Nintendo’s Virtual Boy Is a Silly but Fun Blast From the Past

[Talking Flower] We kind of look alike, huh?

Not really, I'm checking out Talking Flower from Nintendo,

which is coming out later this year,

along with Virtual Boy

and a selection of other games coming to the Switch 2.

Let's check it out. This is the Talking Flower.

It costs $35,

and it's kind of like a kid's ornament for their room.

It doesn't do a ton.

You press this button,

and it says something quippy and funny.

This character...

[Talking Flower] Make sure you're getting your veggies!

This character is from

the video game, Super Mario Wonder,

and so it'll say things from that game.

It can talk up to two times per hour randomly.

You can set it to sort of announce the time every hour.

And also has a room temperature sensor,

so it'll say something like,

Oh, it's kind of chilly, isn't it?

And it can even play some music from the game.

[Talking Flower] Wonder!

Other than that, it's pretty simple.

It doesn't have a microphone,

so there's no talking back to it like an Alexa type device.

It's just a cute little flower that talks.

[Talking Flower] Is it weird for flowers to talk?

Yeah.

I got to play a bunch of upcoming games for the Switch 2,

like Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Switch 2 edition,

Mario Tennis Fever,

Resident Evil Requiem.

But what piqued my interest the most is...

[screen thuds]

Virtual Boy. [character chatters]

It's bright out here, but it's dark in there.

This is the Virtual Boy,

sort of a remake of the original from 1995.

Obviously now it is a Switch 2 accessory at 100 bucks.

Essentially, you put the Switch 2 in here

and you look at the display through these 3D lenses,

and obviously it's made to look

exactly like the old version,

kind of like a Weber grill, in my opinion.

But it's fun, it looks wacky. It's crazy.

You do kind of have to play with it on a desk,

which is a little unusual,

but you can play seven original Virtual Boy games to start

and more will come later this year.

And those will be the original games

from the original Virtual Boy.

Obviously they look a little nicer now

thanks to improvements in the 3D lenses,

as well as the Switch 2's display.

It's really bizarre and weird

to be able to play games through this function,

because these are sort of retro games

that have a bit of that 3D effect.

There's a Wario game, for example,

where you can jump back and forth

through the background to the foreground

and the gameplay sort of takes advantage

of that 3D aesthetic.

There's a 3D Tetris game that I'm really bad at.

This guy laughs at me when you miss. That's rude.

Because it sort of makes you rethink

how you play Tetris in that format.

You have to get used to controls,

but it's through the Switch 2 controller,

and, of course, you can use Joy-Cons if you have Joy-Cons.

It just is a bizarre, weird way to play these retro games

in a way that I wasn't able to experience

because I was way too young

when the first Virtual Boy came out.

But you can just spend $25 for this cardboard version,

and that lets you access those lenses

at a much more accessible price.

The Virtual Boy comes out on February 17th,

and you do need the expansion pack subscription

to be able to play the Virtual Boy games.

I'm gonna go back in.

[Talking Flower] Oh [chuckles], that was fun!