Virtual Boy

Hardware Type: Accessory / Misc.

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Review:

More than any other major player in the videogame industry, Nintendo is known for making surprising, out-of-nowhere moves. Yet even for Nintendo, it was quite shocking to see them announce the addition of a Virtual Boy App to their lineup of retro apps for Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack. This is because when the Virtual Boy launched in 1995 and was discontinued a half year later in 1996, it came to be regarded as Nintendo’s biggest market failure of any game console they ever released. This is debatable, by the way – the Nintendo 64DD add-on was such a miserable flop that it never made it outside of Japan, and as a result many Westerners don’t even considering it when weighing Nintendo’s big failures.

But I digress – the point is that the Virtual Boy was a massive failure, and in the 30 years since, Nintendo has seemed committed to pretending like the console didn’t exist. Apart from a few small references to the Virtual Boy in games like Tomodachi Life and the WarioWare franchise, Nintendo hasn’t remade or re-released any of the games in the Virtual Boy library, even when it seemed to make sense to do so, such as when the Nintendo 3DS seemed to offer the perfect platform to bring these games back.

However, for whatever reason, now in 2026 we’re seeing the return of the Virtual Boy to Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 for subscribers of the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack, and accompanying the release of this retro app are a new pair of Virtual Boy accessories to turn your Nintendo Switch or Nintendo Switch 2 into a makeshift Virtual Boy… sorta’. But more on this in a bit.

First, I should note that in order to purchase either of these accessories, you need to have an active Nintendo Switch Online subscription. You will also be limited to one purchase of each accessory. As for the accessories themselves, at a $25 price point we have the Virtual Boy (Cardboard Model), and for $100 you can purchase a full life-size plastic replica of the Virtual Boy. And while you may be tempted to think that the main difference here is price and build quality, there are actually some interesting differences between the two.

While the Virtual Boy (Cardboard Model) has received a lot of comparisons to Nintendo LABO VR (and rightfully so), amusingly it’s the full replica that requires a little assembly, though not much – you just need to attach the legs to the base of the unit. You’re provided an alternate joint plate to attach the legs, which seems to be slightly smaller to reduce the height of the unit, but I actually found the Virtual Boy’s legs too short for my liking, and had to seek out a table with a height that would work for me. The legs themselves also have an adjustable screw to change the angle of the unit.

You can see a lot of effort put into verisimilitude with this unit. It includes a non-functioning cartridge slot, power jack, controller port, volume dial, headphone jack on bottom of the unit, and on the top of the unit you get a non-functioning power slider and focus dial. This illusion is further assisted by a hidden door in the bottom that closes when a Nintendo Switch or Nintendo Switch 2 is not housed within the unit, making it appear fully enclosed when not in use.

Honestly, I find myself wishing that either more effort was put into the realism of this unit, or less. I’m disappointed that the volume dial, on-off slider, and focus dial don’t move at all, even if they still do nothing, as that would have further added to the realism of the unit. On the other hand, I feel like the dedication to realism that is made here makes this a bit less practical for use – I’ve already mentioned my complaints about the unit’s leg length, but I’m also not fond of the way this unit blocks off ports like the USB-C port on the bottom of the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2, meaning you can’t power them while this is in use. To be fair, neither can you do so with the Virtual Boy (Cardboard Model), but I still feel like something more could have been done to accommodate practical use here.

Of course, the Virtual Boy replica doesn’t work without a Nintendo Switch or Nintendo Switch 2, and to insert one of these consoles you’ll open up a flip-top lid to reveal a slot inside for the console (without Joy-Cons, which won’t fit). Upon putting the console inside, you can opt to close up the unit again, but it’s snug enough that there’s no need for this – if you want you can leave it open while playing it, to swap out a game cartridge, access the console’s volume controls, and so on.

Another interesting feature here is a removable red-tinted faceplate that not only replicates the look of the original Virtual Boy, but also gives players a way to play the Nintendo LABO VR games in Virtual Boy’s signature red and black look if they want to do so for some reason. This plate isn’t necessary to play regular Virtual Boy games like this though – with or without the plate, they are still red and black (at least until additional updates for the app allow for other colors).

For fans of Nintendo LABO VR, this accessory means you can now use the entire library of Nintendo LABO VR-compatible games on Nintendo Switch 2, including games that benefit from a graphics boost on Nintendo Switch 2, like Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Super Mario Odyssey, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (provided you’ve purchased the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, at least). That said, I should note that even those games improved on Nintendo Switch 2 are still running at an extremely low resolution when playing them in LABO VR mode, and it’s debatable whether the tradeoff of a huge hit to resolution in exchange for 3D is really worth it.

I should also note that the one exception to Nintendo LABO backward-compatibility are portions of the Nintendo LABO VR software itself – add-on cardboard accessories like the “Blaster” accessory won’t fit the Virtual Boy replica or the Virtual Boy (Cardboard Model), regardless of whether a Nintendo Switch or Nintendo Switch 2 console is inside it.

Oh, and just to be sure there’s no confusion, the Virtual Boy replica will not work with the overwhelming majority of Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 games. Only the Virtual Boy app, and the very few select titles with LABO VR support, will be usable with this accessory.

Okay, so how does the Virtual Boy replica compare to the Virtual Boy (Cardboard Model) for Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2, apart from its price, aesthetic, and construction?

Well, first and foremost, the Virtual Boy (Cardboard Model) does not come with the red-tinted lens covers, and somewhat obviously, the Virtual Boy (Cardboard Model) doesn’t come with legs to stand on… and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Many of those other Nintendo LABO games I’ve mentioned benefit from the player being able to freely look around, and in fact many of them track head movement. While you can still potentially do this with the Virtual Boy replica, it’s a lot more cumbersome to hold the thing and look around with its legs dangling down from the unit. And while it’s true that this means the Cardboard Model is not really the sort of thing you can set down and not have to hold while you play… well, leaning forward to look into the replica unit isn’t going to be comfortable for a lot of people anyway.

I also found that getting a proper focus was much easier with the Virtual Boy (Cardboard Model), which seemed to more easily align the screen with the lenses and then with my face pressed into the unit. By contrast, the foam face mask component of the replica unit seemed to lead to me getting too close to the screen, leading to the screen appearing out of focus, and I had to kinda’ hover my head slightly away from the replica unit to see it properly.

I should note that in both the Virtual Boy (Cardboard Model) and the replica unit, I found that some games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild made it difficult for me to see the entire screen on Nintendo Switch 2, yet another concession you’ll have to make to play these games this way.

By this point, it does seem like there are a lot of concessions that need to be made to enjoy the Virtual Boy replica unit. I will say that despite its more expensive build, I think I enjoyed using the Cardboard Model accessory more than the more-expensive replica unit, even if it lacks the flair of this accessory. However, in both cases it’s an extremely niche accessory that’s only going to see very limited use outside of the Virtual Boy app itself, unless you’re a huge Nintendo LABO VR player. As a curiosity, I would say this accessory is worth it… but it’s definitely far from what you would hope for in a VR experience. I really hope that some third-party releases a hands-free headset version of this like the OIVO For NS Pro VR Headset. Until then, this appears to be a decent if imperfect way to enjoy the Virtual Boy on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2… and a somewhat less-decent way to enjoy Nintendo LABO VR.

tl;dr – The Virtual Boy replica unit is an accessory that gives players a full-scale replica of the Virtual Boy that works with both Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2, with its intended use being for the new Nintendo Switch Online Virtual Boy App, but also usable with prior Nintendo LABO VR titles. It does this well enough, but with numerous drawbacks, limitations, and concessions, with this unit in particular having issues with Nintendo LABO games due to how large and cumbersome it is. It still makes for a decent-enough way to play Virtual Boy titles, but it’s far from ideal.

Grade: C-

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