could watch while waiting for his turn.

It really would have been a better device as a N64 peripheral, but hindsight is always 20/20 I guess.

[Anonymous No.2764842]

>>2762658
>But there was no excuse for it not being in color.
There was though.

The red leds were cheap, green and blue ones were not. It was decided that they would go for monochrome because making it full color would make it too expensive for consumers to buy.

[Anonymous No.2764856]

>>2762672
>but using the dot matrix displays they did for the Gameboy was cheaper to produce, and thus sell
It also used way less electricity than full color screens so battery life was much longer than the Lynx or Game Gear, which could last maybe a few hours at best.

[Anonymous No.2764863]

>>2762680
Honestly, if it's done well, I'd be fine with it.

[Anonymous No.2764869]

>>2762719
Zeus doesn't understand/care about consent, he sees an ass he wants he'll take it

[Anonymous No.2764875]

>>2762665
I do. Love a few titles namely Wario Land and teleroboxer. I was always intrigued by the VB but damn it really hurts my head playing for more than 15 mins.