Vroom! Vroom! Virtual Boy! – Details, episodes & analysis

We thought we were done! But Nintendo had to go and announce two more Virtual Boy games coming 30 years late. We'll be back to play those later this year, but for now join us as we clean up some loose ends and bid farewell (for now). Thank you all for listening!

You can find past episodes at https://virtualboy.blog/. 

RSS Feed: https://feeds.libsyn.com/566110/rss

Please send emails, questions, and recommendations to screenandbutton@proton.me

Click here to see the full list of covered and future games

Games Discussed:

• Niko-Chan Battle (Unreleased)
• Bound High! (Unreleased)
• Virtual League Baseball 2 (Unreleased)

Next ???'s Games:

• D-Hopper
• Zero Racers

Additional Links:

Stop Skeletons From Fighting on Youtube: My 2 Year Journey to Solve the 30-Year Myth of Faceball 2000 | SSFF

Zarithya on Youtube: How I Fixed the Legendary 16-Player Game Boy Game

Slow Mo Guys on Youtube: The Virtual Boy in Slow Mo

List of cancelled Virtual Boy games on Wikipedia

Interview with Hideyuki Nakanishi, designer of Bound High! and Chameleon Twist: Archive

Red Viper, the great 3DS Virtual Boy emulator: Github 

Seeing Red: Nintendo's Virtual Boy by José P. Zagal and Benj Edwards on MIT Press

Ars Technica: "Virtual Boy: The bizarre rise and quick fall of Nintendo's enigmatic red console"

Planet Virtual Boy

Virtual Boy Architecture: A practical analysis by Rodrigo Copetti

Podcast Art by @ohmandaz

Intro Song by Spaceport Johnson

Happy New Year! It's been a fun journey through the full Virtual Boy library - thank you for listening! We take a trip to Clash Tower for one of Nintendo's forgotten classics. 

You can find past episodes at https://virtualboy.blog/. 

RSS Feed: https://feeds.libsyn.com/566110/rss

Please send emails, questions, and recommendations to screenandbutton@proton.me

Click here to see the full list of covered and future games

Games Discussed:

• Mario Clash
• Space Invaders Virtual Collection

Virtual Boy Game Manuals:

• Mario Clash
• Space Invaders Virtual Collection

Next Month's Games:

• Niko-Chan Battle (Unreleased)
• Bound High! (Unreleased)
• Virtual League Baseball 2 (Unreleased)

Additional Links:

Seeing Red: Nintendo's Virtual Boy by José P. Zagal and Benj Edwards on MIT Press

Ars Technica: "Virtual Boy: The bizarre rise and quick fall of Nintendo's enigmatic red console"

Planet Virtual Boy

Virtual Boy Architecture: A practical analysis by Rodrigo Copetti

Podcast Art by @ohmandaz

Intro Song by Spaceport Johnson

We needed to push the Virutal Fishing/Golf leisure month episode out a week. In the meantime, Kevin's here to do some solo musing on the Virtual Boy controller and its relationship to other Nintendo controllers of the time. 

You can find past episodes at https://virtualboy.blog/. 

RSS Feed: https://feeds.libsyn.com/566110/rss

Please send emails, questions, and recommendations to screenandbutton@proton.me

Click here to see the full list of covered and future games

Songs in the Episode:

• "Panic Bomber" by Shinichi Sakamoto and Jun Chikuma

Additional Links:

Seeing Red: Nintendo's Virtual Boy by José P. Zagal and Benj Edwards on MIT Press

Ars Technica: "Virtual Boy: The bizarre rise and quick fall of Nintendo's enigmatic red console"

Planet Virtual Boy

Virtual Boy Architecture: A practical analysis by Rodrigo Copetti

Podcast Art by @ohmandaz

An absolute barnburner this month as Atlus brings SMT to America with the wonderful Jack Bros.! Then, a game many consider the worst on the system (though here on VVVB we see things differently).

Bad Game Hall of Fame - "Interview: 'Virtual Lab' Developer, Megu-tan" (Content Warning: sexual assault)

You can find past episodes at https://virtualboy.blog/. 

RSS Feed: https://feeds.libsyn.com/566110/rss

Please send emails, questions, and recommendations to screenandbutton@proton.me

Click here to see the full list of covered and future games

Games Discussed:

• Jack Bros.
• Virtual Lab

Virtual Boy Game Manuals:

• Jack Bros.
• Virtual Lab

Next Month's Games:

• Virtual Fishing
• Golf

Songs in the Episode:

• "Intro (Part 2)" by Hiroyuki Yanada
• "Level 3 (Temple of Nightmare)" by Hiroyuki Yanada
• "Puzzle Theme" by Megumi Ayase? (uncredited, undocumented)
• "Password Entry" by Hiroyuki Yanada

Additional Links:

Seeing Red: Nintendo's Virtual Boy by José P. Zagal and Benj Edwards on MIT Press

Ars Technica: "Virtual Boy: The bizarre rise and quick fall of Nintendo's enigmatic red console"

Planet Virtual Boy

Virtual Boy Architecture: A practical analysis by Rodrigo Copetti

Podcast Art by @ohmandaz

We continue our journey deeper into the Virtual Boy library, and pose the question "Is Bomberman video games' greatest ambassador of fun?" (The answer is yes, of course). And Space Squash surprises us both! 

You can find past episodes at https://virtualboy.blog/. 

RSS Feed: https://feeds.libsyn.com/566110/rss

Please send emails, questions, and recommendations to screenandbutton@proton.me

Click here to see the full list of covered and future games

Games Discussed:

• Space Squash
• Panic Bomber

Virtual Boy Game Manuals:

• Space Squash
• Panic Bomber

Next Month's Games:

• Jack Bros.
• Virtual Lab

Songs in the Episode:

• "The Sinister Forest (World 2)" by Shinichi Sakamoto and June Chikuma
• "Title" by Masahito Miyamoto and Hisatoshi Itō
• "Medal Won" by Shinichi Sakamoto and June Chikuma

Additional Links:

Seeing Red: Nintendo's Virtual Boy by José P. Zagal and Benj Edwards on MIT Press

Ars Technica: "Virtual Boy: The bizarre rise and quick fall of Nintendo's enigmatic red console"

Planet Virtual Boy

Virtual Boy Architecture: A practical analysis by Rodrigo Copetti

Podcast Art by @ohmandaz

We begin our monthly game club playthrough of the Virtual Boy library with two interesting Nintendo time capsules. Just look at those background layers! DK Junior is about to take a long nap after this one.

You can find past episodes at https://virtualboy.blog/. 

RSS Feed: https://feeds.libsyn.com/566110/rss

Please send emails, questions, and recommendations to screenandbutton@proton.me

Click here to see the full list of covered and future games

Games Discussed:

• Mario's Tennis
• Galactic Pinball

Virtual Boy Game Manuals:

• Mario's Tennis
• Galactic Pinball

Next Month's Games:

• Space Squash
• Panic Bomber

Songs in the Episode:

• "Moon Man Fandango" by Kenji Yamamoto & Masaru Tajima
• "Alien" by Kenji Yamamoto & Masaru Tajima
• "Results" by Hitoshi Fukushima and Morihiro Iwamoto

Additional Links:

Seeing Red: Nintendo's Virtual Boy by José P. Zagal and Benj Edwards on MIT Press

Ars Technica: "Virtual Boy: The bizarre rise and quick fall of Nintendo's enigmatic red console"

Planet Virtual Boy

Virtual Boy Architecture: A practical analysis by Rodrigo Copetti

Podcast Art by @ohmandaz

The two licensed games on the Virtual Boy are a mixed bag this month.  We are almost at the end here! Please remember to support your local library.

You can find past episodes at https://virtualboy.blog/. 

RSS Feed: https://feeds.libsyn.com/566110/rss

Please send emails, questions, and recommendations to screenandbutton@proton.me

Click here to see the full list of covered and future games

Games Discussed:

• Waterworld
• SD Gundam: Dimension War

Virtual Boy Game Manuals:

• Waterworld
• SD Gundam: Dimension War

Next Month's Games:

• Mario Clash
• Space Invaders: Virtual Collection

Additional Links:

Seeing Red: Nintendo's Virtual Boy by José P. Zagal and Benj Edwards on MIT Press

Ars Technica: "Virtual Boy: The bizarre rise and quick fall of Nintendo's enigmatic red console"

Planet Virtual Boy

Virtual Boy Architecture: A practical analysis by Rodrigo Copetti

Podcast Art by @ohmandaz

Intro Song by Spaceport Johnson

Three more episodes to the end of our journey, we encounter a pretty basic Tetris port and a strange curio in Nintendo's history of boxing games. What would Edward Maki Jr. think of Arms? And where exactly did the tradition of beating up on the developers' names during the credits come from?

You can find past episodes at https://virtualboy.blog/. 

RSS Feed: https://feeds.libsyn.com/566110/rss

Please send emails, questions, and recommendations to screenandbutton@proton.me

Click here to see the full list of covered and future games

Games Discussed:

• Teleroboxer
• V-Tetris

Virtual Boy Game Manuals:

• Teleroboxer
• V-Tetris

Next Month's Games:

• SD Gundam: Dimension War
• Waterworld

Additional Links:

Seeing Red: Nintendo's Virtual Boy by José P. Zagal and Benj Edwards on MIT Press

Ars Technica: "Virtual Boy: The bizarre rise and quick fall of Nintendo's enigmatic red console"

Planet Virtual Boy

Virtual Boy Architecture: A practical analysis by Rodrigo Copetti

Podcast Art by @ohmandaz

Intro Song by Spaceport Johnson

We kick off October with one of the rare horror games on the platform, which really impressed us both. Red Alarm also proves to be a technical masterpiece. And I can't stop talking about the dual D-Pads - they're good!

You can find past episodes at https://virtualboy.blog/. 

RSS Feed: https://feeds.libsyn.com/566110/rss

Please send emails, questions, and recommendations to screenandbutton@proton.me

Click here to see the full list of covered and future games

Games Discussed:

• Innsmouth no Yakata
• Red Alarm

Virtual Boy Game Manuals:

• Innsmouth no Yakata
• Red Alarm

Next Month's Games:

• Teleroboxer
• V-Tetris

Additional Links:

Seeing Red: Nintendo's Virtual Boy by José P. Zagal and Benj Edwards on MIT Press

Ars Technica: "Virtual Boy: The bizarre rise and quick fall of Nintendo's enigmatic red console"

Planet Virtual Boy

Virtual Boy Architecture: A practical analysis by Rodrigo Copetti

Podcast Art by @ohmandaz

Intro Song by Spaceport Johnson

We play a much better bowling game this month, and discover that 3D Tetris might not actually be much of a Tetris game at all....

You can find past episodes at https://virtualboy.blog/. 

RSS Feed: https://feeds.libsyn.com/566110/rss

Please send emails, questions, and recommendations to screenandbutton@proton.me

Click here to see the full list of covered and future games

Games Discussed:

• 3D Tetris
• Virtual Bowling

Virtual Boy Game Manuals:

• 3D Tetris
• Virtual Bowling

Next Month's Games:

• Innsmouth no Yakata
• Red Alarm

Additional Links:

Seeing Red: Nintendo's Virtual Boy by José P. Zagal and Benj Edwards on MIT Press

Ars Technica: "Virtual Boy: The bizarre rise and quick fall of Nintendo's enigmatic red console"

Planet Virtual Boy

Virtual Boy Architecture: A practical analysis by Rodrigo Copetti

Podcast Art by @ohmandaz

Intro Song by Spaceport Johnson