For every success, like the Nintendo Switch 2, there’s a dud, like the Virtual Boy. Released in Japan and America in 1995, it was developed by Game Boy creator Gunpei Yokoi as the next evolutionary step in gaming. However, this bulky red headset was arguably Dead on Arrival. Owners would complain about feeling nauseous after using the Virtual Boy for several minutes, and the games available were subpar at best.
The device was an example of Nintendo trying to be forward-thinking as to where the industry was going. However, despite Virtual Boy being a flop, there was one game that shone through: Wario Land. Although it was slightly similar to the first Wario Land that debuted on the Game Boy handheld in 1994, it differed in many ways, being regarded as an underrated classic, nearly 30 years on.
The Escapist recaps
The Virtual Boy was released 30 years ago in July 1995.
The system only supported games made for it, which could only have a black and red color scheme.
The system was a notable failure for Nintendo, perhaps remaining one of the biggest in the company’s past.
Wario Land is the best game of the 22 games made for the system.
The game made use of the system’s headache-inducing, but impressive at the time, 3D.
Art Style
It’s hard to fathom that Virtual Boy Wario Land came out just 18 months after the original Wario Land on the Game Boy, but it did. The extra power the headset offered meant that a crisper art style could be used.
Despite the red and black color scheme that tried to simulate 3D effects in the game, the way hazards like lava and enemies move brings the world alive. When you discover certain treasures in unique rooms, you feel as though it’s a special moment.
Background and Foreground
Although arguably part of the art style too, the effect of Wario being able to jump into the background and foreground is worth its own mention. As you run through the many levels, you’ll come across an arrow on the ground.
Jumping on this will have Wario leap to the background in a quasi-3D effect, adding to the parallax depth that the Virtual Boy tried to achieve. It may have seemed like a gimmick in other games like Golf and Mario Tennis, but Wario Land arguably did it right by making it a part of the levels so that treasures and more could be uncovered, as well as using the effect for enemies and bosses.
A New Hat
The art style of Wario Land translated surprisingly well to the black and red display. Image credit: Nintendo
Granting Wario new abilities via hats is a lost art in recent titles, but early on, collecting hats that looked like jets and dragons was a fun moment. These would enable Wario to fly through the levels, charge through them like a bull, or breathe fire in order to break blocks and destroy multiple enemies at once.
Despite Virtual Boy Wario Land having the same hats as its Game Boy predecessor, it did have a new one. Called the ‘King Dragon’ hat, this would combine two of these abilities at once, meaning Wario can fly and breathe fire at once, making certain moments ones to remember, but also makes us pine for a return of these abilities in a new Wario game someday.
Bosses
The bosses in the entire Wario Land series are arguably one of its best attributes. From the Genie in the first title to the mutated bat in the fourth game, they can be unpredictable, challenging, but very fun to play repeatedly. The same applies for this Virtual Boy entry, with each of the five bosses using the quasi-3D effects to appear between the background and foreground to try and hit Wario in various ways.
You’ll find robots, goblins, and more trying to hurt you with projectiles being fired from the background, but it’s the detail of these that makes a big impression when playing the game. They’re all incredibly fun to replay, even with the red and black color scheme.
Endings
Another lost art of the Wario Land series is the multiple endings players can get, depending on how much treasure gets collected throughout. The very first entry on Game Boy had a bunch of them, which could vary from Wario earning a birdhouse after collecting barely any treasure, to a whole planet after collecting a boatload.
The same applies to Virtual Boy Wario Land, with a few endings dependent on how much treasure you collect throughout the 14 levels. As you defeat the final boss, you’ll go into another room where it will show the treasure you’ve collected, and after the credits roll, Wario appears on a mode of transport. It could be a magic carpet, a blimp, or something more, totally dependent on how much treasure has been collected!
It’s a fun aspect to finish off the game, and could encourage you to try again to see what else Wario travels on.
Ask The Escapist
Did Nintendo ever try virtual reality after the Virtual Boy?
Although there have been modern attempts to bring Virtual Reality to the mainstream, like the Meta Quest and the PlayStation VR, Nintendo hasn’t returned to the format since the Virtual Boy. It did have great success with stereoscopic 3D, though, with the 3DS consoles.
Does Wario remain relevant to Nintendo after the Virtual Boy’s failure?
Wario has never eclipsed Mario in terms of popularity, but he remains a favorite of Nintendo players, especially thanks to the bizarre yet wonderful WarioWare series. Although he’s not had a platformer outing since 2008’s Wario Land: Shake It!
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In Episode 606 of The TouchArcade Show we kick things off talking about my plans for this weekend, which has resulted in this week’s show being a bit shorter than normal. We also go over some more updates on our Patreon situation, which has been trending upwards lately. Thank you for the support! We briefly touch on the latest version of iOS 18 before hopping into listener emails which leads into some interesting discussion, as always. Like, is the internet more dangerous now for kids than it was when I was growing up in the ’90s? We weigh in! Finally Eli gives us a rundown of his Dungeons & Dragons situation and the hardships between physical and digital ownership.
Don’t forget to shoot us emails with any questions, feedback, or anything else relevant or irrelevant to [email protected]. We read ’em all, and love decoding messages written entirely in emoji. As always, you can listen to us with the links below… And if you like what you hear, please subscribe and/or drop us a review in iTunes. Much appreciated!
As a companion to this audio podcast, we also do a video version of the same show that is exclusive to Patreon which allows you to see us playing the games we’re talking about. Backers can view the most recent video episodes of the TouchArcade show by clicking here. Be sure you’re logged in to see the latest content. For everyone else who is curious, you can check out our public patreon posts to see older episodes of the video podcast. If you like what you see, consider becoming a TouchArcade Patreon backer.
If there’s one thing us folks who love a good RPG can never have enough of, it’s quests. Oblivion Remastered has plenty in its base form – The Elder Scrolls 4 not being short on stuff to do – but of course modders were always going to add to that.
We’re still at a pretty early stage in terms of folks digging underneath the Unreal Engine second skin Virtuos has cocooned the classic game in and seeing what they can accomplish by pushing the boundaries. However, there’ve been plenty of mods that have already come out and had everyone going full Uriel Septim ‘I’ve seen you in my dreams’ mode.
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The latest of these, in my case, had been modder ColdTyrant’s “Infinitum” series, a bunch of mods released in rapid succession that overhaul Oblivion’s already pretty stellar faction questlines by adding in new infinitely accessible radiant quests and systems. They offer nice rewards in return for your character doing more of the job they signed up for – be it assassin, warrior, thief, gladiator, or mage – in a way that’s perfect for roleplaying.
So, having also been intrigued by his earliest works that made it possible to join the Mythic Dawn and become a necromancer in Oblivion Remastered, I decided earlier this week to reach out to ColdTyrant. We chatted about how the quest mods he’s created so far came together, what the next steps in Oblivion Remastered modding might require, and what his future modding plans are. Here’s that conversation:
VG247: What drew you to modding Oblivion Remastered, and has your previous modding experience come in handy when getting up to speed with it?
ColdTyrant: I’ve been playing Oblivion since I was a kid, in 2007 on the PS3. At that age I was absolutely astounded that I could do whatever I wanted, go wherever I wanted, fight, kill, or help whoever I wanted – the game absolutely blew me away and had a fundamental effect on myself and my creativity. I’ve been modding Bethesda games ever since my dad first let me play on his PC, and I was able to download the Construction Set for Oblivion and start poking around to see how things work and what I could make.
I had been following the rumors of an ‘Oblivion Remake’ since January of this year leading up to its eventual shadow drop, and was absolutely floored by the incredible visuals and gameplay overhauls made by the extremely talented team at Virtuos. They breathed new life into one of my all-time favorite video games, and it’s been so exciting to see everyone playing and talking about Oblivion again just like when I was a kid.
Naturally, after I’d already sunken about 100 or so hours into Remaster, I started feeling that itch to get back into the Construction Set. People were (and still are) pumping out mods, tweaks, and tools for Oblivion Remastered like crazy, and I really wanted to sort of get on that wave and see if I could contribute my own content to help enrich players’ experiences further.
Being back in Cyrodiil can do that to a guy. | Image credit: Bethesda/VG247
VG247: How did you go about creating your first couple of quest/faction expansion mods, Mythic Dawn Rising and Dark Path of The Necromancer? Was it a case of wanting more evil options and finding out what was possible, or did you go in with a set vision?
ColdTyrant: When I decided it was time to start modding Remastered, I really wasn’t sure where to start. I’ve always been fascinated with the villains Bethesda has created, and I know many players (including myself) have a desire to explore the idea – what if *I* was the bad guy?
I started re-learning Oblivion’s scripting and quest system, and ultimately decided I wanted to create an alternate path to the Main Quest, where the player could decide to explore what it would be like to actually be a member of Mehrunes Dagon’s Mythic Dawn cult. This mod was sort of a test of what I could get away with mechanically – a proof of concept to myself, and it’s a bit light on content and needs a big update (I’m working on this!).
After I released Mythic Dawn Rising, I just kept playing around with scripts and variables and seeing what could be done. When I discovered the different types of systems I’d be able to create with what I’d discovered, my ideas really began to run wild.
Dark Path of the Necromancer started as just a mod that would add an alternative way for players to create Black Soul Gems, but as I’d finish one feature I’d think of another, then get to work on it – then another, then another. It quickly sort of snowballed into this big project with multiple necromantic-centered systems, and I really love how it turned out. Sort of accidentally, I’d wound up creating another mod that allowed the player to explore membership with another previously forbidden faction.
Who wouldn’t want to join a group of folks who can cast armour illusions this cool? | Image credit: Bethesda/VG247
VG247: I’ve noticed that in both of those mods’ descriptions you note that you’re hoping to add more to them once more advanced Oblivion Remastered modding tools are out there. What kinds of tools are you most keen to see emerge going forwards and can you paint me a picture of what the ‘ideal versions’ of those mods might look like?
ColdTyrant: So, with modding the original Oblivion, it’s a lot simpler – anything you put into the game world will just be there when you load up the mod. No requirements, no difficult installation instructions, just plug and play. If I dropped a new NPC named Bob the Mage into Anvil, he’d just be there!
Oblivion Remastered is a bit more complicated. Virtuos has created an incredibly remarkable hybrid engine that combines both Gamebryo (an earlier version of Creation Engine) and Unreal Engine 5. Gamebryo handles the scripts, quests, and gameplay mechanics, while Unreal Engine 5 handles all rendering – meshes, textures, menus, lighting, shadows, effects, lines of text, pretty much anything and everything the player sees on their screen.
What this means in layman’s terms is that if I dropped Bob the Mage into Anvil in Remastered using the Gamebryo Oblivion Construction Set, well… that’s not enough to make him show up. At best, a visit to Anvil will result in him being completely invisible, and at worst, a game crash. This is because Gamebryo no longer handles rendering.
Unreal Engine needs to be told by Gamebryo via strings what actually exists and what to render into the game. Everything needs a table string entry that connects back to Unreal, or you’ll have problems.
Fortunately, some incredibly talented modders (I like referring to them as engineers) have created tools like TesSyncMapInjector or the Fix & Port Script for xEdit that do this job for us – so Bob the Mage can exist in Oblivion Remastered.
Ok, so this particular mage isn’t called Bob, but you get the picture. | Image credit: Bethesda/VG247
However, this means players will be required to install these tools on their end to experience mods that add new items and systems to Oblivion Remastered, and it can be frustrating for new people that want to get into modding their games, but feel intimidated by all these requirements and specific installation instructions.
So ideally, we’ll get to a point where either Bethesda/Virtuos release official modding tools for the remaster or talented mod engineers are able to create tool(s) that make mods fully compatible with Unreal, without the end user needing to install extra requirements. For the ‘Oldblivion’ versions of my mods, they are all plug and play – no requirements. But for Remastered – for now – you’ll always need UE4SS and TesSyncMapInjector.
VG247: What inspired you to take on your Infinitum series, how was it putting together each of the radiant quest systems and deciding on the unique twists you were going to give each faction’s system? One of the things I found most interesting about the Dark Brotherhood one was the gacha-style Dark Token reward system, so how did the idea for that specifically come about?
ColdTyrant: The ‘radiant quest system’ I’ve designed was actually initially a side feature in another currently unnamed mod project regarding the Blackwood Company, as my original intention was to continue the ‘join and play evil factions’ genre of mods I’d released so far.
When I discovered during testing how much fun I was having just doing infinite quests, I thought to myself – I need to adapt this to the main factions. From there, once again, my ideas started to kind of run wild.
I ‘extracted’ the radiant quest system from my Blackwood project, ported it into a new project, and reworked it for the Dark Brotherhood. I think a lot of people feel this way, but Oblivion’s Dark Brotherhood is by far my favorite questline in the game, and I say that while really loving all of the major factions. I wanted to be able to take contracts to assassinate people forever, and I hoped others would too. In the end, Dark Brotherhood – Infinitum was born, and the series kicked off.
Creeper, gacha master of the Dark Brotherhood. | Image credit: Bethesda/ColdTyrant
As far as the ‘gacha reward system’, I wanted to create a unique way for the player to get random rewards, but also be able to choose what type of reward they’re interested in. Creating a gacha that may or may not give the player something good for their Dark Tokens I thought would be a fantastic way to motivate the player to keep doing infinite contracts besides just the fun of sneak killing and gold.
If the popularity of certain gacha games is any indicator, people really love being able to take their chances and roll for rewards, even if the odds are stacked against them. Fortunately, however, Creeper does NOT charge the player any real-world money!
Some players complained that Creeper being in the Cheydinhal Sanctuary is not immersive (hence my ‘No Creeper’ optional version), and I totally get it – but I love Morrowind just as much as Oblivion and Skyrim, and I’m sure any Morrowind player is aware of the “meme” of selling Creeper hundreds of sets of Dark Brotherhood armor. Why wouldn’t he show up? He wants more of that stuff! It was just a fun reference in the end, and I was hoping people would get a kick out of it!
VG247: What are your personal plans and general hopes for Oblivion Remastered modding going forwards, especially when it comes to quest mods – are there any complex ideas you’ve not tried yet that you’re keen to give a go once the tech’s there and do you think there’s a high ceiling in terms of what people might eventually pull off?
ColdTyrant: Similar to what I mentioned earlier, the ideal situation for Oblivion Remastered modding will be the release of official modding tools to ‘grease the wheels’ on the mod development process – but given the complexity of the hybrid engine, I’m not sure if this will happen. It would be really nice, though, so our friends playing on console can hop on the hype wave of Remastered modding too.
As far as my plans – the next (and final, for the major factions) mod in the Infinitum series will be Mages Guild – Infinitum. This mod will feature an endless Creature Research system, a brand new Elixir-crafting system separate from regular Alchemy, and radiant quests to deliver those Elixirs to the various Mages Guild Halls. Additionally there will be an endlessly-available staff-crafting system.
Since we had our chat, ColdTyrant’s released his Mages Guild mod, so you can try it right after you’re done reading. | Image credit: Bethesda/ColdTyrant
Since the Mages Guild is a bit different, and focused more on scholarly endeavors and magical power, I’m hoping people really enjoy it!
Once the main Infinitum Series is complete, I’ll likely shift my focus to a big Mythic Dawn Rising update, and a secret project I’ve been writing up, that I think people will really love!
As far as whether or not I’ve tried certain ideas due to current limitations (I consider Remastered modding to currently be in its infancy), there are certainly a few. I try not to lean *too* heavily into NPC dialogue, for example, since we can’t use custom voice files yet, or have an elegant solution like ‘Elys Universal Silent Voice’ which exists for Oldblivion.
I think there is a high ceiling for learning and getting into more complex scripting if you’ve never done it before, but really, the sky is the limit when it comes to Bethesda modding – there are hundreds and hundreds of mod authors far more talented than myself that have created incredible content for all of Bethesda’s single-player masterpieces.
As time marches on, I’m really excited to see the things people continue to pump out for Oblivion Remastered. It’s really exciting to see what people can come up with!
With no one vulnerable at match points, right hand opponent dealt and opened one heart. I passed, left hand opponent raised to two hearts. and all passed. I led ace, king and third of clubs from the following:♠J985 ♡J76 ♢Q72 ♣ AK2.
Partner captured the third club with the queen (both opponents following to all three rounds), and led the ace of spades. At this point dummy (to my left) showed the following: ♠ Q2 ♡K93 ♢K853 ♣J.
Right hand opponent dropped the 4 of spades, and I signalled with m 8 of spades, my second lowest. Partner led another spade, which dropped the opposing K and Q together, leaving my J high (but leaving the opponents void of spades).
Partner complained about being misled by my signal but conceded it didn’t matter. She was out of clubs and wasn’t about to lead trump, so it was a choice between spades and diamonds. I didn’t particularly want a diamond lead with the K in dummy sitting over my Q. Of course, she could have led the ace of diamonds if she had it, but she didn’t.
I quoted what I had been taught (by the late Dorothy Hayden Truscott). With regard to following with four of a suit:
Follow with lowest (5) means, “You’ll get no help from me if you lead another one.”
Second lowest (8) means, “I can accommodate another one.”
Second highest (9) means, “Please lead another one.”
Highest (J) means, “lead another one for crying out loud.”
I believe that partner was “disappointed” that I didn’t have the controlling honor after I played the 8. My understanding when playing the is that it means, ” I don’t see any better lead than another spade, whether or not it wins.
Did partner have a good reason to complain about my signal?
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Published: Jul 17, 2025 12:45 pm