Teleroboxer

Teleroboxer is a duel of giant robots seen from a first-person perspective, in which the player remotely controls their own machine and tries to knock the opponent down before the round's time limit runs out. The concept immediately brings Punch-Out!! to mind, and deliberately so: again this is a game you don't win by mashing buttons quickly, but by patiently reading your opponent. Each opponent has their own set of attacks that repeats in recognizable sequences, and your job is to find the gap in it. Block, dodge, wait for the moment the robot opens up, and then land a series of precise blows on the weak point you've uncovered yourself.

The controls use what made the Virtual Boy's gamepad unusual, namely its two directional pads. The left and right fist are controlled separately, so you can guard one side while attacking with the other, sidestep, or crouch. Thanks to the first-person view, the stereoscopy stands out here perhaps more than in any other game in the catalogue, because the opponent's fists literally rush right at your face, and judging distance suddenly becomes a genuine skill rather than just an effect. The robots are large, well-animated sprites with distinct silhouettes, and each has its own pilot personality that comes through in its fighting style. The audio side is sparse, with the hollow rhythm of the hits doing most of the work for the atmosphere.

At the time, this was one of the few titles reviewers readily admitted the hardware genuinely added something to, even while complaining about the short playtime and the small number of opponents. That still holds true today: the whole tournament can be cleared in a single evening, but the road there is pleasantly demanding, and learning an opponent's movements gives the same satisfaction as Nintendo's classic boxing games. Among historians, Teleroboxer is treated as a spiritual link between Punch-Out!! and later robot duels, and it remains, after Wario Land, the second most common recommendation for where to start on the Virtual Boy.