A Diamond In The Rough: The Nintendo Virtual Boy Quiz

Answer: Red and Black

The Virtual Boy only allowed you red and black colored games because it was the cheapest method and did not need a back light. A multicolored display would cost well over $150 which would make the Virtual Boy's price increase by the already-high retail price.

Answer: "Mario's Tennis"

First, "Mario Land" was never released for the Virtual Boy (or for any system as it was cancelled). Second, "Mario Clash" was a mini-game for the unreleased "Mario Land". "Mario Clash" soon became its own game. It was a remake of the original "Mario Bros."

Answer: Gunpei Yokoi

Gunpei Yokoi was given a 'window seat' at Nintendo, which is a place where, instead of firing you, your ideas do not count. He died in a car crash soon after. Shigeru Miyamoto is the creator of many series such as "Mario", "Donkey Kong", "The Legend of Zelda", "Star Fox", "Pikmin", "Nintendogs", and "F-Zero". Hironobu Sakaguchi is the creator of the "Final Fantasy" series. Nobou Uematsu is a video game music composer.

Answer: "3-D Tetris"

"V-Tetris" is a Japanese-only game. "Nester's Funky Bowling" was the second-to-last game to be released in North America; it was one of the two Virtual Boy games to be released in 1996. The other game that was released in 1996 was "3-D Tetris". "Jack Bros." was released in October 1995. "3-D Tetris" was released in March 1996.

Answer: Less than a year

The Virtual Boy was not discontinued until about the eight month mark. With so very few third-party companies producing only one or two games, this left Nintendo to make most of the games.

Answer: "Panic Bomber"

"Jack Bros." was the only game on the Virtual Boy that was made by Atlus, most commonly known for the "Persona" Series. "Waterworld" is a video game based of the movie "Waterworld". "Red Alarm" is a polygon shooter game.

Answer: 14 in North America, 19 in Japan, and 22 in all

There were only six Japanese exclusive games and two in North America. The games were "3-D Tetris", "Galactic Pinball", "Golf", "Jack Bros.", "Insmouth no Yakata (The Mansion Over Insmouth)", "Mario Clash", "Mario's Tennis", "Nester's Funky Bowling", "Panic Bomber", "Red Alarm", "SD Gundam Dimension War", "Space Invaders Virtual Collection", "Space Squash", "Virtual Lab", "Virtual League Baseball", "Virtual Boy Wario Land", "Waterworld", "Teleroboxer", "V-Tetris", "Virtual Bowling", and "Virtual Fishing". That is all the released games on the Virtual Boy.

Answer: "Megami Tensei"

Jack Frost and Jack Lantern (Pyro Jack) are the mascots of the "Megami Tensei" Series. Jack Skeleton (Ripper) was just an add-on to the game.

Answer: Fourteen

Little third-party support was one of the reasons that the Virtual Boy was a failure. The companies were Nintendo, T&E Soft, Atlus, Be Top, I'Max, Hudson Soft, Bandi, Taito, Coconuts, Bullet-Proof, Athena, Pack-in-Video, J-Wing, Kemco, and Ocean.

Answer: About 800,000

According to Nintendo, they shipped only about 800,000 systems, so it is a hot collector's item. The prices can range from $30 even up to $300.