This is a list of cancelled Virtual Boy video games. The Virtual Boy is a 32-bit tabletop video game console developed and designed by Nintendo. The system, released in July 1995 in Japan and August 1995 in North America, had an exceptionally short lifespan due to its poor critical and commercial reception. It was discontinued in December 1995 in Japan, and in August 1996 North America. With game development generally taking longer than this, many game cancellations resulted from its short lifespan. This list documents all known games that were confirmed for release for the Virtual Boy at some point, but did not end up being released for it.[1][2][3]
Cancelled games
[edit]Title(s) | Dates/Notes/Reasons | Developer | Publisher |
---|---|---|---|
Bonk series entry (Genjin Show: Tobidase! VB Genjin) | An entry in the Bonk platformer series was internally proposed at Hudson Soft for the Virtual Boy shortly after the completion of Super Bonk (1994). Design documents proposed using the Virtual Boy's 3D visuals to create the effect of viewing the game itself from the point of an audience member looking down and watching a performance on a stage. The game was cancelled and abandoned before it could even be publicly announced due to the poor performance and swift discontinuation of the Virtual Boy hardware.[4] | Hudson Soft | Hudson Soft |
Bound High! | A top-down perspective action-puzzle game where the player would maneuver a bouncing ball-like character named "Chalvo" through levels, bouncing on enemies and avoiding pits, with the Virtual Boy's 3D effect used to show depth. The game was far enough along in development to be present at E3 1996, and was eventually finished, but the Virtual Boy's discontinuation cancelled the game's release. Some of the development team reworked some of the content into a Japan-only 2D Game Boy Color game Chalvo 55 (1997). Later on, Bound High's source code leaked in 2010, which was eventually unofficially assembled into a playable version of the entire game.[2] | Japan System Supply | Nintendo |
Donkey Kong Country 2 | Shortly after the successful release of Donkey Kong Country (1994), a small team at Rare was tasked with testing to see what they could do with Donkey Kong on the Virtual Boy hardware. Tests included adding content from Donkey Kong Land (1995), which featured comparable monochrome graphics. The work created a visual that looked like the Donkey Kong Land series with a 3D popping out effect. It was decided to make a version of Donkey Kong Country 2 for the Virtual Boy, as that was the Donkey Kong Country game being worked on in 1995. Only minimal work was done on the project — while they were happy with how it looked, creating the 3D effect was very labor-intensive, and the idea was abandoned as it was becoming clear that the Virtual Boy was becoming a commercial failure.[5][6][7] | Rare | Nintendo |
Doraemon: Nobita no Doki Doki! Obake Land | Translating roughly to Doraemon: Nobita's Pounding Heart! Ghostland, the game was based on the Doraemon franchise. The game consisted of moving the title character through sidescrolling levels of an amusement park. Various minigames, such as one where you road a rollercoaster, demonstrated the Virtual Boy's 3D effects. The game was scheduled for a 1996 release in Japan, but the Virtual Boy was discontinued in December 1995 in Japan, and the game never saw release.[8][3] | Epoch Co., Ltd. | |
Dragon Hopper | An action-adventure game announced in 1995 and present in playable form at E3 1996. Development was completed, with a scheduled release period of late 1996, but the Virtual Boy was discontinued prior, and the game never released or leaked in any capacity.[9][10][11] | Intelligent Systems | Nintendo |
Faceball (Niko-Chan Battle in Japan) | A game where the player controls a ball with face on it from the first person perspective and maneuvers through a maze in attempts. First released on the Atari ST computer line, the game picked up more popularity after being released under the Faceball title on various other platforms. The developers brought the PC game to a variety of Nintendo platforms, such as Game Boy and SNES in the early 1990s, and a version was developed and almost completed for the Virtual Boy, but never saw release, as the platform was discontinued first. A playable Virtual Boy version leaked onto the internet in 2013.[12] | Bullet-Proof Software | Bullet-Proof Software |
Galaxian3: Project Dragoon | A 3D rail shooter arcade game released in 1990, versions for the Virtual Boy, 3DO, and the original PlayStation were all reportedly in the works, though only the PlayStation version ever materialized.[13] | Locomotive Corporation | |
GoldenEye 007 | Upon securing the rights to use the James Bond license in 1995, Nintendo originally planned on developing a companion game to the Nintendo 64 title GoldenEye 007 (1997) on the Virtual Boy. Little is known about the title beyond a small mention in a Nintendo flier given out at events during the platform's lifespan. While the N64 title was a first person shooter, the Virtual Boy game had a completely different premise centered around driving Bond's car, shooting at enemies and avoiding obstacles. Rare, developer of the N64 game, clarified they had no involvement in the Virtual Boy title. The Virtual Boy game was cancelled, and an unrelated companion game James Bond 007 (1998) was published by Nintendo for the Game Boy instead.[14][15][6] | Nintendo | |
Intercept | One of four Virtual Boy game names announced by Coconuts Japan Entertainment at E3 1995. Little is known about the title; publication largely just reported on its name and publisher. None of the titles ever materialized except for Space Squash (1995).[16][17][18] | Coconuts Japan Entertainment | Coconuts Japan Entertainment |
J-League 3D Stadium | A soccer game announced at Nintendo Space World 1995. Little was known about the game beyond the detail that the 3D effect was to create the effect of the soccer ball coming straight at the player's head. The game was scheduled for release in March 1996, but the Virtual Boy was discontinued prior to that and the game never materialized.[19] | J-Wing | |
Mario Bros. VB | A version of the original Mario Bros. (1983) arcade game was announced alongside the Virtual Boy hardware itself at Nintendo Space World 1994. Its demonstration was generally poorly received by video game publications, which lamented the selection of a such an old game to demonstrate the new technology of the Virtual Boy. Mario Bros. VB as demonstrated, never released, though some gameplay concepts were utilized in Mario Clash (1995), a much more creative reimagining of the original Mario Bros.[20][21][22][23] | Nintendo | Nintendo |
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers | A video game adaption of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers franchise was listed on the Virtual Boy release schedule of Nintendo Power magazine for "Winter 1996", though no details were ever revealed, and the game never released.[24] | Bandai | |
Out of the Deathmount | A rail shooter involving escaping a dangerous mountain. Was present at Nintendo Space World 1995, but the game never saw release in any capacity.[25] | J-Wing | |
Proteus Zone | One of four Virtual Boy game names announced by Coconuts Japan Entertainment at E3 1995. Little is known about the title; publication largely just reported on its name, publisher, and that it was an action/shooter game. None of the announced titles ever materialized except for Space Squash (1995).[16][17] | Coconuts Japan Entertainment | Coconuts Japan Entertainment |
Shin Nihon Pro Wrestling: Gekitō Densetsu | A Japanese wrestling video game announced for the Virtual Boy and present at Nintendo Space World 1995. Was scheduled for release in December 1995, the same month the Virtual Boy was discontinued in Japan, but never materialized.[26][27] | Tomy | |
Sora Tobu Henry ("Flying Henry") | A game where the player controls a flying dog like creature named Henry. Levels were side-scrolling, while boss fights changed a first person perspective with stationary shooting elements. Was present at Nintendo Space World 1995 but never released in any capacity.[28][27] | Human Entertainment | |
Star Fox | Nintendo presented a Star Fox tech demo at CES 1995 and E3 1995, though no such game ever released.[14] | Nintendo | Nintendo |
Street Fighter II | GameFan reported on Japanese publications reporting on the prospect of a version of Street Fighter II being developed for the Virtual Boy. Such a title was never announced officially, and is unrelated to unofficial fan efforts to port the game to the platforms after the fact.[29][30][31] | Capcom | Capcom |
Sunday's Point | One of four Virtual Boy game names announced by Coconuts Japan Entertainment at E3 1995. Little is known about the title; publication largely just reported on its name and publisher, and that it was an action/shooter game. None of the announced titles ever materialized except for Space Squash (1995).[16][17] | Coconuts Japan Entertainment | Coconuts Japan Entertainment |
V1 Racer / F1 Racer | Nintendo presented a F1-styled 3D racing game tech demo at CES 1995 and E3 1995, though no such game ever released.[32][33][34] | Nintendo | Nintendo |
Virtual Boy Mario Land / VB Mario Land / Untitled Super Mario game | A Super Mario platformer game in the vein of Super Mario World announced and demonstrated at CES 1995. Mostly featured side-scrolling gameplay, but at times switched to a top-down perspective similar to The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. The game was cancelled, with some of its content being reworked into other Virtual Boy titles. Some graphics were implemented into the released Mario Clash (1995), while the gameplay mechanic of having Mario move back and forth between the main and background levels was implemented into Virtual Boy Wario Land.[35][36] | Nintendo | Nintendo |
VB Mario Kart | German magazine Big N reported that Nintendo was developing a Mario Kart entry titled VB Mario Kart in their Virtual Boy future release schedule, though such a game was never officially announced or shown in any capacity, let alone released.[32][37] | Nintendo | Nintendo |
Virtual Block | A game with a premise similar to Breakout. The game was present at Nintendo Space World 1995, but never released.[38][39] | Bottom Up | |
Virtual Bomberman | Unlike the released Bomberman puzzle game spinoff Panic Bomber (1995), Virtual Bomberman was planned to have traditional Bomberman gameplay, but due to the discontinuation of the Virtual Boy, it was cancelled and never released.[40][14] | Hudson Soft | Hudson Soft |
Virtual Dodgeball | A 1-on-1 dodgeball game that spanned different environments that would affect gameplay. The game never materialized in any capacity.[28] | Jorudan | Hect |
Virtual Mahjong (Virtual Double Yakuman) | After releasing a mahjong game on the SNES in 1993, Japanese developer VAP planned on making a mahjong game for the Virtual Boy as well, though it never materialized in any capacity.[40] | VAP, Inc. | |
Virtual Gunman | A shooting game announced in 1995 that never materialized.[8] | Victor Entertainment | |
Virtual Jockey | A horse racing game announced in 1995 for the Virtual Boy. The game never released, though developer Right Stuff released a similar horse racing game Jockey Zero (1996) for the original PlayStation the following year.[41][42] | Right Stuff | Right Stuff |
Virtual League Baseball 2 | A sequel to the original Virtual League Baseball (1995) was announced and in development for the Virtual Boy. The game received an ESRB rating, something only given to relatively complete games, but the game was never released in any capacity.[43][44] | Kemco | Kemco |
Virtual Tank | Pitched to Nintendo in early 1995 as a game that played similar to Battlezone (1980) under the working name 3D Tank. The project was greenlit and worked on for months, though progress was slowed as the team had difficulties with the Virtual Boy's brand new hardware, or getting support from Nintendo on it, so parts were developed on PC with intentions on porting it to Virtual Boy. That, coupled with the Virtual Boy's commercial failure and discontinuation, lead to the game's cancellation. The game was not finished, but the developers have a working, playable build of a few levels from the game, which were shown online in 2020, though Nintendo would not authorize its release onto the internet, so only screenshots and videos exist publicly.[45] | Boss Game Studios | Nintendo |
Wangan Sensen Red City | A shooting game announced in 1995 that never materialized.[28] | AIM | Asmik Ace |
War Simulation | The tentative title of a fifth Virtual Boy title in development by Coconuts Japan Entertainment, in addition to Proteus Zone, Sunday's Point, Intercept, and Space Squash. Of the five titles announced, only Space Squash ever released. Few details were revealed for the other titles beyond their name and developer.[46] | Coconuts Japan Entertainment | Coconuts Japan Entertainment |
Worms | A version of the original Worms (1995) was announced for the Virtual Boy, but was cancelled very early in development. Not much was done besides a basic proposal to publisher Ocean Software and some early tests with Virtual Boy hardware.[47][48] | Team17 | Ocean Software |
Zero Racers / G-Racers | A spinoff of the F Zero series of racing games by Nintendo that would have taken place in the same fictional universe and contained similar racing of vehicles, albeit with the change of racing through a more tube shaped race track than a usual flat one. In 2022, a former Nintendo employee verified that the game was entirely finished and ready to be released, even getting an ESRB rating. However, the game was still cancelled due to the commercial failure of the Virtual Boy, and never released in any capacity, although some characters meant to be introduced in the game were later implemented into the Nintendo 64 game F Zero X (1998).[49][50] | Nintendo | Nintendo |
References
[edit]- ^ "Introduction by Nintendo". The New York Times. August 22, 1995. Archived from the original on 2018-07-07. Retrieved 2018-07-20.
- ^ a b Kohler, Chris (December 12, 2012). "When Games get Canceled, These Guys Bring them Back to Life". Wired. Archived from the original on December 22, 2016. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
- ^ a b Macy, Seth G. (July 21, 2023). "Looking Back at the Virtual Boy, Nintendo's Most Famous Failure". IGN.
- ^ Yarwood, Jack (November 14, 2022). "Never-Before-Seen Documents For Abandoned Virtual Boy 'Bonk' Project Surface Online". Time Extension. Retrieved May 13, 2024.
- ^ Linneman, John (16 December 2017). "DF Retro takes on Donkey Kong Country and Killer Instinct • The story of Rare's SGI revolution - as told by the developers". Eurogamer. Gamer Network Ltd. Archived from the original on 20 March 2018. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
- ^ a b "Scribes". Rareware. 10 August 2001. Archived from the original on 5 August 2002. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
- ^ "Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest". VG247. November 20, 1995. Retrieved May 13, 2024.
- ^ a b "バーチャルボーイ ゲームフラッシュ - 新作VBゲーム情報発信基地". Dengeki Super Famicom (in Japanese). Vol. 4, no. 1. MediaWorks. January 5–19, 1996. p. 46. Archived from the original on May 30, 2019. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
- ^ Ciolek, Todd (6 August 2012). "Creative, Compelling, and Canceled: Lost Games that Could Have Shaken the System". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on 2015-04-16. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
- ^ "Dragon Hopper". IGN. Retrieved May 13, 2024.
- ^ "Release Forecast". Nintendo Power. No. 87. Nintendo of America. August 1996. p. 103. Retrieved May 13, 2024 – via archive.org.
- ^ Suszek, Mike (January 6, 2013). "Lost Virtual Boy game NikoChan Battle found and being re-released". Engadget. Retrieved May 13, 2024.
- ^ Kuroki, Junichi (29 May 2019). "黒木 淳一: プロフィール - バーチャルボーイゲーム開発3本" (in Japanese). Wantedly. Archived from the original on 2020-08-14. Retrieved 2020-08-13.
- ^ a b c "Feature: Virtual Insanity - The Games You'll Never Play". Official Nintendo Magazine. No. 51. Future plc. January 2010. p. 62. Archived from the original on 2019-05-29. Retrieved 2019-09-29.
- ^ Nintendo Trade Show Flier
- ^ a b c "E-3 The Biggest And Best Electronic Entertainment Show Ever! — '95 Next Generation Software Listing: Virtual Boy - Bullet-Proof Software". GameFan. Vol. 3, no. 7. DieHard Gamers Club. July 1995. p. 41.
- ^ a b c "Virtual Boy". MAN!AC (in German). No. 21. Cybermedia. July 1995. p. 26.
- ^ Virtual Boy 追悼記念ガイドブック - 改訂第ニ版 (in Japanese). Toyo Baphomet Council. January 24, 1998. p. 8.
- ^ "Release Schedule: VB < バーチャルボーイ (Virtual Boy)". Famitsu (in Japanese). No. 363. ASCII. December 1, 1995.
- ^ Rafferty, Kevin (16 November 1994). "Super Mario takes leap into three dimensional space". The Guardian. ProQuest 294877556.
- ^ "Nintendo Stumbles with Virtual Boy Intro!". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 66. Ziff Davis. January 1995. p. 6.
- ^ "Nintendo pins hopes on Virtual Boy". Edge. No. 17. Future Publishing. February 1995. pp. 10–11.
- ^ "Mario Bros. VB". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 66. Ziff Davis. January 1995. p. 89.
- ^ "Release Forecast - Virtual Boy". Nintendo Power. No. 80. Nintendo of America. January 1996. p. 111.
- ^ "Out of the Deathmount (仮)". Marushō Super Famicom (in Japanese). No. 20. Kadokawa Shoten. December 8, 1995. p. 83. Archived from the original on May 30, 2019. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
- ^ "TV Game - 新日本プロレスリング 激闘伝説 (VB) • スポーツ&レース". Jugemu (in Japanese). No. 9. Media Factory, Recruit Holdings. January 1996. p. 175. Archived from the original on 2019-05-30. Retrieved 2019-09-29.
- ^ a b Famitsu Nintendo Space World 1995 Guidebook. ASCII. November 1995. p. 27.
- ^ a b c "Virtual Boy Game Flash". Dengeki Super Famicom (in Japanese). Vol. 3, no. 17. MediaWorks. October 27, 1995. p. 29. Archived from the original on May 30, 2019. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
- ^ "Software - バーチャルボーイ 『ストリートファイターII』!?". Famitsu (in Japanese). No. 336. ASCII. May 26, 1995. p. 91. Archived from the original on May 30, 2019. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
- ^ Des Barres, Nicholas (July 1995). "Japan Now - News & Rumors". GameFan. Vol. 3, no. 7. DieHard Gamers Club. p. 90. Archived from the original on 2018-11-29. Retrieved 2019-09-29.
- ^ McFerran, Damien (February 10, 2015). "Finally, Street Fighter II Has Been Ported To The Nintendo Virtual Boy". Nintendo Life. Retrieved May 13, 2024.
- ^ a b Seidel, F. (July–August 2000). "Feature: Der verlorene Sohn - Die verlorenen Spiele". big.N (in German). No. 9. LiveEmotion Verlag. p. 19. Archived from the original on 2019-05-29. Retrieved 2019-09-29.
- ^ GameFan, March 1995, page 107
- ^ "Winter CES '95". GameFan. Vol. 3, no. 4. DieHard Gamers Club. March 1995. p. 07. Retrieved May 13, 2024.
- ^ "Virtual Boy Headlines at CES". Nintendo Magazine System. No. 30. Future plc. March 1995. pp. 6–7.
- ^ Andress, Joseph (March 4, 2021). "Every Cancelled Mario Game Explained". Game Rant. Retrieved May 13, 2024.
- ^ Jurkovich, Tristan (May 22, 2020). "10 Canceled Mario Games You Never Knew Existed". TheGamer. Archived from the original on September 27, 2020. Retrieved September 27, 2020.
- ^ Radke, Christian (2019). "Virtual Block Flyer (Japan)". planetvb.com. Archived from the original on 2019-05-29. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
- ^ "Virtual Bros". MAN!AC (in German). No. 29. Cybermedia. March 1996. p. 15.
- ^ a b "Best of the Rest". Nintendo Power. No. 80. Nintendo of America. January 1996. p. 33.
- ^ "Virtual Boy Game Flash - バーチャルジョッキー". Dengeki Super Famicom (in Japanese). Vol. 3, no. 15. MediaWorks. September 22, 1995. pp. 32–33. Archived from the original on May 30, 2019. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
- ^ Radke, Christian (2019). "Virtual Jockey Flyer (Japan)". planetvb.com. Archived from the original on 2019-05-29. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
- ^ "Virtual League Baseball 2". Entertainment Software Rating Board. Entertainment Software Association. 2019. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
- ^ "ケムコ - バーチャルプロ野球'96 (VB)". Famitsu (in Japanese). No. 363. ASCII. December 1, 1995. p. 106.
- ^ Gasking, Frank (September 21, 2020). "Feature: The Story Of Virtual Tank, A Lost Virtual Boy Successor To Atari's Battlezone - "We were really surprised at the speed that the platform died"". Nintendo Life. Nlife Media. Archived from the original on 2020-09-21. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
- ^ "Aktuelles - Virtual Boy". MAN!AC (in German). No. 21. Cybermedia. July 1995. p. 26.
- ^ "Reportaje: Extraña mezcla... de gusanos - Worms". Micromanía (in Spanish). Vol. 3, no. 8. HobbyPress. September 1995. p. 58.
- ^ Langshaw, Mark (April 5, 2014). "A look back at Nintendo's Virtual Boy". Digital Spy. Retrieved May 13, 2024.
- ^ LeBlanc, Wesley (February 28, 2022). "Virtual Boy F-Zero Spinoff That Never Released 'Was Done,' According To Former Nintendo Producer". Game Informer. Archived from the original on February 28, 2022. Retrieved May 13, 2024.
- ^ McFerran, Damien (February 28, 2022). "Mythical Virtual Boy F-Zero Spin-Off Was 100% Complete, According To Former NOA Staffer". Nintendo Life. Retrieved May 13, 2024.