Virtual Boy: Mortality

Zero Insertion Force

Looking at ebay, it appears there are "too many" Virtual Boys sold as in working condition; then again, "too many" in my mind means any non-zero integer.



Per my experience with four of them, left alone the lens cables all had some sort of failure by ~2000/2001 (in dry/warm California conditions.) So I seriously wonder, how many of these have survived intact? I suspect that of those listed on ebay marketed as working, either the individual testing doesn't notice the lines/display issues as a flaw (maybe just check to make sure it powers on and makes light,) and or the console has been temporarily "ovened" and will fail worse than before in a week, or by the time they're shipped (I doubt most sellers are knowledgeable enough to even try, thankfully.) Otherwise the sellers are committing fraud (I suspect 'permanently' modified consoles will be advertised as such.)



So seriously; does anyone have a non-repaired (soldered) Virtual Boy that still works? What conditions was it kept in? Seriously, it's such a poor design to have a glued on cable that can flex when you adjust the IPD... Nintendo's worst designed console no one knew about (an even bigger fail than the ZIF, which by the way, was a fine idea   )

SNESNESCUBE64

I got one sold as-is for one hell of a deal on ebay, guy said it didn't even turn on (who would have guessed that you only get picture if there's a game in it). The guy shipped it from Puerto Rico, it had everything for it and it worked just fine. A short time after I got it, I got to see a black line across the right lens. I no longer have it, I traded it to a friend for a set of Wii U kiosk controllers because I wanted those a whole lot more than a Virtual Boy that I never used because it was a pain in the ass.



The way I look at it, ones with soldered ribbon cables should sell for more as it is technically a permanent fix for that particular issue. They are hard to come by as it is, so time is definitely against it. However, to question mortality rate on anything is a little silly in my book, but for the Virtual Boy in particular, unmodified ones in working condition will stop showing up and you would be left with either broken or repaired. 



I'm still debating on whether or not I should get another. I really don't want to because I know I will have to repair it and my soldering iron isn't fine enough for the solder fix.

DefaultGen

I've got a fully working one that hasn't been touched, and another that developed issues. I intend to fix them eventually but I honestly don't play VB enough to bother since the one is still good.

dry_bowser

I have one with a faulty left lens. It was never opened up before.

Zero Insertion Force

On a long enough time scale nothing is really immortal of course, but it seems there are enough Virtual Boys advertised as in working condition at this point, for there to be doubt cast on many of those claims considering how unreliable I've seen and heard them to be.



I bought my first during that amazing clearance for like $20 , and picked up my only other new game (than Tennis) at Frys a year later (Golf) for $5 . My friend had Mario Clash and Tennis, we were always pissed off the Game Boy link cable didn't work. I have Wario Land and Vertical Force (Japanese) but haven't had a working Virtual boy in that space of time to play them. I want to check out Water World and Red Alarm as well, but not much else in the library really stands out to me as something I'd pick up on other than a whim.



(I regret not picking up a new 32x also on clearance for like $15 that was next to the Virtual Boy stack at EB Games in '97 , but I didn't even have a Genesis at that point  )

twiztor

i've got a working one that hasn't been repaired.

bought it off ebay probably 15 years ago (one of my earliest ebay purchases). it mostly sits in a box in the closet now, but i bust it out a couple times a year.

Zero Insertion Force

On the off chance that yours works, I recommend not touching the pupil distance knob; twisting it moves the outward part of the chassis the lens is mounted on physically in/out and can stress the fragile connection of the cable.

beardcore84

I have one in storage, when I get unpacked I'll test it out and see what's up.

ProtonX

I have about 20 heads that were defective. Almost half have been fixed by perminantly soldering the ribbon connections. Otherwise they all fail over time as the glue holding the lens connection fails.

Spinner1129

I got one locally about 7 years ago, it's all original, and it still has no issues.

Vectrex28

Mine used to work but it has garbled screens now. I'm thinking about doing the oven trick as I don't think I can solder well enough to do the permanent fix yet. I'm still struggling to change them batteries

Zero Insertion Force

All I'll say is don't oven; never oven. I have an ovened set that's creating perm. repair issues, and I will post here shortly whether this set is even repairable when I have further detail. My friend also ovened his, and it lasted less than a month anyway; further treatment lasted days. The set I'm dealing with now I bought ovened (I didn't know) and failed within a week.

Morakaton

I bought a used Virtual Boy in 2006 which worked fine at the time of purchase, and the 2 separate times I've taken it out of storage (a dry closet) in the last 10 years after buying it. I am going to take it out of my closet tonight to see if it's still working, and I'll report back.



Guys, just so I know what I'm looking for, what is this problem that develops over time with Virtual Boys? Mine didn't seem to have any flaws when I played it last Fall.



Thanks in advance!

Zero Insertion Force

This or even more whacked out. Or zero picture. All mine became unplayable.