23
votes
Nintendo adding Virtual Boy to Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack, with Virtual Boy replica accessory to play games in 3D
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- Title
- Virtual Boy – Nintendo Classics – Nintendo Direct 9.12.2025
- Authors
- Nintendo of America
- Duration
- 1:22
- Published
- Sep 12 2025
"Hey, you know what people would really like?" - "Older Pokémo-" - "That's right, a pseudo re-release of our worst failing gaming console that haunts our company history to this very day! Brilliant!"
Oh, so I'm not the only one who is waiting for them to release gen I and II, so that we can finally play Stadium 1 and 2 properly?
Lol no, it's a repeating sentiment in the whole community that they keep giving us stuff nobody asked for while the games literally everyone screams for get ignored.
I'm amazed that Nintendo overlooked the opportunity to re-release Virtual Boy titles on the Nintendo 3DS, further evidenced by the Red Viper homebrew software being perfectly capable of running them even in 3D, especially with the New 3DS models.
But at the same time, the "à la carte" approach of selling each retro game individually back then wouldn't be ideal, given most people would only stick to popular franchises like Mario and Zelda and ignore the more obscure titles. Accessing much of the retro game library through Nintendo Switch Online subscription is a logical decision, given the higher likelihood of people stumbling across games they never knew of without the need of coughing up money on the spot.
Getting either the $110 CAD Virtual Boy replica or the $30 CAD cardboard counterpart to view them in 3D, though, might pose some friction to that curiosity. Part of me is wondering if it's even possible to play them in 2D instead, despite it not being ideal for some of those.
I'm getting increasingly annoyed that Nintendo has replaced the a la carte approach to their old games with subscribing to Nintendo Switch Online. I have zero interest in paying for online multiplayer, so if I were to subscribe to NSO it would be entirely for the Virtual Console. But why would I pay a subscription for games - single-player games, especially? And on top of that they have the gall to charge more than double for more than half of the systems, which tend to be the most desirable ones for me. And this is yet another system they are putting behind that extra-high paywall. But you have to pay even more to play them the way they're actually meant to be played!
I haven't played through the VB library personally, but from what I understand from people who have, the games are pretty bad overall. So.... what?
This is something I thought of when I first saw the announcement. They are re-releasing their most underperforming system to date, but to play it, you will need:
The barrier of entry to this thing when you lay it all out like that is completely insane.
The biggest benefit of a re-release of a retro console so dependent on its form factor like this is because you can't just emulate it on a PC or phone and get the same experience.
Making this tied to the hip both to the Switch/Switch 2 and the highest tier of a subscription service instead of a mini console like the NES and SNES Mini limits its value for game preservation quite a lot. In my opinion, if they really wanted to make this an accessory instead of a mini console, the Virtual Boy games should be a free Switch app with an accompanying retail product you buy, similar to the Mario Kart Live Home Circuit thing where you bought an RC car but the Switch app to control it was free.
I bet there's a market for people who've seen the Virtual Boy in YouTube videos but weren't alive when it came out, or who were around back then and never got to use it, and are interested in trying it out for themselves. This should be accessible to as many of those people as possible, because I bet there's not a lot of them. Only that group of people is gonna pay for this accessory, and those of them who don't already have the Switch and Online and Expansion Pack aren't gonna buy all that just for this.
Shout out to Red Viper, by the way ; as far as I know, it's quite literally the best way to play these games, since it even has 3D without glasses.
Which makes it even funnier that they're doing this on the Switch 2 since it will be a lesser experience from the get-go
Yes... really.
What a wacky release.
What's funny is that in the same direct, they announced a re-release of Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, with both Virtual Boy and Galaxy 2 being "black sheep" that Nintendo has neglected to mention in years past.
Virtual boy was a disaster and was a recipe for head, eye, and neck pain. It's still nice to see Galaxy 2 getting a re-release.
When I saw the announcement, my jaw dropped, and I looked in utter astonishment at the overview of the peripheral until they changed the subject.
I don't know what words to use to describe what I felt. Part of me went, "Why?", and part of me went, "This is why I love this company".
I think that this is the Nintendo Switch 2's Labo. Nintendo just loves to manufacture toys that interact with their video games. Good on them.
Maybe they'll bring back R.O.B.
The monkey paw curls
R.O.B. is back, but he's an AI with unmutable LLM functionality telling you how good a g4m3r you are.
Give him a mic and let him terrorize trash talkers in online games. Maybe he can redeem them through giving them positive attention. Or annoy them into behaving to avoid having him join the chat.