Virtual Boy is joining the Switch Online library, but you’ll need a stereoscopic accessory!

Nintendo is out to kill off the PSVR 2, announcing the return of Virtual Boy games as part of Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack, debuting on 12th February 2026 for both Switch and Switch 2.

What’s the catch? Well, since these are all stereoscopic 3D games, you will need a dedicated Virtual Boy accessory in order to play, giving you split lenses for each eye. Thankfully, while there is a full-on plastic recreation of the Virtual Boy which you drop your Switch or Switch 2 console into, there is also a cardboard counterpart – likely similar to the VR Labo contraption from early in the last generation.

Mario’s Tennis, Galactic Pinball, and Teleroboxer had their specific shout-outs, but 14 games will be dished out for the Switch Online library in due course.

The full line up will include:

• 3D Tetris
• Galactic Pinball
• Golf
• Innsmouth no Yakata
• Jack Bros.
• Mario’s Tennis
• Mario Clash
• Red Alarm
• Space Invaders
• Teleroboxer
• V-Tetris
• Vertical Force
• Virtual Bowling
• Virtual Boy Wario Land

This leaves a few games out from the complete library of 22 games that were originally released, some exclusively in Japan or North America. These are Nesters’ Funky Bowling, Panic Bomber, SD Gundam Dimension War, Space Squash, Virtual Fishing, Virtual Lab, Virtual League Baseball and Waterworld.

The Virtual Boy was an ignominious flop in the mid 90s, selling only 770,000 united before being discontinued, though has later come to be appreciated for its bold step toward what has eventually become VR gaming. Part of its failure has to be put down to the technology of the time, so while it offered stereoscopic 3D, it exclusively used red LED lights to render the graphics and give a sense of depth. Additionally, instead of being strapped to your head like a modern VR headset, the Virtual Boy sat on a tabletop mount, providing a fixed view to players of its games and giving an awkwardness to how you engage with the system, no doubt contributing to the headaches, dizziness and eye strain that the system became known for inducing.

Nintendo’s desire to constantly experiment and innovate has seen them return to 3D on various occasions, though. The most famous, of course, was the Nintendo 3DS, which featured an autostereoscopic top screen that could create 3D without the need for glasses. While impressive, the impact of this diminished over time until Nintendo released 2D-only versions of the 3DS. A fun little aside for the Nintendo Labo project on original Switch had a cardboard VR adapter, similar in concept to early VR adapters for phones, where you slot the screened device into a box with lenses to get the same effect. It’s this notion that is being revived for emulating the Virtual Boy in 2026.

Tags: Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch Online, Virtual Boy