Nintendo Power Glove: I love it. It's so bad.

Nintendo Power Glove: I love it. It's so bad.

From Version History by The Verge

December 28, 2025 · 1h 16m

About this episode

The episode discusses the Nintendo Power Glove and its impact on gaming and technology despite its shortcomings.

In the mid-1980s, Nintendo pretty much ruled the video game industry. And somehow, a few toymakers and inventors convinced Nintendo that the controller of the future was… this big, clunky thing you wore on your right arm. (Sorry, lefties.) It wasn’t very good, but people loved it anyway. And while the Power Glove wasn’t exactly the future of anything, you could argue it helped start a revolution in virtual reality and motion controls. On this episode of Version History, David Pierce, Chris Grant, and Game File’s Stephen Totilo do just that. Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed. We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

People in this episode

Hosts: David Pierce, Chris Grant

Guest: Stephen Totilo

Topics covered

  • video games
  • technology
  • history
  • virtual reality
  • motion controls
  • Nintendo

Keywords

  • Nintendo
  • Power Glove
  • video games
  • virtual reality
  • motion controls
  • 1980s gaming

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Nintendo, The Verge

Products: Power Glove

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