# Virtual Boy

> The Virtual Boy is Nintendo's 1995 3D console with a red monochrome display. A commercial failure, it was only sold in Japan and North America.

Web page: https://emulationking.com/nintendo/virtualboy/
Page updated: 2026-09-26

- Developer: Nintendo
- Released: 1995
- Processor: NEC V810 RISC Processor (32-bit)
- Processor Speed: 20MHz
- RAM: 1MB DRAM, 512KB P-Sram
- RAM: 1 KB
- Colors Available: 4 (32 Levels of Intensity)
- Resolution: 384 x 224 pixels
- Sound: 16-bit Stereo

The Virtual Boy is a 3D video game console released by Nintendo in 1995, and one of its biggest failures.

Nintendo promoted it as the first portable console able to display 3D graphics out of the box, but the idea never caught on with players. The console sold so poorly that it was only ever released in Japan and North America.

One of its biggest weaknesses was that its display could only show red monochrome images, which undermined the immersion it was meant to offer. Players also found that few games made real use of its 3D; most treated it as a gimmick while playing like ordinary 2D games.

## Virtual Boy Emulators

- [Mednafen](https://emulationking.com/sega/saturn/emulator/mednafen/index.md): Mednafen is an open source multi-system emulator, controlled from the command line, known for accurate Sega Saturn and PlayStation emulation.
- [vbjin](https://emulationking.com/nintendo/virtualboy/emulator/vbjin/index.md): vbjin is a Virtual Boy emulator for Windows, built on Mednafen's Virtual Boy core. It runs most of the system's small library of games.