Nintendo’s decision to bring back the Virtual Boy catalogue to the Nintendo Switch Classics catalogue, only to make sure that they are only playable with specific hardware is almost as much of a headscratcher as the original Virtual Boy was. We have had some time with both the plastic casing that faithfully recreates the hardware, and the cheaper cardboard equivalent for just over a week now and have some thoughts to share on both versions.

At first glance, the Virtual Boy units are very no-frills in terms of presentation. One looks almost identical to the original Virtual Boy, all the way down to fun little details such as cosmetic controller ports and volume controls. The cardboard version does not do anything to look like a Virtual Boy other than retaining the same colour scheme as the original housing.

At its best, the high-end plastic housing delivers a genuine experience of the Virtual Boy. At its worst, it brings back many of the issues that contributed to the commercial failure of the original release. Even with the included tripod, the Virtual Boy is incredibly uncomfortable to use for longer than 5 minutes. Sitting in what I would consider to be a regular sized chair at a regular sized table, the tripod did not raise the unit high enough for me to use it without leaning forward and craning my neck.

In comparison, the cardboard version operates similarly to the Nintendo Labo VR unit. The Switch or Switch 2 is inserted through a slot, and then attaching the Joy Cons keeps it from being able to fall out accidentally. While holding the Joy Cons, you then hold the unit against your face to be able to play. I actually found this more comfortable to use, as I could rest my elbows on my table while playing, which allowed me to play for much longer.

Once you have got it into a position to be able to see through the lenses, I also found the field of view on the plastic unit to be rather small as well. The lenses on the plastic unit are red, which means navigating the menu to choose your game is all displayed in red as well. I found that I needed to move my head around to be able to see the edges of the games I was playing, something that I did not have an issue with on the cardboard version. That cardboard version also has clear lenses instead of red, so menus outside of the games themselves are in full colour.

Whichever option you choose, there is an option to either narrow or spread out each image sent to your individual eyes. I found the default to be uncomfortable to watch so I set this option to -7. Once this was done, the stereoscopic effect felt comfortable enough to watch and allowed the games to shine in their 3D-ness.

The included library that you are able to play once you have some Virtual Boy hardware currently sits at seven games. Wario Land is the standout game and plays just as beautifully as the Game Boy Wario Land games. Other games like 3D Tetris and Teleroboxer had me wishing these games included an instruction booklet option, as many of the games were actually difficult to work out how to play.

What I hope for in the future is the ability to simply play these games on your television. I do understand that the physical hardware would likely sell much less if docked mode worked but believe many of these games deserve to be played by more people. As a result of how these games are displayed, screenshots and video clips are disabled which is a minor annoyance as well.

Despite all of the flaws in both Virtual Boy units, you cannot deny that they absolutely ooze charm. I love the housing of the high-end plastic model, yet I love playing the Virtual Boy library much more on the cheaper cardboard model. The Virtual Boy has always been a weird part of Nintendo’s history, and many in Australia finally have the opportunity to play the library in an official capacity.

Ultimately, the hardware is difficult to recommend if you are after a new gaming experience. I can recommend it to those who are curious how the Virtual Boy worked and would like to experience the excruciating uncomfortableness that the Virtual Boy was famous for. I would give the cardboard version the edge here, as it simply plays the games better than the more expensive model.

A Virtual Boy original form unit and cardboard unit were provided by Nintendo Australia for the purposes of this review.