The Virtual Boy in the Board Game Aisle

When Nintendo announced its new Virtual Boy accessory for the Switch, I didn’t expect it to unlock a very specific memory from my late twenties… but that’s exactly what happened.

I was walking past the board game section at Goodwill, casually scanning the shelves, when I saw it, the unmistakable, aggressively ’90s EXTREME design of the Virtual Boy box. I actually froze for a second. It couldn’t be what I thought it was. But when I pulled it off the shelf, there it was. Complete. I was in my late twenties at the time and fully aware of the Virtual Boy’s reputation, which made the $4.99 price tag feel even less real.

So I opened the box right there in the aisle. Everything was inside… the headset, the stand, the controller, even the paperwork. At that price, it didn’t matter if it worked. I figured worst case scenario, it would make for a very cool conversation piece on a shelf. Best case? I’d finally get to experience one of Nintendo’s most infamous experiments for myself.

I remember bringing it home and setting everything up on the table like some kind of archaeological find. I still couldn’t quite believe it was real. I put in fresh batteries, connected the stand, adjusted the focus, and slid Mario Tennis into the slot. When I flipped the power switch, there it was, in all its red-and-black glory. It worked. Perfectly.

I didn’t end up playing it very much. The 3D effect was cool in short bursts, but it didn’t take long before my eyes started to protest. Still, I never regretted buying it. I liked having the weird one in my collection… the oddball console that everyone jokes about but almost no one actually owned. It sat on my shelf for a few years before I eventually sold my collection (that’s a story for another day), but for a while, it felt like I had rescued a small, strange piece of Nintendo history.

So when Nintendo announced its new Virtual Boy accessory for the Switch, I couldn’t help but smile. I bought it, of course. I haven’t even used it yet. But apparently I’ve always liked having the weird ones around.