Nintendo made a huge announcement this past week during their latest Nintendo Direct: Virtual Boy games will be coming to the Switch 2 and original Switch. These titles will be available to play in all of their red and black (and only red and black) glory for those with a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership.
These Virtual Boy games will only be available to those in the United States and Canada. Also, you're going to need to spend at least $25 to play these titles. Why? Because Virtual Boy games are stereoscopic 3D and require special hardware (namely lenses) to turn the 2D image into 3D.
You will need either the $25 Virtual Boy (Cardboard Model) for the Switch or Switch 2 or the $100 Virtual Boy for the Switch or Switch 2. The $25 cardboard model is, well, just some cardboard and lenses. If you ever had or used Google Cardboard with your phones back in the day, you've got a pretty good idea of what that $25 is getting you.
On the other hand, the $100 Virtual Boy essentially looks identical to the actual Virtual Boy from 1995. I almost get the feeling like Nintendo had a ton of spare Virtual Boys just laying around in a warehouse that they repurposed for this release. The $100 model will let you place your Switch inside and even includes the stand for more "comfortable" viewing experiences.
I'm going to tell you right now, no matter which one you get, the experience will not at all be comfortable. Having the plastic version with a stand is one can of worms, but the cardboard version? Yikes. You have to manually hold it up to your face, at least according to the promotional images Nintendo shared. Nintendo really should have made a version of the Virtual Boy that includes a head strap. The fatigue from staying in proper play position for either the cardboard or plastic versions is going to suck. That's not even accounting for the fact that the red and black visuals will make sure long play sessions won't be happening as your eyes will begin to beg for mercy.
Long play sessions probably aren't too much of a concern though, given that there were only ever 22 Virtual Boy games released over the console's short lifespan. Thus far, Nintendo only announced the release of 14 Virtual Boy titles, leaving a handful of the original releases completely out of the picture.
It will be very interesting to see the reception to these devices when they launch on February 17, 2026. My only experience with the original Virtual Boy was ocassionaly testing out a demo kiosk of one running at Best Buy. For our younger audience: Yes, there was in fact a time where people willingly shoved their faces against a device that countless others had shoved their faces against prior. I came away from that demo kiosk thinking that was kind of neat but also that my eyes hurt and it was extremely awkward leaning in to play games like that. Good times.
Adding to what Zips has mentioned already, if the Best Buy demo kiosk is identical to what Toys "R" Us provided (which was how I experienced it), then it's worth mentioning the kiosks allow adjustable heights because the Virtual Boy was mounted on a pole and not the stupid dinky stand. Since sit down kiosks take up more space, and slows down the shopping experience, this slightly smarter design was the only way to play it while standing up. And EVEN THEN it still manages to hurt your neck, induce headaches, and eventually over strains your eyes. So we had the BETTER version of the Virtual Boy that was mounted, and we played well within the 15-30 minute recommended time limit, YET IT STILL MANAGES to leave us feeling worse than before (did you know Virtual Boys provided an optional auto-pause every 15-30 minutes for breaks?).
I remember Japanese TV shows would have a warning disclaimer to watch from a reasonable distance and in good lighting for proper eye health. This is the complete opposite of that, though I suppose you can make the same argument as VR headsets. Deciding to get the games in now for the Switch 2, instead of the 3DS during its run was a huge missed opportunity, given the ergonomics of the 3DS and 3D capabilities would've made so much more sense, and now it's too late to bring back Virtual Boy given the lack of hardware for stereoscopic 3D. Might as well make them 2D games and lose the black/red and go for black/white instead.
And from my experience, only Virtual Boy Wario Land and Mario's Tennis (RIP 2 Player Support) were worth playing, and that's it. I couldn't see where the ****ing Hell I was flying in Red Alarm given it was wireframe with no filled polygons unlike SNES' Star Fox (music was good though), and I didn't understand the long-term appeal of Teleroboxer because I had my fill after demoing it (although I do see the internet remembering Teleroboxer fondly, so consider that a successful game). I AM a Punch-Out!! fan though (and played the original arcade, as well as the Newgrounds parody), but Punch-Out!! didn't make me feel uncomfortable every time I looked at the timer and health meters. And stiff punching thrusts of robots seemed like cheap animations for the sake of the 3D effect.
I haven't played Galactic Pinball, but I wonder if tracking a pinball would be uncomfortable given how much motion it involves. I have no idea.
I wanted to check out Innsmouth no Yakata, but the console died before it could even be considered for sale internationally. Still, watching Let's Plays by emulation tells me it's just The House of the Dead using Lovecraftian inspired horrors (I say inspired... I doubt it accurately represents the horrors described in The Shadow over Innsmouth), and making it into a first-person shooter... Not Wolfenstein 3D style, but NES Golgo 13 style... As in VERY BORING IDENTICAL CORRIDORS AND MOVING THROUGH THEM AS STILL IMAGES FOR THE ENTIRE GAME.
I don't understand why this and why now? If you were going to do it, it should've been back in the 3DS and let it die with the 3DS. Otherwise, you should've let it remain as 2D and have it as a small announcement, playable with multiple color palettes and in portable/docked mode. No, the games will suck because it RELIED on 3D to have ANY appeal, but it would be a nice bonus to the Nintendo Classics for posterity, and Wario Land has enough substance to be considered worth playing through.