The Virtual Boy is a 32-bit tabletop video game console developed and designed by Nintendo, first released in Japan on July 21, 1995 and later in North America on August 14 of the same year. The following lists contains all of the games released for the Virtual Boy.
Originally unveiled at Nintendo's Shoshinkai Show in Japan on November 15, 1994 and at Winter CES in North America on January 6, 1995,Boyer, Steven. "A Virtual Failure: Evaluating the Success of Nintendos Virtual Boy." Velvet Light Trap, No. 64 (2009): 23-33. ProQuest Research Library. Web. May 24, 2012. it was never intended to be released in its final form but Nintendo pushed the Virtual Boy in its unfinished state to market so that it could focus development resources on the then-upcoming Nintendo 64 and arrived later than other 32-bit systems such as the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, PlayStation, and Sega Saturn but at a lower price,KEVIN RAFFERTY, IN T. "Super Mario Takes Leap into Three Dimensional Space." The Guardian (pre-1997 Fulltext): 0. November 16, 1994. ProQuest. Web. July 8, 2013. retailing at US$179.95 but in mid-1996, Blockbuster was selling Virtual Boy units at $50 each.
The system was overwhelmingly panned by critics and was deemed a commercial failure, selling only 770,000 units before being discontinued both in Japan and North America on and March 2, 1996 respectively, making it the second lowest-selling hardware by Nintendo after the 64DD and its marketing campaign was commonly thought of as a failure. Several additional titles were announced to be released for the Virtual Boy at E3 1996, but ultimately they were never released due to the system’s discontinuation by Nintendo themselves, as were several localizations that were only released in one region.
This lists all games commercially released for the Virtual Boy. For games that were announced or in development but never released, see the list of cancelled Virtual Boy games.
Games Listed here are all officially released Virtual Boy games. Of these, eight titles were exclusive to Japan, three to North America and the other 11 were released in both regions. The Americas saw 14 releases and Japan, Hong Kong, and other Asian territories had 19. A number of games were either announced or already in development before ultimately being cancelled, including Bound High! and NikoChan Battle. Two of these cancelled games, Dragon Hopper and Zero Racers, were officially released in 2026 via Nintendo Classics.
TitleGenre(s)Developer(s)Publisher(s)Release dateJapanNorth America 3D TetrisPuzzleT&E SoftNintendo Galactic PinballPinballIntelligent SystemsNintendo GolfSportsT&E SoftT&E Soft Nintendo Innsmouth no YakataFirst-person horrorBe TopI'MAX Jack Bros.ActionAtlusAtlus Mario ClashActionNintendo R&D1Nintendo Mario's TennisSportsNintendo5 Nester's Funky BowlingSportsSaffireNintendo Panic BomberPuzzleHudson Soft Nintendo Red AlarmShoot 'em upT&E SoftT&E Soft Nintendo SD Gundam Dimension WarTactical role-playing gameLocomotive Bandai Space Invaders Virtual CollectionShoot 'em upTaitoTaito Space SquashSportsTomcat System Coconuts Japan Entertainment TeleroboxerFightingNintendo R&D1Nintendo V-TetrisPuzzleLocomotive Bullet-Proof Software Vertical ForceShoot 'em upHudson SoftHudson Soft Nintendo Virtual BowlingSportsAthenaAthena Virtual Boy Wario LandPlatformNintendo R&D1Nintendo Virtual FishingFishingLocomotive Pack-In-Video Virtual LabPuzzleNacoty J-Wing Virtual League BaseballSportsKemcoKemco WaterworldShoot 'em upOcean of AmericaOcean of America
Notes
References
External links List of Virtual Boy games at MobyGames