I'd like to present to you a hypothetical timeline. As you know, in the year 1995, Gunpei Yokoi, father of the Nintendo Gameboy and the man who practically invented handheld gaming (for all intents and purposes), created one last project for Nintendo, meant to be his farewell gift, his swan song before he left the company to pursue new interests: The Virtual Boy, the world's first 3D handheld gaming device. This timeline assumes that Nintendo, instead of rushing the Virtual Boy into the market, decided to test the device, perfecting it until it was ready for release.
From http://www.gameex.info/forums/topic/12241-logos-artwork-random-stuff/page-4
July 21, 1995- Nintendo holds back releasing the Virtual Boy after testers complained of neck pain and sore eyes after thirty minutes of playing. Gunpei Yokoi re designs the VB based on these complaints.
August 10, 1995- Gunpei Yokoi turns in the base schematics for the redesigned Virtual Boy. Instead of a portable system, it is a console that does not require a television to be played, relying instead on a pair of specialized goggles that transmit the images. Unlike the red and black of the original, it uses a more soothing black and white color scheme.
September 19, 1995- The first test VB based on Gunpei Yokoi's redesign is completed. Testers react more positively to the machine, but consider the relatively short cable extension in the controllers to be a problem. Nintendo solves this issue by extending the chord by a good three feet.
October 20, 1995- Yokoi once again redesigns the Virtual Boy to be less clunky. Inspired by the technology found on RC cars, he develops a cordless controller for the Virtual Boy.
October 24, 1995- Yokoi shelves his idea for a cordless controller, opting instead to extend the cord on the goggles.
November 11, 1995- Nintendo calls a meeting to discuss the Virtual Boy's future. By a small margin, the brass elect to wait for Yokoi to finish re designing the console, rather than cancel it. The Playstation 1 is slowly gaining momentum.
January 3. 1996- Gunpei Yokoi finishes his designs for the new Virtual Boy. Shaped like an N64, it doesn't connect to a television, rather, it has a second set of slots above the controller slots for attaching goggles. The goggles have cords that run four feet in length.
June 23, 1996- The Nintendo 64 is released. Nintendo is slowly losing to Sony.
July 19, 1996- The Virtual Boy is tested for the last time. It's a hit. Nintendo begins developing new games for the system.
April 21, 1997- Nintendo releases the new Virtual Boy and markets it as a toy. Seven games have been made for it: Tetris 3D, Virtual Wario Land, among others. With little faith in the project, Nintendo hopes to break even with the console, focusing their attention on the N64 and the new Gameboy Pocket.
July 21, 1997- Nintendo releases Virtual Star Fox, the direct sequel to the 1993 hit game, for the VB, the game many point to as the saving grace for the system. VB sales double upon the game's release. Star Fox is becoming Nintendo's second biggest franchise, right behind Super Mario.
October 4, 1997- Exactly what happened in our timeline, happened here. The world of gaming is in shock over the unexpected death of Gunpei Yokoi.
February 11, 1998- Nintendo releases Pocket Monsters Virtual for the VB, a Pokemon game with a 3D perspective that focuses on battling Pokemon. The cartridge possesses a specialized slot that allows the player to link up their copy of Pocket Monsters Red, Green, or Blue, transfer their collected Pokemon, and battle them in game. The game becomes the highest grossing game on the Virtual Boy. Released worldwide as Pokemon V, the Virtual Boy began to sell as much as the N64.
November 11, 1995- Nintendo calls a meeting to discuss the Virtual Boy's future. By a small margin, the brass elect to wait for Yokoi to finish re designing the console, rather than cancel it. The Playstation 1 is slowly gaining momentum.
January 3. 1996- Gunpei Yokoi finishes his designs for the new Virtual Boy. Shaped like an N64, it doesn't connect to a television, rather, it has a second set of slots above the controller slots for attaching goggles. The goggles have cords that run four feet in length.
June 23, 1996- The Nintendo 64 is released. Nintendo is slowly losing to Sony.
July 19, 1996- The Virtual Boy is tested for the last time. It's a hit. Nintendo begins developing new games for the system.
April 21, 1997- Nintendo releases the new Virtual Boy and markets it as a toy. Seven games have been made for it: Tetris 3D, Virtual Wario Land, among others. With little faith in the project, Nintendo hopes to break even with the console, focusing their attention on the N64 and the new Gameboy Pocket.
July 21, 1997- Nintendo releases Virtual Star Fox, the direct sequel to the 1993 hit game, for the VB, the game many point to as the saving grace for the system. VB sales double upon the game's release. Star Fox is becoming Nintendo's second biggest franchise, right behind Super Mario.
October 4, 1997- Exactly what happened in our timeline, happened here. The world of gaming is in shock over the unexpected death of Gunpei Yokoi.
February 11, 1998- Nintendo releases Pocket Monsters Virtual for the VB, a Pokemon game with a 3D perspective that focuses on battling Pokemon. The cartridge possesses a specialized slot that allows the player to link up their copy of Pocket Monsters Red, Green, or Blue, transfer their collected Pokemon, and battle them in game. The game becomes the highest grossing game on the Virtual Boy. Released worldwide as Pokemon V, the Virtual Boy began to sell as much as the N64.
October 17, 1998- The Virtual Boy's price lowers to $150, from $230. Because Gunpei Yokoi never left Nintendo, Bandai never makes the WonderSwan.
January 19, 1999- Nintendo announces Pocket Monster Gold and Silver for the Gameboy Color, and Pocket Monster Virtual Stadium for the Virtual Boy.
September 21, 1999- Nintendo makes plans for a new, more advanced version of the Virtual Boy. The project is given the tentative name Virtual Boy 2.
March 10, 2000- Nintendo finishes their first design for the VB2. Testing begins.
October 2002- Nintendo announces the VBX (Virtual Boy Next). It is released six months later.
September 15, 2005- Nintendo is in a distant third in the home console market. They determine that the cause is the fact that they have split the market with their Gamecube and VBX consoles being out at the same time. A vote is held to determine the next course of action. By a slim margin, it is decided to discontinue the Virtual Boy line.
I have reason to believe that, even if Nintendo had waited to release the Virtual Boy when Gunpei Yokoi had perfected it, that the Virtual Boy's success would have been limited. I don't believe the Virtual Boy would have been a portable console, because the hardware would have been rather demanding. I've reason to think that the Virtual Boy was destined to fail: if it had been released as a portable unit, it would have faced competition from the Gameboy itself, and had it been released as a home console, it would have faced competition from the Playstation 1, the N64 AND the Sega Saturn.
Had the Virtual Boy been marketed as a novelty toy with a limited library of games, the console would have probably have been a sleeper hit at best, if a few good games had not been released for it. That timeline I proposed? That's me being optimistic.
The truth is that, during the fifth and sixth console generations, Nintendo was facing stiff competition from Sony on the home console market, but practically owned the handheld console market. Having another console on either market would not have been beneficial to Nintendo, because it'd just be adding another product to both markets that would compete with their own products.
The Virtual Boy, I believe, was destined to be a sleeper hit at best, but in no way could it have competed against the Playstation or the Gameboy.
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