Virtual Boy (partially found unreleased games for Nintendo virtual reality system; mid 1990s)

A picture of the Virtual Boy.

Status: Partially Found

The Virtual Boy was a "tabletop" portable video game console created by Nintendo and released in the summer of 1995.

It is infamous for being one of Nintendo's most severe critical and commercial failures, with it only selling under a million units by the time it was discontinued in 1996. It was ravaged by critics for its limited color scheme, its expensive price (costing about $180 at launch), and the health problems that could be encountered from using the system, with some people even citing that permanent brain damage could be encountered by using the system.^[1] The system was discontinued in early 1996, leaving numerous games unfinished or unreleased.

Canceled Games

Bound High!

Status: Found

This is one of the few canceled games for the Virtual Boy that have had prototype builds released since the system's discontinuation. It originated when Hideyuki Nakanishi took a look at game plans sitting on the Japan System Supply company's president's desk, and, finding the plans unappealing, made his own game plan and put it on the wall for the company's president to see. When the president saw Nakanishi's plans, he was interested and greenlit the production of the game.^[2]

The gameplay of this game revolves around a robot named Chalvo, who can transform into a ball. The goal is to knock all of the enemies out of the game's "playfield" without falling out yourself. If Chalvo is to fall out of the area, he dies and all the enemies he has already defeated respawn. The game has four game modes: "Adventures of Chalvo", which involves Chalvo saving Earth from alien invaders, "Score Attack!!", where the player's goal is to defeat all the enemies in the quickest and most efficient way possible, "Random Game", in which players go through procedurally-generated levels, and Pocket and Cushion, where the player has to get as many balls into a hole as fast as they can.^[3]

The game was originally intended to be released on August 26th, 1996.^[4] However, due to the Virtual Boy's failure and subsequent discontinuation, the game was never released. It remained unavailable to the public for almost 15 years until the fansite Planet Virtual Boy acquired a build of the game and released it online in 2010, making it one of the only canceled Virtual Boy games to have been found in its entirety.^[5]

Doraemon: Nobita no Doki Doki! Obake Land

Status: Lost

This game depicts Doraemon on a journey to rescue his friends from ghosts; he goes through numerous levels by either riding on a roller coaster or bungee jumping. It was developed by Epoch and was reported to have cost 5,500 yen (or approximately 52 dollars in U.S. currency) had it not been canceled.^[6]

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest

Status: Lost

Nintendo intended to make a Virtual Boy port of the Rareware SNES game Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, reusing sprites from the Game Boy game Donkey Kong Land 2. It was canceled, with no build having resurfaced as of yet.^[7]

Dragon Hopper

Status: Lost

Dragon Hopper was an action-adventure game depicting a dragon prince named Dorin who is on a quest to save his family from the Prime Minister of his kingdom. The game went far enough in development to be shown at E3 1996 and have a review in Nintendo Power.^[8] It was intended to be released on August 26th, 1996;^[4] however, it was canceled, with no build having seen the light of day.

Faceball

Status: Found

Also known as MIDI Maze, Faceball is a first-person shooter where the objective is to shoot all the smiley-faced enemies in a certain amount of time; as the player goes through more levels, the time limit gets smaller. It would have been a port of a game originally released on the Atari ST computer. Had the game been released, it would have utilized the Virtual Boy's GameLink cable (which was never released itself).^[9]

In December 2012, Planet Virtual Boy forum user bigmak announced that he had acquired a build of Faceball; after selling physical copies of the game for $100 due to having to sell his collection of Virtual Boy games to acquire the build, ^[10] he released the ROM on the internet for free, making it one of two rare cases of an unreleased Virtual Boy game getting found and released.^[11]

Goldeneye 007

Status: Lost

Goldeneye 007 was a racing game intended to be released alongside the home console (originally developed for the SNES, then for the Nintendo 64) game adaptation of the James Bond film Goldeneye. The developers who created this game are unknown; Rare, the developers of the Nintendo 64 version of the game, denied being the developers of this version. As such, it is assumed that Nintendo themselves developed it, due to the fact they (at the time) owned the video game license to James Bond and developed most of the Virtual Boy's games.^[12] It was canceled due to the Virtual Boy's failure; only one screenshot has surfaced.

Intercept

Status: Lost

Information on Intercept is few and far between. It is unknown how far in development it got; however, what is known is who developed the game. It was developed by Coconuts Japan Entertainment and was intended to be released in December 1995.^[13] As of now, all visual evidence of the game's existence, besides the Coconuts press kit, is completely lost.

Invincible Iron Man Gagaga-In

Status: Lost

Invincible Iron Man Gagaga-in was a fighting game involving giant robots, and was developed by Hudson Soft and Eighting. The game was never officially announced; however, it went far enough into development to have a game design plan created for it.^[14] The uploader, reportedly a former Hudson Soft employee, even apparently shared a clip of the game in 2013 before being forced to take it down the same day.^[15] No other visual evidence of the game's existence besides the game plan document have surfaced.

J-League 3D Stadium

Status: Lost

Not much information is known about this game, as it's only mention before cancellation was at SpaceWorld 1995. A translated description of the game reads:

"It’s the first software certified by J.League for the Virtual Boy. The ball comes at you, right before your very eyes, in a 3D perspective with an irresistible stereoscopic effect!^[16]

Mario Bros. VB

Status: Lost

Mario Bros. VB is a canceled Virtual Boy remake of the 1983 platformer arcade game of the same name that was intended to launch along with the system and was shown off at Shoshikai Software Exhibition 1994.^[17] Though the game was never officially released, it's speculated that the game evolved into Mario Clash, which was released for the system.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

Status: Existence Unconfirmed

Almost completely nothing is known about this game; the only evidence that it ever existed was in a brief listing in Nintendo Power, where it has an intended release date of sometime in the winter of 1996. Due to the extensive lack of information, it is unknown if it ever began development or existed in the first place.^[18]

Out of the Deathmount

Status: Lost

Out of the Deathmount was a first-person shooter where the objective is to escape a deadly mountain and defeat enemies along the way. The game was reportedly shown at SpaceWorld 1995 and was intended to be released in Japan in March of 1996. However, it was canceled, with only a few screenshots showing evidence that it existed.^[19]

Proteus Zone

Status: Lost

Little to nothing is known about this game. The only evidence of its existence is from a brief excerpt of a Japanese magazine describing it as having been developed by Coconuts Japan Entertainment, being a shooter, and having an intended release date of sometime in October of 1995.^[20]

Shin Nihon Pro Wrestling Gekitou Densetu

Status: Lost

Shin Nihon Pro Wrestling Gekitou Densetu was a wrestling game in which the player plays as one of eight New Japan professional wrestlers. The status of this game is disputed; according to a Planet Virtual Boy forum poster, a January 1996 issue of the Jugemu magazine claimed that the expected release date for the game was sometime in December of 1995, and that the tentative price for the game was 4980 yen. However, in the next month's issue, the release date of the game was no longer "expected", leading people to believe that this game was indeed released, albeit only in Japan and in very small quantities.^[21] On top of this, it was also rumored at one point that a prototype exists in the hands of a private collector.^[22]

Signal Rat

Status: Lost

Almost nothing is known about Signal Rat, other than the fact that it was seemingly a racing game, was priced at 5900 yen, and was intended to be released in March of 1996.^[23]

Sora Tobu Henry

Status: Lost

Sora Tobu Henry was an action game focusing on the eponymous dog-like character with large ears, which he can use to fly around levels. It was intended to be released in the winter of 1995.^[24]

Star Fox

Tech Demo Status: Lost

Port Status: Existence Unconfirmed

When the Virtual Boy was first announced, Nintendo presented a tech demo of a vehicle similar to one from Star Fox. It is unknown if Nintendo was intending to make a Virtual Boy port out of this, or if it was just a tech demonstration. Either way, the demo has not surfaced since its initial presentation.^[25]

Star Seed

Status: Existence Unconfirmed

Also known as War Simulation, the only evidence of this game's existence is a listing in the German gaming magazine MAN!AC, where it is listed as being developed by Coconuts Japan Entertainment.^[26]

Street Fighter II

Status: Existence Unconfirmed

It is unknown how far this port of the arcade game got into development or if it even existed in the first place, as its only mention was in the GameFan that claims the port was the product of rumors.^[27]

Tobidase! PC Genjin

Status: Lost

Tobidase! PC Genjin was a port of the Hudson Soft platformer PC Genjin (Known as Bonk's Adventure in America and BC Kid in Europe), which revolves around Bonk, who uses his strong bald head to defeat enemies in order to save a reptile princess. A Hudson Soft developer stated that while working on this game, he used the also-canceled Virtual Bomberman as a reference.^[28] However, the game was never released due to the discontinuation of the Virtual Boy, with no prototypes surfacing online as of yet.^[29]

VB Mario Land

Status: Lost

Also known as Mario Adventure, this game was intended to be part of the main Mario series and was shown at Winter CES 1995. It is unique compared to the other 2D games in the main series; it features a top-down view in some parts of the game where Mario navigates through dungeons, similarly to Nintendo's other series The Legend of Zelda.^[30] Mario Clash, a Virtual Boy re-imagining of the 1983 arcade game Mario Bros., was intended to be a smaller bonus game included inside this.^[25] However, this game was cancelled and has not surfaced since, while Mario Clash ended up being released as its own separate game.

Virtual Boy Mario Kart

Status: Existence Unconfirmed

A Virtual Boy version of the Mario Kart racing series of games was apparently in development; however, the only evidence of its existence is a mention in an issue of a German gaming magazine from 2000 where it is included in a list of scrapped games for the system.^[31]

Virtual Block

Status: Lost

Virtual Block was a game where the objective is to break blocks while playing as two blob-like creatures. The blobs' abilities include being able to fuse to create one bigger and more powerful blob, stretching, shrinking, and being able to push the ball used to break the rocks with more force.^[32]

The game was intended to be released in December of 1995;^[32] despite these plans, however, the game's release was canceled. The game was allegedly shown at SpaceWorld 1995. However, no concrete evidence exists online to prove this claim.

Virtual Bomberman

Status: Lost

Virtual Bomberman (not to be confused with a Virtual Boy port of Panic Bomber) was a game in Hudson Soft's Bomberman series of strategic video games. The plot revolved around Bomberman heading out of retirement after a "God Bomber" appears.

The game was intended to be released exclusively in Japan in February 1996. Barely any info about it is currently online; however, a prototype shown at SpaceWorld 1995 is known to exist.^[33]

Virtual Dodgeball

Status: Lost

Virtual Dodgeball was a sports game developed by Hect, intended to be released in December of 1995 with no set price before cancellation.

From what little information is available on this game, it appears to simply be dodgeball; however, what sets this game apart is the different stages, the ability to throw your ball in different ways, and one screenshot possibly implying a plot of some sort, due to the presence of what appears to be a boss.^[34]

Virtual Double Yakuman

Status: Lost

Little to no information is known about this game, with an even smaller amount of information about the game available in English. However, judging from available screenshots and an excerpt from Nintendo Power (mentioning it under the title of Virtual Mahjong),^[35] it can safely be assumed that the game was merely a Virtual Boy version of the mahjong board game.

Virtual Gunman

Status: Lost

Virtual Gunman was a first-person shooter developed by Victor Entertainment, with an intended March 1996 release date at a price of 5,800 yen. It was reportedly shown (or at least mentioned) at Space World 1995, due to its presence in the event's guide book. According to it, the game is set in the "near future".^[36] Virtual Gunman was never released and has not surfaced.

Virtual Jockey

Status: Lost

Virtual Jockey was a horse-racing game developed by Right Stuff. It revolves around a boy who uses his father's horse to achieve his father's dream of winning a derby. He has the ability to talk to the horse. However, he has to go up against the Kaiser Corps in order to win.^[36]

Although the game never saw the light of day on the Virtual Boy, it has lived on in the form of a PlayStation game titled Jockey Zero. Many elements from that game seem to have been taken from this one, such as the story, gameplay, and the designs of the characters. Much of the game's info is supplied in a guidebook.^[37]

Virtual Pro Yakyuu '96

Status: Lost

Also known as Virtual League Baseball 2, this was a game intended to be a sequel to Virtual Pro Yakyū '95. It was to feature the same Japanese teams from the previous version of the game. This game was also intended to make more use of the Virtual Boy's 3D capabilities (a criticism of the Virtual Boy was that it did not make enough use of its 3D).

Another update to this version of Virtual Pro Yakyū was that a multiplayer option was added, utilizing the unreleased GameLink cable. While only one sole screenshot of the game has been released,^[38] it can be assumed the game was finished or at least very far into development before its cancellation, as the game appears to have gotten a rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board.^[39]

Virtual Tank

Status: Lost

Virtual Tank was largely influenced by the Atari arcade game Battlezone. It was developed by Boss Game Studios, a subsidiary of the film company Boss Film Studios. It was conceived after a meeting with Nintendo showing off the Virtual Boy's hardware gave Boss creative director Seth Mendelsohn the idea to make a game similar to Battlezone.^[40]

While the original version of Battlezone was limited in its enemies and missiles, Virtual Tank added a new variety of missiles and enemies. Virtual Tank was to feature the system's standard red grid-line graphics, as opposed to the original, which had a mostly green color scheme.^[40]

After a troubled but short production cycle, Boss Game Studios was able to create a playable build of the game and began looking for a publisher before the project inevitably ended up getting canceled. Prior to its cancellation, its development was required in order to develop Top Gear Rally, a Nintendo 64 game also developed by Boss Game Studios. No build has surfaced as of yet, with Mendelsohn claiming the farthest it got was "between a first playable and [an] alpha". The game's other developers claim that they do not own anything related to the game.^[40]

Wangan Sensen Red City

Status: Lost

Developed by Asmik Corporation, the objective of Wangan Sensen Red City is to protect a city that sends numerous missiles toward said city and occasionally sends a large battleship that the player has to fight as a boss. At the end of the game, the antagonists send an enormous battleship as the final boss.^[6]

The game was intended to be released in the December of 1995.^[6] Only a few screenshots from Japanese gaming magazines remain publicly accessible.

Worms

Status: Non-Existent

A port of the strategy game Worms was reported to be in development by a Spanish gaming magazine;^[41] however, in 2008, Team17 studio director Martyn Brown claimed that development never really started; after a small period of a "mess around" with the console, the developers decided that the console was doomed to fail and abandoned development only a few weeks into it. After its cancellation, Team17 kept the development kit for over 10 years until giving it to a museum at Nintendo of Germany.^[42]

Zero Racers

Status: Lost

Zero Racers was a racing game intended to be a spin-off to the SNES game F-Zero. The changes made to this version include going through tunnels and being able to drive in four directions. Also added was a practice mode that allows you to practice courses in preparation for the Grand Prix races and get the fastest time possible.

The game was shown at E3 1996 and was set to be released in the fall of that year.^[43]

Gallery

Videos

First part of Jenovi's video on the Virtual Boy 64DD's lost games.

Second part of Jenovi's video on the Virtual Boy 64DD's lost games.

Third part of Jenovi's video on the Virtual Boy 64DD's lost games.

BrayBray's video on the subject.

Doraemon: Nobita no Doki Doki! Obake Land

Suneo's dialogue translation: "Doraemon! Help me!!"
Nobita's dialogue translation: "OK, Doraemon, where should it be?"