Virtual Boy Wario Land - All Virtual Boy Games

[Jonnas]

Yeah, Star Soldier (which I played on the NSO last year) is what this reminds me of! Same developers, I take it?

That game definitely needed a way to make obstacles and environment more obvious to the player.

[Cube]

V-Tetris

• JP release: 25th August 1995
• NA release: N/A
• Developer: Locomotive
• Publisher: Bullet-Proof Software

Like other Tetris games published by Bullet-Proof Software (until recent collections), this was a Japanese exclusive Virtual Boy game, although entirely in English. Your first game of Tetris through this will look immensely bland, with pretty much no stereoscopic 3D. There’s not even any difference to any of the blocks, which isn’t a fault of the red/black display. That said, it’s a solid version of Tetris.

The second graphic option for the main mode and the other modes do have backgrounds that make use of layers, yet the game never comes close to looking as nice as Panic Bomber, which shows how lovely flat puzzle games could look using the Virtual Boy’s features. V-Tetris does have one unique mode of Tetris.

In Mode C – also called Loop Tetris, you can use the shoulder buttons to move the plating area around, which loops like a cylinder. It’s similar to the “3D” mode in Pokémon Puzzle League, yet it does a terrible job at visually showing what is happening. The strangest thing is that this is on the Virtual Boy, they didn’t need to use curves to sell the effect – put the middle two colours on the “top” layer and have the blocks to the side further back. This mode essentially gives you areas in the side to dump stuff in (you score lines that are made in the visible area) and is much easier.

Fun

Remake or remaster?

This seems like a good version of Tetris to recreate in Tetris Effect, especially for the Loop Mode.

[Dcubed]

It’s a shame that this version of Tetris isn’t included in Tetris Forever (given that it’s primarily a Bullet Proof Software collection); but I suppose writing a brand new VB emulator for the sake of a single game is outside the scope of the project for Digital Eclipse.

Edited March 19 by Dcubed

[Cube]

Mario Clash

• JP release: 28th September 1995
• NA release: 1st October 1995
• Developer: Nintendo
• Publisher: Nintendo

If there was a game that should have been a pack-in title instead of Mario’s Tennis, then Mario Clash is definitely the perfect title for the job. It shows off the Virtual Boy’s 3D really well (even starting with a lovely cutscene with many layers of clouds), is short and sweet and repayable. It would have been a far better first impression than Mario’s Tennis.

Mario Clash is a sequel to the original Mario Bros. arcade game, where you have to use koopa shells to eliminate all memories on each level. The levels are small boxes, so you can see everything happening at once, with two floors at the front and two at the back. The layout changes slightly for each level, with more enemies being introduced as the game goes on.

Some enemies need to be attacked from the side, but most can only be attacked from the opposing platform, aiming towards or away from the camera. The 3D works well to help you judge the timing of your throw, and it’s nice to come up with new tactics for each enemy. That said, the game starts adding loads of enemies and it’s very difficult, although you can start from any level you want to practice. It’s a really fun game.

Fun

Quote

This is really Miyamoto’s Mario Bros vs. game with Mario beset on all sides by zipping Koopas. Besides moving from platform to platform, you can step back into the screen to dodge flying shells and other turtle-derived shrapnel.

Super Play #33

Remake or remaster?

It’s surprising that a port or remake of this was never a minigame in a 3DS Mario game or released on the eShop. A WarioWare Microgame was based on it in the first WarioWare and WarioWare Gold.

[Dcubed]

I have actually played this one briefly when I was in Japan.  It's a fun little sequel of sorts to the original arcade Mario Bros that gets a bit of a bum rap for being exactly that.

It's essentially a 1980s Golden Age score-attack focused arcade game released for the Virtual Boy in 1995.  Not hard to see why it wouldn't catch on.  Still fun though, and an interesting look at a timeline where Super Mario Bros never happened; where Nintendo carried on with the original Mario Bros lineage instead.

Edited Thursday at 01:50 PM by Dcubed

[Ashley]

9 hours ago, Cube said:

where you have to use koopa shells to eliminate all memories on each level.

 

[Cube]

Jack Bros.

• JP release: 29th September 1995
• NA release: October 1995
• Developer: Atlus
• Publisher: Atlus

Jack Bros. is a game that is part of the Shin Megami Tensei franchise, and the first game in the entire franchise to make its way to North America (Europe would have to wait another decade for its first Shin Megami Tensei game). It stars Jack Frost, Jack Lantern and Jack Skelton (who was originally Jack the Ripper) as they try to make their way back to the fairy world before Halloween runs over.

The game plays like a twin stick shooter, with the left D-pad moving and the right D-pad shooting in four directions. It’s very smooth and plays really nicely. Your aim is to make your way through mazes, with each world consisting of multiple floors. There’s a very strict time limit so you’ll need to complete all floors of each world quickly. You also have no health in the game, instead, getting hit will take away precious time.

As there are puzzles to solve and lots of wrong routes – the game likes to play tricks on you, especially late on – you’ll run out of time a lot. Each world is a case of working out things as you go and committing it to memory for your next run. It gets very difficult, but is always enjoyable.

The 3D effects are really night, with the walls of the maze sticking out and the maze below visible underneath. Their depth effects aren’t vital to playing, but are an example of how they can make a game look nice. As the game uses textures, each world still gets a unique look despite only having red and black. Jack Bros is one of the highlights of the Virtual Boy.

Fun

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Most of the early releases are simple games, but not Jack Bros. After choosing one of three characters you set off to find the keys to escape from 60 levels of dungeons complexes, all peopled by enemies and spiked with traps. Could be a goody.

Super Play #34

Remake or remaster?

This would make for a great downloadable title. It doesn’t need the 3D so some colour and some depth of field effects for the below mazes would look great.

[Glen-i]

This is such a confusing game. Out of all the ways they could've introduced Shin Megami Tensei to the west, they went with a spin-off game for the Virtual Boy!?

And people wonder why that series struggles over here.

[Cube]

Space Squash
 

• JP release: 29th September 1995
• NA release: N/A
• Developer: Tomcat System
• Publisher: Coconuts Japan Entertainment

Space Squash is a Japanese only Virtual Boy that is essentially a fancy 3D pong. It is, however, done really well. While I had trouble figuring out depth in Mario’s Tennis, I had zero issues following the ball in Space Squash. The addition of a textured floor and a shadow certainly help things out. In Space Squash, you move your character on a 2D plane, getting in position to hit the ball back (the right D-Pad provides different shots). It’s really good fun.

Throughout the campaign, you’ll encounter various robotic opponents and the courses will have different obstacles and sometimes even be different sizes, which helps somewhat with adding some variety. The campaign (which is the only mode, due to no multiplayer) has you play a colossal amount of matches, with branching paths so you have different matches on different playthroughs .

The problem is, it’s far longer than anyone would want to play in one sitting, and there’s no save or password system, so on the Virtual Boy you had no choice but to do it in one go. With the emulator on 3DS, you can get around this with save states. At the end of each stage is a boss, all of which have far too much health so the battles last ages – especially as they regain their health if you miss the ball once. Still, the main matches are enjoyable.

Fun

Remake or remaster?

This would have been fun on the 3DS, especially with multiplayer.

 

[Cube]

Virtual Fishing
 

• JP release: 6th October 1995
• NA release: N/A
• Developer: Locomotive
• Publisher: Pack-In-Video

Due to the colour scheme, a lot of games on the Virtual Boy went for a more sci-fi theme, and Virtual Fishing is a good example as to why. The lovely river and lake views just look really odd in the Virtual Boy colour scheme, and it’s not a look that the Virtual Boy can salvage. This fishing game is also quite simple: cast your line, reel it in then press R when it bends to hook a fish.

Then it’s just a case of reeling it in when it’s not swimming away from you. Once you figure it out, you’ll have no issues caching fish. Functionally, it’s fine, but Virtual Fishing really feels like a minigame that should be part of something else.

Poor

Remake or remaster?

Not for this one.

[Cube]

Innsmouth Mansion

• JP release: 13th October 1995
• NA release: N/A
• Developer: Be Top
• Publisher: I’MAX

A Virtual Boy horror game based on the works of HP Lovecraft and released on Friday the 13th is certainly an interesting novelty. Sadly, that’s really all Innsmouth Mansion is. In early PC gaming, one popular format was “3D” maze games, where pressing left would instantaneously turn you 90 degrees while going forward would move you one block forward. Innsmouth Mansion is that kind of maze game, with a bit of shooting involved.

While the left stick moves in this way, the right stick moves crosshairs on the screen to shoot enemies. You have a maximum of six bullets at any one time and will have to flee from most enemies. You’re on a strict time limit as well, so you’ll have to explore a level multiple times to work out how to beat it, and then have to complete it in a stricter, hidden, time limit to move towards the “best” route. Luckily, there is a password after every level.

You have to be extremely persistent to make it through Innsmouth Mansion, as both the timer and enemies (which can easily box you in as you can’t run past them) make for a frustrating play. You also need to find a key and the exit, so it’s a lot of trial and error, and that’s if you don’t get turned around (although you can look at a map with select). It’ a nice idea, just not all that nice to play.

Fine

Remake or remaster?

Not really needed. The genre was quite plentiful and the main unique aspect of this is that it’s on the Virtual Boy.

[Dcubed]

I always thought that Innsmouth Mansion looked neat.  Certainly, the Virtual Boy could've been home to some killer horror games; so much so that even Gunpei Yokoi agrees!

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Yokoi: But there's also an experience you can only have by yourself, and that is the sense of immersion when you get when you're playing alone in a room with the lights all out. During the Virtual Boy development, I did an experiment to see if that was something we could use. For the test we prepared a scary scene to be played back on the Virtual Boy. When you're in a pitch black room, and you can't see anything, it really feels like you're sucked into that world. I tested it out on my daughter and she turned pale. (laughs) With a TV, no matter how frightening the scene is on-screen, there's still light being emitted, and your friends are there around you… you're safe, because everything is happening in "that" world on the screen. But when you peer into the Virtual Boy, it feels like what you're seeing is a part of you, inside you. If we can make some software to capitalize on this, I think it could be really interesting.

Shame it never panned out.  I bet a Famicom Detective Club game for VB would've been killer!

Edited yesterday at 11:38 AM by Dcubed

[Cube]

Virtual Boy Wario Land

• NA release: 27th November 1995
• JP release: 1st December 1995
• Developer: Nintendo
• Publisher: Nintendo

Often said to be the one shining gem in the putrid mess that is the Virtual Boy. While I disagree that the rest of the Virtual Boy’s library is as bad as people say, I will agree that Virtual Boy Wario Land is a great game, one that shows that the Virtual Boy could be used for, both in terms of gameplay and graphics.

Like a few other Virtual Boy games, Wario Land starts off looking a little bit bland. I suspect this was due to helping people’s eyes focus, but it creates a poor first impression. After a few levels, though, the background and level design gets a lot more complex and the game looks gorgeous, even with the red and black colour scheme. It makes each level feel unique and the depth really adds to the style of the game. While you could play the game entirely 2D, you would be missing out on some of the impressive effects. Even character and enemy sprites have depth to them, which creates a really lovely look that’s hard to get across in screenshots.

The gameplay is also really strong. It’s a very solid 2D platformer that feels nice to play, Wario’s jump is precise and easy to control. Wario can collect various hats which change his main action, which starts with a shoulder barge and can be upgraded to a short-range flamethrower or the dragon hat, which fires a longer distance and lets Wario fly for a short period. Another gameplay mechanic are sections that shoot Wario into the back of the screen, giving another layer of platforming that can be used for exploration and puzzles.

Exploration is a key part of Wario Land, as the exit to the level is locked. You’ll need to find a key hidden in the level before you can progress, but there are also hearts and coins hidden everywhere, with some utilising hidden blocks or walls you have to destroy. Each level is also hiding a piece of treasure, often very difficult to find. While you can finish the game without them, if you want Wario to unlock the secret vault for the full treasure, you’ll need to hunt them down. And then for the best ending, you’ll need to know the game well enough to do it all in under two hours.

It really is a great shame that this game is hidden in the Virtual Boy’s collection, and has never been re-released. It’s an immensely enjoyable game that feels long enough the first two times you play (once to complete and second to find the secrets), yet once you know the game, it’s also short enough for a quick blast. There’s also an extra unlockable difficulty that makes enemies more aggressive and adds extra spikes and obstacles. This alone is worth modifying your 3DS for.

Great

Remake or remaster?

This really should have gotten a remaster on the 3DS. However, it will still make for a great remake (or perhaps as part of a Wario Land remake collection) with the right effects to pull of the style of the game.

[Dcubed]

This is the one physical VB game I currently own, and it’s worth the price of the console by itself.  An EXCELLENTAH game, and one that was surprisingly highly influential!

It was the first 2D platformer that really allowed your playable character to go in and out of the screen, allowing you to explore levels on different planes of depth.  A mechanic that has since gone on to heavily inspire games like DKCR & DKCTF, Sonic Mania, Kirby: Triple Deluxe, Yoshi’s Crafted World, Shantae: Risky’s Revenge and countless indie 2D platformers like Mutant Mudds.  You have this game to thank for pioneering the ability to go in and out of the scenery, but few games have ever pulled it off as convincingly as VBWL.  The S3D effect is just such a natural fit for this kind of gameplay, and it really does help with judging depth, especially as enemies come forward from the background and into the foreground to attack you.

The game itself takes mainly after the original Wario Land, keeping the same linear progression, but introduces keys that you need to find throughout the level to go through the exit.  Like Wario Land 1, you also have the optional treasures to find that affect the ending, but it maintains a focus on action platforming in a mostly linear fashion.  It’s very much the natural sequel to WL1 in that regard, before the series would go down the more puzzle platformer route.

It’s such a massive shame that it didn’t get a 3DS port/remake; it really deserves the treatment, and it’s also a massive shame that it’s still locked to such an incredible failure of a console.  But it would also lose a lot from the loss of S3D, so whichever platform will eventually go on to inherit this game really should have some kind of S3D support.

Edited 9 hours ago by Dcubed