Cave Story on the Virtual Boy

I got the idea for this from a post on a Discord server. I don't have the slightest idea on how to program for the VB, so this thread is for sharing ideas and in hopes someone has the expertise to pull this off.

 

I have no idea if virtual boy homebrew is that big of a thing considering it's reputation but I feel like there generally is very little reason to do this other than for the sake of just getting it on yet another system.

 

I have no idea if virtual boy homebrew is that big of a thing considering it's reputation but I feel like there generally is very little reason to do this other than for the sake of just getting it on yet another system.

Another thing is when you look inside a VB to play it, it is surprisingly dark even outside the screen area, the blacks are very black, and it's quite atmospheric, which would make it a perfect fit for Cave Story. I should know, I own one.

 

1: why the hell do you own a VB
2: how would you differentiate some of the sprites this game needs more than 2 colors

 

Cave Story could barely be backported onto the Sega Genesis, and while there was a tech demo for the Game Boy Color displaying the cloud parallax in action (rom is not available anymore, though I have a copy of it on me), I don't think any more than that itself would be possible on the Virtual Boy.

 

there was a tech demo for the Game Boy Color

Is it sad that if there was ever a Quote Fortnite Default Dance meme, I think this would be the theme for it?

 

That would get a Virtual BoI just to play that lol.
Though I don't see that happening unfortunately.

 

The game having open source is no help. Either you write native machine code or you're going to have a hard time doing much.
That said, I'm not sure how efficient other people's ports have been.

Cave Story could barely be backported onto the Sega Genesis

The Sega Genesis has a much weaker CPU.
One big issue would be the display. Some things to consider:
1) What's the point of porting Cave Story to this system, specifically? It's an entirely 2D game, what would you really get out of making it 3D? (see: shithouse NiCALiS ports)
2) The reduced colour count may mean that, combined with the faster CPU, the system could potentially actually run the game with enough optimisation. (although that's just in theory)
3) Do you really wanna play Cave Story with a monochrome display and superficial 3D effects?

 

You may as well just try to make it work on more currently mainstream headsets or even the phone vr stuff since there just aren't a lot of people doing things with a VB, let alone people making homebrew work on the actual hardware (you need one to test it out, you can't easily just make stuff for stuff you don't even own).
However a more dark and atmospheric cave story as you suggested sounds interesting, and I can see that being more likely to be possible- though even just a vignette may require some asm work.

 

1) What's the point of porting Cave Story to this system, specifically? It's an entirely 2D game, what would you really get out of making it 3D? (see: shithouse NiCALiS ports)

The Genesis IS 2d, unless you're mistaking it for the Saturn.

Edit: Unless you forgot this thread existed

 

The Genesis IS 2d, unless you're mistaking it for the Saturn.

Edit: Unless you forgot this thread existed

I was talking about the Virtual Boy!

Spoiler: Is it not obvious?

The Sega Genesis has a much weaker CPU.
One big issue would be the display. Some things to consider:
1) What's the point of porting Cave Story to this system, specifically? It's an entirely 2D game, what would you really get out of making it 3D? (see: shithouse NiCALiS ports)
2) The reduced colour count may mean that, combined with the faster CPU, the system could potentially actually run the game with enough optimisation. (although that's just in theory)
3) Do you really wanna play Cave Story with a monochrome display and superficial 3D effects?

 

spoiler=Is it not obvious?

Ehhhh, the stuff on the VB was right below the answer on the Genesis (rather than separated with a space), so I thought you were still talking about that.

 

I'm chuckling at the thought that this might really happen

 

Just reshade the whole game in red and play it on a modern VR headset

 

1: why the hell do you own a VB
2: how would you differentiate some of the sprites this game needs more than 2 colors

1. I'm a nerd.
2. It's easier than you think.

Cave Story could barely be backported onto the Sega Genesis, and while there was a tech demo for the Game Boy Color displaying the cloud parallax in action (rom is not available anymore, though I have a copy of it on me), I don't think any more than that itself would be possible on the Virtual Boy.

The VB is easily more powerful than the Genesis or the GBC, so, it'll be much easier. Plus, it's a better idea to port it to the VB than you think.

 

The VB is easily more powerful than the Genesis or the GBC, so, it'll be much easier.

I think people are generally way more interested in the gbc than virtual boy which means gbc homebrew may still be an easier job since it's likely to have more documentation (ive seen some pretty demo's iirc too).

Plus, it's a better idea to port it to the VB than you think.

Except people are hard to motivate to make stuff for consoles they don't really interact with at all.

 

Tbh, i would love to view the receipts that shows the Virtual Boy being superior to the Genesis. While it can clearly support something like the unreleased Star Fox game planned for it, the graphics were more wireframe than anything else, and there was already proof of the Game Boy being capable of anything similar with the game, X.

 

I think people are generally way more interested in the gbc than virtual boy which means gbc homebrew may still be an easier job since it's likely to have more documentation (ive seen some pretty demo's iirc too).
Except people are hard to motivate to make stuff for consoles they don't really interact with at all.

1. Just use VUEngine.
2. I meant it as in that it fits the VB.

Tbh, i would love to view the receipts that shows the Virtual Boy being superior to the Genesis. While it can clearly support something like the unreleased Star Fox game planned for it, the graphics were more wireframe than anything else, and there was already proof of the Game Boy being capable of anything similar with the game, X.

Where the VB really shines is with sprite-based games.

 

Where the VB really shines is with sprite-based

So hardware based, it really is inferior? Give us the specs! You need hardware capable for that software and graphics :v

 

Give us the specs!

I didn't mean it as an inferior console, but here.

CPU
Customized NEC V810 (NVC, P/N uPD70732)
32-bit RISC Processor @ 20 MHz (18 MIPS)
1 KB instruction cache

RAM
128 KB dual-port VRAM
128 KB of DRAM
64 KB WRAM

DISPLAY
384 x 224 4-shade gray/red-scale @ 50hz x2

SOUND
Custom "Virtual Sound Unit"
Five wave channels
One noise channel
10-bit stereo output

CONTROLLER
6 buttons and 2 D-pads (14 buttons total)
uses NES controller protocol