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3D Tetris really dares to ask “what if Tetris pieces had gender”
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the good news about Virtual Boy™ – Nintendo Classics is that it does indeed use a pixel‐perfect display mode on both consoles (yes, this means the pixels are significantly bigger when using an original Nintendo Switch). the lenses do blur the edges a bit, but it’s still a good image.

the bad news is that it inconceivably doesn’t use VRR to run the Nintendo Switch 2’s screen at 50 Hz, instead smearing those frames across the usual 60 Hz.

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there are 2 different brackets included since the Nintendo Switch 1 & 2 are different sizes, and i’m fascinated by how you change them out on the Virtual Boy unit using a #2 Phillips screwdriver. i mean, how often does Nintendo make hardware with screws that they *want* consumers to unscrew??
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it is a bit baffling that there’s no way to plug *anything* into either Switch console while they’re inside the Virtual Boy unit. since i want to play with wired headphones, i’ve just been playing with the top of the unit left open. if you don’t use headphones though, it still sounds fine, because the sides of the bottoms of the consoles remain exposed since they stick out of the bottom of the unit, and that’s where the speakers are.
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i also wish it wasn’t so annoying to use their N64 controller to play Virtual Boy™ – Nintendo Classics. it’s great for this in theory: A/B/L/R and the left D‐pad are all in place, and the C buttons fill in for the right D‐pad far more naturally than an analogue stick. what’s irritating is you can’t remap Z or ZR to Select because those buttons are reserved for the suspend menu (and you can’t remap the N64 controller buttons system‐wide). plus you can’t press a right stick to access the IPD menu.
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like, why, Nintendo… why must you get so close to perfection only to inexplicably fumble such simple things. and i mean this broadly, not even just in respect to this specific offering of yours.
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Red Alarm rules?? i was immediately struck by the aesthetic panache this game has. like, the way it types out “T&E SOFT/PRESENTS”, “NINTENDO/VIRTUAL BOY”, & “REDALARM” randomly across the screen at all times?? the 7‐segment font?? the way it somehow lets you watch a full replay after every stage clear which serves no purpose besides letting you more passively appreciate how sick this game looks?? absolutely sublime. plus it’s fun!
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hey if you’re playing Virtual Boy stuff rn and thinking to yourself “yo the sound chip in this thing is pretty baller,” check out the Virtual Boy × Game Boy chiptune album Familial Verses by Petriform (a friend of eggbug): https://youtu.be/C0vqrmRgfM8
Petriform - Twin (Official Visualizer - Virtual Boy + Game Boy Chiptune)

YouTube
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it’s so funny to me that Wikipedia’s main image depicting the Virtual Boy shows it mounted *backwards* on the stand. as though nobody involved in taking the picture had anywhere near the level of investment necessary to notice this
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the wildest thing about Nintendo not using VRR to run the Switch 2’s display at 50 Hz with their Virtual Boy emulator is that even the Switch 1 can do this. 50 Hz is well within the safe range for underclocking its display.

anyway i have RetroArch running on my Switch 1 at 50 Hz now. the Mednafen‐based VB core recently added an eye separation option for use with Nintendo’s VB hardware. i really hate wrestling with RetroArch’s UI, but once you wrangle it into shape it does actually work well.

Feb 23 at 7:17pmWeb
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my hot take on the Virtual Boy library is that Virtual Lab is a better game than Waterworld.

both have bullshit difficulty scaling, but at least i can do satisfying plays in Virtual Lab by clearing big structures and setting up combos. Waterworld is just all BS all the time.

the only points Waterworld gets is for better music. it might be more “graphically advanced”, but it has no charm. and it might have “more responsive controls”, but your craft’s acceleration is so abysmal it doesn’t matter