‘Seeing Red: Nintendo’s Virtual Boy’ is a book by Jose P. Zagal and Benj Edwards that looks at the history and cultural influence of the Virtual Boy, one of Nintendo’s most controversial consoles. Here’s a bit of the blurb:
The console was red. The (revolutionary!) stereoscopic 3D graphics were red. And shortly after its vaunted release in 1995, Nintendo’s balance sheet was in the red. Of all the failures the games industry has witnessed over the years, perhaps the most famous–or infamous–was the Virtual Boy. Why the Virtual Boy failed is one question José Zagal and Benj Edwards explore in Seeing Red, but even more interesting to the authors is what the platform was: what it promised, how it worked, and where it fit into the evolving story of gaming.
I only caught glimpses of the Virtual Boy when it came out but knew of its issues, mainly the red and black aesthetics and the headaches it caused. I’m sure Seeing Red will fill in many of the gaps left by Nintendo and 30+ years of urban myths.
The book comes out on 14th May and you can buy it on:
- Amazon (affiliate link/non-affiliate link)
- Bookshop (affiliate link/non-affiliate link)
- MIT Press
