Gomi – Page 18 – Gomi's Nostalgia Site

The Nintendo Virtual Boy

[singlepic id=359 w=320 h=240 float=right]Here is a photo of my Virtual Boy. This particular console was supposed to be a portable device and was the first to display 3D graphics. Unfortunately is was ahead of its time and not very portable. It used red LED’s since they were low power and LCD’s didn’t have the refresh rate needed to display the image clearly. If you ever played the original GameBoy you would remember how the LCD screen would get blurry during fast paced sequences. The system barely lasted six months on store shelves before Nintendo pulled the plug, releasing only 14 games in the United States. It’s considered Nintendos biggest failure. Due to the fact NOA only shipped an estimated 800,000 Virtual Boys finding one of these beauties in good working condition makes them a nice collectible. There was also an issue with the system giving people headaches due to the eye strain. To help with this issue the games are paused automatically to give you a break every 15 minutes or so.

I always wanted one of these but couldn’t afford the price of them back in 95. I was in college and would stop by the local Toys r’ Us and play the demo. I am now looking up the schematics to build a link cable so that I can play Mario Tennis head to head.

UPDATE: I played Mario Tennis for about 15 minutes and yes, you will get a headache. I totally understand why this thing was a flop.

Here is a video showing the opening of Mario Tennis.

I wish I had made this

This video pretty much sums up why this site exists.

I love the Power Glove. It’s So Bad.

I was able to get my hands on this one finally. It’s the infamous Power Glove made famous by the movie The Wizard. Back in 89 my buddy Kurt had this thing and we never got it to work. I hooked it up last night and guess what? I still couldn’t get it to work right. It is a total fail but it looks cool in my collection.

Continue reading “I love the Power Glove. It’s So Bad.”

Look at what I found

A buddy of mine gave this to me years ago. Once upon a time Nintendo was going to make a CD player for the SNES but the deal fell through or something and it became the a stand-alone product aka the CD-I. Part of the deal was that Phillips could use some of the Nintendo characters in their games. There was a horrible Mario game called Hotel Mario, and three Zelda games. Continue reading “Look at what I found”

Changing the battery in a NES game

I have a couple of NES games that use a battery to save your game. The only problem is that after 20+ years the batteries are starting to die. I have decided to try and change the battery in a game. I ordered replacement parts from The Nintendo Repair Shop. On the way is the bit I need to open the games and the correct battery with the solder tabs. I have also purchased a couple copies of Ultima Exodus just in case I screw up. When all the parts come in I plan on documenting the whole process.

Wish me luck.