The goal is to erase these shapes by linking and ultimately shutting their open orifices together to make them disappear, which causes the player to gain points across multiple levels.
The game was released in Japan on December 8, 1995, and was published in an unfinished state by J-Wing after it discovered Nintendo was planning to discontinue the platform.
Retrospective commentary has been equally negative, with some considering it one of the worst games for the platform due to it being unfinished and lacking depth.
[1][2] During gameplay, the player must clear different shapes that descend onto the playing field by linking them, with the goal being to shut their orifices on all ends to make them disappear.
[2][4] Virtual Lab was created by game designer Megumi, a transgender woman, who operated under the pseudonym Nacoty when working on the project.
[13] The Japanese book Virtual Boy Memorial Commemorative Guidebook gave it the lowest rating in the publication, stating that the 3D effect of the girl's breasts was unnatural.
Nintendo Life's Gavin Lane considered it one of the worst on the platform, noting that while it was almost "passably fun" at times, it "never escapes its crushingly dull, repetitive loop.
"[16] Fellow Nintendo Life writer Dave Frear felt that it had potential with some polish and refinement, but criticized it for being unfinished as well as having a lack of depth, "buggy" controls, dull and frustrating gameplay, and repetitiveness.
[14] Concurring with Frear, Retronauts writer Jeremy Parish found its gameplay frustrating and the controls occasionally unresponsive as well.
Parish agreed that the game could have been a good puzzle title for the system with more effort placed into correcting its flaws and improving it.