I got my Virtual Boy Today!

[dalton4life]

Maybe it's just my being colorblindness talking (I do see colors, just not like a normal person) but I think this thing is pretty cool. So far I've played Mario Tennis, Galatic Pinball and Wario Land. All were nice but Galactic Pinball has been my favorite of the 3 so far. I've always been a sucker for a nice pinball game and the 3d gimmick works great with it. The downside for me is the unit is too uncomfortable to play for long periods of time.

[JB]

The big problem is people jacked the brightness up too high.

 

Aside from being uncomfortably bright at high brightness levels, they also make it's slow screen refresh more visible.

You start getting a visible flicker that can cause some serious eyestrain.

[candiru]

Being colorblind might actually save you in this case. I started to get a headache just from looking at the screenshots on vgmuseum. I agree that they look kind of cool and it's an interesting concept, but it's easy to see why VB was a failure.

[Lord Helmet]

I actually like galactic pinball. It's quite addictive.

[christianscott27]

be sure to get red alarm, most virtual boy titles make limited or poor use of the 3-D while red alarm goes overboard with it. its a flying shooter done in wireframe, every VB owner should have this title just for curiousity's sake.

 

for long term playing i found the best way was to lie on my back with the virtual boy resting on my face...yeah close your door first cause you look crazy but its the most painfree way to spend time in the red and black.

[dalton4life]

Being colorblind might actually save you in this case.  I started to get a headache just from looking at the screenshots on vgmuseum.  I agree that they look kind of cool and it's an interesting concept, but it's easy to see why VB was a failure.

 

You may be right. My fiancee didn't like it but thought it was a cool concept. One friend really liked it. I'm going to have a few more friends try it and give me their opinions.

[bradjewell]

for long term playing i found the best way was to lie on my back with the virtual boy resting on my face...yeah close your door first cause you look crazy but its the most painfree way to spend time in the red and black.

 

yeap, that's how I always played my virtual boy.

 

I think the system could've done better was some better games... and I think the system link concept would have kicked much booty...

I don't see why they didn't make Mario Tennis link up...

Damn, that would've rocked.

 

Brad

[dalton4life]

Well I've been sitting on the coach and lying back my head to resting it on it. And it seems my fiancee may have come around thanks to Panic Bomber.

[TailChao]

I fell in love with the VB for some main reason, WARIO LAND. Great going to have this game in your collection!

[guitarmas]

I love the VB as long as there is a bottle of asprin beside it.

[vb_master]

I wonder if you can replace the red LED's with some soft orange, white, or blue LED's?

[rockman_x_2002]

The big problem is people jacked the brightness up too high.

 

Aside from being uncomfortably bright at high brightness levels, they also make it's slow screen refresh more visible.  

You start getting a visible flicker that can cause some serious eyestrain.

 

Y'know I actually liked the Virtual Boy. Despite what all the naysayers think, I really don't see anything wrong at all with the system. And I never actually experienced this problem even with the brightness maxed out. Perhaps mine used a different type of display that didn't have this problem? The VB I picked up was toward the late end of its life.

 

for long term playing i found the best way was to lie on my back with the virtual boy resting on my face...yeah close your door first cause you look crazy but its the most painfree way to spend time in the red and black.

 

I have to use mine like that now. The stand broke, so it's either lay across the bed looking down into the machine, which works okay but not for extended periods of time, do as you say, though it slides off my nose sometimes and I have to catch it, or prop it up on a stack of PC game boxes and play at my computer desk.

 

I wonder if you can replace the red LED's with some soft orange, white, or blue LED's?

 

You could do that, yes. But the cost of doing so would be very expensive, I would think. As I recall from reading somewhere, the reason Nintendo chose the single-color display in the first place was that it was loads cheaper to do than full color. Even today this is true.

 

So why red? Well, if you've taken any physics class, you learn red light is the weakest. Being the weakest type of light, it's also the easiest color of light to produce. Therefore, red light is also the cheapest. So what some people think Nintendo did as a novelty by making a fully red image was actually more of a monetary issue. Red was and is cheaper to produce.

[dalton4life]

I have to use mine like that now.  The stand broke, so it's either lay across the bed looking down into the machine, which works okay but not for extended periods of time, do as you say, though it slides off my nose sometimes and I have to catch it, or prop it up on a stack of PC game boxes and play at my computer desk.

 

Mine was broken when I got it but this is what I came up with for holding while I play. I used a lot of duct tape. It works pretty well and a pic of my finacee playing with it.

 

 

 

[shep]

Congratulations

You've taken your first step into a larger world.

[JB]

The big problem is people jacked the brightness up too high.

 

Aside from being uncomfortably bright at high brightness levels' date=' they also make it's slow screen refresh more visible.

You start getting a visible flicker that can cause some serious eyestrain.[/quote']

 

Y'know I actually liked the Virtual Boy. Despite what all the naysayers think, I really don't see anything wrong at all with the system. And I never actually experienced this problem even with the brightness maxed out. Perhaps mine used a different type of display that didn't have this problem? The VB I picked up was toward the late end of its life.

I like the VB too.

And my eyes are fairly sensitive. I may be seeing something most people don't notice, at least not consciously.

I'm fairly certain a lot of people complaining of headaches were bit by this, though.

 

My current VB was a clearance-rack one, because it was cheaper than sending my old one in for re-alignment after some twit dropped it. So it was a late model.

 

 

The technology they use is such that refresh is a major factor. It relies solely on persistence of the human eye.

A phosphor glows after the electron beam has passed it. An LCD pixel is ALWAYS lit or unlit. But a column of LEDs mounted in front of a oscillating mirror... It's a more complex version of those clocks that have the waving arm that displays the time in the air.

 

 

 

 

for long term playing i found the best way was to lie on my back with the virtual boy resting on my face...yeah close your door first cause you look crazy but its the most painfree way to spend time in the red and black.

 

I have to use mine like that now. The stand broke' date=' so it's either lay across the bed looking down into the machine, which works okay but not for extended periods of time, do as you say, though it slides off my nose sometimes and I have to catch it, or prop it up on a stack of PC game boxes and play at my computer desk.[/quote']

It feels too heavy for my tastes that way.

Pr'ly is the best you'll get out of it, though. ... Unless you rig an elaborate system of support straps from the ceiling... *starts drawing up blueprints*

 

I wonder if you can replace the red LED's with some soft orange' date=' white, or blue LED's?[/quote']

 

You could do that, yes. But the cost of doing so would be very expensive, I would think. As I recall from reading somewhere, the reason Nintendo chose the single-color display in the first place was that it was loads cheaper to do than full color. Even today this is true.

Also note that performing surgery on a VB will likely knock the displays out of alignment. This is bad. And I'm not sure how you'd go about re-aligning them.

 

So why red? Well, if you've taken any physics class, you learn red light is the weakest. Being the weakest type of light, it's also the easiest color of light to produce. Therefore, red light is also the cheapest. So what some people think Nintendo did as a novelty by making a fully red image was actually more of a monetary issue. Red was and is cheaper to produce.

Indeed. And I think it's a better choice than yellow or orange aesthetically. Red and black looks nice, relatively speaking.

...

Alternate angle: Red is Nintendo's color. Their mascot wears red, their logo is red, it just wouldn't do for them to use anything else if they could help it.

 

 

The argument I've heard is twin camcorder viewfinders would've been an optimum solution. I dunno the res on those, though. May've been inadequate for gaming purposes.

And I know Nintendo was pretty adamant about the battery life issue that the backlights of the day caused(as if the VB didn't suck 'em down already...).