Ranking EVERY Nintendo Console From Worst To Best

14. Virtual Boy

Chances are that if you’ve heard about the Virtual Boy before, you’re aware why this ranks as the worst Nintendo console of all-time. Marketed as the first 3D console, it released back in 1995 across Japan and North America, working as a table-top portable system. Making use of stereoscopic 3D graphics through a head-mounted display and a parallax effect to create depth illusion, it was the first “virtual reality” experience on consoles.

Commercially and critically, the Virtual Boy was a complete failure and only saw 22 games released in its lifetime. Even after cost-cutting measures by Nintendo, such as utilising a red monochrome display as opposed to full colour, retail cost was a significant factor (Especially when compared to the Game Boy), being seen as too high for a system that critics viewed as a stop-gap between the SNES and N64.

It was also rushed to market, with internal resources being increasingly favoured to the N64 at this time. It became widely criticised for lack of portability, the monochrome display, minimal immersion and for health concerns, with a lot of players reporting headaches and nausea after use. Nintendo laid blame on Gunpei Yokoi for the Virtual Boy’s failure, who resigned shortly after, and the console was quickly discontinued less than a year later.