Nintendo Virtual Boy
The Nintendo Virtual Boy, released in 1995, was a video game console that used a twin eyeglass style projector to display the games in "true" 3-D (though monochromatic). The launch price was around US$180.
The console was designed by Gunpei Yokoi, inventor of the Nintendo Game Boy, but was not intended to replace the Game Boy in Nintendo's product line. Nintendo intended to use the console to take advantage of the then-recent interest in virtual reality brought on by movies like The Lawnmower Man and a number of virtual reality arcade games.
The Virtual Boy was a flop in the marketplace, for several reasons:
- It was marketed as a portable system, but it was not as portable as gamers thought it should be. Due to its size and weight, the Virtual Boy was nearly impossible to use while in motion, and doing so may cause damage to the unit.
- The console's box and manual warned that the display could cause eye strain and eye problems, especially for those under 7 years of age. Despite having been added primarily for liability reasons, the warnings frightened away potential buyers.
- There was a poor selection of games available at launch, and very few software developers wanted to invest time and money in such a new, unproven gaming system. This led to a circular supply-and-demand problem, and resulted in a system with few games available. In total only 22 titles were available between the North American and Japanese markets.
- Of the games that were available, gamers did not feel that the games were particularly fun to play.
A full color Virtual Boy was impossible to release in 1995, due to the fact that high-efficiency InGaN (indium gallium nitride) blue and green LEDs only became available from Nichia in 1996. While blue LEDs did exist before then, they were extremely inefficient, resulting in very low brightness. The Virtual Boy, which uses a rotating mirror to transform a 1-D line of dots into a 2-D field of dots, requires high-performance LEDs in order to function properly. Because each pixel is only in use for a tiny fraction of a second (384 pixels wide, 50.2 Hz scan rate = approximately 52 µS per scanline), high peak brightness is needed to make the virtual display bright and be comfortable for the user to view. Without the technology of high-efficiency blue and green LEDs, the Virtual Boy was limited to a red-only display.
Every Virtual Boy game will pause automatically every 15-30 minutes to remind the player to take a break, to prevent undue eyestrain and possible headaches.
Hype surrounding the device before its release included public musings by Nintendo that the device might resemble a gun set vertical, projecting a 3D image in the air above it. The actual device was considered a disappointment compared to this description when it arrived. Nonetheless the system continues to maintain a cult following, and a competitive market exists for secondhand units.
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Console hardware specifications
Cartridge specifications
See also
External links