HorvatM has released InsmEdit, an Insmouse No Yakata editor for Windows. It can currently edit level layouts, passwords, and player starting positions. Grab and discuss it here.



In addition, Ben Stevens has released a guide for Insmouse with 100% correct level maps, in contrast to earlier guides.

thunderstuck has released a new and improved version of his homebrew music game GameHero. Here's the most notable changes in version 1.1:

• Now two difficulties: easy and hard


• Buttons are now highlighted when pressed


• Saving scores is no longer glitchy (you might have to press the L and R triggers simultaneously on the start screen to delete old save data)


• Added credits (shown if all normal songs finished)


• Stronger depth effect


• Song menu displays highscores (easy and hard) for a song as well as the total score


• Updated song selection with some removed and some new songs


• 8 songs to be unlocked as soon as all normal songs completed


• Polished graphics a little bit

More information and a download link can be found in our forum.

Six new article scans from Mexican Club Nintendo give us a better idea of the distribution of the Virtual Boy in other, non-US North and Latin American countries. Scans submitted by Richard LP, with additional translations by colesonwilson. Thanks!

Club Nintendo (Mexico) 06/97
Club Nintendo (Mexico) 07/98
Club Nintendo (Mexico) 08/98
Club Nintendo (Mexico) 12/98
Club Nintendo (Mexico) 05/04
Club Nintendo (Mexico) 12/11

Today we have three new article scans from GameFan magazine for you, thanks to SPACE HARRIER.

GameFan Volume 3 Issue 8
Small preview of "Mansion of Innsmouth" and "Jack Bros.".

GameFan Volume 3 Issue 9
Full page preview of Galactic Pinball, Mario Clash, Teleroboxer, Mario's Tennis and Red Alarm.

GameFan Volume 3 Issue 12
Review of Jack Bros. plus a full page preview of Wario's Treasure Hunt, Panic Bomber and T&E VR Golf.

Even more good news for you homebrewers! Shortly after the release of GameHero, thunderstruck has made available the MIDI player used in the game plus the MIDI2VB converter used to convert MIDIs to an appropriate header format.

Few days after the release of the SU 2011 sound engine, another (totally unrelated) program brings music in Virtual Boy homebrews to new heights with the first rhythm/music game to come to the system. thunderstruck's "GameHero" is a Guitar Hero clone for the Virtual Boy that let's you play 24 video game theme songs. Thanks to backup battery support, your best scores per song get saved. Highscore tables will be made available soon, so start rocking!

Release Thread

Good news for you homebrewers! Shortly after the release of v1.1 of Soviet Union 2011, HorvatM has released the sound engine used in the game, complete with a demo program that shows how to utilize the engine.

This marks the first sound engine for the Virtual Boy that has been made available for other developers to use and easily add sound to their projects.

The engine has already been successfully incorporated into Insecticide shortly after it release. So, what are you waiting for?

HorvatM has released version 1.1 of his homebrew Shoot'Em Up "Soviet Union 2011". This release fixes the game to work better on hardware. It also fixes some gameplay bugs and adds new features.

• Sound now works on hardware.


• The background on the right screen now displays correctly on hardware.


• You can now change the brightness level. If your Virtual Boy has a glitchy display, lowering the brightness may reduce the severity of the glitches. To change the brightness, press left or right on the right D-pad on the mode selection screen or when the game is paused.


• When the game is over, the difficulty setting and mode of play are displayed to assist in submitting high scores.


• The readme file has been updated to include the number of bullets received by picking up ammunition for each weapon.


• Fixed a bug that prevented new enemies from appearing if there were too many enemies on-screen. This usually occured in level 4 and could make the game impossible to finish.


• Fixed unexpected behavior that occured when the game was finished.


• Vertically flying projectiles fired by enemies are now slower to make them easier to see and dodge.


• In endless mode, you are now given some more time to dodge the first enemy that appears.

Detailed information about the game come bundled with the ROM. If you get a good score, be sure to submit it to the newly added highscore tables for the game!

Soviet Union 2011 v1.1 Download

It seems Santa was uber-busy this year and came to us with a little delay, as a ROM dump of the Shoshinkai 1994 "Space Pinball" prototype has just been put up for download on our forum by TheForce81. This highly interesting prototype of Galactic Pinball offers completely different tables than the final version. With 5 in total, it even has one more than the finished product. It is complete and perfectly playable, only missing the highscore functionality. This little gem has therefore fittingly been described as a quasi predecessor to Galactic Pinball. You can check out our coverage of the Space Pinball prototype here. The actual dump can be found in this thread. Happy nostalgia!

Here's a christmas little present for you, in case you pulled your good ol' Virtual Boy out of the closet to play through Virtual Boy Wario Land again over the holidays. A complete graphical game guide, for which I combined level maps made by Trebor Almasy with the walkthrough found in Brian Hodges' GameFAQ, both used with kind permission. Click here for the guide.