Virtual Boy cab on KLOV

[Le Chuck]

So Tighe on KLOV made and has now sold a vitual boy custom cab.  It is cool.  It is a fun original idea.  He was asking 2500 and is reporting as sold tho I don't know the final amount.  

Links:

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=240758

http://www.tighelory.com/2011/06/arcade-virtual-boy.html

I say more power to him, awesome idea that was pretty uniquely executed, but part of me balks at the asking price.  That's just me tho, he did some pretty sweet custom plates but even with that I just don't see the correlation between the price and the cab.  

[Well Fed Games]

Yeah, not sure if I get it either, but I have zero nostalgia for the Virtual Boy. Good so see an original build on KLOV.

[DaveMMR]

but I have zero nostalgia for the Virtual Boy.

Of all the consoles to turn into a pseudo arcade machine, Virtual Boy ranks down in the basement alongside the RCA Studio II and Action Max.

I must say it's very well done and I would proudly display it if I had one - but I just don't get the enthusiasm it gathered at that asking price. It still just plays those headache-inducing, barely-mediocre-at-best collection of red games.

More power to the seller, I say.  

[danny_galaga]

So Tighe on KLOV made and has no sold a vitual boy custom cab

I have no idea what this means, but it sounds exciting!

[Le Chuck]

So Tighe on KLOV made and has no sold a vitual boy custom cab

I have no idea what this means, but it sounds exciting!

My per letter rate doubles for "w" during peak hours so I left it out. 

[ChadTower]

Some of the VB games are fun.  I'd play this if I saw it.  I wouldn't buy it for much more than $350, if that, but it's cool.

[nakeworks]

Maybe he can move onto a semi-fun system like the 32X for his next project?

I just got a 32x in the box off ebay! So excited to finally play all my Sega CD 32x games.  I'd love to see a 32x cabinet. Maybe like a showcase cab where the CP looks like the 32x adapter!?!   

[ChadTower]

Heh, that 32X CD better be a sitdown cab because you're going to have to sit through all those load times.   

[Ginsu Victim]

Nathan Barnatt, aka Keith Apicary of "Talking Classics", bought it. He says we can definitely expect a video in the future based completely around this cabinet.

[opt2not]

Good so see an original build on KLOV.

^^ This.
 

[shmokes]

I suppose it's just not for everyone. I love the Virtual Boy and I think its untimely death speaks to a character flaw in society, rather than Nintendo. I mean, there were some serious issues with it. Primarily, it was too big/heavy to play comfortably for an extended period of time. But Nintendo is universally derided for Virtual Boy when they deserve our respect, even if the experiment was ultimately a failure. But ultimately, it's hard to convince people to pay for the unfamiliar. It's why this Halloween we'll be treated to Saw 12 and next summer we'll get another Transformers, and this summer we'll get a ---smurfing--- reboot of Spider-man, which was only rebooted to critical acclaim and enormous commercial success like a decade ago. Everyone just wants the same thing over and over and over again.

For all their flaws (lately there seem to be more and more), Nintendo is a company that doesn't rest on its laurels. Compare them to Sony and Microsoft. What have those companies ever done but provide incrementally better versions of what had already been done before? Between the two of them, about the only innovation we have that wasn't just an incremental improvement on something already done is the Eye Toy/Kinect (products that are at least as flawed as the Virtual Boy). The Virtual Boy was a legitimately 3D system, and it had a highly innovative gamepad attached to it that gets almost no attention because it's upstaged by its display. But more importantly, this was something unlike anything that had ever been done before. How many times has Nintendo done this? The gamepad. The analog stick. Rumbling controllers. Shoulder buttons. Motion controls. Touch controls (DS). Camera controls. Power pad. And that's just hardware. Nintendo gave us the platformer, the side scrolling platformer, the 3D platformer. And other quirky gems like Animal Crossing, Pokemon, Pikmin, F-Zero, Star Fox, etc., etc., etc.

The Virtual Boy is a videogame experience unlike any you had ever had before. And moreover, it's a pretty cool experience. But whether you like it or not, you ought at least appreciate the fact that it exists. It's pretty amazing that a corporation the size of Nintendo signed off on such a risky project.

[Ginsu Victim]

My only problem with the Virtual Boy is the same as any VR helmet....I can't see. It's too close to my eyes and it's just blurry (which is weird because I'm near-sighted). This cabinet at least solves the problem of making it easier to use.

[ChadTower]

Looking at that cabinet makes me peer curiously at the project Battlezone I have in my basement.   

[DaveMMR]

The Virtual Boy is a videogame experience unlike any you had ever had before. And moreover, it's a pretty cool experience. But whether you like it or not, you ought at least appreciate the fact that it exists. It's pretty amazing that a corporation the size of Nintendo signed off on such a risky project.

I agree with your assessment of Nintendo as a company - I often stick up for many of their decisions on these very boards.  But, sorry, the Virtual Boy was a major misstep with a gimmick Nintendo didn't need at that point (having just come out on top of the 16-bit war in the US). It's not a portable system - but also not a traditional console. The system was seriously uncomfortable to play. It gave players nausea and headaches. There was zero social element to it (although there was a link cable attachment planned but not released). It was pretty much rushed out the door so Nintendo could focus on the Nintendo 64 so many of those glaring issues were not addressed.

But it is practically Nintendo's only major hardware misstep and for that it makes the VB far more interesting that, say, the 32X, and for that I can see it's appeal. As I said, I'd buy a VB and display it proudly. And it'd be cool to fire it up to show it off to others as a nice segue into "remember when everything was 'virtual' in the 90's" discussions. But as for some serious gaming, it doesn't hold a candle to most other consoles where you can actually play for more than 15 minutes without worrying about your eyes.

But, you know, YMMV. 

[Player 3]

The style is oozing. Shame there aren't quite readily-available plans for this thing.

[Tighe]

I never planned on selling this cabinet, I built it for myself, but the opportunity to buy Star Trek: The Next Generation Pinball for $2500 came up and I took a chance and listed the Virtual Boy for that amount, and Nathan was awesome and bought it from me.

[yotsuya]

Good for you, Tighe! 

[Tighe]

$2,500 for a ST:TNG is above market.   

I don't know where you are getting that price, I have been looking all over for the past few years and they are running between $3,200 and $5K.  There was one with popped up on CL for $1,800 but it was non functional and beat to crap.

[ChadTower]

The market on A list pins is WAY UP over the last few months.  It's crazy.