The Virtual Reality Machine is a device appearing in the Saturday Morning Adventures comics. It was built by Donatello and includes a large viewing screen as well as four player helmets.
History[]
Torrential downpours over New York City have kept the Turtles in the lair, and more rain is predicted to be on its way. Splinter has kept them busy with training, but all of the Turtles admit to be going stir-crazy. When Splinter asks if they have any suggestions, Donatello says that he does have one. He leads the group to his workshop, where he has built a new machine, which he hasn't as yet named. Splinter compliments Don on building an impressive machine, but fails to see how it will help them in their training. Don explains that it's like virtual reality, but more advanced. Their brains actually plug into, and become part of, the game. He goes on to say that it will be useful in aiding the body's physical memory, which in theory should help them improve their skills by training their brains.
Leonardo is reluctant to wear a helmet plugged in a machine during a storm for fear of a lightning strike. Don assures him that it's perfectly safe because he's built in multiple redundancies to protect against power surges. Because there are four helmets, the Turtles can all play at the same time. Once they don the helmets, the Turtles find themselves in virtual reality, a simulation that seems very real. Don explains how the game works, and says that winning is the only way to leave the simulation, other than the emergency failsafe he programmed to look like his Turtlecom.
Once they begin playing, the Turtles discover that there are aspects of video games they have played in the past. Don tells them that he used the code from some of Michelangelo's old video games as the base of parts of the simulation. Instead of the bosses from those games, he programed versions of their enemies in, which he hopes will give them a pretty good workout. They soon find out that getting hit actually hurts. As they prepare to go deeper into the game play, an intense lightning strike causes a power surge that they all feel. Don tries to disconnect them using his failsafe, but finds that his emergency kill switch isn't working. This forces the Turtles to separate and play different games within the virtual reality in the hopes that one of them can capture the flag and release them from the machine.