The Virtual Boy doesn’t exactly have the best reputation. The hardware was definitely one example of Nintendo missing the mark, and its been the butt of jokes ever since its release. Many think of it as Nintendo’s greatest example of failure, and while it’s certainly near the top, it’s not actually the company’s biggest misstep.
While the Virtual Boy didn’t sell much, it did end up surpassing total sales of the Satellaview and 64DD. Obviously the big difference there is that the Satellaview and 64DD were Japan-only, while the Virtual Boy made its way around the world. That certainly gave the Virtual Boy a leg up in terms of reach, but the platform still faced serious struggles.
Instead of looking at the Virtual Boy as an abject failure, the device actually helped Nintendo grow and taught developers around it a number of valuable lessons. In today’s video from Did You Know Gaming, we get an extremely deep dive into the system, its goals, the tricks and tactics it employed and much more. While the Virtual Boy might seem like a footnote in Nintendo’s history, you might be surprised to learn just how much it paved the way for Nintendo’s future.
