# Though obviously designed to be a handheld system, it couldn't really be held in the hand: it needed support from a flat surface to use correctly. 
# However, being awkward to use at least detracted from yet another problem - extended use (say, over 15 minutes at a time; wow that's bad) could cause considerable eyestrain. Games came with a mandatory pause feature.
# If you wore glasses - and what geek doesn't? - it's no surprise to learn that you'd have serious trouble playing while wearing them.
# The system's games library missed the whole point of the system (that is, to employ first-person view and be, well, a ''simulation''). This said, the library was a surprisingly strong set for a platform so glaringly user-unfriendly and which was pretty much destined to be discontinued quickly.
# Part of the fun of video games lies in watching your friends play and being watched yourself - oh, and multi-player games. The Virtual Boy not only had no multi-player games, but due to the design, it's impossible to watch people play it (and additionally, to effectively demo games to prospective buyers).
# And finally, the ugly colours and hideous design made you look like an ''idiot.''

6th Feb '13 6:19:45 AM OlfinBedwere

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6th Feb '13 6:16:29 AM OlfinBedwere

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31st Dec '12 8:38:58 AM mikrolik

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1st Dec '12 1:13:41 PM WarioBarker

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# Its library of games was small, and largely missed the whole point of the system (that is, to employ first-person view and be, well, a ''simulation''). This said, the library was a surprisingly strong set for a platform so glaringly user-unfriendly and which was destined to be discontinued quickly.
# Part of the fun of video games is watching your friends play and being watched yourself and due to the design, it was impossible to watch people play it.

The system was released on July 21, 1995 in Japan and in America on August 14. The system was canned after just ''five months'' in Japan (December 22, 1995), and although America got it until March 22, 1996 there were actually a few {{Killer App}}s planned for the next few months which never saw release.

The Virtual Boy is widely considered one of the worst game systems of all time. Nintendo considers it an OldShame and has gone to some effort to [[{{Unperson}} retcon it out of history]], although ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros. Brawl'' has a full list of its first- and second-party games. ShigeruMiyamoto also stated in an Ask Iwata interview that the Virtual Boy's failure killed excitement for 3D at the company, making it hard to initially develop support for the Nintendo3DS. [[http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/3ds/how-nintendo-3ds-made/0/1 He does feel that the system would've succeeded if it was marketed as a toy instead of a full-out gaming system, though.]]

Yokoi, [[ExecutiveMeddling forced to release the system while it was still in beta]], was subsequently MisBlamed and KickedUpstairs.

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# The system's game library was small, and largely missed the whole point of the system (that is, to employ first-person view and be, well, a ''simulation''). This said, the library was a surprisingly strong set for a platform so glaringly user-unfriendly and which was pretty much destined to be discontinued quickly.
# Part of the fun of video games is watching your friends play and being watched yourself. Due to the design, it's impossible to watch people play it.

The system was released on July 21, 1995 in Japan and in America on August 14. It lasted just ''five months'' in Japan (through December 22, 1995), and another three months in America (through March 22, 1996)...although there were a few {{Killer App}}s planned for the next few months which never saw release.

The Virtual Boy is widely considered one of the worst game systems of all time. Nintendo considers it an OldShame and has gone to some effort to [[{{Unperson}} retcon it out of history]], although ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros. Brawl'' has a full list of its first- and second-party games. Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto also stated in an Ask Iwata interview that the Virtual Boy's failure killed excitement for 3D at the company, making it hard to initially develop support for the Nintendo3DS. [[http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/3ds/how-nintendo-3ds-made/0/1 He does feel that the system would've succeeded if it was marketed as a toy instead of a full-out gaming system, though.]]

As for Yokoi, the man who created the Virtual Boy and [[ExecutiveMeddling had been forced to release it in essentially an unfinished state]]? After the system's failure, he was MisBlamed and KickedUpstairs.

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* ''Virtual Boy Mario Land'', a fusion of traditional side-scrolling Mario platforming with the "jump into the background" element of ''Virtual Boy Wario Land'' and top-down ''Zelda''-style areas. A few pictures appeared in ''Nintendo Power'' and other publications, and it appears that Wario was meant to be the villain. While the game was canned, ''Mario Clash'' rose from its ashes. The system's lack of a true Mario title definitely hurt its chances more.

While the games above were planned but shelved, right before the Virtual Boy's demise there were three games that prominently took the spotlight and looked to be the {{Killer App}}s that stood a good chance of at least keeping the system around for a few more months, if not saving it outright.
* ''Bound High!'', an '''extremely''' well-done 3-D game that took full advantage of its platform. It's also the only unreleased game that's been dumped, and the build appears to be finished.
* ''Dragon Hopper'', a ''Legend of Zelda''-ish action/adventure game.
* ''Zero Racers'', a planned ''VideoGame/{{F-Zero}}'' sequel.

11th Sep '12 4:12:28 PM ClockworkPanda

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Can't be "mono" if there are two colours, correct me if I'm wrong :)

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25th Aug '12 12:57:38 PM rickied

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