r/VirtualBoy

Here’s what I’ve been working toward all year: the current and “final” state of my Virtual Boy collection (at least until Nintendo drops what are in all likelihood the very last officially released VB games, Dragon Hopper and Zero Racers, on NSO later this year!)

This was a long time coming, and an immensely rewarding, if sometimes frustrating, collecting goal.

The officially released North American library is 100% complete and 100% authentic. Yes, even Jack Bros.

Scattered amongst those NA games are several unofficial releases: incredible homebrews like Virtual Warzone and Hyper Fighting, games originally intended to be released as part of a second push for the system, including the fantastic Bound High and Dragon Hopper (currently box only!), and Faceball Remastered, which skirts the line between homebrew and an unofficial release of a canceled game.

In the back corner are all of the Japan exclusive titles. The four laying down on the table are 100% authentic and 100% complete. The four standing at attention are 100% reproductions, and I couldn’t be happier about that. You know what I could do with a fifth of what it cost to get authentic CIB copies of Virtual Bowling, SD Gundam Dimension War, Space Invaders: Virtual Collection and Virtual Lab, the majority of which are considered the absolute dregs of this system’s meager library? I could take my family to Hawaii for a week. Which I’m doing in just a couple of days instead of wasting thousands of dollars on bad video games.

I’ll always have the memories of how I got a Virtual Boy as a child, lost it, got it back again, had to say goodbye to it again, and finally “completed” the collection when, and I’m a way that, it made sense to do so… but now, I’ll get to make new memories that my wife, my kids and I will never forget. Seems like a pretty fair trade off while still owning one of the best Virtual Boy collections you will ever see.

I’ve had a blast getting back into the collecting game this year, and I’m not done! I’m currently filling in some of the non-Nintendo gaps, and will be back with another fun “complete” collection photo later this year.

(And yes, I know the stand is backwards.)

Both displays had the classic ribbon cable failure - screen lines across the image. Replaced them with a Virtual Ribbon 4.0 kit from SegaSonicFan (available through Stone Age Gamer).

The included soldering jig is single-sided, it only clamps on one side, so pressure is uneven across the contact pads. The fix was to lean the PCBs off the edge of the workmat with the lens assemblies hanging off the table, which distributes the load properly. Took patience but both ribbons went down clean.

Also fitted a Repair Box replacement stand. It arrived with the clip and spring detached from shipping, but reassembled without issues.

Clear picture on the first boot.

Full thread: https://hitmanmcc.com/entry/virtual-boy-refurbishment-and-modding

Picked this filthy thing up for $120 just gotta clean it up and replace foam

A little work has been done. Do we have C coder here?