/vr/ - Retro Games

[Anonymous No.3942490]

>find a poster in my college
>it's for some retro videogame event
>"I like retro videogames, i should go"
>go to event
>"OH SHIT! is that a virtual boy?"
>ready to try this infamous trainwreck
>game is red alert
>the 3D effect are great, as good as 3DS if not better
>the music is fucking amazing, the way it sounds inside my ears like i'm wearing earphones feel really good
>spend time playing until thing run out of batteries after around 15 minutes

What the hell? Why has this thing such a bad reputation? Are the other games for it that terrible?

[Anonymous No.3942507]

It has a bad reputation because it failed, and very few people ever owned one.
The few people who tried it all loved it.
Some people who tried it said it made their eyes/head hurt, this was probably due to not adjusting the focus and IDP switches.

[Anonymous No.3942515]

its only fault was having cheaper red leds that gave it an eerie feeling

[Anonymous No.3942570]

>>3942515
Blue and green LEDs would have been too expensive when the VB released.

[Anonymous No.3942593]

>>3942490
>Are the other games for it that terrible
No one says it has a bad library. It actually has a remarkably good library considering how few titles were published.

The problem is that it was marketed as a portable system, which is disingenuous, and it causes eye strain in many folks.

I personally like the machine and its games. However, over time I started getting eyestrain playing mine, and it has fallen into disuse over the years.

If they don't hurt your eyes, they can be a lot of fun.

[Anonymous No.3942618]

>>3942593
You sure you don't just need to re-adjust the IPD?

I find that that's the biggest cause of eyestrain.

[Anonymous No.3942660]

I remember playing a virtual boy display unit at a toys r us. had warioland in it.

it was fun, but i remember thinking I would rather have a handful of new SNES games than a virtual boy and never even asked my parents to get me one, just more snes games.

i have been waiting for nintendo to bring it back as a shitty oculus rip off full of garbage games, but they haven't even bothered.

[Anonymous No.3942675]

I had one back in the day when it went bargain bin. Definitely some enjoyable games, but the device itself is uncomfortable. The experience plays much better on a TV with 3D glasses. You can adjust the colors so you perceive the image as greyscale, which is much less straining.

[Anonymous No.3943168]

>>3942490
>Why has this thing such a bad reputation?

Because of the AVGN.

Truth is, most people are faggots and never even seen one. All of it's games are good with the exception of Waterworld, I believe. Hell, It even has a Shin Megami Tensei (Persona) spinoff game.

[Anonymous No.3943278]

>>3942515
I think this "complaint" about the color only lasts for 30 seconds when you play it for the first time.

>>3942490
>>3942507
This is true. The most important limitation IMO was that it ran out of batteries too fast. It was actually pretty fun and unique; definitely better 3d than the 3ds. In fact I never knew in person someone who had eye strain issues with it; contrasting with the 3ds.

[Anonymous No.3943870]

>>3942490
One reason claimed for its bad reputation is the sets people played weren't properly calibrated before usage.

I personally think most of its bad reputation comes from the harsh fluorescent lighting in most stores especially Toys R Us where people first tried it and word of mouth due to this. Putting the set on and then taking it off is like going into a movie theatre straight from the street and then back onto the street. Many have difficulty adjusting between a low light environment to very well lit surroundings. This is why in a theatre you'll notice there are different lighting intensities to allow your eyes to adjust gradually. The lobby is somewhat dimly lit but usually lit more strongly than the hallways while the theatre playing the picture is dimmest.

There was another thing that was going around at the time. Virtual Boy is not VR but many were made to think it was. Supposedly after using VR it takes as long or double the time you played to recover hand eye coordination. I know that was why my parents wouldn't allow me to have one even when they started slashing the price to get rid of it.

[Anonymous No.3943924]

>>3942490
The eye and neck strain atop the limited number of games in it's library.

I mean it is a fun console, but it has a lot of drawbacks

[Anonymous No.3943960]

>>3942490
>It's another "THE WORLD IS WRONG THIS CONSOLE/GAME/SERIES IS A MASTERPIECE" thread

Stop this shit /vr/, please

[Anonymous No.3943968]

>>3943960
Most of those who pass judgement on it never have played it just like with the CD-i zeldas.

[Anonymous No.3943975]

>>3943960

[Anonymous No.3943982]

The games that do exist for it are good games for the most part but somehow I doubt that they would have been able to keep that up if it had actually succeeded and more games were developed for it. The 3D effect is neat, but it's just a gimmick and I'm glad that all of the games that WOULD have been developed for VB ended up on better systems.
Virtual Boy came too early. Nowadays we have VR and the 3DS and all that so it might not be a bad idea to consider bringing it back in some form- Nintendo's current policy is that they want to wait for VR to become more popular before they give it another go, however.

[Anonymous No.3943983]

>>3942490
Because the bad reputation is just a meme. Most never had one but just repeating what they read on the internet.

[Anonymous No.3943991]

>>3943982
Until existenz becomes a reality VR will just be a gimmick and a meme.

[Anonymous No.3944009]

>>3943991
i think VR has potential beyond being a gimmick because it offers you full panoramic view and tons of control options but the tech isn't quite good enough yet and developers have yet to make something compelling for VR systems that isn't porn or survival horror

[Anonymous No.3944019]

The biggest tragedy is the 3DS is practically custom-made to host VB games from the virtual console, but Nintendo just has no interest in even trying.

[Anonymous No.3944026]

>>3944009
Also, good VR takes a hell of a computer to run it.

For a decent looking VR display, you need to run two 4K displays, and at at minimum 90 FPS.

[Anon-kun No.3944028]

>>3942507
da ya like War yo ?

[Anonymous No.3944032]

>>3944019
They even had the creator fired and secretly murdered. That's how much Nintendo hates it.

[Anonymous No.3944041]

>>3944019
Nintendo just kind of gave up on the 3DS VC in general
>completely stopped doing GameBoy and GBC games for no reason

[Priestess Sevenleaf !AnVbXjgZco No.3944042]

>>3943960
>it's another "you're never ever allowed to disagree with popular concensus ever" post

[Anonymous No.3944054]

>>3944041
If Nintendo could they would reanimate Gunpei just to kill him again but once in awhile they wheel out the GB to milk those nostalgiabux since it just keeps printing money.

[Anonymous No.3944070]

>>3942490
It's better than the Switch.

[Anonymous No.3944081]

>>3944070
None of the released games for the VB had much depth unlike BotW. Even some GB games had more depth than the VB library

[Anonymous No.3944201]

>>3944009
At best it's good for vehicle simulation, I think its potential could be reached with a new armored core game. I used a buddies for elite dangerous and it was really fun. Alas thats not retro, I've always wanted to try a virtual boy, I'm jelly OP

[Anonymous No.3944212]

>>3943168
>Hell, It even has a Shin Megami Tensei (Persona) spinoff game

[Anonymous No.3944216]

>>3942490
The graphical power, lack of color, and ergonomics made this thing laughable. basically its like a Wii:U; the typical nintendo fuck up. Nintendo has never gone all out since the SNES. They always gimp part of the system.

[Anonymous No.3944274]

>>3944216
Funny thing is, Nintendo gimped SNES too. It was going to be backwards compatible with NES and way more powerful, but it was gimped to keep the costs down.

It's always fun to read such ignorant posts. While it is true that they abandoned the graphic powerhouse arms race, they always go all out on any other feature, such as no-glasses 3D, motion controls or lagless streaming. Even now with the switch, wich is the best machine possible within that price point and form factor while keeping the thing from throttling like crazy.

[Anonymous No.3944280]

>>3942490
For some reason I always played V-tetris on it from time to time and I always had lots of fun. It was just Tetris but it was my favourite version. Unfortunately the screens finally kicked the bucket a few weeks ago. Aren't those fixable by putting one specific part in the oven for a short time? I have a teleroboxer craving now :/

[Anonymous No.3944296]

I owned one. Had waterworld, and Red Alert.
I liked it a lot.

I didn't use batteries because I wasn't fucking retarded. There is an AC jack right on the machine. I doubt that was the reason it failed.

[Anonymous No.3944305]

>>3943168
Shin Megami Tensei and Persona aren't the same thing. Shin Megami Tensei is the main series, and Persona is a spinoff.

[Anonymous No.3944318]

>>3944274
>It was going to be backwards compatible with NES and way more powerful, but it was gimped to keep the costs down.

iirc they first wanted it to be very powerful (using a 68k even), but then they omitted that in favour of having NES compatibility, and then omitted THAT as well for whatever reason.

[Anonymous No.3944328]

>>3944305
the implication that Jack Bros is a Persona spin-off is hilarious though

[Anonymous No.3944352]

>>3942490

Red Alert was probably the only VB game to actually live up to the promise of the system. It's 3D, it plays well (once you learn to strafe using the right d-pad) and is an all around great game.

VB could have been so much more if they waited until the price of blue and green LEDs dropped, made it full color, and made it a VR peripheral for N64 instead of a stand alone system.

Most N64 games were optimized to display 2-4 views for splitscreen multi. It would not have been much work to include a stereoscopic display mode, and the resolution of VB was about the same as what N64 was capable of putting out anyway.

Color VR with good 3D polygon graphics, at home, for under $500 total in 1995 would have been revolutionary.

[Anonymous No.3944358]

>>3943991

[Anonymous No.3944363]

>>3944358
Pretty good OC

one (you) has been deposited into your meme account

[Anonymous No.3944375]

>>3944019
>r3Ddragon still isn't done yet

[Anonymous No.3944378]

>spend time playing until thing run out of batteries after around 15 minutes
>What the hell? Why has this thing such a bad reputation?
haha

[Anonymous No.3944395]

>>3944378
>not having the AC adapter

Anyway, batts last about 2 hours or 3. Maybe more, and it's not like you're gonna play more than 20 minutes anyway because LEL YOUR EYES WILL BLEED

[Anonymous No.3944440]

>>3944352
Using the VB as a Vr headset for the N64 would have been unearthly.

[Anonymous No.3944746]

>>3944395
>not like you're gonna play more than 20 minutes anyway
yeah right mr. never owned a virtual boy

>having the AC adapter
again, if you owned one you'd know that the AC adapter was not included with the system and not easy to get at the time due to the very short time the console was actually in stores

[Anonymous No.3944754]

It has a bad reputation because it only has about 4 worthwhile games out of a total of around 15, isn't comfortable to play for any significant amount of time in any position, and public demo units spread conjunctivitis.

It was an interesting idea, but even Yokoi said it wasn't ready for release.

[Anonymous No.3944763]

>>3944746
none of that stopped me from having an AC adapter.

[Anonymous No.3944825]

>>3942490
>>Red Alarm

Dude you just happened to luck out big time. That's easily the most immersive, impressive game on the system.

Wario Land is probably a better game altogether, and deserves it's reputation, but if I wanted to show someone that the VB could provide a unique and rewarding experience, I'd go with Red Alarm without question.

I sometimes wish that they'd port Red Alarm to 3DS, but it just wouldn't be the same if you couldn't stick your entire damn head inside the game.

Has anyone made a Virtual Boy emulator for those VR headset gaming things yet?

[Anonymous No.3945116]

>the very short time the console was actually in stores
>public demo units spread conjunctivitis
What is with all of this fake news? I remember getting to play it loads of times since it was out for awhile and I never heard of anyone getting pink eye from it.

[Anonymous No.3946231]

>>3944825
http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/9/11638818/nintendo-virtual-boy-games-google-cardboard

[Anonymous No.3946991]

>>3944375
Virtual Boy emulation on 3DS is such a disappointment right now. I only got something like 15 fps when I tried it. Hopefully it gets finished someday.

[Anonymous No.3947034]

>Why has this thing such a bad reputation?
because the majority of the tiny library is shit
anyone who tries to defend it has severe buyer's remorse
wario land can't save a system

[Anonymous No.3947038]

>>3947034
>anyone who tries to defend it has severe buyer's remorse
A lot of people just emulated the system though.
Also, tell me one Virtual Boy game besides Waterworld that is shit.

[Anonymous No.3947268]

>>3943168

>Because of the AVGN.

Even James said the library of the console is from ok to good. His point was that the games had nothing to do with the hardware. In other words, why would you pay 180 dollars for games that would play better in a home console.

[Anonymous No.3947541]

>>3942490
>15 minutes
Well that explains it. Try it for longer and you'll understand why it failed. It's not the games that suck it's the device itself. Not at all comfortable in any way. Of course contrarian baby hipsters disagree.

[Anonymous No.3948503]

>>3947541
This week on "Everyone I Don't Like is a Contrarian Hipster"

[Anonymous No.3949683]

>>3948503
>This week on "I'm a Contrarian Hipster"
>Kids strap a weight around their head that shines tiny freakin lasers into their eyes
>Claim it's "comfy"
FTFYK

[Anonymous No.3949905]

>>3949683
>>Kids strap a weight around their head that shines tiny freakin lasers into their eyes

1. It's not mounted to your head, it stands on a table
2. They're LEDs, not lasers.

If your gonna make a retarded argument, at least get your facts straight.

[Anonymous No.3950202]

the 3D grapic is lookgrate on 3Dgame,but hardware of virtual boy not powerfull to run real 3dgame, it just 2Dgame on 3d interface.

[Anonymous No.3950663]

>>3942490
try playing mario with the virtual boy plugged in and you'll understand. 15 minutes is fine but start playing it for more than that and you'll start to fight both the games enemies and your desire to throw up. I can't even remember how many headaches I had while playing on that thing.

pretty decent though when it isn't virtually kicking you in the head

[Anonymous No.3950963]

>>3944358
I'm way too self-conscious to play at an arcade where the whole front of the shop is open and people in the street can see you flailing around like a jackass with your VR goggles on though.

[Anonymous No.3953389]

>>3947038
>3D tetris

[Anonymous No.3953426]

>>3949905
>too young to know what a freakin laser is
lel

[Anonymous No.3954097]

The technology behind the VB is actually pretty cool.
>"screens" are only 1 pixel wide
>these LEDs change their brightness perfectly in sync with the mirrors oscillating to give the illusion of a 384-pixel-wide screen
It's pretty high tech for 1995.

[Anonymous No.3954121]

>>3954097
Its 32-bit CPU is also pretty nice, it's the same one used on the NEC PC-FX

[Anonymous No.3954193]

>>3942490

It's because of AVGN, most of the games on it are pretty solid. My brother owned a Virtual Boy and I enjoyed it more than my Genesis because most of the Genesis library is junk that gets old quickly.

Wario Land 1 is also one of the best games by Nintendo ever created. The fact you have a proto Xbox 360 controller makes it that superior.

[Anonymous No.3954205]

I tried it at a store once when it first came out for about 10 minutes, and I had a headache for the rest of the day.

[Anonymous No.3954574]

>>3954097
>It's pretty high tech for 1995
Not it's not. Vibrating dildo led screens were at least a decade old by then. Even virtuality had a beard by 95.

>>3954193
>im a hipster baby
cool story kid

[Anonymous No.3957534]

My friend had one when new with four games, his dad was super into 90s VR shit and had a good job (ie would have bought a jaguar VR on release day if it had been made). Two of the games he/they had were mariotennis and pinball, I don't remember the other two. The tennis was okay-to-good if you liked NES/SNES era tennis games like I did. I still had the high score on that pinball game last time I talked to either of them. Don't remember batteries being an issue, do remember wires being tangled up easily.

Also the pro way to play a VB is to sit in a recliner, use the table stand against your chest, the thing will sit on your face comfortably for over an hour no problem when you have the eye adjustments set properly.

[Anonymous No.3957578]

>>3954574
>Vibrating dildo led screens

?

[Anonymous No.3957714]

anyone here emulate the virtual boy?
i wonder what type of 3d glasses would work best, because it feels like i'm missing the gimmick otherwise.

[Anonymous No.3957718]

>>3957714
here's mednafen's default

[You groove you lose No.3957752]

>>3957714
If you have an oculus rift (or any VR HMD) there's an emulator for it. I guess that's the closest you can get to the real thing.

[Anonymous No.3957890]

>>3957578
Each VB "screen" is actually a single column of LEDs that vibrates back and forth to create the illusion of width.

[Anonymous No.3957905]

>>3944081

Nobody cared about "depth" back then. People wanted arcade gameplay.

Also:
>literally one game

[Anonymous No.3958891]

>>3957752
Kinda surprised we haven't seen someone tear the guts out of a VB and use it in a casemod for oculus or vice or something. Figured some bandwagoner out there would think it was epic and have done it already.

[Anonymous No.3958903]

>>3957718
>using a shitty frontend to emulate virtual boy roms

[Anonymous No.3958931]

>>3950202

Red Alarm was truly 3D. But that was the only attempt at real 3D on the VB hardware.

[Anonymous No.3961258]

>>3957718
Ouch.