Fifth Generation

The Virtual Boy is a Fifth-Generation portable video game console designed and manufactured by Nintendo. Released on July 21, 1995 in Japan the system became Nintendo’s first venture into the virtual reality video game market. Though the console did not simulate a true virtual reality environment the system was the first console capable of displaying native stereoscopic “3D” graphics. Even though the system did not provide a true virtual reality experience it did however provide a form of virtual reality by isolating a player in a border free game environment. Nintendo chose to market the unit as the Virtual Boy by combining the terms virtual reality and Game Boy in hopes to capitalize on the excitement of the concept of virtual reality and the massively successful handheld.