The Nintendo Virtual Boy was considered to be the very first three-dimensional handheld game console. Using an affect, which was called parallax, the Virtual Boy was able to create a three-dimensional illusion of depth that was considered to be more accurate than the monocular cues used in standard three-dimensional game systems. With this feature, they had a mounted display in which the player wearing the Virtual Boy's rubber goggles on the head watched a black and red monochromatic illusion to play their game.
This system was first released in Japan in 1995, and then a month later in North America. Regardless of the advancement in technology that Nintendo offered in this system, it did not receive a warm welcome. From day one it sold for a price of $180, this price eventually dropped considerably.
The goggles used in the Nintendo Virtual Boy featured a layer of linear array LEDs. The images from the array would be scanned in rapid succession across the field of sight of the player's eyes. Due to the extremely high speed in which the mirrors were oscillated, the goggles created a humming noise from within.
The Virtual Boy became an almost iconic item in the video gaming industry overnight. Regardless of the fact that this unit was not well received by the players when it was originally released, it is now today considered to be a collectable item. This system used red LED lights to show the battery drain as compared to the use of other colour LEDs. It would not be until years after the release of the Virtual Boy, that the indium gallium nitride green and blue LEDs would become available at a lower cost. However, when Nintendo tested these LEDs in an attempt to release a second generation of their three-dimensional console, they had found that the LEDs caused double vision instead of depth.
By utilising the mirrors, the Virtual Boy was able to take one LED and turn it into an entire line of pixels. This required the use of a high performance LED, which unfortunately was also expensive. Due to the fact that this was a three-dimensional game system, they also needed to develop a special controller. This controller was special due to the fact that it was capable of operating on not just an X and Y Axis, but on the Z Axis as well. Although the production has since stopped of this three-dimensional console, the controller was redeveloped to be used for the Nintendo Game Cube.
The design of this Virtual Boy was developed by the same person who created the Game & Watch. At no point in time was this console ever intended to be a replacement for Nintendo's major handheld market. As a matter of fact, the designer had never intended for the system to be released in the manner that it was. Nintendo, after growing extremely impatient with the development of the system took over the entire project in order to develop the Nintendo 64, and quickly released this gaming system to the market.
One of the main reasons why this three-dimensional gaming system did not do well when it was released was that in the first place, it was rushed onto the market. This system was an attempt to fill a gap created by the delayed Nintendo 64. The Consul was marketed as a portable system. However, it was impossible to be used with any type of motion due to the fact that the motion could damage the three-dimensional goggles. The system was just plainly too expensive.
They even went as far as frightening away any potential buyers of this system by creating excessive warnings. Some of these warnings included the fact that the system could create restraint hand problems, and it was not designed for anyone under the age of seven. Although these warnings were put in place due to the possibility of any liabilities, there were still some players that had received seizures as well as headaches for only short periods of use.
This system was only released with 22 different games, which included the combination of games between both the North American and Japanese only releases. Many of the third-party developers did not even want to talk to the developers of this system. The format of code that this gaming consoles used was extremely different from that of any other gaming system, thus costing more to produce than a standard game. This also contributed to the lack of third-party development, since most developers did not want to spend the extra money without knowing if they could predict a return.
Although this gaming system featured an option that would allow two of these Virtual Boy gaming consoles to be linked together, nobody other than the ones playing the game were able to view the gameplay.
Due to the fact that this game console had done so poorly in both the Japanese as well as the American markets, there was never any attempt whatsoever of releasing the system in either Australia or Europe. This created a supply and demand issue in which there were not enough systems for the number of possible customers. Although this system ceased production, it did make an appearance as a Japanese only release.
Original Authors: Gobel Team (Nick)
Edit Update Authors: M.A.Harris
Updated On: 22/05/2008
