nintendo’s virtualboy the first virtual reality 3D HMD game system

[johannesmutlu]

Theres absolutely no doubt that the virtualboy from nintendo was the absolute first 3D HMD cartride based game system,because it uses cartrides and a controler along with other features all back in 1995,

but too bad those displays were only in red & black and it had no headstrap and most games weren’t 3Dimensional either,atleast stereoscopic 3D only🥲

sure mario tennis might be a cool game and showing off it’s 3D capabilities as well but i think mario’s clash might also be a cool game for arcade fanatics who did like mariobros from back in the day,

 

Sure nintendo was experimenting with color lcd screens for it but they did found out that those color lcd screens did had a low response time wich would cause more double vision & eyestrain from peoples using it,they also found it more expensive and more battery hungry as well so that’s why they did go for red & black,but i do say why not just B&W instead??? But still i personally think they should,ve go for a color screen,what they could,ve done was to save power and costs is just use 1 single color screen and then use different mirrors & prisms to fake a stereoscope 3D image,

also they should,ve to add a headstrap to it as well,am mean what’s VR headset without a headstrap???

by they way, gompei yokoi just wanted more development time for his virtualboy but nintendo just didn’t gave it to him,we might would,ve otherwise a perfect cartride based 3D headset from nintendo,

 

BUT still,,, i think the virtualboy was very innovative for it’s time nobody else ever did,all other 32bit systems were just CD based game consoles,

yes there was the segascope 3D headset for the mastersystem followed by the 3D headset for the famicom 3 month’s later,both in 1987,yes there was the unlicensed vivtormaxx stuntmaster (weird name) 3D headset for both the genesis & snes back in 1993 etc,,, but both required a game console,the virtualboy was fully standalone,

but in 2018 there was the rift oculus vr headset game system wich redefined everything from nintendo’s virtuelboy,it uses 2 high responsive lcd screen,has a headstrap and it also uses a download play feature rather then cartrides and it also comes with two controllers and it probably wouldn’t eat batteries/sucking power like crazy,sure it took a whopping 23 years before it was redefined but here we are😁

 

and with that sad i really really really wish that nintendo will come up with a virtualboy color VR headset,one wich should be smaller,lighter,more power officienr,backwards compatible with existing VB games along with auto colorization and off course new games for it too,

and it should also have video input to hookup your nintendo systems along with a 3D convertor in it to those 2D imagines into stereoscope 3D to re’experience them in a new way,

but will it ever happen?

Am afraid not despite it didn’t stop nintendo to come up with the 3DS and 3D labo to turn their switch into a stereoscopic 3D system (just to try to get into that 3D craze just like google did with their 3D cardboard for smartphone in 2015),eventrough nintendo just failed again intergrating 3D into peoples minds, as why most people just don’t care about 3D labo for the switch and they don’t care about the 3D feature of the 3DS,they just simply turn that feature off,i personally would like to have that woox 3D tv from philips from 2008 because just like the 3DS you don’t need a 3D glass for it,but i guess most people will just get dizzy from all that 3D stuff,but i say we must go on and continue with 3D because i consider that something pretty cool and that’s why i will also demand nintendo to release their old VB on the switch eshop servive and program the VB emulator in such a way that VB games could take advantage of the 3D labo option and also add a filter option to turn those games into B&W to eliminate eyestrain

 

 

[Tanooki]

>:\

 

The reason they went with the RED+BLACK was strictly because of cost, not because of some imagined increase in potential eye strain or headache as that still would have come down to the knob and slider for angle and eye width.  Back in that era red was cheap, green was a little more expensive but not bad, but blue was utterly hard to do and very expensive which would have probably doubled or more the cost of the system on launch.  In that period of time (again) a single screen would not have worked out so well again over costs and workable 90s tech of the era.  Don't project on this what the 3DS did 20 years after the fact.

 

The reason it didn't go with a head strap was not over costs, that would have been cheaper than the metal stand.  It was too heavy and would have caused neck strain which would lead to tension headaches carrying an odd heavy load hanging off the front of your face.

 

Who is gompei?  Did you mean Gunpei Yokoi?  If it's tricky, there is a copy and paste feature on devices.   Maybe we should just start calling you JohnnieCthulu?

 

For its time and budget it was pretty solid for what it is.  The problem is it came out wanting too high of a MSRP, but unlike 3DS which suffered that, they didn't have enough software to off set it or some apology tour style gimme to those who bought it for full price to have it drop a lot within months after the fact which ticked people off (myself included.)

 

Segascope wasn't the same tech, it was close to the victormaxx, I remember that so called vr-glasses setup using it on a store kiosk with a jaguar using Aliens vs Predator if I'm thinking of the same thing.  Those used a small pair to just dual LCD screens, it wasn't 3D, they just were spaced apart and angled, while being so close to your eyes, it gave this fake sense of immersion as it's all you could see, but it didn't do actual 3D, it was a dual LCD mind game that for the time looked nice.

 

I'm not going to say I'm an expert at the VB as I don't code and I don't do electrical engineering, but I've followed it off and on ever since it came out, owned a few, and currently I own TWO of them, both solder fix repaired by myself not to fail again on the ribbons along with the full US set of games and a few others, various accessories, and rental bits too.  I keep up on what comes along for it since including new games so I do read up on what people figure out.  VB got a bad shake, both by the designers, but also by the company too they worked for since they killed it thinking N64 would be out nearly a year earlier (95 not later 96) and didn't want it in the way.  Had it been given a chance to get more support and a 2nd year of titles it should have clung on a bit longer which is a shame.  The more I see people tap into it now making 3D combat games (a battlezone clone of sorts just arrived) and the port of Street FIghter 2 Hyper Fighting show much more space to grow it never had a chance to.

 

[CapitanClassic]

2 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Those used a small pair to just dual LCD screens, it wasn't 3D, they just were spaced apart and angled, while being so close to your eyes, it gave this fake sense of immersion as it's all you could see, but it didn't do actual 3D, it was a dual LCD mind game that for the time looked nice.

 

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_shutter_3D_system

Quote

An active shutter 3D system (a.k.a. alternate frame sequencing, alternate image, AI, alternating field, field sequential or eclipse method) is a technique of displaying stereoscopic 3D images. It works by only presenting the image intended for the left eye while blocking the right eye's view, then presenting the right-eye image while blocking the left eye, and repeating this so rapidly that the interruptions do not interfere with the perceived fusion of the two images into a single 3D image.

This sort of technology is what we mean when we say "3D," and if you have ever seen one of these  Stereoscopic viewers (or kids toys, view-Master), they use flat images that are different for each viewing eye to have your brain interpret the photo/image/TV screen as 3D. Until holograms,  I cannot think of what you might be talking about that might be considered 3D? 3DS, VR headsets isnt 3D under that definition,  nor any other tech fnat relies on flat mediums/images.

Edited May 20, 2023 by CapitanClassic

[roots.genoa]

3 hours ago, Tanooki said:

JohnnieCthulu

Thanks, I just found my new Discord handle!

[roots.genoa]

51 minutes ago, CapitanClassic said:

This sort of technology is what we mean when we say "3D," and if you have ever seen one of these  Stereoscopic viewers (or kids toys, view-Master), they use flat images that are different for each viewing eye to have your brain interpret the photo/image/TV screen as 3D. Until holograms,  I cannot think of what you might be talking about that might be considered 3D? 3DS, VR headsets isnt 3D under that definition,  nor any other tech fnat relies on flat mediums/images.

Tanooki might have been confusing SEGA's 3D glasses with something else, but you're correct. It pisses me off when people say 3D in movies or else is not real 3D because it would be some sort of illusion. Newsflash: in real life as well, 3D is recreated by our brain using the two flat pictures our eyes see.

[Tanooki]

4 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

Tanooki might have been confusing SEGA's 3D glasses with something else, but you're correct. It pisses me off when people say 3D in movies or else is not real 3D because it would be some sort of illusion. Newsflash: in real life as well, 3D is recreated by our brain using the two flat pictures our eyes see.

I wasn't speaking of the sega glasses, I've had the ones SMS had a decade ago.  I was talking about the victormaxx or whatever name it was I saw at a Goodguys during the jaguar period.  It claimed to be 3D, you wore these cheezy 'future' 80s style glasses thing that I believe ran an RCA cable down to the video port on the console.  What it did was just run 2 TV panels close to your eyes, it had zero sense of depth the box claimed, but it tricked some people clearly into thinking it was 3D because it put the LCD MINI TV panels like 2" from your eyeballs.  The Sega or VB did it different from the shutter system on one to the dual speedy rotating mirrors/LED red light gun trick the VB did.  That dual teeny tvs glued to your eyes bs was not 3D, that's what I was putting there.

[CapitanClassic]

Laughing emoji. How very,,,,,,droll,,. 

[fiddlepaddle]

The Vectrex had 3D (maybe in 1983?) There were also arcade coin-ops that had 3D.

[Creamhoven]

21 hours ago, johannesmutlu said:

Theres absolutely no doubt that the virtualboy from nintendo was the absolute first 3D HMD cartride based game system,because it uses cartrides and a controler along with other features all back in 1995,

but too bad those displays were only in red & black and it had no headstrap and most games weren’t 3Dimensional either,atleast stereoscopic 3D only🥲

sure mario tennis might be a cool game and showing off it’s 3D capabilities as well but i think mario’s clash might also be a cool game for arcade fanatics who did like mariobros from back in the day,

 

Sure nintendo was experimenting with color lcd screens for it but they did found out that those color lcd screens did had a low response time wich would cause more double vision & eyestrain from peoples using it,they also found it more expensive and more battery hungry as well so that’s why they did go for red & black,but i do say why not just B&W instead??? But still i personally think they should,ve go for a color screen,what they could,ve done was to save power and costs is just use 1 single color screen and then use different mirrors & prisms to fake a stereoscope 3D image,

also they should,ve to add a headstrap to it as well,am mean what’s VR headset without a headstrap???

by they way, gompei yokoi just wanted more development time for his virtualboy but nintendo just didn’t gave it to him,we might would,ve otherwise a perfect cartride based 3D headset from nintendo,

 

BUT still,,, i think the virtualboy was very innovative for it’s time nobody else ever did,all other 32bit systems were just CD based game consoles,

yes there was the segascope 3D headset for the mastersystem followed by the 3D headset for the famicom 3 month’s later,both in 1987,yes there was the unlicensed vivtormaxx stuntmaster (weird name) 3D headset for both the genesis & snes back in 1993 etc,,, but both required a game console,the virtualboy was fully standalone,

but in 2018 there was the rift oculus vr headset game system wich redefined everything from nintendo’s virtuelboy,it uses 2 high responsive lcd screen,has a headstrap and it also uses a download play feature rather then cartrides and it also comes with two controllers and it probably wouldn’t eat batteries/sucking power like crazy,sure it took a whopping 23 years before it was redefined but here we are😁

 

and with that sad i really really really wish that nintendo will come up with a virtualboy color VR headset,one wich should be smaller,lighter,more power officienr,backwards compatible with existing VB games along with auto colorization and off course new games for it too,

and it should also have video input to hookup your nintendo systems along with a 3D convertor in it to those 2D imagines into stereoscope 3D to re’experience them in a new way,

but will it ever happen?

Am afraid not despite it didn’t stop nintendo to come up with the 3DS and 3D labo to turn their switch into a stereoscopic 3D system (just to try to get into that 3D craze just like google did with their 3D cardboard for smartphone in 2015),eventrough nintendo just failed again intergrating 3D into peoples minds, as why most people just don’t care about 3D labo for the switch and they don’t care about the 3D feature of the 3DS,they just simply turn that feature off,i personally would like to have that woox 3D tv from philips from 2008 because just like the 3DS you don’t need a 3D glass for it,but i guess most people will just get dizzy from all that 3D stuff,but i say we must go on and continue with 3D because i consider that something pretty cool and that’s why i will also demand nintendo to release their old VB on the switch eshop servive and program the VB emulator in such a way that VB games could take advantage of the 3D labo option and also add a filter option to turn those games into B&W to eliminate eyestrain

 

 

The thing with the Virtual Boy is that many don't even know the basic facts of the machine. Like when the Virtual Boy was in development its codename was the MK Ultra, right. It was originally concevied by the russian engineer Davidov Lolshevik and the red light was supposed to penetrate the neurons of the player transforming the player to a mindless nintendo product consuming drone. The issue was that players of the Virtual Boy grew so disfunctional that they were not able to consume nintendo product effectivly any longer. For this reason the product had to be pulled from the market despite the huge production effort. It is also this reason why nintendo had a bad standing in the console market during the N64 and Gamecube era, while they were recovering from the Virtual Boy shock. The release of the Wii was a strong push to end console wars and thereby console history. The wii was supposed to be the only console left  standing to dominate the world console market. Although very successful they ultimatly failed in their objective, the switch being their second desperate push to achieve their goals. So no there wont be any Virtual Boy type console from Nintendo, since it is against their own interest.

[Tanooki]

Ahhh damn so that's what it is, you must have had some really high level redacted level clearance to know some of these things.

[Creamhoven]

10 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

Ahhh damn so that's what it is, you must have had some really high level redacted level clearance to know some of these things.

You wouldnt believe how much of it is out in the open

[johannesmutlu]

On 5/20/2023 at 5:50 AM, Tanooki said:

>:\

 

The reason they went with the RED+BLACK was strictly because of cost, not because of some imagined increase in potential eye strain or headache as that still would have come down to the knob and slider for angle and eye width.  Back in that era red was cheap, green was a little more expensive but not bad, but blue was utterly hard to do and very expensive which would have probably doubled or more the cost of the system on launch.  In that period of time (again) a single screen would not have worked out so well again over costs and workable 90s tech of the era.  Don't project on this what the 3DS did 20 years after the fact.

 

The reason it didn't go with a head strap was not over costs, that would have been cheaper than the metal stand.  It was too heavy and would have caused neck strain which would lead to tension headaches carrying an odd heavy load hanging off the front of your face.

 

Who is gompei?  Did you mean Gunpei Yokoi?  If it's tricky, there is a copy and paste feature on devices.   Maybe we should just start calling you JohnnieCthulu?

 

For its time and budget it was pretty solid for what it is.  The problem is it came out wanting too high of a MSRP, but unlike 3DS which suffered that, they didn't have enough software to off set it or some apology tour style gimme to those who bought it for full price to have it drop a lot within months after the fact which ticked people off (myself included.)

 

Segascope wasn't the same tech, it was close to the victormaxx, I remember that so called vr-glasses setup using it on a store kiosk with a jaguar using Aliens vs Predator if I'm thinking of the same thing.  Those used a small pair to just dual LCD screens, it wasn't 3D, they just were spaced apart and angled, while being so close to your eyes, it gave this fake sense of immersion as it's all you could see, but it didn't do actual 3D, it was a dual LCD mind game that for the time looked nice.

 

I'm not going to say I'm an expert at the VB as I don't code and I don't do electrical engineering, but I've followed it off and on ever since it came out, owned a few, and currently I own TWO of them, both solder fix repaired by myself not to fail again on the ribbons along with the full US set of games and a few others, various accessories, and rental bits too.  I keep up on what comes along for it since including new games so I do read up on what people figure out.  VB got a bad shake, both by the designers, but also by the company too they worked for since they killed it thinking N64 would be out nearly a year earlier (95 not later 96) and didn't want it in the way.  Had it been given a chance to get more support and a 2nd year of titles it should have clung on a bit longer which is a shame.  The more I see people tap into it now making 3D combat games (a battlezone clone of sorts just arrived) and the port of Street FIghter 2 Hyper Fighting show much more space to grow it never had a chance to.

 

Well that’s a good point to mention👍

[Austin]

God I hate these threads.

 

That said, the Virtual Boy was an interesting device and I really enjoyed mine in the '90s. My only wish from what we had in its existing form when current, was simple A/V out capabilities. 3D in the headset, 2D on the TV. A big issue with the system, asides from being displayed in red, was it being a completely solitary experience. Video games were very much a social activity for many and only one person being able to see the screen at a time made it an extremely poor choice in social gatherings.

Edited June 9, 2023 by Austin

[fiddlepaddle]

Good point Austin, and that's also true of any headset game or simulation. Although very engaging with the game itself, plus the interaction with other in-game characters or players, it is, by it's nature, actually very isolating of the real world. If anything, it discourages use as a shared experience.

I think originally, the Virtual boy was designed for two-player capability (Mario Tennis has a hidden ability to support two players), so it ended up being even more isolating that Nintendo wanted it to be.

[Austin]

Yeah, it's quite a shame the link functionality wasn't focused on. Mario Tennis with two VBs would have been awesome and could have potentially filled that social setting gap a bit. Apparently it was the only game to support it, but like mentioned, it wasn't enabled in the retail release and has to be patched.

[Tanooki]

On 6/9/2023 at 10:12 PM, fiddlepaddle said:

Good point Austin, and that's also true of any headset game or simulation. Although very engaging with the game itself, plus the interaction with other in-game characters or players, it is, by it's nature, actually very isolating of the real world. If anything, it discourages use as a shared experience.

I think originally, the Virtual boy was designed for two-player capability (Mario Tennis has a hidden ability to support two players), so it ended up being even more isolating that Nintendo wanted it to be.

Yes there is an expansion port, it was designed for it, it had a link cable made but never to market.   Nintendo stupidly killed the thing before its time because of fear, fear it would get in the way of the N64 and it's 1995 release that never happened, so they wanted focus and cut it off.  That's why there are multiple finished/near finished games that just have slowly surfaced (Bound High, Niku Chan battle aka Faceball) or still are currently lost (Dragon Hopper.)

 

Kevin Mellott made a link cable for the system.  He or others, not sure which, they hacked Mario Tennis and a couple others to run 2P mode in games, and the SF2Hyper Fighting port supports it too, as does the just released this year battlezone-ish like Warzone does as well.

[Austin]

On 6/11/2023 at 4:11 PM, Tanooki said:

Yes there is an expansion port, it was designed for it, it had a link cable made but never to market.   Nintendo stupidly killed the thing before its time because of fear, fear it would get in the way of the N64 and it's 1995 release that never happened, so they wanted focus and cut it off.

Uhh... It's more likely they killed it off because the platform was dead on arrival. Nobody wanted the damn thing.

 

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if a large portion of its sales were when it was being liquidated nationwide.

[roots.genoa]

I'm afraid Austin is right, even though I wish he wasn't. 😔