Virtual Boy

Virtual Boy

Okay, so the Virtual Boy was a failure. You know, I know, we all know it. It strained your eyes if you played for more than fifteen to thirty minutes at a time, there were like, fourteen games, and it came out only a few months before the Nintendo 64. So why bother? Well, to be fair, some of the games are really fun, for one. It's also an interesting anecdote in Nintendo's history, seeing how it was their first attempt at gaming in the third dimensions, but most importantly, it was Gunpei Yokoi's last project before his untimely, and tragic, demise in 1997. Funny enough, Yokoi never intended for the Virtual Boy to release yet, Nintendo pushed for it... so we basically got Yokoi's prototype commerically sold. Who knows what would have happened if things had gone differently? What if he lived, and the Virtual Boy had time to be properly finished? We'll never know, we can just appreciate this small step in gaming history for what it is, and was.

The List

Title	Genre	Description	Box Art
3D Tetris	Puzzle	This is a rather strange, but awesome, take on Tetris. You're literally playing Tetris on a 3D field. Can be confusing but after you get used to it it's a pretty solid puzzle game that makes an interesting twist on the traditional formula.
Galactic Pinball	Pinball	It's Nintendo-developed pinball exclusive for the VC, what's not the like?
Jack Bros.	Action	Kickass spin-off of the Megaten series...for some reason this game was made, but it's a fairly solid action title on the VB. It plays a lot like Gauntlet, but there's only 6 stages so if you manage to beat it quickly it's a fairly short-lived game. Still worth a playthrough, however.
Mario Clash	Platformer	Despite a lot of flack as being one of the worst in the Mario series, which is mainly because people hate the Virtual Boy (don't blame them), it's still a solid platforming game taking cue from the original Mario Bros. Now with tons of different levels! The gameplay is a bit slow though, and if you've never played the original Mario Bros. you probably would find this radically different from every other Mario title.
Mario's Tennis	Sports	The first Mario Tennis game; and one of the best titles in the VB library. While it doesn't stack up compared to it's sequels, it's still a really great title and beats all of the other handheld Mario Tennis games in terms of quality and fun. If you ever decide to play a Virtual Boy game, this is one of the essential ones.
Nester's Funky Bowling	Sports	FUCK YEAR! Remember Nester from Nintendo Power? Well here's the only Nester game ever made...and one of the few American-only Nintendo developed titles. While a basic bowling game for it's time, it's by no means a bad one, although a lot of it's value is the novelty of it being the only game truly starring Nester.
Panic Bomber	Puzzle	Port of the infamous PC-Engine game of the same name, if you're looking for another puzzle game that isn't 3D Tetris for the VB, this is it. It's basically falling blocks-type game with a Bomberman twist, and it's fucking awesome. Also it's the only English version of the game released.
Vertical Force	Shoot em' up	Yeah it's a decent little game that let's you go up and down to shoot enemy ships from different altitudes. Definatly worth getting if you want a virtual boy!
Red Alarm	Shooter	Here's another essential VB title. While only published by Nintendo, this still remains as one of the top games for the system itself. It makes the best use of the rather strange and offbeat controller the Virtual Boy had, and has solid gameplay to go alongside that. Only problem is the fact that it's a wireframe game, and in result there is some problems detecting what exactly are walls or not.
Teleroboxer	Fighting	If it wasn't for VB Wario Land, this would be THE essential Virtual Boy title. This is a kickass game developed by Nintendo themselves that is a new take on the Punch-Out! formula, and it's still a genuine challenge. What makes this game even more interesting is that you're using the dual D-pads to control each fist, so there's a lot you can do separately at the same time. It's too bad Nintendo will always ignore this as a potential franchise due to the system it was on...
Virtual Boy Wario Land	Platforming	Now THIS is the game that makes the console worth owning. Packed full of content, VB Wario Land is often considered the best of the series; and I think if you played it you'd see that too. It's a really great and awesome title in general, with the ability to travel on different layers of the same level introduced to the series (Paper Mario does this years later) and other little interesting things. Also the boss fights are fucking awesome.