List of Virtual Boy games

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A Virtual Boy console with its controller

The Virtual Boy is a 32-bit tabletop video game console developed and designed by Nintendo, first released in Japan on July 21, 1995 and later in North America on August 14 of the same year.[1] The following lists contains all of the games released for the Virtual Boy and all known games that were cancelled.

Originally unveiled at Nintendo's Shoshinkai Show in Japan on November 15, 1994 and at Winter CES in North America on January 6, 1995,[2][3] it was never intended to be released in its final form but Nintendo pushed the Virtual Boy in its unfinished state to market so that it could focus development resources on the then-upcoming Nintendo 64 and arrived later than other 32-bit systems such as the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, PlayStation and Sega Saturn but at a lower price,[4][5] retailing at US$179.95 but in mid-1996, Blockbuster was selling Virtual Boy units at $50 each.[6][7][2][8]: 513 

The system was overwhelmingly panned by critics and was deemed as a commercial failure,[9] selling only 770,000 units before being discontinued both in Japan and North America on December 22, 1995 and March 2, 1996 respectively,[10] making it the second lowest-selling console by Nintendo after the 64DD and its marketing campaign was commonly thought of as a failure.[11] Several additional titles were announced to be released for the Virtual Boy at E3 1996, but ultimately they were never released due to the system’s discontinuation by Nintendo themselves, as were several localizations that were only released in one region.[2] The system was never released in other markets.

Games

Listed here are all 22[a] officially released Virtual Boy games. Of these, eight titles were exclusive to Japan and three to North America. North America and other NTSC territories saw 14 releases and Japan, Hong Kong and other NTSC-J territories had 19.

Title[12][13] Genre(s) Developer(s) Publisher(s) Release date
Japan North America
3D Tetris Puzzle T&E Soft Nintendo Unreleased[b] March 22, 1996
Galactic Pinball Pinball Intelligent Systems Nintendo July 21, 1995 August 14, 1995
Golf Sports T&E Soft Nintendo (NA)
T&E Soft (JP) 		November 8, 1995 November 1, 1995
Innsmouth no Yakata First-person shooter Be Top I'Max October 13, 1995 Unreleased[c]
Jack Bros. Action Atlus Atlus September 29, 1995 October 20, 1995
Mario Clash Action Nintendo R&D1 Nintendo September 28, 1995 October 1, 1995
Mario's Tennis Sports Nintendo R&D1 Nintendo July 21, 1995 August 14, 1995
Nester's Funky Bowling Sports Nintendo R&D3, Saffire Nintendo Unreleased February 26, 1996
Panic Bomber Puzzle Eighting, Hudson Soft Nintendo (NA)
Hudson Soft (JP) 		July 21, 1995 December 1, 1995
Red Alarm Shooter T&E Soft Nintendo (NA)
T&E Soft (JP) 		July 21, 1995 August 14, 1995
SD Gundam Dimension War Turn-based strategy Locomotive Corporation Bandai December 22, 1995 Unreleased
Space Invaders Virtual Collection Shoot 'em up Taito Taito December 1, 1995 Unreleased
Space Squash Sports Tomcat System Coconuts Japan Entertainment September 28, 1995 Unreleased
Teleroboxer Fighting Nintendo R&D1, Nintendo R&D3 Nintendo July 21, 1995 August 14, 1995
V-Tetris Puzzle Bullet-Proof Software Bullet-Proof Software August 25, 1995 Unreleased
Vertical Force Shoot 'em up Hudson Soft Nintendo (NA)
Hudson Soft (JP) 		August 12, 1995 December 1, 1995
Virtual Bowling Sports Athena Athena, Nihon Bussan December 22, 1995 Unreleased
Virtual Boy Wario Land Platform Nintendo R&D1 Nintendo December 1, 1995 November 27, 1995
Virtual Fishing Fishing Locomotive Corporation Pack-In-Video October 6, 1995 Unreleased[d]
Virtual Lab Puzzle Nacoty J-Wing December 8, 1995 Unreleased
Virtual League Baseball Sports Kemco Kemco August 11, 1995 September 11, 1995
Waterworld Action Ocean Software Ocean of America Unreleased December 21, 1995

Cancelled games

A number of games were either announced or already in development before ultimately being cancelled.[2]

Title[14][15] Genre Developer(s) Publisher(s) Planned Release Date/Last Year Developed or Mentioned Notes/Reasons
Bound High! Action, Puzzle Japan System Supply Nintendo 24 December 2018 Two ROM images have surfaced online.[16]
Dolphins Non-game Nintendo — 3 April 2010 Technical demo. Gameplay footage and screenshots exists.
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest Platform Rare — 16 December 2017 Former Rare artist Steven Hurst stated that he and a programmer used sprites from Donkey Kong Land.[17] Development on the adaptation was scrapped due to the commercial and critical failure of the platform.[17] No prototype has surfaced.[18]
Doraemon: Nobita no Doki Doki! Obake Land Action, Adventure Epoch Co., Ltd. — 19 January 1996 Screenshots exists.[19] No prototype has surfaced.
Dragon Hopper Action, Adventure Intelligent Systems Nintendo 2004 No prototype has surfaced despite rumors.[20]
Faceball First-person shooter Bullet-Proof Software Bullet-Proof Software 20 January 2013 Also known as Niko-Chan Battle in Japan. A ROM image was leaked online in 2013.
Galaxian3: Project Dragoon Rail shooter Locomotive Corporation — 29 May 2019 [21]
GoldenEye 007 Action, Racing — Nintendo 11 January 2007 Only a single screenshot exists.[18] No prototype has surfaced.
Intercept Shooter Coconuts Japan Entertainment Coconuts Japan Entertainment 31 January 1998 No prototype has surfaced.[22]
Invincible Iron Man Gagaga-In Fighting Eighting — 1 July 1995 Game design document proposal exists.[23] No prototype has surfaced.
J-League 3D Stadium Sports — J-Wing 20 March 1996 No prototype has surfaced.[24]
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers — Bandai — 1 January 1996 Unknown if actual development started beyond announcement.[25]
Night Landing — Pow — 31 January 1998 No prototype has surfaced.[22]
Out of the Deathmount Shooter J-Wing — 1 March 1996 Screenshots exists.[26] No prototype has surfaced.
Proteus Zone Shooter Coconuts Japan Entertainment Coconuts Japan Entertainment 1 November 1995 No prototype has surfaced.[27]
Puyo Puyo Tsū Puzzle — — — —
Shin Nihon Pro Wrestling: Gekitō Densetsu Fighting, Sports Tomy — 1 January 1996 Screenshots exists.[28] No prototype has surfaced.
Signal Rat — J-Wing — 20 March 1996 No prototype has surfaced.[24]
Sora Tobu Henry Action Human Entertainment — 27 October 1995 Screenshots exists.[29] No prototype has surfaced.
Star Fox Flight simulation Nintendo — 1 January 2010 Technical demo.[30] Gameplay footage and screenshots exists.[30]
Star Seed Simulation Coconuts Japan Entertainment Coconuts Japan Entertainment 1 July 1995 Also known as War Simulation.[31]
Strange Animal School Life simulation — — 17 September 1995 Unknown if actual development started beyond announcement.[32]
Street Fighter II Fighting — — 1 July 1995 Unknown if actual development started on Virtual Boy version beyond rumor.[33][34]
Sunday's Point — Coconuts Japan Entertainment Coconuts Japan Entertainment 31 January 1998 No prototype has surfaced.[22]
Tobidase! PC Genjin Platform Hudson Soft Hudson Soft 8 September 2018 Conversion of PC Genjin.[35] Former Hudson Soft employee stated that he played Virtual Bomberman as reference during development of Tobidase! PC Genjin.[36] Development on the adaptation was scrapped due to the commercial and critical failure of the platform.[37] No prototype has surfaced.
V1 Racer Racing Nintendo — 1 August 2000 Also known as F1.[15] Technical demo. Gameplay footage and screenshots exists.
Virtual Boy Mario Land Platform Nintendo — 3 April 2010 Gameplay footage and screenshots exists.[30] No prototype has surfaced.
Virtual Boy Mario Kart Racing Nintendo Nintendo 1 August 2000 [15]
Virtual Block Action Bottom Up — 1 December 1995 Artwork, screenshots and promotional flyer exists.[38] No prototype has surfaced.
Virtual Bomberman Action, Maze Hudson Soft Hudson Soft 29 February 1996 Artwork, screenshots, promotional flyer and a keshi mini figure of the villain exists.[39]
Virtual Dodgeball Sports Jorudan Hect 27 October 1995 Screenshots exists.[29] No prototype has surfaced.
Virtual Double Yakuman Board game VAP, Inc. — 8 September 1995 Screenshots exists.[40] No prototype has surfaced.
Virtual Gunman Shooter Victor Entertainment — 19 January 1996 Screenshots exists.[19] No prototype has surfaced.
Virtual Jockey Sports Right Stuff Right Stuff 22 September 1995 Artwork, screenshots and promotional flyer exists.[40][41][42] No prototype has surfaced.
Virtual Pro Yakyū '96 Sports Kemco — — Also known as Virtual League Baseball 2.[43] Only a single screenshot exists.[44]
Virtual Tank Combat simulation Boss Game Studios — 21 September 2020 Also known as 3D Tank.[45] Screenshots exists.[45] No prototype has surfaced.
Wangan Sensen Red City Combat simulation AIM Asmik Ace Entertainment 27 October 1995 Screenshots exists.[29] No prototype has surfaced.
Worms Artillery, Strategy Team17 Ocean Software 1 September 1995 No actual development started on Virtual Boy version due to the commercial and critical failure of the platform.[46]
Zero Racers Racing Nintendo Nintendo 1 October 1998 Also known as G-Zero. Artwork and screenshots exists.[47] No prototype has surfaced.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ This number is always up to date by this script.
  2. ^ Canceled in development as Polygo Block
  3. ^ Canceled in development as House of Insmouse
  4. ^ Canceled in development

References

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  4. ^ Sheff, David; Eddy, Andy (1999). Game Over: How Nintendo Zapped an American Industry, Captured Your Dollars, and Enslaved Your Children. online. GamePress. ISBN 978-0-9669617-0-6. OCLC 26214063. {{cite book}}: External link in |others= (help)
  5. ^ KEVIN RAFFERTY, IN T. "Super Mario Takes Leap into Three Dimensional Space." The Guardian (pre-1997 Fulltext): 0. November 16, 1994. ProQuest. Web. July 8, 2013.
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  8. ^ Kent, Steven L. (2002). The Ultimate History of Video Games: The Story Behind the Craze that Touched our Lives and Changed the World. New York: Random House International. pp. 513–515, 518, 519, 523, 524. ISBN 978-0-7615-3643-7. OCLC 59416169. Archived from the original on July 9, 2017. Retrieved July 20, 2018.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
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  13. ^ Seidel, F. (July–August 2000). "Feature: Der verlorene Sohn - Alle erschienenen Spiele auf einen Blick". big.N (in German). No. 9. LiveEmotion Verlag. p. 20. Archived from the original on May 29, 2019. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
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  15. ^ a b c Seidel, F. (July–August 2000). "Feature: Der verlorene Sohn - Die verlorenen Spiele". big.N (in German). No. 9. LiveEmotion Verlag. p. 19. Archived from the original on May 29, 2019. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
  16. ^ Kohler, Chris (December 12, 2012). "When Games get Canceled, These Guys Bring them Back to Life". Wired. Archived from the original on December 22, 2016. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
  17. ^ a b Linneman, John (16 December 2017). "DF Retro takes on Donkey Kong Country and Killer Instinct • The story of Rare's SGI revolution - as told by the developers". Eurogamer. Gamer Network Ltd. Archived from the original on 20 March 2018. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
  18. ^ a b "Scribes". Rareware. 10 August 2001. Archived from the original on 5 August 2002. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  19. ^ a b "バーチャルボーイ ゲームフラッシュ - 新作VBゲーム情報発信基地". Dengeki Super Famicom (in Japanese). Vol. 4, no. 1. MediaWorks. January 5–19, 1996. p. 46. Archived from the original on May 30, 2019. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
  20. ^ Moore, Jason (Summer 2004). "World of Nintendo - Faceball Discovered for Virtual Boy". Retrogames. No. 23. Archived from the original on May 30, 2019. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
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  23. ^ @rurarbou_new (18 January 2018). "未発売ソフトの資料　綺麗なうちに梱包しておくか" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 19 January 2018. Retrieved 28 September 2019 – via Twitter.
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  26. ^ "Out of the Deathmount (仮)". Marushō Super Famicom (in Japanese). No. 20. Kadokawa Shoten. December 8, 1995. p. 83. Archived from the original on May 30, 2019. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
  27. ^ "TV Game - プロテウスゾーン (VB) • シューティング". Jugemu (in Japanese). No. 7. Media Factory, Recruit Holdings. November 1995. p. 173. Archived from the original on May 30, 2019. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
  28. ^ "TV Game - 新日本プロレスリング　激闘伝説 (VB) • スポーツ&レース". Jugemu (in Japanese). No. 9. Media Factory, Recruit Holdings. January 1996. p. 175. Archived from the original on May 30, 2019. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
  29. ^ a b c "Virtual Boy Game Flash". Dengeki Super Famicom (in Japanese). Vol. 3, no. 17. MediaWorks. October 27, 1995. p. 29. Archived from the original on May 30, 2019. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
  30. ^ a b c "Feature: Virtual Insanity - The Games You'll Never Play". Official Nintendo Magazine. No. 51. Future plc. January 2010. p. 62. Archived from the original on May 29, 2019. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
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  35. ^ @nori_bomber (25 January 2012). "@koji6004 ﾊﾞｰﾁｬﾙﾎﾞｰｲを思い出してくれてありがとう。自分はPC原人のﾊﾞｰﾁｬﾙﾎﾞｰｲ版を開発してました。完成までにﾊﾞｰﾁｬﾙﾎﾞｰｲがもたなかったんですけどね。今後も宜しく。" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 31 August 2020. Retrieved 31 August 2020 – via Twitter.
  36. ^ @nori_bomber (3 February 2016). "@Silver_R7 バーチャルボーイの「飛び出せ!PC原人」開発の参考に、発売前のを遊ばせてもらったことがありますわ。赤黒の世界は好きだったのに残念。当時は目が悪くなるって悪評ばかりだったし(今のVRはそんなクレーム聞きませんけどね)" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 31 August 2020. Retrieved 31 August 2020 – via Twitter.
  37. ^ @nori_bomber (9 September 2018). "バーチャルボーイのソフトも作ったよ。PC原人のバーチャルボーイ版さ。本体の不振で未発売だったからそんな世界が来てくれたら発売されてたかもね。" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 31 August 2020. Retrieved 31 August 2020 – via Twitter.
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  39. ^ Radke, Christian (2019). "V. Bomberman Flyer (Japan)". planetvb.com. Archived from the original on May 30, 2019. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
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  45. ^ a b Gasking, Frank (September 21, 2020). "Feature: The Story Of Virtual Tank, A Lost Virtual Boy Successor To Atari's Battlezone - "We were really surprised at the speed that the platform died"". Nintendo Life. Nlife Media. Archived from the original on September 21, 2020. Retrieved September 21, 2020.
  46. ^ "Reportaje: Extraña mezcla... de gusanos - Worms". Micromanía (in Spanish). Vol. 3, no. 8. HobbyPress. September 1995. p. 58.
  47. ^ "Nintendo 64 Previews: F-Zero X - G-Zero". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 111. Ziff Davis. October 1998. p. 64.

External links

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