Nintendo Virtual Boy (1995-1996)

Nintendo Virtual Boy

Nintendo released the Virtual Boy on July 21st, 1995, in Japan, with a release in North America almost a month later. Nintendo marketed the Virtual Boy as the first console capable of displaying stereoscopic 3D graphics. Critics hated the Virtual Boy, even after Nintendo repeatedly lowered the price of the console. The console’s graphics were unimpressive to consumers, and the console was also known to cause headaches, dizziness, nausea, and eye pain. The console was considered a commercial failure, being discontinued in North America a year into its lifetime, with only 22 games released. It sold only 770,000 units worldwide, making it Nintendo’s lowest-selling standalone console, and the only one to have less than one-million units sold. The second lowest selling Nintendo console was the Wii U, which was released in 2012 and sold 13.6 million units by 2017.