On my desk is a Nintendo device that looks like equipment stolen from a cyberpunk optical shop. It’s big, it’s red and black, it sits on a tripod, it has an eyepiece, and it has a Nintendo Switch 2 nestled inside. Hello, Virtual Boy, you’re back.

Nintendo has made a lot of weird consoles over the years, but the Virtual Boy was the weirdest. And the shortest lived. Released in 1995 and discontinued a year later, it lived for a blink of an eye during my final year in college. I never really had time to consider buying one.

It would have been perfect for me, a Game Boy fan who was in love with the idea of VR even back then. Nintendo has been flirting with virtual reality in various forms for decades, and the Virtual Boy was the biggest swing. But it wasn’t VR at all, really. It was a 3D game console in red and black monochrome, a 3D Game Boy in tripod form.

I’m setting the stage because right now you can order a $100 Virtual Boy recreation that’s a big, strange Switch accessory. It’s staring at me now, taking up a lot of space. It’s too big to fit in a bag. It’s a tabletop console, really, and Nintendo has created this Virtual Boy viewer as a way to play a set of free-with-subscription games on the Switch and Switch 2.

Is it worth your money? I’d call it a museum-piece collectible, not a serious piece of gaming hardware. Still, my kid stuck his head in, played 3D Wario Land, and came out declaring it was really cool. He loves old retro games. But I don’t know how often he’ll pop his head back in.

Nintendo’s first stab at 3D now feels like a museum piece

For comparison, I pulled my old Nintendo 3DS XL out of the drawer where it had been tucked away and booted it up, marveling again that Nintendo actually made a glasses-free 3D game handheld once upon a time. The 3DS is a far more capable and advanced game system, but consider the Virtual Boy an ancient attempt to get there first. 

The Virtual Boy was a monochrome red-and-black LED display system, a tabletop-only device that was neither handheld nor TV-connected. The Nintendo Switch’s tabletop-style game modes feel like a bit of an evolutionary link to the Virtual Boy, so it’s poetic that the Switch pops into the new Virtual Boy to power the games and provide the display.

The plastic Virtual Boy is just an odd set of VR goggles for the Switch, but with a red filter on the lenses. Also, you can’t wear it. You keep your head stuck in it.

Awkward and easy to use

All the trappings on this recreation look like the old Virtual Boy but don’t work: You can see a simulated headphone jack, controller port, a sort of knob on top. I just unsnap the plastic case and slide the Switch in, carefully, and then snap it back over. That’s all it is.

To control it, you use the Switch controllers detached or another Switch-compatible controller. Launching the Virtual Boy app — free on the eShop, but you need a Switch Online Plus Expansion Pack account, which costs $50 a year, or $80 for a family membership — splits the Switch display into two smaller, distorted screens. In the Virtual Boy, it looks properly 3D. When I’m done playing, I pop the Switch back out.

As I said in my first hands-on, the big foam-covered eyepiece is more than wide enough for big glasses, and was fine to dip my face into. Getting a comfortable angle to stay playing for a while is another challenge. The Virtual Boy’s included tripod-like stand can adjust the angle, but not as wide as I’d like. I’m sort of hunched over while playing, which gives me a bit of pain. Leaning on the table with my controllers in hand helps.

The red-lensed front eyepiece can be removed, and a later software update will allow Virtual Boy games to be played in several color mixes beyond red and black. Also, you can unscrew an inner bracket to hold the Switch 2 and swap in an included Switch-sized bracket instead. The Switch Lite doesn’t work with the Virtual Boy, however.

The weirdness is my type of indie

All you get right now are seven of the 16 games Nintendo has promised to release for the Virtual Boy. Believe it or not, there were only 22 games ever released for this system. The 16 will include two that were never released before, which is a fun collector’s novelty. 

But what’s amazing to me now is that, sinking into these oddball retro games with their pixelated NES-slash-Game Boy aesthetics in red and black, they feel weirdly timely. The janky, oddball, almost-parallel-universe Nintendo vibe feels like the indie retro aesthetic that’s been big for a while now. After all these years, is the Virtual Boy now finally awesome?

Games like UFO 50 (a compilation of new indie games made to feel like an archive of ’80s games for a console that never was) and indie consoles like Panic Playdate (still my favorite black and white mini handheld, a home for all sorts of homebrew retro games) match my feeling diving into these Virtual Boy games and figuring them out.

Wario Land is probably the best: A side-scrolling Wario game with multiple depth levels, it gives me Game Boy Mario game vibes. Golf has multiple holes and an aiming system, and it’s relaxed and basic (and hard to perfect). 3D Tetris has you dropping blocks down a well to fill in layers, with a Tron-like puzzle feel. Red Alert’s wireframe 3D shooter design is like Star Fox, but boiled all the way down to simple vector lines. Galactic Pinball has several tables, and it’s some lovely, very old-school 3D Nintendo pinball fun. Teleroboxer is Punch-Out with robots, with a style that also reminds me of the early Switch game Arms. And The Mansion of Innsmouth is a creepy 3D dungeon-crawling game (in Japanese) where you try to get to exits before time runs out… or monsters get you.

The remaining games coming this year include Mario Tennis, another Tetris game, a wireframe 3D racer, a 3D reinvention of the original Mario Bros. game called Mario Clash and a 3D Space Invaders. By the end of Nintendo’s release schedule, a good chunk of Virtual Boy’s catalog will be there.

A novelty that’s niche as hell

Worth it? Again, if you love weird and retro, and are intrigued by lost Nintendo 3D games, then yes. But if you’re looking for cutting-edge, then no.

Keep in mind: You can buy a cheaper $25 cardboard set of goggles for the Switch that lets you play the Virtual Boy games, too (or use the old Labo VR goggles Nintendo made in 2019, if you have them). That’s a more sensible path. There are even unofficial emulators for Virtual Boy games on the Meta Quest and Apple Vision Pro. But who said the Virtual Boy was sensible?

A Nintendo game system that’s a big set of red goggles on a tripod is inherently absurd. And I welcome its weird footprint in my home, because that’s exactly who I am. But it’s also a testament to Nintendo’s perpetual interest in the bleeding edge of gaming. VR, glasses-free 3D, AR, modular consoles… Nintendo’s poking around the edges. 

Is the Virtual Boy a sign that Nintendo could make its own VR or AR game system again someday soon, or as an extension of the Switch 2? Who knows? Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo’s legendary video game designer, sounded intrigued and elusive about it when I asked him last year. But there’s never any real way to guess where Nintendo’s heading. The Virtual Boy is a museum-piece reminder of that.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s Mini Crossword expects you to know a little bit about everything — from old political parties to architecture to video games. Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Political party that competed with Democrats during the 1830s-’50s
Answer: WHIGS

6A clue: Four Seasons, e.g.
Answer: HOTEL

7A clue: Dinosaur in the Mario games
Answer: YOSHI

8A clue: Blizzard or hurricane
Answer: STORM

9A clue: We all look up to it
Answer: SKY

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: «Oh yeah, ___ that?»
Answer: WHYS

2D clue: Says «who»?
Answer: HOOTS

3D clue: «No worries»
Answer: ITSOK

4D clue: Postmodern architect Frank
Answer: GEHRY

5D clue: Narrow
Answer: SLIM

The PlayStation 5 will turn six years old this year. For a game console, that means it’s coming into its twilight years. So, it’s understandable that gamers are starting to wonder what’s next. There’s is nothing official so far from Sony on when the PlayStation 6 might arrive, though.

Still, reports and rumors are circulating about Sony’s next-gen game console. While Sony has a sizable market lead over Microsoft’s Xbox, it now has different competition coming from the new powered-up Nintendo Switch 2 and the upcoming Steam Machine home console from Valve. Both devices offer different challenges for Sony in terms of portability, library of games and pricing. 

Here’s what we know about the PS6 so far. 

When will the PS6 come out? 

Sony, for obvious reasons, hasn’t provided a window for when the PS6 will come out. Speculation puts the console’s release in 2027, which would be seven years after the release of the PS5, and consoles have generally been on a seven-year cycle. 

Sony could push the release to 2028, according to a report from David Gibson, senior analyst at MST Financial. He believes the new PlayStation will likely be delayed as the company is expanding the lifecycle of the PS5, according to VideoGame Chronicles. However, a new report from Bloomberg says the release date could be pushed back to 2029, thanks to the current RAM shortage.

Will the PS6 be a handheld? 

It does appear that Sony might be developing both a console and a handheld. Rumors were circulating that Sony was creating a handheld on par with the Nintendo Switch to complement the console.

The speculation is that this handheld will be able to play new PS6 games, as well as PS5 and PS4 games. While this seems unlikely from a handheld, it’s possible the device would have enough power to run PS5 games and, in turn, PS4 titles, while PS6 games would be playable at a lower visual quality. 

The YouTube channel Moore’s Law Is Dead reported in December that this PS6 handheld is already being tested by developers but that its lower-power mode reportedly doesn’t play PS5 games well, as it lowers the frames of the game when in use. 

Sony’s strategy for this generation could be about keeping players in the PlayStation ecosystem at home and on the go, so they won’t be tempted by competitor handhelds such as the Xbox ROG Ally or Steam Deck. 

How much will the PS6 cost? 

Figuring out the potential pricing for this upcoming generation of consoles is tricky. There are so many unknown factors that complicate the answer.

Current tariffs, for example, have caused Sony, like Microsoft and Nintendo, to raise console prices, making it hard to predict what will happen in the coming years. The tariffs could go away, but if they continue, Sony may have to move its console production to another country that has a minimal tariff or hope that the countries that manufacture its hardware — Vietnam and China — strike a deal with the US. 

Another issue is the RAM shortage and the resulting skyrocketing prices. Brought on by the demands of data centers across the globe being built out to handle the growth in AI usage, memory prices have already jumped. Those increases are leading to more expensive desktops, laptops and, really, anything that uses RAM, like tablets, phones and gaming devices. 

The sweet spot for any console release would be $500, but that seems more like a pipe dream at this point. What could be used as a marker for hardware prices is Valve’s upcoming Steam Machine later this year, which is speculated to stay in the $600 to $700 range. 

As for the handheld portion, the pricing could be more aggressive than the offering of the current handheld market. A video from August, from the YouTube channel Moore’s Law Is Dead, says the pricing for the PS6 portable could be in the range of $400 to $500. This could mean that to get the full PS6 experience, gamers will have to drop at least $1,000. 

What are the PS6 specs? 

Like other gaming hardware makers, Sony is working closely with AMD for its components. Back in October, the lead architect for the PS5, Mark Cerny, hosted a video with Jack Huynh, SVP and GM of AMD’s computing and graphics group. The video was uploaded to the PlayStation YouTube channel. 

While the talk between the two didn’t confirm what technology will power the PS6, they hinted a bit about what’s next with a collaboration between the two companies, called Project Amethyst.

Huynh introduced Radiance Cores, which are AMD’s new technology for ray tracing and path tracing. Another technology, introduced to handle the GPU demands of AMD’s Fidelity Super Resolution and PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution upscaling, is Neural Arrays. And AMD’s Universal Compression can help relieve bottlenecks with the GPU memory bandwidth limitations. 

While there are few verifiable details about the chips powering the PS6, Sony will work with AMD to create customized hardware for its PS6, just like Nintendo did with the Switch 2 and Microsoft is doing with the next Xbox.

The PS6 is likely to have at least 16GB of RAM and a 1TB solid-state drive for storage. It will also likely have the latest standards for wireless technology, such as Wi-Fi 7, and the newest media interface, HDMI 2.2. 

Sony will also develop some other PlayStation-focused features in the same fashion as the adaptive triggers on the DualSense PS5 controller and more functionality with cloud gaming for PS Plus subscribers. 

Many questions are still left to be answered about the PS6, with the ultimate question on whether the 10th generation of game consoles will, in fact, be the last.