This is INCREDIBLE!
Thank you so much to the developer, SkyFloogle, for finally making this dream into a reality. Accolades to Danielps as well, for laying the ground work. I wasn't sure if we were ever going to see this, and I honestly thought that it would be a much longer way out than now we it ever
did. But, here we are. The 3DS has finally fulfilled its Virtual Console destiny. It always seemed like such a natural fit.
I've only played a genuine Virtual Boy one single time in my entire life. Many, many moons ago -- must have been '95 -- at a department store kiosk. Of course, the game was Mario Tennis. The device had a pretty lukewarm reception among the video gaming-inclined in my family. My brother being one... but particularly my father, who essentially bought every video game console/add-on that was commercially released in the 1990s. The Neo Geo & Virtual Boy stand as the only two exceptions to that rule. Anyway, I remember thinking when I sat down with it at that kiosk that this was probably going to be my only opportunity to ever experience it, since neither my big bro or Dad were really interested in it -- and neither was much of anyone else -- and it was a pretty pricey piece of tech at the time that was way too expensive for me to ask for, and not particularly practical as a "portable" device. I already had a Gameboy & Game Gear. But I remember thinking it was a pretty neat novelty, really enjoying the 3D effect (despite the eye-searing red hue), and secretly kind of wanting one. But indeed, that was my first and last experience with the Virtual Boy, until now, by way of 3DS proxy.
And you know what? The games are pretty damn fun! Okay, there's a few stinkers in there, too. But the thing was pretty much Dead On Arrival before it could actually get off the ground, so what can you expect? I've seen worse launch line-ups. And most of the games utilize the 3D to great effect. I happen to be one of the outliers that actually loves the 3DS' stereoscopic 3D, so I eat that stuff up with a spoon, and it's nice to get a healthy handful of new (to me) games that actually take care to incorporate the feature, because Nintendo and all the devs pretty much abandoned the 3DS' key feature long before the actual end of the handheld's lifespan. And, apart from that, the game library's just got a particularly nostalgic, mid-90s Nintendo "Play it Loud" aura to it that's hittin' right now.
