The Rise and Fall of the Virtual Boy, the Red Machine That Made Players Sick

In 1995 Gunpei Yokoi, the man who invented the Game Boy, gave Nintendo a red machine that made players physically sick. Within a year it was discontinued, and within two years Yokoi was gone. This is the full story of the Virtual Boy: the dream of 3D gaming, the cheap red display, the rush to clear the way for the Nintendo 64, and the tragic human cost behind Nintendo's worst-selling console. The idea was not wrong. It was just sixteen years too early. Chapters: 00:00 The machine that made people sick 00:50 Who Gunpei Yokoi really was 02:30 Withered technology and the Game Boy 03:40 The virtual reality dream 04:20 Why the screen had to be red 05:30 Rushed out for the Nintendo 64 06:40 Launch, headaches, and collapse 07:00 The man walks out, and the road in 1997 08:00 Vindicated by the 3DS, sixteen years too late