Hardware Profile
In the spring of 1994, rumours about Nintendo's "virtual reality" project began circulating within the media. Speculation about how the new machine would revolutionize the gaming market and sketches of the system already in circulation, compounded to assure the inevitable disappointment - and some say the tragedy - that followed.
A Virtual Real
The project, dubbed simply "VR System" or "VR 32" (VR = virtual reality), had already been in development for over two years. It wasn't until November, at Nintendo's exclusive trade show -the Shoshinkai Exhibition a.k.a. Famicom Space World '94 - that the "Virtual Boy" unit was formally announced. By the time the Shoshinkai-exhibition arrived, the hype had reached critical mass. Everybody wanted to know what Gunpei Yokoi and his R&D1 team (the fathers of the original Game Boy) had accomplished.
For the development of the Virtual Boy, Nintendo allied with Reflection Technologies. In the mid-90s, there was an unofficial race to come up with a virtual reality system for the home. There were several prior development and marketing attempts. Most involved putting a small game screen monitor directly in front of the viewer (this is ultimately the avenue Sega followed). Atari also planned to release a VR helmet for the Jaguar, but it never made it past the prototype stage.
The technology behind the Virtual Boy was developed at Reflection Technology Inc. of Waltham, Massachusetts. Founded in 1987, Reflection was the first company to market a miniature display that, when held up to the eye, would present a larger image. Reflection Technology made its first appearance in 1988, at Fall Comdex, when it showed its tiny screen called Private Eye. That device measured 1" by 1.2" by 3.2", created 720 by 200 pixels and could be worn on spectacles. It was the subject of an OEM pact with an "unidentified Japanese giant" even then. This is a form of the technology that was eventually licensed exclusively worldwide to Nintendo for the video game market.
Then in 1990, Reflection raised $3.3 million in venture capital for its Scanned Linear Array displays, which combined a linear array of LEDs with an oscillating mirror.
By 1994, Reflection was a recognized leader in miniaturized display products and held exclusive worldwide patents for technology that incorporated color matrix LED (light emitting diode) displays which, when combined in the stereoscopic Virtual Boy, produced a complete 3-D experience.
Nintendo made a $5 million investment in Reflection Technology to gain the exclusive license to the technology used in the Virtual Boy system. The Virtual Boy combines the 3-D image technology developed by Nintendo with the display technology created by Reflection Tech.
"It has always been Nintendo's strategy to introduce new hardware systems only when technological breakthroughs allow us to offer innovative entertainment at a price that appeals to a worldwide audience. Virtual Boy delivers this and more. It will transport game players into a 'virtual utopia' with sights and sounds unlike anything they've ever experienced -- all at the price of a current home video game system."
- Hiroshi Yamauchi
then president of Nintendo Co., Ltd.
Virtual Boy contains 2 LED screens, a lens system and mirror scanning which collaborate to create the 3D image the player sees. While not true Virtual Reality, the Virtual Boy basically mimicked it.
Virtual Boy games had the scenes rendered in three coordinates: Horizontals and Verticals for the position of the elements in a plane and a third coordinate that made the objects look as they were far away.
The distance sensation was made by showing a different image for each eye. The human brain naturally puts the two pictures together (also known as the parallax effect). The image is reflected off the oscillating mirrors where the minute vibrations create the apparent thickness of the image.
All the images were monochrome - in tones of Red under a Black background. This tonality could change by using either green or blue spectacles.
Since additional colors - blue and green - were available, many have questioned why Nintendo opted to not include them within the Virtual Boy system? The obvious answer is that a color monitor would have been too cost prohibitive. Technology dictated that a monochrome (red and black) display was cheaper to produce.
The combination of the colors black and green had been done previously on the Game Boy, and proved to contain issues including blurryness at high speeds. Red on black, on the other hand, proved to feature a sharper contrast (Note: there are actually 4 shades of red used in the system).
The Unveiling
When the Virtual Boy was finally unveiled, the visitors at Shoshinkai '94 didn't appear impressed. In fact, most people didn't know what to think of it. A pair of goggles that displayed games composed of a bunch of red lines? The console and the games looked uninspired, however since most people had been conditioned to like whatever Nintendo produced, the audience couldn't help but show interest. Meanwhile, the non-Nintendo fans expressed contempt. They felt the Virtual Boy was a pathetic attempt by Nintendo to draw attention away from Sega's 32X and Sony's new 32-bit console.
There were but a few Virtual Boy games showcased at the show. There was an early version of T&E Software's Red Alarm as well as a Mario platform game which would later be called Mario Clash. This Mario game had both side-scrolling and overhead views. It looked like a mix between Super Mario World and The Legend of Zelda. In addition to these games, there were a few technical demos shown that demonstrated the graphic capabilities of the Virtual Boy. One was the infamous dolphin underwater scene, another showed a car racing and the last displayed a top-view shooter.
Some of the show-goers complained that the system was uncomfortable and that it would cause headaches after a short time. Overall, the response at Shoshinkai '94 to the games and hardware was barely lukewarm.
Towards the conclusion of 1994, Nintendo had another chance to showcase its Virtual Boy system, this time to make an impression on the North American media at the December Consumer Electronics Show. In addition to Mario Clash and a "space flying game", Nintendo showcased Space Pinball (later named Galactic Pinball) and Teleroboxing (later called Teleroboxer). T&E Soft announced several games for the Virtual Boy, in addition to showcasing Red Alarm. Virtual League Baseball was shown. Several games by Hudson Soft were announced.
Nintendo also announced that American third-party companies were developing games for the unit. Reactions to the hardware were similar to those in Japan. People were intrigued but still did not know what to think.
At the 1995 Electronic Entertainment Expo, Nintendo had yet another chance to make an impact with the Virtual Boy. They brought to the show a wealth of games including: Teleroboxer, Galactic Pinball, Red Alarm, Golf, Mario's Tennis, Panic Bomberman VB, Vertical Force, and Virtual League Baseball. It was announced at the E3 Expo that the Virtual Boy would release simultaneously in North America and Japan on August 14, 1995, at respective suggested retail prices of $179.95 and 15,000. The manufacturer's suggested retail price for the software was expected to be in the $50 range.
Hope Still Exists
By June 1995, more and more games were being announced by third-party developers and publishers. Atlus announced Jack Bros. and Bullet-Proof Software announced V-Tetris.
The first games that would take advantage of the (never-released) two-player link cable, were also announced. These included Bullet-Proof Software's Faceball, Kemco's Virtual League Baseball, and Ocean's Waterworld.
THQ pledged its support in the form of sports and adventure games. In addition, Boss Game Studios, Rare, Factor 5, and many others announced their intention to support the Virtual Boy.
On July 21, 1995, the Virtual Boy was released in Japan. The original August release date was kept for North America. When the Virtual Boy released, fans found out that Mario Clash would not be the pack-in game for the system. Instead, each console would come packaged with Mario Tennis.
It was also found that Mario Clash transformed from being a Mario adventure to being an action/arcade game that resembled the original arcade game Mario Bros., only in 3-D. Finally, Nintendo announced the development of Wario Cruise. Nintendo was making an honest effort and it appeared slightly that as long as the software library kept growing, the system might have a chance at being accepted. By the end of 1995, 12 games had been released.
Supporting the North American launch on August 14, 1995, would be a more than $20 million in marketing campaign, announced Nintendo. Nintendo of America projected sales of 2 million hardware units and 4 million software units by March of 1996. By the end of 1996, Nintendo hoped to sell 3 million systems and 14 million games.
In the United States, Nintendo partnered with Blockbuster Video to promote the Virtual Boy. Since it was in 3D, it had to be seen to be appreciated. Screenshots in magazines were not able to convey the experience. Along with setting up in-store displays in retailers such as Toys 'R' Us, Nintendo was hoping that renting out the system and the games would give gamers a personal idea of the console. The agreement with Blockbuster was that for $9.99 you got the use of the Virtual Boy and "2 games for 2 nights" and received a $10 coupon towards the purchase of a Virtual Boy. You were also given the chance to enter your name into a NBC sweepstakes promotion to win the Virtual Boy and games.
The End is Inevitable
Only months after its launch in October of 1995, Nintendo cut the price of Virtual Boy from $179.95 to $159.95.
Nintendo initially assumed the Virtual Boy would sell decently since it didn't have any competing consoles. Nintendo assumed wrong. In Japan, the Virtual Boy sold poorly and the price dropped drastically on both the machine and the games. Nintendo estimated that the Virtual Boy would sell 250,000 copies in Japan but it ended up selling only about half of that. One problem that arose (which worried the parents) was that it was said that playing the Virtual Boy could cause eye damage to children under the age of seven. In the US, the machine hardly sold at all and it would never release in Europe.
At the 1995 Shoshinkai, president Hiroshi Yamauchi confessed that the machine had sold less than Nintendo had calculated, but they still had hope for the product's future. He assured that new games that made better use of the Virtual Boys special technology would be released. In fact, Nintendo was planning a re-launch of the Virtual Boy for 1996, with more mature/next-generation games such as Zero Racers (an F-Zero like action-racer), Dragon Hopper (RPG), and Bound High (action-puzzler). In Japan, an Adjustable Stand and a Shoulder Harness were in the making. Unfortunately, by now most of the players of the world had moved on to the gaming that was being offered by Sony and Sega and the prospects of Nintendo's "Ultra 64" (Nintendo 64).
It was only a matter of time before Blockbuster Video sold off Virtual Boy rental units for $30 and Virtual Boy games for $10 each. Toys 'R' Us discounted new systems down to $25 and games to $10-15 in early 1996. In Japan, half a year after launch, the system sold at 980 with some games at 10. The store stock lasted about another 6 months. Nintendo Power dropped listing upcoming titles as soon as the November '95 issue. In just a year, the console had gone from being born from Nintendo's womb to laying in its grave.
What Went Wrong?
There are several reasons for the system's unfortunate demise. One was that is was simply too expensive, especially since it was intended to be a portable system. The original concept was likely for it to be worn on your face, as sort of a helmet. Instead, likely due to its size and weight, it was released with a stand. Although an AC Adapter was available for purchase separately, the system would run on 6 AA batteries for a measly 7 hours.
The other more obvious reason, is that it wasn't in color. Making a console that wasn't in color felt like a step-back in graphics for many. Also, since the two player link was never released, no audience was possible. Since the player had to have his or her face literally on the console, the player could not share the experience with others.
The third reason is a result of minimal third party support. And those that did support the system, didn't take advantage of the 3-D capabilities. The Virtual Boy could have used a Zelda, Metroid, or Mario Kart. About the only killer apps in the pipeline (which were also never released) were Goldeneye 007 and Mario Adventure.
The final problem was the issue relating to eye strain. Complaints early on regarding players getting headaches from the system forced Nintendo to place various warnings that said:
Players were suggested to take 15 minute breaks after 30 minutes of playing. It's like with anything else - if done in moderation, there shouldn't be a problem. Still, many parents didn't want to take the chance.
Compound the above issues with the fact that Nintendo marketed the console poorly. Commercials and ads lacked screenshots the first half year after it's release. Its been estimated that there were 770,000 units sold in total, with only 140,000 units having sold in Japan. Positive sales data estimates 700,000 units sold in the USA and 150.000 units sold in Japan.
The potential of creating a virtual world of games was there, but never fully realized.
Nintendo stopped production at the end of 1996 and declared the Virtual Boy "dead". Nintendo and third-parties cancelled all 34 + games announced for the system. Gunpei Yokoi, creator of the Virtual Boy, soon after resigned from his position in 1996. Whether because he was ashamed for the Virtual Boy's failure or because Hiroshi Yamauchi wanted him to leave, or a combination of both, is unknown.
Having been the father of the Game Boy, Yokoi should have nothing to be ashamed about. After leaving, he started his own development company called Koto. All this ended abruptly when he was killed in a car accident on October 4, 1997. He was with another companion in a car that rear-ended another vehicle. They got out of the car to inspect the damage when they were struck by a third vehicle.
A tragic end to a tragic story...