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And we don't talk about the VirtualBoy

gjsman-1000 3y ago
We talk about wanting companies to do more experimental things, then simultaneously diss the failed attempts. The VirtualBoy was an insane idea that was a whole human generation ahead of its time. That’s rare and credit to Nintendo for trying.
- Keyframe 3y ago
  My mind exploded when I found out there was no 'screen' in it at all. Very clever for the time.
- Dwedit 3y ago
  So let's play alternate history. Say that Blue LEDs had been developed at this time, and Nintendo could have used Red, Green, and Blue LEDs to make a full color screen rather than just a red screen. And all the warnings about headaches and such were all overblown things to try to make legal compliance happy, but they had the effect of scaring away customers who did not understand that they were for legal compliance rather than actual warnings. So how would an RGB Virtual Boy have turned out? Imagine a cross between the Game Boy Color and the 3DS.
  - scheeseman486 3y ago
    The headaches were due to multiple factors: 1. Flicker. A 60hz scanout with no phosphor or LCDs to temporally smear the light out means a very raw image that's pretty hard on the eyes, which might be tolerable if... 2. Ergonomics were OK but they aren't. Needing to keep the thing on a table with your head hunched over peering into it is the opposite of comfortable. You can attach it to your head instead but then... 3. Simulation sickness becomes a problem. Fill peoples vision with a "virtual reality" without motion tracking and you'll start making people hurl. Interestingly, the best way to play Virtual Boy games is on a Quest VR headset. The controls are a close match, it allows the use of greyscale (and other colours) instead of red and most importantly the VB's output is displayed as a giant screen fixed in space in front of you. I played through all of VB Wario Land that way, it was great fun and very comfortable.

We talk about wanting companies to do more experimental things, then simultaneously diss the failed attempts. The VirtualBoy was an insane idea that was a whole human generation ahead of its time. That’s rare and credit to Nintendo for trying.

Keyframe 3y ago
My mind exploded when I found out there was no 'screen' in it at all. Very clever for the time.
Dwedit 3y ago
So let's play alternate history. Say that Blue LEDs had been developed at this time, and Nintendo could have used Red, Green, and Blue LEDs to make a full color screen rather than just a red screen. And all the warnings about headaches and such were all overblown things to try to make legal compliance happy, but they had the effect of scaring away customers who did not understand that they were for legal compliance rather than actual warnings. So how would an RGB Virtual Boy have turned out? Imagine a cross between the Game Boy Color and the 3DS.
- scheeseman486 3y ago
  The headaches were due to multiple factors: 1. Flicker. A 60hz scanout with no phosphor or LCDs to temporally smear the light out means a very raw image that's pretty hard on the eyes, which might be tolerable if... 2. Ergonomics were OK but they aren't. Needing to keep the thing on a table with your head hunched over peering into it is the opposite of comfortable. You can attach it to your head instead but then... 3. Simulation sickness becomes a problem. Fill peoples vision with a "virtual reality" without motion tracking and you'll start making people hurl. Interestingly, the best way to play Virtual Boy games is on a Quest VR headset. The controls are a close match, it allows the use of greyscale (and other colours) instead of red and most importantly the VB's output is displayed as a giant screen fixed in space in front of you. I played through all of VB Wario Land that way, it was great fun and very comfortable.