Is Jack Bros. on Steam?

No. Jack Bros. is not distributed on Steam, so there is no Steam Charts or SteamDB player count for it. Its live popularity is tracked here via Twitch viewership instead.

What platforms is Jack Bros. on?

Jack Bros. is available on Virtual Boy.

When did Jack Bros. release?

Jack Bros. was first released on September 29, 1995.

Jack Bros.

Sep 29, 1995ArcadeVirtual Boy

Jack Bros. — frequently asked questions

Is Jack Bros. on Steam?: No. Jack Bros. is not distributed on Steam, so there is no Steam Charts or SteamDB player count for it. Its live popularity is tracked here via Twitch viewership instead.
What platforms is Jack Bros. on?: Jack Bros. is available on Virtual Boy.
When did Jack Bros. release?: Jack Bros. was first released on September 29, 1995.

About Jack Bros.

The portal between Earth and another mysterious dimension has opened, and the intrepid Jack Brothers have come through for an adventure in our world. Having lost track of time, they now have only one hour to return to their home or be banished forever. Help them battle hoards of loathsome enemies through six electrifying 3-D levels, each with many floors to explore and conquer. This is one phenomenal adventure you can't afford to miss!

Summary via IGDB.

Jack Bros. on Wikipedia

Jack Bros. is a maze video game developed and published by Atlus for the Virtual Boy, released in late 1995 in Japan and North America. It is a spin-off from Atlus' video game series Megami Tensei, and was the first entry to be released outside Japan.

Source: Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA 4.0).

Game details

Developer: Atlus
Publisher: Atlus USA
Game modes: Single player
Themes: Action, Fantasy
Series: Megami Tensei
Official site: Visit

Details via IGDB.

Collector value & authenticity

Virtual Boy · PriceCharting sold data · Verified 2026-08-22

Loose

$900

Complete

$2,180

Sealed

—

Release record

Territory	Date	Serial	Barcode	MSRP
Japan	29 Sep 1995	VUE-VJBJ-JPN	4984995900018	—
North America	October 1995	VUE-VJBE-USA	730865530014	—

North America: Sources disagree on the exact day — Planet Virtual Boy records 20 October, PriceCharting and Nintendo Life 1 October. Every source agrees on the month.

Community score: 84/100
Region: JP+NA
Released: 1995
Authenticity: High

On Nintendo Switch Online since May 14, 2026 — the cartridge is now a collectibleHigh counterfeit risk

Virtual Boy prices, all games & how to spot a fake

Priced by Shin Megami Tensei collectors, not Virtual Boy collectors — that's the whole story.

The most valuable North American Virtual Boy cartridge, for a reason that has almost nothing to do with the Virtual Boy. Jack Bros. is the first Shin Megami Tensei game ever released in North America — Jack Frost's Western debut, roughly a year ahead of the first Persona. That makes it a required box to tick for a fanbase far larger than the one collecting red-LED handhelds, and two demand curves on one cartridge is what lifts the North American copy well above the Japanese one for identical gameplay.

The game holds up — a tight, timer-driven vertical action-puzzle descent that earns its ranking honestly. Its Switch Online release removed the last non-collector reason to own the cart, and the price didn't flinch: a pure scarcity asset now.

What the press said at the time

Virtual Boy Memorial Guidebook	1997	90.5/100
GameFan Vol. 3 #12	1995	89/100
Nintendo Power Vol. 81	February 1996	13.2/20
Weekly Famicom Tsūshin #355	October 1995	20/40

Nintendo Power ran a reader-voted Virtual Boy chart across seven issues between November 1995 and July 1996. Jack Bros. — today the most valuable North American cartridge on the platform — never placed in any of them. Electronic Gaming Monthly reviewed only four Virtual Boy games in the system’s entire life and this was not one of them. Later retrospectives rate it higher than the period press did: N64 Magazine #27 gave it 73/100 in April 1999 and Defunct Games 81/100 in 2005.

Worth knowing

The password 4649 is a pun. Enter 4649 on the password screen to unlock Pixie as a fourth character. In Japanese, 4-6-4-9 can be read as yo-ro-shi-ku.
A character was renamed for America. The third brother is Jack the Ripper in the Japanese release. Atlus localised him to Jack Skelton for North America.
It was going to be called Devil Busters. Nintendo Power reported the original title in 1995. Why it changed has never been documented — the wikis that offer a reason flag it as speculation.

Before you buy

The one North American title expensive enough to be worth faking, so treat it as high-risk. Check the label under magnification — genuine Nintendo-era labels show an offset dot pattern and slight texture; repros are flat inkjet — and inspect board and shell for donor signs. Want the game rather than the trophy? Buy the Japanese copy, and note it is not a compromise: it runs in English (hold L + R + D-pad Left and press Start on the title screen) and keeps a working sound test that was dummied out of the North American ROM. The import is the more complete cartridge for a fraction of the price. It also saves by password, so there is no battery to die.