Nintendo’s 10 Biggest Failures EVER
1. The Virtual Boy
The Virtual Boy was the brain-child of Gunpei Yokoi. Since Yokoi was the creator of the Game Boy and the D-Pad, the console seemed to be in safe hands.
To use the Virtual Boy, the player placed their head in a mounted-display to see the game they wished to play (similar to the Oculus Rift).
This console was ahead of its time... and that was the problem. The Virtual Boy is a great idea. It just wasn't ready when it was released in 1995.
You see, the problem that Nintendo couldn't get around (and many VR systems still struggle with today) is a phenomenon called "vestibular and visual mismatches". In laymen's terms, this is when you think you are moving when you are not, which confuses the brain.
If that sounds bad, it gets worse.
Vestibular and visual mismatching is a symptom of getting poisoned. When people played the Virtual Boy, it activated the "You Have Been Poisoned" section of the brain, causing players to vomit uncontrollably.
Okay, the Wii U didn't sell well... but it didn't make gamers puke all over the place. The Virtual Boy sold a feeble 770,000 copies, making it the most unsuccessful Nintendo console ever.