Sure, Nintendo’s Virtual Boy may not survive an actual war, like this Game Boy, but it was the first console capable of displaying stereoscopic 3D graphics. It was released on July 21, 1995 in Japan, priced at $179.95 ($360.26 in 2023), and had games that utilized a parallax effect to create the illusion of depth.
What most people do not know is that the console used LED eyepiece technology developed in the 1980s by US company Reflection Technology. Unfortunately, the console technology had to be downsized due to high costs and shifting of company resources to N64 development. A color LCD system was considered, but it would have been far too expensive to integrate and pumped the retail price of the console to beyond $500 ($1,001 in 2023).
- The Nintendo Switch – OLED Model - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Edition system features a design inspired by the Legend of Zelda: Tears...
- Spanish (Subtitle)
Hardware wise, it features an NEC V810 32-bit RISC chip, which made the Virtual Boy Nintendo’s first 32-bit system, and a pair of 1×224 linear arrays (one per eye), which rapidly scans the array across the eye’s field of view using flat oscillating mirrors. These mirrors then vibrate back and forth at a very high speed, while one speaker per ear provides the player with stereo sound. During its roughly 1-year lifespan, a total of 770,000 units were sold, making it Nintendo’s lowest-selling standalone console to date.
