Nintendo’s ‘worst’ console wins some new admirers
Matt Kwong
- Last Updated: September 14. 2008 11:24PM UAE / September 14. 2008 7:24PM GMT
The collector Mohammed Omran using his vintage Nintendo Virtual Boy game system at his home in Sharjah. Pawan Singh / The National
ABU DHABI // The 3D stereoscopic goggles brought on headaches and nausea, the awkward headset caused sore necks and the monochrome red display led to eye strain.
When Nintendo’s experiment with virtual reality – the Virtual Boy video game system – proved a commercial failure, the Japanese manufacturer’s critics were hardly shocked.
Thirteen years after its inauspicious debut, however, the system is suddenly attracting shoppers in the UAE.
Video game retailers emptying a warehouse in the Rashidia area of Dubai last month discovered a long-lost shipment of 100 units, which collectors believe to be the last of their kind still sealed in original factory boxes.
“This product was just left years ago and nobody knew it was in stock,” said Vijay Chandrabota, the purchasing manager for Geekay Games in Dubai. “For me, it was dead stock. I didn’t even know that this Virtual Boy existed until we found it.”
Electronic games enthusiasts such as Mohammed Omran snatched up two consoles. Like others, he had believed brand new models were impossible to locate because the system was discontinued in the 1990s; unexpectedly available, he calculated, they could be worth many times their face value.
“I was chasing it in all the shops and all the markets in Dubai Khour, but everything was always vanished,” said Mr Omran, a 38-year-old electrical engineer from Sharjah. “It’s not an easy system to find.”
Considered one of the rarest and most ill-conceived pieces of game hardware ever, the Virtual Boy was launched in 1995 but quietly shelved a year later amid reports of migraines and dizziness, apparently caused by excessive use.
Nintendo moved only 770,000 units during the machine’s brief lifetime, falling far short of projected sales of three million. When the company scrapped plans to release the product outside Japan and North America, consoles in mint condition became scarce.
