Virtual Boy
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| Virtual Boy | |
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| Manufacturer | Nintendo |
| Type | Portable game console |
| Generation | Fifth generation era |
| First available | JP July 21, 1995 NA August 14, 1995 |
| Discontinued | 1996[1] |
| CPU | NEC V810 |
| Media | Cartridge |
| Units sold | 770,000[1] |
Nintendo's Virtual Boy (バーチャルボーイ Bācharu Bōi?) (also known as the VR-32 during development) was the first portable game console capable of displaying "true 3D graphics." Most video games are forced to use monocular cues to achieve the illusion of three dimensions on a two-dimensional screen, but the Virtual Boy was able to create a more accurate illusion of depth through an effect known as parallax. In a manner similar to using a head-mounted display, the user looks into an eyepiece made of neoprene on the front of the machine, and then an eyeglass-style projector allows viewing of the monochromatic (in this case, red) image. It was released on July 21, 1995 in Japan and August 14, 1995 in North America and at a price of around US$180. It met with a lukewarm reception that was unaffected by continued price drops. Nintendo discontinued it the following year.[1]
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[edit] Technical information
The system does not have a full 384×224 array of LEDs as a display. It uses a pair of 1×224 linear arrays (one per eye) and rapidly scans the array across the eye's field of view using flat oscilating mirrors. These mirrors vibrate back and forth at a very high speed (they are what produce the mechanical humming noise from inside the unit) and can be damaged if the Virtual Boy is hit, knocked over, or used while in rough motion (such as in a car). A full-size display, while mechanically simpler, would have increased the Virtual Boy's physical size and unit cost to the point where the system would become uneconomical. Every Virtual Boy game has the option to pause automatically every 15-30 minutes to remind the player to take a break, to prevent undue eye strain and possible headaches.
[edit] Monochrome display
The Virtual Boy is iconic for its monochromatic use of red LED lights. The use of the red LED lights was chosen for being the least expensive, the lowest drain on batteries, and for being the most striking color to see. The use of other LED colors proved to be too cost prohibitive and would have forced the system to retail for over US$500. It would not be until 1996 that high-efficiency indium gallium nitride (InGaN) blue and green LEDs would become available from Nichia Corporation. During development, a color LCD was experimented with but was found to just cause users to see double instead of creating the illusion of depth.
The Virtual Boy, which uses an oscillating mirror to transform a single line of dots into a full field of dots, requires high-performance LEDs in order to function properly. Because each pixel is only in use for a tiny fraction of a second (384 pixels wide, 50.2 Hz scan rate = approximately 52 µs per scanline), high peak brightness is needed to make the virtual display bright and be comfortable for the user to view. The two-screen system demanded a fast refresh rate, unlike the original Game Boy which had blurry motion, so using an LCD was not an option.
[edit] Controller
The Virtual Boy, being a system with heavy emphasis on three-dimensional movement, needed a controller that could operate along a Z-Axis. The Virtual Boy's controller was an attempt to implement dual digital "D-pads" to control elements in the aforementioned 3D environment.
The controller itself is shaped like an 'M'. One holds onto either side of the controller and the part that dips down in the middle contains the battery pack. There are six buttons on the controller (A, B, Start, Select, L and R), the two D-pads, and the system's 'on\off' switch. The two directional pads are located on either side of the controller at the top. The 'A' and 'B' buttons are located below the pad on the right side and the 'Start' and 'Select' buttons are located in the same spot on the left side. What would normally be called 'shoulder buttons' ('L' and 'R') are located behind the area where the pads are, on the back of the controller, functioning more as triggers.
In most games for Virtual Boy, like Mario Clash or Jack Bros, the directional pads are interchangeable; both do the same thing. For others with a more 3D environment, like Red Alarm or Teleroboxer, each pad controlled a different feature. For Red Alarm one directional pad controls pitch and direction of the protagonists' ship, while the other controls forward, back and strafe movement. For Teleroboxer, each control pad, in conjunction with the trigger\shoulder buttons, controlled the position of the corresponding fist of the character. Notably, the game Vertical Force featured the option to mirror-image the controls to help left-handed people feel more comfortable playing. This is made possible by the Virtual Boy's symmetrical controller. This kind of concession to left-handed people was repeated with Nintendo's Wii console.
One of the most unusual features of the controller is the extendable power supply that slid onto the back. It housed the 6 AA batteries required to power the system. This could be substituted with a wall adapter, though a 'slide on' attachment was required to accomplish this. Once the slide on adapter was installed, a power adapter could be attached to provide constant power.
[edit] EXTension Port
The system's EXT port, located on the underside of the system below the controller port, was never officially supported since no official multiplayer games were ever published, nor was an official link cable released.
[edit] Specifications
| Processor | NEC V810 (P/N uPD70732) 32-bit RISC Processor @ 20 MHz (18 MIPS) 1 MB of DRAM and 512 KB of PSRAM (Pseudo-SRAM) 1 KB Cache |
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| Display (x 2) |
RTI SLA (P4) 384 x 224 Resolution 50.2 Hz Horizontal Scan Rate |
| Power | 6 AA Batteries (9 VDC) or AC Adapter (10 VDC) |
| Sound | 16-bit Stereo |
| Controller | 6 buttons and 2 D pads uses NES controller protocol |
| Serial Port | 8 pin cable |
| Hardware Part Numbers |
VUE-001 Virtual Boy Unit VUE-003 Stand VUE-005 Controller VUE-006 Game Pak VUE-007 Battery Pack VUE-010 Eyeshade VUE-011 AC Adapter VUE-012 Eyeshade Holder VUE-014 Red & Black Stereo Headphones |
| Weight | 750 grams |
| Dimensions | 8.5"H x 10"W x 4.3"D |
| 128 megabit addressable ROM space (4-16 megabit ROM used in released games) 128 megabit addressable RAM space (0-8 kilobyte Battery Backed RAM in released games) 128 megabit addressable expansion space (unused in any released games) Expansion interrupt available to the cartridge Left and right audio signals pass through cartridge 60-pin connector |
[edit] Development
The console was designed by Gunpei Yokoi, inventor of the Game & Watch and Game Boy handhelds, as well as the Metroid franchise. While compact and seemingly portable, Virtual Boy was not intended to replace the Game Boy in Nintendo's product line, as use of the system requires a steady surface, and completely blocks the player's peripheral vision. According to David Sheff's book Game Over, Yokoi never actually had intended for the console to be released in its present form. However, Nintendo had grown impatient with the amount of time that he had taken with the project. It wanted to focus on the Nintendo 64, and quickly rushed the Virtual Boy to market.
[edit] Reception
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Hype surrounding the device included public musings by Nintendo that the device might resemble a gun set vertical, projecting a 3D image in the air. The actual device was considered a disappointment compared to this description:
...the Virtual Boy produced very impressive 3-D effects, although the monochromatic graphic style proved to limit the appeal of the visuals.
– Nintendo of America[2]
Video game analysts believed Virtual Boy was a flop in the marketplace, for several reasons:
- It was marketed as a portable system, but it was not as portable as gamers thought it should be. Due to its size and weight, the Virtual Boy was nearly impossible to use while in motion, and doing so could cause damage to the unit.
- It was considered too expensive on launch, with a US$180 initial price. Further reductions in price did little to aid sales of the product.
- People who were short-sighted and needed to wear glasses found it almost impossible to use the goggle-like system with their spectacles on, and as a result were also less likely to be potential buyers.
- There was a poor selection of games available at launch and very few software developers wanted to invest in a new, unproven gaming system. In total only 22 titles were available between the North American and Japanese markets. Other game problems were related to the format of the console, which did not seem suited for certain types of games, giving players the impression that it was a rather limited system.
- The base of the system could not be adjusted vertically. This meant that the system has to be placed on a table to play (which could be uncomfortable, particularly for the player's back) or that users had to lie down to use it. The base was also somewhat flimsy and replacement parts were not very common. A vertically-adjustable stand was planned but never brought to market.
- Due to the nature of the Virtual Boy system, other players could not watch, which took away the entire social aspect of gaming. A multiplayer option was in development, via a cable that would hook two units together, but the product flopped before such an addition could be made.
- Because of its poor performance in the Japanese and American markets, the console was never released in Australia or Europe.
The commercial demise of the Virtual Boy was regarded by many as the catalyst that led to Yokoi being driven from Nintendo. According to Game Over, the company laid the blame for the machine's faults directly on the creator. The system was listed as number five in PC World's "The Ugliest Products in Tech History" list.[3]
[edit] Marketing
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- Voice-overs for some advertisements were done by Dylan Bruno.[4]
[edit] Games
Due to the short lifespan of the system, only 22 games were released. Of them 19 games were released in the Japanese market, while only 14 were released in North America.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Blake Snow (2007-05-04). The 10 Worst-Selling Consoles of All Time. GamePro.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-25.
- ^ Classic Systems
- ^ PC World staff (2007-09-10). The Ugliest Products in Tech History. PC World. Retrieved on 2007-10-12.
- ^ http://www.buchwald.com/media/commercial_vo/commercial_men/Bruno_dylan.mp3
- Kent, Steven L. (2001). The Ultimate History of Video Games. Roseville, California: Prima. ISBN 0-7615-3643-4.
- "Virtual Boy Is Born at Shoshinkai November, 1994" (JPEG) (January 1995). Nintendo Power (68): 52-53.
[edit] External links
- Virtual Boy at Nintendo.com (archived versions at the Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
- Virtual Boy games list at Nintendo.com (archived from the original at the Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
- Virtual Boy at the Open Directory Project
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