This is the first part of *facepalm*: a series of articles in which I discuss things that make you slap your forehead with your palm. Embarassing things. Failed things. Yeah they make you cringe to think about them, but I’m giving them a fair chance. An objective look at the things society scoffs at and wishes didn’t exist. So what better subject to start out with than:
It’s been maybe a month now since I picked up the virtual boy, and I still only have two games for it. Mario’s Tennis and Wario Land. That’s perfectly fine though, I don’t think I’d want to subject myself to the other games. I’ve heard they were pretty bad.
So in a nutshell, the virtual boy is a strange mixture of a console and a portable system. It doesn’t really plug in to your TV, it’s just a huge visor thing you put your head into. There’s a screen for each eye, giving the illusion of 3D for some games. The controller is pretty clunky looking — and it takes six AA batteries. Hey! Just like the Game Gear!
Mario’s Tennis is actually kinda fun, but it’s just tennis with Mario characters. I give it credit though, because it actually feels like you’re on a real court seeing the player in front of you. Instead of most tennis games where it’s just an overhead view.
Warioland is pretty cool too. It’s a very solid platforming game. It attempts to use the 3D effects by having two planes objects can go between. Sometimes you can jump between the foreground and background. Which, is actually an interesting concept, because most 2D games only give you the option of jumping higher or lower.
The Virtual Boy is a goofy system that failed miserably. But if you ever come across one, I suggest picking one up. There are a handful of games that are actually kinda fun for it.
There is always something to be said about failed systems. Lately, I’ve been looking into bad systems. Well, in a sense that they weren’t supported for nearly as long as their competitors.
