Yes, You Can Buy Virtual Boy Merch At The Nintendo Museum

"An end to the 'Nintendo is ashamed of the Virtual Boy' stories?"

by Damien McFerran Yesterday, 9:30am

Yes, You Can Buy Virtual Boy Merch At The Nintendo Museum 1 — *Image: Damien McFerran / Time Extension*

As you've probably already seen, Nintendo's Japanese museum is close to opening, and the internet has been flooded with preview images showing off exhibits, displays and – yes – merchandise.

As reported by our friends at Nintendo Life, the museum's shop is packed with goodies covering pretty much every era of the company's history, including Wii, N64, Game & Watch and Virtual Boy.

The inclusion of the latter seems to have surprised some people, given that the Virtual Boy is one of Nintendo's most high-profile flops.

While it didn't sell particularly well, Nintendo has acknowledged the Virtual Boy previously; it appeared in Tomodachi Life, WarioWare and even as a bonus item in the 3DS StreetPass mode.

So it perhaps shouldn't come as a massive shock to see Nintendo promoting the Virtual Boy via shirts and other merch, but that doesn't make us want these items any less.

How much is a flight to Japan again?

Damien has been writing professionally about tech and video games since 2007 and oversees all of Hookshot Media's sites from an editorial perspective. He's also the editor of Time Extension, the network's newest site, which – paradoxically – is all about gaming's past glories.

1
Razieluigi
Yesterday, 10:15am

It's nice to see, but Nintendo really missed their chance to give the Virtual Boy its due on 3DS.

Virtual Boy emulation is one of the best reasons to jailbreak a 3DS. It's great that this weird little experiment in Nintendo's history can finally be explored without tracking down (and likely repairing) expensive original hardware.

2
NinChocolate
Yesterday, 11am

I never thought Nintendo felt shame for the VB but rather it probably centers around their feelings about G. Yokoi, which I imagine are entirely respectful as he fathered in an organizational sense the great minds at Ntdo and really set the tone for Nintendo as a tech manufacturer. Now of course G. Yokoi passed tragically not long after his resignation following work on the VB. I could believe his departure and death were enough reason for Nintendo to retire that number, if commercial failure is not the sole factor.

3
romanista
Yesterday, 11:42am

@Razieluigi i agree (and love the virtual biy emulation). But for me the story might be something else here. Maybe the outside world should stop treating Nintendo as if it was a person, with all kinds of heavy emotions and one they have a personal relationship with.

4
Azuris
Yesterday, 12:16pm

@Razieluigi

Yep, they really should have done

5
slider1983
Yesterday, 1:19pm

Now we just need to make sure the merchandise doesn't cause dizziness. 😁

6
NinChocolate
Yesterday, 1:35pm

@Razieluigi Red Viper was a nice way to bring the legacy of the VB full circle. Really nice to have. Nintendo declined to delve back into that project for reasons manifold I imagine, but I think certain legacies in gaming are being realized by fans of preservation when the official source can’t commercialize them.

7
nocdaes
Yesterday, 2:37pm

I thought it was widely accepted that the Virtual Boy was vindicated by the fact it all but certainly laid down the foundations of, eventual, success with the 3DS?

I think the Virtual Boy is impressive for the time. Not being funny, but it's not like VR is anywhere near decent even now, in 2024.

AR and VR have massively stalled. Wearable technology in general has massively stalled. We haven't even reached a point where everyone wears a smart watch, let alone all the other items you would think could and should follow.

In terms of the merchandise... pretty uninspiring isn't it? A whole load of tat and a t shirt (which is all but certainly terrible quality and will look dreadful after 3 washes) if we're being honest?

8
Razieluigi
Yesterday, 3:31pm

@romanista Totally agreed. I do think we tend to personify companies and forget that they don't actually care about anything other than making the next dollar.

But Nintendo does make a lot of those dollars by leveraging this exact same sense of personal connection, so I feel like they still missed a marketable opportunity by not bringing a few VB games to the 3DS.

9
Zeebor15
Yesterday, 3:52pm

A flight from the eastern United States is around $1162.40 right now. From North GB it's actually cheaper; $939.97

10
VGScrapbook
Yesterday, 4:17pm

The real shame for Nintendo are the CD-i games, when can we buy the Unholy Triforce Trilogy merchandise?

11
nocdaes
Yesterday, 4:35pm

@VGScrapbook Now that's a water bottle, key ring, t shirt, fridge magnet and pencil case I NEED!

12
NinChocolate
Yesterday, 4:53pm

@romanista Nintendo might not be a person, but it’s been shown that they recognize that they are a company of persons. Particularly in the Iwata era, it’s been hinted that do they have an ‘emotional culture’. Not accidentally, but they actively lead with an emotional culture in order to increase longevity and productivity, and make the kinds of products they do. Maybe it stems from it once being a very old family business that to this day maintains long held alliances among its workers. It does stand in contrast to the more pervasive and so called corporate culture or ‘cognitive culture’ that focuses on competition and business intellect. That often is the sole culture of large businesses. So I don’t feel people are completely missing the mark when they feel Nintendo does make some decisions with feelings, and that there’s something to be admired there.

13
-wc-
Yesterday, 10:18pm

@nocdaes

"Now that's a water bottle, key ring, t shirt, fridge magnet and pencil case I NEED!"

...and this ashtray!

14
N00BiSH
1:40am

@nocdaes don't forget pins and shot glasses and comically oversized pillows

15
Blast16
2:06am

Nintendo for 29 years: We don’t acknowledge Virtual Boy

Nintendo 2024: We’ll do anything for a buck, and we’ve just emptied your bank account 😃👍