Three screenshots from the unreleased Virtual Boy game in the Mario franchise have reappeared online, offering the clearest view of the game since 1995.
These images were found by Bluesky user rabidrodent within The Internet Archive, specifically in a collection of video game screenshots extracted from old AOL file libraries. They seem to be official assets that Nintendo distributed to the press for reporting purposes. While not completely unseen before, it’s likely the first time these particular images have been accessible to the public in decades, which is exciting to see.
Colloquially referred to as “VB Mario Land,” this game was only shown once during the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in January 1995. At that event, attendees couldn’t actually play the game or view it through a Virtual Boy. Instead, a demo of the first level was displayed on widescreen TVs, with attendees wearing special glasses to mimic the console’s 3D effects.
If released, “VB Mario Land” would have featured Mario navigating both side-scrolling and top-down levels, incorporating plane-hopping mechanics similar to those later seen in “Virtual Boy Wario Land.” It’s unclear why Nintendo ultimately decided not to release the game, but many speculate that the Virtual Boy’s quick failure led to its disappearance, resulting in the unique situation of a Nintendo console lacking a traditional Mario game.
