And I love how well Japanese people take care of their stuff. Even the question form about what Atlus could do to improve in the future is included!

Sorry for lack of photos, but I have the unit reassembled and really don't want to go through it again lol.

I was interested in trying the "Oven" trick @ projectvb.com/vb/displayfix.html but ovens with their bang-bang heating can sometimes pretty wildly vary in temp, and I didn't want to risk melting one of my VB displays.

Using a trick to separate roller wheel bearings on a 3D printer, I placed both screens, ribbon cable side down on my 3D printer bed and cranked the temp to 90C. (The article recommends 180-200F, 82C-93C). I took a few quarters and placed them on top of the circuit board to weigh it down so the ribbon made contact with the bed.

After about 5 minutes of heating, I pulled them off and "rubbed" down the cables to readhere them best I could. Followed by testing, reheating, testing, reheating, testing until I saw no missing display lines.

Afterward, I used a bit of Kapton tape to reinforce the cables.

Into the future I'm probably going to move forward with more permanently fixing my displays, but for now, I can play Mario Tennis over and over until I buy a new cart. (at least now, it's worth doing).

I hope this helps everyone a bit and hopefully reduces risk to damaging the displays further.

Does anyone else have experience with this? Also first post here fellow self-eyeball-wounding dudes

Final cost: ~500 USD inc. complete VB with tap.

Last week I posted a couple of titbits about my in-progress trip to Japan. Since then, a few people have reached out to ask about 2024 VB game stock levels, prices, etc, and now I’m back I thought I’d write a proper post.

I’m sure a lot of this is known information but if it helps one person then well, that’s OK!

So firstly - this wasn’t a retro games trip for me. I visited with friends to sightsee first-and-foremost; but I’ve wanted a Virtual Boy for years, so I’d planned to use any downtime I could find to go on a hunt for any gems.

Given my trip, this meant most of my time was spent around population centres - namely Tokyo (yikes!), Kyoto, Osaka, Nara and Nagoya. A problem I’d imagine a lot of people will face!

Despite the obvious challenges, during my ten days in Japan, I managed to pick up 10 brand new boxed games and a boxed Virtual Boy for around $500 total. While this might not be the heyday of Japan VB finds, I was pleased to find there were some pretty decent deals out there.

So. Here’s what I experienced as a first-timer:

• To state the obvious, Akihabara (in-general) and Super Potato (Nagoya + Akihabara) weren’t great. There were some cute stores, but for the most part any VB games and consoles were consistently at eBay levels and higher. At Super Potato, vanilla Mario Tennis was over 4 times (!) what I paid for it brand new two days earlier (yikes!).

• Nakano Broadway was often recommended before my trip, and was 100% on my list to hit up. Some reasonably priced stores, but I came back empty handed. Save for a $250 kinda-beat copy of Warioland, I didn’t manage to spot any Virtual Boy titles. This may just be poor timing, so I’d love to know what others find!

• Nagoya’s Akamon Arcade I found surprisingly good, with a small selection of reasonably priced Virtual Boy games spread between its handful of retro game stores. A nice new copy of Teleroboxer for $30 was welcome. A recommendation if you make it out to the Ghibli Park.

• More generally, Suragaya was the absolute godsend of the trip. I managed to pick up at least one brand new Virtual Boy game at every Surugaya I visited, and the VB itself. I would note a few things about Surugaya:

• Their online stock helper typically only showed a small portion of what was in stock at a particular store, so I found visiting was worthwhile regardless.

• However, when they did show something as in stock in a particular store, it typically was accurate, though prices rarely matched what was online (I saw both higher and lower in store - a VB priced at 56,000 online was 79,000 in store! Eeep!)

• I picked up a couple of games in smaller independent stores in Nagoya, only to find them later in Surugaya at lower prices. I liked the balance between convenience (they’re often near population centres) and reasonable price at Surugaya.

• Finally, as of writing, Surugaya Shinjuku has Golf, Baseball, V-Tetris, Mario Clash, and Bomberman in stock.

• For rarer games in 2024; I had less luck in both Surugaya and in general. I found a couple of copies of Jack Bros, Warioland etc at independent stores - but all at prices not far off what you’d pay online. I’d be fairly confident that there are deals out there; but less so where I was visiting!

• Picking up a console itself was easily the biggest challenge of the trip. For the most part stores seemed to be out of stock or marking them up in the 80-100,000 yen range. In fact, I only encountered four in stock during my entire trip. I fortunately got lucky with a four-hour detour out to Surugaya Honjo once my friends had left (final price 41,000 boxed!). So decent deals do still exist, but it might not be easy!

That’s my brain dump of what I saw during my trip while it’s still fresh. I hope it helps. If anyone’s planning a trip and has questions about stock levels in specific stores etc, I’m happy to hang around in the comments!

So im having a complete shitshow of a system and after ive tried to clean the battery pack (it failed, thing is dead from what i can see and needs all the metal springs replaced) i have a controlrr with broken off contacts. Are there any replacements? Cause i cant just solder them together, it coroded right where the springy connection is.

If someone here has an idea on how to fix the contacts i would be very greatfull, this repair drives me nuts and the ribbon replacent cables for the lenses havent even arrived yet

VBjin is blue-red but my is pink-green

https://preview.redd.it/eptng429c50d1.png?width=1600&format=png&auto=webp&s=93e2f63017e8f4c43ee2558e70db928b3c0435f9

So as the title says i want to remove the contacts from the inside of the battery pack. I know they can be slided out, but there is virtually no info ok hoe to do it. Ive watched some videos and some threads where it says that oke has to unhook some hooks inside but its never fully shown where those are supposed to be.

Anyone here knows the secret how to slide the battery pack contacts out?

Edit: solved it, one has to bend/break those flimy plastic clips off and then one can push the bottom tray out.

No duplicates. Missing 3 games. Mario Tennis japanese demo, virtual bowling and virtual lab (have lab and bowling as repro cib fillers).

So much more to collect! 😀

So, I have no idea what kind of deal I got on these, but I’ve picked up six brand new Virtual Boy games between Kyoto and Tokyo, and I’m super happy to start my VB journey :)

Just wanted to share!

I have revised my initial version of the USB-C module. It now will have a hole so your finger can remove the module from the controller without risk of damaging the USB-C socket. This will also have gold plated edges put there by the factory instead of me hand soldering copper tape (typically why there's a delay in order fulfillment), this ultimately will make them more reliable and longer lasting.

Pre-Orders end this Friday (May 10th) at 11:59pm EDT. Link in the top comment.

Hey folks,

I’ve been searching for a Virtual Boy around the usual haunts in Tokyo, and the only option I’ve found is a boxed virtual boy for 90,000 yen, which feels (?) a little pricey.

I’ll be headed to Kyoto shortly, but does anyone know of any retro games stores which may hold stock right now or offer an online stock checker (either in Tokyo or Kyoto)?

I picked up a nice new copy of Mario Clash (thanks Surugaya Shinjuku!), but the console itself has eluded me so help would be much appreciated!

I use an app to catalog my game collection and it categorized the Virtual Boy as a “handheld” system, in company with the Game Boy and Atari Lynx. I asked them about it and their take was that it (by default) is battery operated and has its own built in screen(s), that it’s a handheld. I have no intention of arguing with them, but we all know that definition would also include models of the Nintendo Switch, which they classify as a “home console”, the same as Playstation and XBox.

If a defining characteristic is “it has its own screen”, then certain PSOne models came out of the box with a screen, and other consoles like the PS2 and Dreamcast had third-party attachable screens and there’s a long history of televisions with built-in consoles, dating from before Atari and including Atari 2600, NES, SNES, Turbographix, Dreamcast, N64, and PS2. In Sony’s case, it’s all in-house, rather than a TV manufacturer that built in an unshelled console.

If battery power defines a “handheld”, then it’s true that the VB came with an attachable battery box and it drained AAs like its Game Boy, Game Gear, and other power-hungry contemporaries. Also, like other competing handhelds, Nintendo sold AC adapters. I couldn’t find any battery systems for other legacy home consoles. Even the PSOne with its factory screen still had to be plugged into an AC outlet or a DC vehicle cigarette lighter socket (and I wouldn’t define that as “handheld”, though it would be “portable” in a way.)

The biggest conflict with categorizing it as a “handheld” is that you can’t hold it in your hand while playing it. In fact it wasn’t designed to be held at all while playing, just its controller. Except for a few simple games like Hamburgers en route to Switzerland, I don’t think you can physically play with just one hand on the controller and the other holding the VB unit against your face; and that would get uncomfortable pretty quickly.

While everything that was needed to play came in the Virtual Boy’s box (except the batteries, which in the US market Nintendo would mail you a set of six Duracell AA batteries if you registered your VB), unlike home consoles from Atari 2600 to PS5/Xbox-X that needs AC power and a TV to play, it also isn’t like a 3DS or PSP that you could whip out and switch on to start playing, as the Virtual Boy required multi-part assembly if it was stored in a hard or soft case or anything smaller that a 12” cube box to carry it around, fully-assembled on its stand.

So what would you call it, since those of us on the sub are generally Virtual Boy enthusiasts and not dismissive outsiders that would call it just a failed paperweight.

View Poll

Hey everyone, I recently got a VirtualBoy and I'm looking for some advice on getting started with it. Any recommendations on must-have games, accessories, or tips for optimal gameplay? I'm excited to dive into the world of VirtualBoy and would appreciate any advice you can provide. Thanks in advance!

https://x.com/iam_agg/status/1784674863099359739?s=46&t=gZT7FlLn3NBfZlfQqWx0ew

Hey all, I just got my virtual boy for $240 shipped to me today. When I got it all plugged in, it won’t move past the start up screen. Looking, they’re saying that’s an entire motherboard replacement, which I’m hoping not because that’s an extra $100 for the part and probably new screwdrivers too. Is the diagnosis I found online right, or is there something else? Thank you all!

What game would you make on Virtual Boy if you had the ability to snap your fingers and make it happen?

Edit: I don’t mean unreleased games but unique ideas

Made a petition to group VB fans to show we want to see the canceled games. Any and all signatures help.

https://chng.it/RrXLGLcyjN
Thanks

https://www.change.org/p/release-canceled-virtual-boy-games-g-zero-dragon-hopper?

Someone made this petition for canceled VB games. I'm not responsible for this, but I'll try to help spread the word. I don't know if there is any possibility of this being successful, but at least we don't lose anything by trying. Make your contribution, it only lasts a few seconds!

I’m currently in Japan on vacation and picked up a VirtualBoy from a Hard Off in Mitaka. Side note, if anyone on here is around Tokyo in the near future this Hard Off is currently a gold mine for retro games, easily the best one. I paid ¥50,000 for it, mint in box with the boxed pinball game, which is around £260 at the time. I’ve seen the box only going for that online recently so I wasn’t surprised when there ended up being an issue with it 😂 I tried it with both batteries and and power supply and the game runs fine, just the left screen isn’t working properly. It appears a lot dimmer than the working right screen but some vertical lines are brighter than others. If it wasn’t boxed away it upload a pic, and still will if it’s necessary. It’s like the image is there but certain vertical lines are brighter than others but none are as bright as they should be. I was initially thinking the screen might need replacing but thinking about it, it sounds like it could be a soldering issue and a ribbon needs reflowing if my limited work on DMG GameBoys translates correctly here too. Has anyone else had this issue before? If I could get away with repairing the parts that are already in this VB it’d be ideal. Thanks for any feedback :)