VBoy Color: Virtual Boy games in colour, on PC and Meta Quest
By Tgames · · 1 min read
Nintendo’s Virtual Boy only displayed red on black: the VBoy Color emulator colourises its games, on PC and on Meta Quest headsets, while keeping the 3D.
An emulator that adds colour
VBoy Color is an open-source emulator released by yuk27 on 6 October 2026; it is now at beta 5, released on 10 October. It is derived from VirtualBoyGo and emulates the console with the Beetle VB core, Mednafen’s. What sets it apart: it replaces the four shades of red of the 1995 console with colours.
Five ways to colourise
The 3D is preserved
The Virtual Boy’s depth effect is still there: natively on Meta Quest 2, 3, 3S and Pro headsets (the APK is installed with SideQuest), and on PC through several 3D modes, including red and cyan anaglyph. The emulator adds a library with box art, save states, the OmniScale filter and video recording. It is available for Windows and Linux (Vulkan required).
Good to know
The author says he developed the emulator with the Claude AI. He hand-painted some sprites and let the AI extrapolate the rest: expect colour inconsistencies, especially as this is still a beta. No ROMs are provided: use those from your own cartridges. And if you prefer a dual-screen console, see the Anbernic RG DDS.
Sources: VBoy Color (GitHub) · Retro Dodo
An emulator that adds colour
VBoy Color is an open-source emulator released by yuk27 on 6 October 2026; it is now at beta 5, released on 10 October. It is derived from VirtualBoyGo and emulates the console with the Beetle VB core, Mednafen’s. What sets it apart: it replaces the four shades of red of the 1995 console with colours.
Five ways to colourise
- Auto: colours depend on the depth of the layers and on the sprite palette.
- Multicolour: one colour for each of the four shades.
- Gradient: ready-made themes (Jade, Ocean, Sunset…).
- Tint: a single colour of your choice.
- Per-game packs: beta 5 includes them for 16 games, including Wario Land, Mario’s Tennis and Bound High. A .vbcp file placed next to the ROM replaces the built-in pack.
The 3D is preserved
The Virtual Boy’s depth effect is still there: natively on Meta Quest 2, 3, 3S and Pro headsets (the APK is installed with SideQuest), and on PC through several 3D modes, including red and cyan anaglyph. The emulator adds a library with box art, save states, the OmniScale filter and video recording. It is available for Windows and Linux (Vulkan required).
Good to know
The author says he developed the emulator with the Claude AI. He hand-painted some sprites and let the AI extrapolate the rest: expect colour inconsistencies, especially as this is still a beta. No ROMs are provided: use those from your own cartridges. And if you prefer a dual-screen console, see the Anbernic RG DDS.
Sources: VBoy Color (GitHub) · Retro Dodo
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