the vb sold only 770,000 units and had only 22 games released for it. i read an article where reggie stated that he had never used a virtual boy and didn't even know what the system was until someone asked about ports for the 3ds. i highly doubt nintendo will release any of the games. the system was so obscure that few people gave it a chance. the way modern games have pulled in an entire new generation of gamers, it will be difficult to explain to them why an old red/black retro pseudo-3d game is worth their money. you might get a few sales with wario and mario, but most of the other games would probably take a ton of advertisement. its all a moot point because we have no idea what the games would look like on the 3ds. the entire vb experience may be lost and that could hurt the play-ability of some of the games.
if they wanted to move forward with vb games on the 3ds then i would hope that they would look at making new material. the old library is fine but its the second generation of vb games that held the most potential. it is those games that retro gamers would spend money on. we already have some very good vb emus for the pc, mac, linux, psp, wii, etc, etc... i don't think many gamers will shell out 5.99 (for example) just to play the original 22 games on the 3ds.
something that might work better would be to release the games on a cart. "the vb collection" for something like $50. i would pay one price to get them all, it just seems more appealing that way. they could save the e-shop for releasing some of the near complete prototypes or for new material coded in the retro vb style.
Id be interested, I've always wanted to play a virtual boy but their pretty expensive these days and a bitch to get a hold of
you can pick up a VB on ebay for under $30 bucks with a known "glitch" issue. if you aren't afraid to open the system up then it is possible to fix minor issues in under 20 minutes. with that said, even a brand new system in the box sells for right around what the system sold for new in 1995. with ebay, craigslist, and swap meets... i've never found them hard to get a hold of.
what you will end up spending money on are the games. they are hard to find locally, will most likely require ebay, and sell on average between $10-40. that does not include the rare games like waterworld, virtual lab, and jack bros. expect to pay $80+ for those, especially if you require the original box.
also, the vb games sucked. even the wario one wasnt very good.
that's just a silly statement. most of the games are arcade-style pick-up-and-play, but i would strongly argue that they do not "suck".
VB failed because it was all red and was way too uncomfortable to use and the 3ds is more comfortable.
the vb failed because it was marketed as the successor to the gameboy when it was actually designed to be a niche "toy". nintendo released it before it was ready, the vb we enjoy today is considered a prototype. the reason it was only in red was a technical limitation of the time, only red LEDs could produce enough light.
the vb is far from uncomfortable to play. have you actually experienced one? i've gamed on mine for 2-3 hour sessions without looking up and i've never had a single problem.
-another world