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The Beige Years

Virtual Boy HeadachesHow the Red Screen Got Its Reputation

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Virtual Boy: the manual does warn of headaches, but it ties them to misadjusting it; Yokoi blamed a liability law.

Why the console was red, why it sat on a stand, whether it hurt players, and whether it ended Yokoi at Nintendo.

Subject
The Nintendo Virtual Boy, 1995
Chapters
9
Sources
8
Credits
35
Corrections
0

Sources

8
  • Article4
  • Interview4

Numbered in the order the description lists them. Read dates are when the page was consulted; the live page may have changed since.

  1. [1]
    Article José P. Zagal and Benj Edwards, *Seeing Red: Nintendo's Virtual Boy* (MIT Press, Platform Studies, 2024; open access), ch. 3

    Crafting the Virtual Boy

    archive.org/details/mit_press_book_9780262380669 ↗
  2. [2]
  3. [3]
    Interview Kill Screen Jon Irwin

    Seeing red

    killscreen.com/seeing-red ↗
  4. [4]
  5. [5]
  6. [6]
    Article Nintendo Co., Ltd., Virtual Boy 注意書 (Precaution Booklet, Japan, D-VUE-JPN-1, 1995) and the Virtual Boy Q&A booklet

    for wholesalers and retailers only

    virtual-boy.com/hardware/virtual-boy-small-counter-top-display/manuals/1060256/ ↗
  7. [7]
  8. [8]
    Article Gunpei Yokoi (横井軍平), 「私はなぜ任天堂を辞めたか」 (

    Why I left Nintendo

    No online copy on file

Image & music credits

35
  • License unknown27
  • CC BY 2.03
  • CC BY-SA 3.02
  • CC BY-SA 4.01
  • CC BY 4.01
  • CC BY-SA 2.01

35 photos, from the hosts linked below. Each file name links to the file's page, which carries the full license terms.

#UseFileAuthorLicense
1 Photo https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Virtual-Boy-Set.jpg Evan-Amos, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 License unknown
2 Photo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Gunpei Yokoi.jpg Gunpei Yokoi portrait, en.wikipedia.org License unknown
3 Photo https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Virtual-Boy-wController.jpg Evan-Amos, Wikimedia Commons, public domain License unknown
4 Photo Nintendo Virtual Boy, 2.jpg Christo CC BY-SA 4.0
5 Photo https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Nintendo-Virtual-Boy-Stand-FL.jpg Evan-Amos, Wikimedia Commons, public domain License unknown
6 Photo https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Nintendo-Virtual-Boy-Eye-LEDs.jpg Evan-Amos, Wikimedia Commons, public domain License unknown
7 Photo https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Nintendo-Virtual-Boy-Stand-BR.jpg Evan-Amos, Wikimedia Commons, public domain License unknown
8 Photo Hanafuda Koi-Koi Setup 1.jpg Marcus Richert CC BY 2.0
9 Photo Discarded CRT television.jpg BARTcaptures CC BY 4.0
10 Photo https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Nintendo-Virtual-Boy-Eye-Motor-FL.jpg Evan-Amos, Wikimedia Commons, public domain License unknown
11 Photo Sega-Genesis-Mk2-6button.jpg Evan-Amos CC BY-SA 3.0
12 Photo https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Virtual Boy logo in left eyepiece.jpg Eli Hodapp, Wikimedia Commons, public domain License unknown
13 Photo Game-and-watch-ball.png masatsu CC BY-SA 2.0
14 Photo https://archive.org/details/nextgen-issue-004/page/n4 archive.org License unknown
15 Photo https://archive.org/details/nextgen-issue-003/page/n21 archive.org License unknown
16 Photo https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/PlayStation-SCPH-1000-with-Controller.jpg Wikimedia Commons License unknown
17 Photo Anchorage Blockbuster video store (41894012562).jpg Jon Konrath from Oakland, USA CC BY 2.0
18 Photo https://files.virtual-boy.com/manual/957153/vboy im usa 15.jpg Nintendo, Virtual Boy Instruction Booklet (scan hosted by Planet Virtual Boy) License unknown
19 Photo https://files.virtual-boy.com/manual/957153/vboy im usa 13.jpg Nintendo, Virtual Boy Instruction Booklet (scan hosted by Planet Virtual Boy) License unknown
20 Photo https://files.virtual-boy.com/manual/966595/virtual-boy-precaution-booklet-japan-1-909x1024.jpg Nintendo, Virtual Boy precaution booklet, Japan (scan hosted by Planet Virtual Boy) License unknown
21 Photo https://files.virtual-boy.com/manual/957153/vboy im usa 3.jpg Nintendo, Virtual Boy Instruction Booklet (scan hosted by Planet Virtual Boy) License unknown
22 Photo SGI Indy Retrocomputing on the green (13506859574).jpg Bruno Cordioli from Milano, Italy CC BY 2.0
23 Photo https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Virtualboyinashopinjapan-oct2012.jpg Nesnad, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 License unknown
24 Photo https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Nintendo Switch Virtual Boy operation demonstration.png Talkkaris, Wikimedia Commons, CC0 License unknown
25 Photo https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Virtual Boy - game store demo.jpg Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 License unknown
26 Photo https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Heian-jingū Ō-Torii 1994 (2131118837).jpg Wikimedia Commons, Heian-jingu Torii 1994 License unknown
27 Photo https://interfacemuseum.com/assets/wiki/private-eye/pe-display-unit.png Interface Museum (HCI Museum), Private Eye exhibit License unknown
28 Photo https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Virtual Boy glitch in right eyepiece.jpg Eli Hodapp, Wikimedia Commons, public domain License unknown
29 Photo LED printhead.JPG Kristoferb (talk) CC BY-SA 3.0
30 Photo https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Virtual-Boy-Eyes.jpg Evan-Amos, Wikimedia Commons, public domain License unknown
31 Photo https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/XWz8D8iMA2uLdzgHAQqbiZ.jpg press photograph License unknown
32 Photo https://gizmodo.com/app/uploads/2020/06/grqiaucmdclrqd3yuyy7.jpg Gizmodo, Virtual Boy photograph License unknown
33 Photo https://i.redd.it/gi3q04hzgvy11.jpg r/VirtualBoy photograph License unknown
34 Photo https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Nintendo Virtual Boy (1995) 2.jpg?utm source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm campaign=imageinfo&utm content=original Wikimedia Commons, Nintendo Virtual Boy (1995) 2 License unknown
35 Photo https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Nintendo Virtual Boy, 2.jpg?utm source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm campaign=imageinfo&utm content=original Wikimedia Commons, Nintendo Virtual Boy 2 License unknown

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