We're All Going To Have A Bad Time With The Nintendo Switch Virtual Boy

The Virtual Boy is Nintendo’s most notorious failure. Released in 1995, the console only made it to '96. Its defining characteristics are almost entirely negative: Its display was limited to monochrome red-and-black. Its bizarre half-headset viewfinder gave users eye strain, headaches, and sore necks. It only received 22 games. It sold just 770,000 units, nearly 13 million fewer than Nintendo’s next worst-selling console, the Wii U, which shifted 13.6 million. In 2025, the Virtual Boy may be best known for the fact that George Costanza owned one, which you can see in the background of some shots on Seinfeld. When a console’s most substantive lasting legacy is a cameo appearance in media people actually cared about, you know it’s a flop.