I don’t think anyone had an official Virtual Boy revival on their 2025 bingo cards, but today, Nintendo announced that it will be bringing most of the ill-fated, red-hued, 3D console’s limited library to the Classics section of Nintendo Switch Online on February 17, 2026. But it’s not just the games coming back, and that’s the beautifully insane part.
First off, you’ll need to be a NSO+Expansion Pack subscriber to partake in this bizarre software resurrection, but if you are, you’ll get drip-feed access to an almost-complete US Virtual Boy library (plus some Japan releases) that includes stuff like Wario Land, Mario’s Tennis, and even the very rare and very expensive Jack Bros. by Atlus. The lineup does exclude a few notable US titles like Waterworld, Panic Bomber and Nester’s Funky Bowling, as well as more Japanese omissions like Virtual Fishing and Space Squash. Only 14 Virtual Boy games were ever released in the US.
How will you play these olde games, you might ask? Well, you’ll need to purchase one of Nintendo’s upcoming Virtual Boy peripherals. The first is basically a piece of handheld cardboard that mimics Virtual Boy hardware, priced at $24.99, and the second is a more robust and plastic Virtual Boy replica, complete with the classic tabletop legs, priced at $99.99.
How this is works: You insert your Switch or Switch 2 system into these chunky apparatuses and look through their lenses to achieve the Virtual Boy’s infamous stereoscopic 3D effect. So essentially, you’re using the Switch or Switch 2’s built-in handheld display to experience these retro games, and the lenses are overlaying on top. You can’t order either accessory just yet, and that will come at a later date, supposedly. And no authentic double-d-pad Virtual Boy controller to speak of, unfortunately.
It will be interesting to see if the 3D tech on these new models is at least as good or better than it was on the original Virtual Boy, and also if Nintendo will allow us to play these games in docked mode on our TVs. Because honestly, if you’ve ever played on a real Virtual Boy system, you’ll know how quickly the eye and neck fatigue can set in. This was one of the major criticisms of the console in the mid- ’90s, and as if to reflect the potential health trouble, games sported timed messages which reminded you to take frequent breaks.
I think we all wish Nintendo had originally brought the Virtual Boy back to life via the 3DS, seeing as that particular hardware was practically tailormade to capture the red magic of Nintendo’s strangest gaming platform to date. However, bringing Virtual Boy games to the Switch and Switch 2, alongside brand new hardware to accommodate them, is a bold, weird and lovely move I wholly approve of.
I actually rented a Virtual Boy from Blockbuster back when it was released in 1995, and while I only was able to play it for a few days before we had to return it, I walked away somehow knowing it was a special moment in gaming history. My favorite console of all time? Not even close, but I respect the moments when Nintendo took risks like this, and come February, I look forward to jumping back into the (painful?) nostalgia.
