Akihabara, Tokyo, October 2010. It’s true. You’re looking at an almost mint boxed and wrapped Nintendo Virtual Boy. Oh how I want it! Sadly it wont fit in my carry on or checked luggage. But how sweet it is. I hankered for one of these when they first came to light around 1994. Back then the idea of putting on goggles that threw you into a surreal 3D virtual world was awesomely amazing, even if it was only a monochrome display that had the tendency to make the user seriously nauseous.
Developed by Nintendo legend Gunpei Yokoi, it was an even bigger flop than the GameCube for Nintendo. But that just makes it even more collectible. At 148,000 yen it’s a bit of a steal as well. I would give you the address so you could rush here and buy it but addresses in Tokyo confuse Tokyoites even more than they do foreigners. You would just end up somewhere in North Korea by accident, and we really wouldn’t want that. Although I hear Kim Jong Il is a mean fisherman.
On a serious note, they are not hard to find in Akihabara, and Akihabara in turn is not hard to find. I think I just drooled.
Damian Francis is the editor-at-large for Australian T3 and contributing technology editor for GQ Australia. He is in Japan as a guest of Toyota Australia.
