Virtual Boy

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Virtual Boy Release dates North America August 14, 1995 Japan July 21, 1995 Details Manufacturer Nintendo Predecessor Game Boy Successor Game Boy Color

The Virtual Boy, released in 1995, was a video game console released by Nintendo's. While it could notably output games in stereoscopic 3D, the console sold poorly owing to a myriad of flaws.

History

The Virtual Boy was conceived by famed Nintendo employee Gunpei Yokoi, to act as a virtual reality-based console. Development for the console, however, dragged for four years, and owing to cost and safety concerns, the resultant console was considerably scaled-down from Yokoi's initial expectations; complicating the Virtual Boy's development was the concurrent development of the Nintendo 64, which drained resources from the Virtual Boy's development. Close to release, Yokoi himself was reportedly disappointed to see how different the final product was compared to his original hopes.

The Virtual Boy only sold about 770,000 units worldwide before it was discontinued in 1996, making it Nintendo's worst-selling console at the time, with only 1999's 64DD selling fewer units. The console's commercial failure was ascribed to its black-and-red graphics, ultimately unimpressive 3D effects, high cost, lack of portability compared to the Game Boy, and health concerns relating to the 3D effects. With the discontinuation of the console, a large number of games previously in development for the Virtual Boy were cancelled as well.

F-Zero games

Zero Racers, also referred to as G-Zero, was an F-Zero game intended for release on the Virtual Boy, as part of a "second wave" of major titles to hit the platform; the discontinuation of the Virtual Boy in early 1996, however, caused the game to be cancelled.