Gunpei Yokoi's Withered Technology: Virtual Boy, Game & Watch, Wonderswan, etc. Let's laterally think!

[Kazin]

Found last night at one of the game shops here in town:

That's a pretty great price for that, sealed. Did you pick it up?

I’m sad that the new Game and Watches are apparently a huge pain to hack, because I’d love to turn one into a G&W Gallery machine.

I am definitely 100% hacking my Zelda one, as soon as instructions come out (they may have already, haven't looked in a few days). Having a Start and Select button makes so many more games viable on it compared to the Mario G&W.

I'll post about it here if I'm successful, and if then you want me to hack yours, we could work something out.

 

[ArugulaZ]

Yeah, the Microvision was made back in the late 70s and as such was super primitive. The CPU was built into the carts rather than the system and the screen had a whopping 16x16 pixel resolution. It made the Game Boy seem like a Rolls Royce by comparison. And yet there was just enough there in 1985 (when I got my first) to be entertaining.

 

[Kazin]

You all should send me your Microvisions (I've never even held one, much less seen on IRL lol)

 

[ThornGhost]

I've been meaning to post this in here for a while now, but if you are looking for a cheap and easy to find way to display your new G&Ws, I have found that a phone pop socket works great. It preserves the clean look of the device unlike a lot of the cradles you find, plus you can just pop it in when you want to play.

 

[Kazin]

Bought my first Game & Watch unit in quite a while - Donkey Kong Circus, a super, super rare one that usually goes for $500 for just a working unit. For $250, I got a busted unit in great cosmetic condition, and the box in kind of crap condition, but there nonetheless. After taking it apart, replacing a ribbon cable the community has come up with a replacement part for, and by resoldering the top PCB so the Right button worked, I now have a fully working unit AND box. I'm super, super pumped. Pics below (taken from the eBay listing since the repairs are all inside anyway and my camera sucks):

51/58 original Game & Watches collected. Seven to go. Gonna be a while - as you can imagine, they're the really expensive ones.

 

[Phantoon]

Bought my first Game & Watch unit in quite a while - Donkey Kong Circus, a super, super rare one that usually goes for $500 for just a working unit. For $250, I got a busted unit in great cosmetic condition, and the box in kind of crap condition, but there nonetheless. After taking it apart, replacing a ribbon cable the community has come up with a replacement part for, and by resoldering the top PCB so the Right button worked, I now have a fully working unit AND box. I'm super, super pumped. Pics below (taken from the eBay listing since the repairs are all inside anyway and my camera sucks):

51/58 original Game & Watches collected. Seven to go. Gonna be a while - as you can imagine, they're the really expensive ones.

That's beautiful. Very jealous

 

[MetManMas]

Had to look this up for myself.

 

[Kazin]

Yeah, the light comes through the semi transparent white bit when the unit is open, which then projects the image of the game onto the mirror for the player to see. It's quite well designed in my opinion, at least in terms of use - the Panorama units (as they're called) are by far the easiest Game & Watches to see, provided sufficient lighting. The tabletop units that look like little arcade cabinets work in the exact same way.

I'd meant to post about the gameplay too - the Donkey Kong Circus/Mickey Mouse Panorama units (which are clones of each other, just with DK/Mickey Mouse graphics swapped) are the one Game & Watch game I'd never actually played, so I was excited to finally try this one. It's a spin on Chef of all things, though in this game fireballs come down that you want to avoid. It's pretty fun! Not hundreds of dollars fun, of course, but then I'm a sucker for these things and want to collect them all anyway.

 

[Kazin]

Good news is, I have wireless controller functionality for my Virtual Boy now, courtesy of RetroOnyx. Bad news is, my Virtual Boy has the beginnings of graphical glitches, which apparently means the connections inside are starting to deteriorate! It's not so bad at the moment, and after playing for a while and making sure my flash cart was seated well, nearly disappeared. I'll have to do some research on how to fix it, and am considering buying an already broken unit to practice on and hopefully fix, to then flip. Sucks! I wonder if I haven't been using my Virtual Boy enough lol. I wanted to play through Jack Bros. this year on actual hardware!

The wireless functionality is nice though, since the power running from the actual VB controller can be accidentally shut off if you put pressure on it from the bottom, which is easy to do if your hands are resting on a table (which they would be - how the heck else are you supposed to play VB?). Now I can get as comfortable as possible to play VB. And, maybe in the future I'll consoleize a VB if I can't fix a broken eye, for which wireless functionality will be crucial lol

 

[Kazin]

Has there been a VB emulator for a VR headset yet? Because that seems like an obvious idea but I can't say I've ever heard of it.

There's this, but I don't have a VR headset so I have no idea how well it works.

 

[Troa11]

Has there been a VB emulator for a VR headset yet? Because that seems like an obvious idea but I can't say I've ever heard of it.

Not strictly a VR based emulator - but 95% sure that the Mednafen core will render the game 3D (like, you would send to a 3D TV or projector) and then a VR app like BigScreen Beta will let you view that in a 3D screen in your headset. Not 100% authentic but... similar?

 

[Kazin]

So I sent my Virtual Boy off to get the Virtual Ribbon repair install service from Stone Age Gamer, and decided to play a game I never had before on my flashcart when I got the system back today, and booted up Space Squash.

I had a blast playing it, and actually beat it. My back hurts and I'm a little sore from playing the Virtual Boy for like an hour straight, but I honestly had a lot of fun. The 3D actually matters, here, and it doesn't suck like Red Alarm or whatever! It's essentially 3D third person Pong, and you can put some English on the ball when you hit it and there are different shaped arenas and barriers and stuff, and even bosses every five levels or so. The hardest boss, for me, was the monkey robot, which is the second to last - it periodically stretches it's arm out to hit you, and can reach you from any part of the level, so as soon as you hear him start to attack, you have to move to dodge, while also keeping an eye on the ball to make sure it doesn't get past you. The last normal match gave me a lot of trouble, too - he plays nearly perfectly, and hits the ball back at you hard, so you don't have a lot of time to react, but thanks to the excellent depth of field effects, you can hang in there. Having limited continues sucks, but I was able to squeak through with one extra one by the end.

I can't imagine this would play well at all without original hardware, though, so unless you're a fellow sicko who has a Virtual Boy and the ability to play Space Squash (an actual cart appears to be going for $150+ on eBay, which I can't say is worth it, as much fun as I had with it), I wouldn't bother emulating it.