[April Fools] Nintendo returns to virtual reality with the Virtual DS, successor to the Virtual Boy

Completely out of the blue, Nintendo has dropped another iteration of the Nintendo 3DS on our laps and it’s a mix of old and new.

Nintendo has announced the Nintendo VDS or Virtual DS – it’s a mix of the Nintendo 3DS and Virtual Boy technology. With Oculus Rift stimulating eye balls and Sony’s Project Morpheus to do the same too, Nintendo has jumped the gun and got in there first, again.

The VDS has all the same screen technology as the Virtual Boy did but with the power to play Nintendo 3DS games. There’s a couple of games that aren’t compatible. Games that need a second screen, circle pad or even wireless are not compatible. It retains the same control screen as the original Virtual Boy.

Reggie Fils-Aime, the president of Nintendo of America, told IGN that the VDS’ target audience is “the man child who wishes the 1980s never ended.”

The Virtual DS will go on sale next year for the low price of $399.95. That’s the American price, we’ll check with Nintendo Australia in the morning for the Aussie price.

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March 29th 2014- REDMOND, Wash. –(BUSINESS WIRE) — Nintendo is planning to rejoin the virtual reality arena in 2015 with the reintroduction of the Virtual Boy brand with a new product the Nintendo VDS. A product before its time, the Virtual Boy was released a decade ago in 1995 to worldwide acclaim.

The newest member of the Nintendo 3DS family is specifically designed to bring Virtual Reality to the mainstream. The system will be available in Red in 2015 and the design is an homage to the original Virtual Boy with a new head strap system to support hours of play.  Nintendo VDS will be available at a suggested retail price of $399.99.

Nintendo VDS plays most of the entire library of packaged and downloadable games for Nintendo 3DS with ‘true 3D graphics’. The internal screens create a 3D effect through parallax and displaying a monochromatic (red) image.  Nintendo VDS also has two optional accessories, the Virtual Stand allows for classic at-your-desk interaction to play as you did in 1995. The Virtual Case allows you to carry your VDS in style to work, school, optometrist or the chiropractor.

Nintendo VDS maintains many of the same hardware features as Nintendo 3DS: 3D graphics, game-play controls. Games which require the touch screen, wireless functions, slide-pad and lower screen are not compatible.

The use of 3D mode in Nintendo VDS is recommended for 7 yrs +

Remember that Nintendo 3DS features parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other features, visit http://www.nintendo.com/vds.

About Nintendo: The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii U™ and Wii™ home consoles, and Nintendo 3DS™ and Nintendo DS™ families of portable systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment System™, Nintendo has sold more than 4.1 billion video games and more than 659 million hardware units globally, including the current-generation Wii U, Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo 3DS XL, as well as the Game Boy™, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi™ and Nintendo DSi XL™, Super NES™, Nintendo 64™, Nintendo GameCube™ and Wii systems. It has also created industry icons that have become well-known, household names such as Mario™, Donkey Kong™, Metroid™, Zelda™ and Pokémon™. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, please visit the company’s website at http://www.nintendo.com.

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