It Took Apple’s $3,500 Vision Pro to Make Me Appreciate Nintendo’s Virtual Boy

Virtual Boy Wario Land is one of the most underrated gems of Nintendo’s golden age. You’d never know it since the game was locked away on Nintendo’s Virtual Boy, the oft-derided 3D console now considered Nintendo’s greatest flops. But, times have changed. That awkward goggle-born screen is now the norm with VR headsets. Thanks to one dedicated developer’s Apple Vision Pro emulator, I’ve been able to go back in time with all the 3D effects in what may be the most expensive, excessive way possible.

We’ve seen plenty of emulators arrive on Apple’s devices since May, but few work specifically on Apple’s visionOS. Developer Adam Gastineau released his Apple Vision Pro Virtual Boy emulator VirtualFriend last week, and it’s easily the best way to experience the unknown joys of Nintendo’s $180 foray into 3D. 

You don’t get the full 3D effect through screenshots, but it’s very obvious during gameplay. Gif: Kyle Barr / Gizmodo

There are only a paltry few games that exist for lead designer Gunpei Yokoi’s Virtual Boy, but there are plenty of interesting titles in there well worth your time. Mario Clash and Mario’s Tennis are simple though interesting takes on Nintendo’s platformers and sports games thanks to the 3D effects. The Japan-only Bound High is a surprisingly fun game about crushing enemies with your face from a unique perspective (that being, face down). 

And yes, Wario Land is one of the most interesting takes on Mario’s original formula from both the Game Boy era and after. Some attacks and blocks send you darting into the distant end of the screen and back, allowing for a host of interesting puzzles. You can see its influence in exploring depth in 2D today on modern platformers as recent as Rayman Legends and Super Mario: Wonder.

Other Virtual Boy emulators like Virtual Boy Go already work well for headsets like the Meta Quest 3. Still, VirtualFriend is intuitive and seamless, perhaps more so than other current iOS emulation apps. You can control eye separation in-game with a pinch of your fingers if the 3D doesn’t look quite right. Plus the AVP’s ability to throw the screen around the room means you can make the window as comfortably big as it needs to be. It needs to be said, that these near-30-year-old games look especially sharp on the AVP’s micro-OLED displays. 

Gif: Kyle Barr / Gizmodo

Gastineau said on Twitter he has been working on the emulator since last December, even before Apple debuted its Vision Pro. Once you look behind the scenes, its pretty clear why the emulator took so long. The project required Gastineau get tier 3 Rust targets Vision Pro, meaning the codebase supports the hardware. VirtualFriend was originally meant as an iOS app, but Apple’s still being obtuse over which emulators it accepts or denies on the App Store. The developer said Apple only approved his Virtual Boy recreation once he dropped the iOS version of the app from the queue. 

At the very least, all the effort seems worth it in the end. Researchers argue that the original Virtual Boy, even with its glaring red-and-black 3D display, was a game changer. Now that I’ve managed to play some of these long-forgotten games without a headache or neck cramps, I can’t help but agree. 

Of course, a $3,500 headset isn’t the best option to try out a console that launched 29 years ago for a mere $180, but price remains the consistent issue with Apple’s beleaguered headset. You can nab a Virtual Boy second-hand for under $300, or just go out and acquire a cheaper headset. However, if you’re one of those lucky few who still owns Apple’s expensive spatial computer, you owe yourself to at least try these forgotten games for yourself.