The Imaginative and prescient Professional got its first Virtual Boy emulator in an app referred to as VirtualFriend, lastly giving me, an individual with an irrational love for Nintendo’s most short-lived console, an opportunity to play it in immersive 3D as soon as extra. The app can also be obtainable for iOS and iPadOS, the place it’s a just about equivalent expertise, minus the 3D impact.
The primary video games I performed after downloading VirtualFriend had been these I owned as a child: Crimson Alarm, Wario Land, and Mario’s Tennis. I’m happy to say that other than some minor audio glitches in Crimson Alarm, the video games run nicely — it’s all simply as I keep in mind it.
VirtualFriend helps Bluetooth controllers and keyboard management on the Imaginative and prescient Professional, in addition to touchscreen buttons in the event you’re taking part in on an iPhone or iPad. Visually, the video games look nearly as good as a Digital Boy sport can and have a bit of assist from the app, which helps you to customise the console’s two-tone colour palette. VirtualFriend additionally has an eye fixed adjustment slider that helps modify the picture in the event you discover a specific sport isn’t working for you.
The large lacking options are controller mapping and the flexibility to save lots of your sport at any level utilizing save states. (Developer Adam Gastineau acknowledged the latter in an open issue on the project’s GitHub page.)
Nonetheless, VirtualFriend is straightforward to advocate in the event you’re in any respect inquisitive about taking part in Digital Boy video games or, like me, you as soon as owned and liked the console. It’s free with the choice to tip the developer, doesn’t present advertisements, and in line with its App Retailer itemizing, gained’t acquire your knowledge. It’s simply good, clear, mid-90s VR enjoyable.