Nintendo Brings Back Its Most Obscure Console – And Fans Are Mad

In retrospect, Nintendo's Virtual Boy handheld system has mostly earned a reputation as a laughing stock of the video game industry: Conceptually ambitious, half-baked in practice and the company's overall worst-selling standalone video game system.

This made it all the more surprising when – as part of their Nintendo Direct online presentation on September 12, 2025 – it was announced that the infamous flop would return after 30 years. ...Albeit in a format that left fans confused and angry.

Dreams of Virtual Reality

The four-year-long development of the Nintendo Virtual Boy began with technology from company RTI, which created a head-tracking stereoscopic display prototype called the Private Eye. While Sega passed on the idea due to its single-color screen and motion sickness concerns, Nintendo's Gunpei Yokoi (inventor of the Game Boy, among other things) saw promise in it.

However, the technology soon proved to be too ahead of its time: When Nintendo finally released the Virtual Boy in 1995, they had swapped its full-color display for red LEDs to cut its cost (from $500 to $180 at the time) and removed the head-tracking functionality due to concerns over eye strain, motion sickness, and new liability laws.

In the end, of the initial promise of a virtual reality machine, only an uncomfortable, tabletop black-and-red handheld supporting stereoscopic 3D gimmick remained; a form in which Gunpei Yokoi never intended for the system to be actually released. Software support was also limited, as Nintendo prioritized the upcoming Nintendo 64, leaving the Virtual Boy with little developer attention.

Nightmare Drenched in Red

Despite early sales projections in the millions, only about 350,000 units had shipped in North America by the end of 1995, and the system was discontinued the following year after selling just 770,000 units worldwide, far worse than their second-worst-selling standalone system, the Wii U, at 13,560,000 units. The console was never even released in Europe and Australia.

Nintendo had spent heavily on marketing, presenting the Virtual Boy as a leap forward in gaming technology and targeting an older audience. By mid-1996 however, Blockbuster was clearing out units for $50, and the campaign was widely considered a failure, sealing the Virtual Boy’s fate as one of Nintendo’s most notable missteps.

Despite its technical and commercial shortcomings, the console's game library (although just sporting 22 different titles, compared to the 1042 playable on the Game Boy), wasn't all bad, as demonstrated by the high fan demand for titles like Virtual Boy Wario Land. A demand that was never satiated as Nintendo seemingly refused to acknowledge the Virtual Boy's library... until now.

Rest and Unrest

Starting on February 17, 2026, 15 Virtual Boy titles will be made available as part of the Nintendo Classics service, specifically the new Virtual Boy – Nintendo Classics app which is included as part of the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription service (currently priced at $50 per year).

This comes after the company had previously refused to capitalize on the capabilities of its Nintendo 3DS system, which sported the same stereoscopic 3D as the Virtual Boy and would have thus been capable of perfectly emulating potential Virtual Boy re-releases. The Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 however, for which Nintendo Classics are offered, lack this feature.

To compensate, Nintendo has announced Virtual Boy-themed enclosures with built-in 3D glasses that players have to insert their console into. That's right: Not CAN insert their console, but HAVE to. Despite all games theoretically being playable just fine in 2D, either the $100 plastic shell or $25 cardboard shell have been announced to be required to play the titles.

A Rude Awakening

This announcement specifically has been a cause of concerns and anger within the fanbase: Not only is the decision seen as another unnecessary expression of greed – considering that there is no performance-based reason to force customers to buy the add-on – it is also seen as detrimental to the games' accessibility.

Forcing players to keep their Nintendo Switch or Nintendo Switch 2 systems stuck in the shells means that the games won't be playable on a TV screen – effectively removing one of the main appeals of playing video games on the systems, which literally include this functionality in their name. Having to maintain a position where you can look directly into the headset may not be feasible for players with bodily impairments; same goes for the use of the Joy-Con controllers, which are also required to play, according to the trailer.

If any readers are nonetheless interested in experiencing the games which will be released over a longer period of time starting on February 17, 2026, here is a list of all 15 titles confirmed to be coming:

• 3D Tetris
• Galactic Pinball
• Golf
• Innsmouth no Yakata
• Jack Bros.
• Mario Clash
• Mario's Tennis
• Red Alarm
• Space Invaders Virtual Collection
• Teleroboxer
• V-Tetris
• Vertical Force
• Virtual Bowling
• Virtual Boy Wario Land
• Virtual Fishing (only available to Japanese subscribers)

Accordingly, several potential Virtual Boy titles have not been confirmed for re-release:

• Bound High (playable, but officially unreleased)
• Nester's Funky Bowling
• Niko-chan Battle (playable, but officially unreleased)
• Panic Bomber
• SD Gundam Dimension War
• Space Pinball (playable, but officially unreleased)
• Space Squash
• Virtual Lab
• Virtual League Baseball
• Waterworld

But what do you think? Is Nintendo going too far by requiring this new accessory? Or may there be a good reason for it? Let us know in the comments!