Argonaut founder talks scrapped Nintendo VR machine Super Visor
Argonaut Games will always be remembered for its work on Star Fox and the Super FX tech for the SNES. But the company could have gained even more recognition had history gone down another way.
The Virtual Boy was Nintendo’s first crack at a VR-like experience, but Argonaut was developing its own system around the same time. Known as the Super Visor, the device would have been more powerful with full-color graphics and ‘head-tracking. It was ultimate scrapped in favor of the Virtual Boy.
In an interview with Metro, Argonaut founder Jeremy ‘Jez’ San spoke more about the Super Visor:
“I worked on a VR machine called the Super Visor for Nintendo, but unfortunately, we fell out. A guy called Mr Gunpei Yokoi cancelled our project in favor of the Virtual Boy, which we used to call the Virtual Dog because it was so bad. He made a bet in the wrong direction, cancelled our project and his one was awful.”
“It was a bad decision. We had full color and head tracking at a time where no-one else did, but the Super Visor was cancelled in favor of a system with no head tracking and red graphics. It was like the Vive headset that’s on sale today but made 20 years earlier.”
