Is Virtual Bowling on Steam?

No. Virtual Bowling 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 Virtual Bowling on?

Virtual Bowling is available on Virtual Boy.

When did Virtual Bowling release?

Virtual Bowling was first released on December 22, 1995.

Virtual Bowling

Dec 22, 1995SportVirtual Boy

Virtual Bowling — frequently asked questions

Is Virtual Bowling on Steam?: No. Virtual Bowling 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 Virtual Bowling on?: Virtual Bowling is available on Virtual Boy.
When did Virtual Bowling release?: Virtual Bowling was first released on December 22, 1995.

About Virtual Bowling

Virtual Bowling is a Sports game, developed and published by Athena, which was released in Japan in 1995.

Summary via IGDB.

Virtual Bowling on Wikipedia

Virtual Bowling is a 1995 sports video game developed and published by Athena in Japan for the Virtual Boy. In the game, the player participates in a series of bowling tournaments consisting of four 10-frame matches at various alleys against computer-controlled opponents, in order to obtain a high score and progress further. Its gameplay, featuring three modes of play, is viewed from a first-person perspective.

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

Game details

Developer: Athena
Publisher: Athena
Game modes: Single player
Official site: Visit

Details via IGDB.

Collector value & authenticity

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

Loose

$722

Complete

$1,025

Sealed

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Release record

Territory	Date	Serial	Barcode	MSRP
Japan Athena Co., Ltd.	22 Dec 1995	VUE-VVBJ-JPN	4988679000247	¥5,300

Japan: Released on the exact day Nintendo discontinued the Virtual Boy in Japan, and reported to have been rushed out in a very limited run as the platform closed.

Community score: 71/100
Region: JP
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

A four-figure bowling game whose entire value was scarcity — and Nintendo just made it playable for the price of a subscription.

Athena's Japan-only bowling sim had a tiny print run, and for three decades the only way to play it was to pay handsomely. Then it arrived on Nintendo Switch Online, which makes it the cleanest test case on the platform for what a re-release does to a scarcity-priced cart: if you were considering paying four figures to play Virtual Bowling, that reason is gone. What remains is the physical object — a real market, but a different one, with different buyers.

How it was made

Published by Athena and developed by Tose, the same ghost studio behind Mario's Tennis. It shipped on 22 December 1995 — the exact day Nintendo discontinued the Virtual Boy in Japan — and is reported to have been rushed out in a very limited run as the platform closed.

What the press said at the time

Weekly Famicom Tsūshin #367	1996	22/40
VB Memorial Guidebook	1997	64.5/100

Released on the exact day Nintendo discontinued the Virtual Boy in Japan, which left essentially no window for it to be reviewed.

Before you buy

High counterfeit risk given the price and obscurity. Verify label print quality and shell mould marks. And note the new logic: now that the game is legitimately playable on a subscription, a suspiciously cheap 'Virtual Bowling' cart has no innocent explanation.