The Virtual Boy was Nintendo's attempt at handheld games displayed in stereoscopic 3D. It was led by Gunpei Yokoi and Nintendo R&D1, though it was released in a bit of an unfinished state. While having a number of solid titles, it was held back by a lack of portability, the display being solely in monochrome red, a loud operating noise, the fact that nobody else could watch what you're playing, and most infamously the risk of causing headaches and eye problems (depending on the person).
The Virtual Boy ended up being Nintendo's first real big flop, lasting barely a year on the market (even less in Japan) and having a mere 22 games released (8 exclusive to Japan and 3 exclusive to North America). At least 25 more titles were planned at one point or another, reaching various stages of production before being shelved; at least two of these have been found and dumped. While Yokoi had planned to retire shortly after the system's release, he stuck around a bit longer to stave off rumors linking his departure to the system's failure.
Nintendo eventually got stereoscopic 3D right with the 3DS (though for whatever reason avoided rereleasing Virtual Boy games there despite both systems being stereoscopic), and the Virtual Boy has made cameos in various games (such as Tomodachi Life, Luigi's Mansion 3, and Nintendo Labo VR Kit).
On February 17, 2026, Nintendo began re-releasing Virtual Boy games for the very first time through the Nintendo Classics service for Switch and Switch 2. 15 of the system's games were released over a gradual basis (one game is Japan-exclusive), including the previously-unreleased Dragon Hopper and Zero Racers. Two peripherals that act as enclosures for the Switch 1/2 are also available: a cardboard viewer (in the vein of Nintendo Labo), and a full-size recreation of the Virtual Boy. On top of that, the screen color can be changed, including filters patterned after the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and even Super Game Boy.
This category represents / 24 (%!) of all released Virtual Boy games (plus Template:PAGESINCATEGORY:Unreleased Virtual Boy games unreleased ones).