Virtual Boy

• • Manufacturer: Nintendo

• Designer: Gumpei Yokoi

• Generation: Fifth Generation Era

• Bits: 32

  • Year Released: 1995

• Units sold: 770,000

• Media: Cartridges

  • Summary: The Virtual Boy created a 3D effect by projecting two separate images (one black, one red) on to two mirrored high-resolution LED screens. Two screens run at a rate of 50.2 frames per second and when the separate screens are viewed with both eyes, a stereoscopic effect is produced. By doing this process, images appear to jump towards the viewer.

History

A brief history of the Virtual boy is just that, a brief one. It was released in 1995 and discontinued within one year.

Hardware

The console is a pair of "glasses" that the user would place on to a surface then operate via connected proprietary controller.

External Hardware

The Virtual Boy console ran off of 6 AA batteries. The system's EXT (extension) port, located on the underside of the system below the controller port, was never officially supported since no official multiplayer games were ever published, nor was an official link cable released.

Notable Qualities

The Virtual Boy's controller had the capability of utilizing dual D-Pads. Some games used this feature as a way of controlling the main character while also controlling the playing world.

More-over, the Virtual Boy was plagued with absolutely horrible controls. The response time for input on the controller would be noticeably delayed. Also, the loss of intuitive control for sense of direction hindered the development and stability of play.

Notable Titles

Only 22 games were released on the Virtual Boy, one of the most notable would be "Red Alarm". Of all 22 titles that were released, 19 games were released in the Japanese market, while only 14 were released in North America.

Red Alarm was awarded Best Virtual Boy Game of 1995 by Electronic Gaming Monthly.

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_boy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Alarm

http://www.allgame.com/platform.php?id=37