Linus Tech Tips has just released a video showcasing the Virtual Boy, as well as it’s community-created enhancements like 2-player mode. It always makes me happy to see popular, mainstream channels take a look at the weird and wonderful things that are often forgotten when talking about classic gaming.
Also, as a fan of the Virtual Boy, it was really refreshing to see the console approached with an open mind and not just a “let’s tease it because I see other people do the same“, like you’ll mostly see on YouTube these days. In fact, I’d say the video is the opposite: An educational and entertaining short look at the console, filled with honest impressions.
…although, I’ll admit it was a bit funny when they realized Luke’s Virtual Boy had the typical ribbon cable problem, resulting in one eye working and the 3D depth being lost. Hopefully, someone in Canada will hook them up with a ribbon cable fix!
For anyone interested, their setup was similar to the one we used for the Hyper Fighting livestream a few months ago (video below), with hardware built by the VB community:
- My refurbished VB with the ribbon fix and dual Virtual Tap’s installed
- Furrtek’s Virtual Tap: Output #1 = 240p RGB output to a Sony PVM monitor for live viewing
- Furrtek’s Virtual Tap: Output #2 = 720p VGA output for streaming
- Two copies of Hyper Fighting for the Virtual Boy provided by an anonymous donor
- VB Link cable provided by Kevin Mellott
- Two Flashboy+ single flash carts, designed by Richard Hutchinson
