Look back to 1995 and you may remember a product by Nintendo called the Virtual Boy. At the time, this was designed to offer stereoscopic 3D graphics to players but would sadly end up being a commercial failure. Though the system did effectively offer a sense of depth, it failed due to its poor, uncomfortable design and its ability to only display videogames in red. Less than a year after release the device was discontinued and production of the Virtual Boy stopped. That is until now, thanks to a new VBjin emulator that recreates the Virtual Boy within virtual reality (VR).
As reported by venturebeat, the VBjin emulator allows a user the chance to step into the Virtual Boy by means of a VR headset such as the Oculus Rift. From here, players can experience the stunning red visuals and the 32-bit graphics that the videogames released on the system. The emulator was originally made to run just on Windows but with the recently growth of VR technology, it only makes sense that the now dead platform gets a second chance at life within this immersive environment.
During the products short life cycle a total of 22 videogames were released in both the Japan and North American region. In fact, only 14 titles came to the west with only 3 of those being exclusive to the region. This included 3D Tetris, Nester’s Funky Bowling and Waterworld. Due to the poor sales of the unit it is no surprise then that most of the titles failed to be successful in the grand scheme of things but for those that sold well on the system – of which 770,000 Virtual Boy’s were sold – they did a good job to hold out. There were 7 other titles announced for the system but once Nintendo announced they were stopping production, those titles were also canceled.
VBjin not only allows players the chance to experience the horror that was the Virtual Boy in a more reliable and comfortable manner, but is most likely the best the system has ever looked. Those who are looking to try it out for themselves can do so by downloading the emulator from GitHub.
You can also see how the VBjin emulator works in the below video and for more on everything VR, keep reading VRFocus.
via Mint VR