Virtual Reality, after quite a few false starts over the years, looks like it might finally catch on thanks to advances in technology. The commercial releases of the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift might still be a bit too pricey for your average consumer, but it’s an evolving technology right now and will undoubtedly continue to advance and drop in price. The primary application for VR right now is video games, and mostly newer ones.
That’s why the developers behind Dolphin — a Nintendo GameCube and Wii emulator — have worked to allow for VR support on their latest release, which has turned some heads. RockPaperShotgun is of the mind that this would be the perfect opportunity to delve into some Metroid Prime, because really, who wouldn’t want to be inside of Samus Aran’s visor in virtual reality? Lo-and-behold a YouTuber had taken up the challenge of playing Metroid Prime in VR and uploaded a video in all of its contemplative glory.
He runs through a gambit of games on the emulator, including Mario Sunshine, Pikmin, Timesplitters 2, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and even F-Zero. It was mostly Metroid Prime and Timesplitters 2 that stood out, though, considering that they were the only first person games in the mix. But, if even emulators are capable of running older games in VR this really might be the dawning of a new age in technology. Maybe this VR thing will work out this time.
The chances of Nintendo embracing Virtual Reality seem rather slim considering their history, especially after the commercial flop that was the Virtual Boy back in the ’90s, so the Dolphin emulator might be the only chance that you’ll get to experience these classic games in Virtual Reality. All hope doesn’t seem lost, but Nintendo does move to the beat of their own drummer.
(Via RockPaperShotgun)