The Return of Nintendo’s Worst-Selling Console Could Be More Glorious Than We Thought

Nintendo’s Virtual Boy deserves your respect. At least, that seems to be Nintendo’s latest missive, as it’s set to bring back its worst-selling console from the grave as a Switch 2 accessory. What’s more, Nintendo’s $100 Virtual Boy recreation may be the best way to experience the eye strain-inducing early rendition of 3D gaming thanks to several exclusive features and games that went unreleased until now.

If you weren’t already aware, Nintendo’s faux-3D console from 1995 is once again offering players the chance to hunch down into a pair of goggles built into a kickstand. Instead of using the 30-year-old device’s novel single LED strip and rotating mirrors, it instead asks you to slot in the Switch 2 to act as its stereoscopic screens. In its latest video, Nintendo showcases the games that will launch alongside the actual Virtual Boy peripheral. There are some oldies but goodies you’ve probably never had the chance to play before.

Nintendo is bringing back several games like Galactic Pinball, Golf, and 3D Tetris that were only ever available on the Virtual Boy. There are more oddities in store, such as Teleroboxer, a kind of Mike Tyson’s Punch Out! style game, but instead of smacking up Glass Joe, you’re beating up a robot (this seems to be a trend in robotics nowadays).

The console will also ship with Japan-only titles like The Mansion of Innsmouth, an early 3D maze-like adventure game. There are also the unknown classics like Red Alarm and Wario Land. The latter game uses the stereoscopic 3D effect in interesting ways, allowing players to jump back and forth from foreground and background platforming sections.

Nintendo promises we’ll get even more games throughout 2026, including Mario Tennis, Space Invaders Virtual Collection, Virtual Bowling, Vertical Force, and V-Tetris. The big benefit of this device is that Nintendo plans to release several “unreleased†titles, including Zero Racers and D-Hopper. These titles were notoriously previewed in early video games magazines and shown off at trade shows but never saw the light of day, mostly because the Virtual Boy crashed and burned.

The Virtual Boy will have extra features, being that this is merely an emulation of the real thing. Like other titles in the Nintendo Classics collection, you can suspend the game to drop a save point, change your control scheme or rewind a few frames if you screw up a particularly hard shot in Golf. Nintendo says there will be more exclusive features, including the ability to change the screen color from red to yellow, green, and white. You’ll have to remove the Virtual Boy peripheral’s built-in red filter to get these color changes.

As one of the few people on this floating blue orb in space who actually enjoys the still-unrealized concept of stereoscopic, faux-3D gaming, I’m hoping the Virtual Boy peripheral may showcase more of what this kind of medium has to offer. I’ve played emulations of Virtual Boy in VR, and the experience is far more engrossing than many players realize today. Sure, goggles built on a kickstand are a recipe for eye and neck strain, and the novelty may wear off quickly for some. For others, it’s a mode to see the untapped potential of 3D displays.