Miyamoto: Virtual Boy Not a Failure, Just Misunderstood

[Tom Goldman]

Miyamoto: Virtual Boy Not a Failure, Just Misunderstood

Looking back on the Virtual Boy, Shigeru Miyamoto sees the system as a successful venture.

In the latest segment of Iwata Asks, a series where Mother/Earthbound creator Shigesato Itoi has currently been interviewing Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata and longtime designer Shigeru Miyamoto, talk of the 3DS led to a reflection on the Virtual Boy [http://www.amazon.com/Nintendo-Virtual-Boy-Video-Game-Console/dp/B000CIV75M]. Though Nintendo's first attempt at a 3D system is generally considered a failure, Miyamoto sees the Virtual Boy in a different crimson light.

Iwata admits the Virtual Boy was a "commercial failure," but also believes that it paved the way for the 3DS. Miyamoto, on the other hand, says that Nintendo's position as a game console manufacturer caused the Virtual Boy to be misunderstood, because he "thought of Virtual Boy as a fun toy."

Miyamoto added: "It was the kind of toy to get you excited and make you think, 'This is what we can do now!'" The Virtual Boy's name and the fact that it was created by Nintendo had people thinking it was the successor to the Game Boy, and even Nintendo was selling it "like the Famicom."

This was a mistake in Miyamoto's eyes, because "as just a fun toy, it's a big success if you break just 50,000," he said. "It sales generated some buzz, and crossed 100,000, then 200,000, then 500,000-quite a good pattern ... [But] when you think of it as a gaming platform, it becomes a failure." Miyamoto didn't think it should be depicted as a game platform in advertising, but he didn't have the authority to change Nintendo's marketing scheme at the time.

Miyamoto admits that the Virtual Boy wasn't as "cool" as the Famicom or NES, with players having to peer into a red tripod, but still feels it was a successful extension of other Nintendo side-projects like the Nintendo Automatic Ultra Scope [http://www.japantrendshop.com/nintendo-love-tester-p-914.html]. However, when the Virtual Boy's approximately 700,000-800,000 sold is put up against Nintendo's other massive selling products, it doesn't appear to be as successful a device.

Source: Iwata Asks [http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interview.html#/how-nintendo-3ds-made/0/1]

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[Rad Party God]

Well, it certainly wasn't a success or even a fun diversion.

My cousin had one and brought it to my home, he had a Bomberman puzzle game and a Mario Tennis esque game, both were nice little diversions, but made my eyes sore and then realised how awful the thing was.

So yeah, Miyamoto is way too optimist in this one and I still see it as an epic and utter failure.

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

Don't... just don't.

A toy that can only entertain you by means of making you imagine how good it could have been is not fun.

A game console with less than fifteen games or something, most of them bad is not a good console.

A gaming device that causes eye strains after playing it for largely insufficient ammounts of times is not a good device.

It was a failure, admit it, forget about it, don't try to defend it, move on.

 

[Worgen]

I kind of liked the virtual boy, too bad it wasnt more portable, really the worst thing about it was that stupid stand you had to use so you had to be hunched over just the right sized desk to play it

 

[Suskie]

Man, sometimes Miyamoto is just too boyish for he own good. Good thing he's also, y'know, the best and most influential game designer of all time. He's got that going for him.

Seriously, though, how will video games ever gain widespread credibility as a universal entertainment medium if one of said medium's pioneers is holding them to the standards of toys? And most people didn't find Virtual Boy very fun at all, so there's that.

 

[Something Amyss]

It's this kind of in touch mentality that made the Gamecube such a hot commoddity.

I kid, mostly, but still. Nintendo's big minds never QUITE strike me as in touch with reality.

 

[GiantRedButton]

it wasnt portable, how is that not a failure for a game boy successor?

 

[Internet Kraken]

Come on Miyamoto. I like you, but this is just silly. Even if you don't judge the virtual boy has a gaming device, it's still a complete failure.

 

[unacomn]

Didn't this cause severe eye pain?
Was the pain meant to be joy, but people misunderstood that?

 

[Scrythe]

I was genuinely following along with this article right up until this line:

Iwata admits the Virtual Boy was a "commercial failure," but also believes that it paved the way for the 3DS.

Now I can't shake the odd thought that after it's failure, Nintendo spend a good two decades with this piece of shit and really thought hard on "How can we make this work?"

Not to sound like a fanboy (or re-ignite the Bit Wars) but Nintendo fans can no longer claim that Sega is the only one still stuck in the 90's, clinging on the few shreds of decency that decade pushed out of it's anus.

So remember kids, Nintendo is all about innovation. And innovation means selling you the same shit over and over again in a shinier and crisper package.

On a more serious note, anyone else still looking forward to Mario Party XIII?

 

[PurplePlatypus]

Being a commercial failure isn?t necessarily connected to what might be learnt from making such a thing. As a piece of tech it was good for just seeing what they could do but it wasn?t really at the stage to make a viable console

 

[John Funk]

I was genuinely following along with this article right up until this line:

Iwata admits the Virtual Boy was a "commercial failure," but also believes that it paved the way for the 3DS.

Now I can't shake the odd thought that after it's failure, Nintendo spend a good two decades with this piece of shit and really thought hard on "How can we make this work?"

Not to sound like a fanboy (or re-ignite the Bit Wars) but Nintendo fans can no longer claim that Sega is the only one still stuck in the 90's, clinging on the few shreds of decency that decade pushed out of it's anus.

So remember kids, Nintendo is all about innovation. And innovation means selling you the same shit over and over again in a shinier and crisper package.

On a more serious note, anyone else still looking forward to Mario Party XIII?

Personally, that's not how I read that at all. Even looking at it in the way you suggest, I don't think that saying "This is a cool idea, but we don't have the technology to properly do it now" and revisiting it when you have tech that works is hardly a bad idea. Rather than being stuck in the past, you could argue that the original was too far ahead of its time.

 

[Covarr]

Calling it now: Virtual Boy Wario Land (and possibly also Mario Clash) are gonna be remade/rereleased for the 3DS.

P.S. Thanks

 

[AngelicSven]

I had one of these atrocious devices. Had no games and gave headaches, thank god I was 10 or so and didn't buy it myself.

Side note, What's with Miyamoto continuously bringing things from the past up? Wasn't he just talking about Super Mario 3 a while back? Maybe he pines for the days when he and Nintendo's ideas were new and innovative.

 

[A Pious Cultist]

Rather than being stuck in the past, you could argue that the original was too far ahead of its time.

You might say "ahead of its time" but I'd say "ahead of itself".

If I tried to make a flying car right now it wouldn't be "ahead of its time" it would be hightly impractical and destined for abject failure. The creators should have realised that their product wasn't technologically advanced enough to do what it needed to do and moved on to other things. There is a good reason lots of things are left as prototypes.

 

[moretimethansense]

A fun toy... not a faliure...

Yes Mr Miyamoto, a very fun toy that only caused minor splitting headaches and a tiny little bit of permanant retinal damage.

It's official, God has gone insane, may he find rest. -_-

 

[John Funk]

Rather than being stuck in the past, you could argue that the original was too far ahead of its time.

You might say "ahead of its time" but I'd say "ahead of itself".

If I tried to make a flying car right now it wouldn't be "ahead of its time" it would be hightly impractical and destined for abject failure. The creators should have realised that their product wasn't technologically advanced enough to do what it needed to do and moved on to other things. There is a good reason lots of things are left as prototypes.

There's no question that the VB was a failure.

But if I tried to make a flying car, and it failed - and then fifteen years later, the technology came around to make a practical flying car that worked, should I not do it because I'd failed 15 years ago?

 

[Waif]

If I had a toy that gave me eye fatigue and headaches after an hour of playing with it, I would call it a bad toy and throw it out. The VB did moderately well at first, but only because people thought it was "virtual reality" made real. The number of units sold does not reflect the number of units returned. I don't know what Mr.Miyamoto is trying to do with this statement, but it wouldn't change my opinion of the VB in the slightest.

 

[bulldogftw]

Yes, because making a console that gives people headaches is a success