VB was first released in 1991. If you're certain that you remember it from the late 80's, then you may be thinking of QBASIC. I first learned to write code in QBASIC running on MS-DOS.
I had a computer graphics class that used QBASIC around 1994. It was probably already outdated, but switching graphics modes and making sprites animate was actually easier then than what you find now. I'm certain it's because there is so much more you can do now, but that feeling was exciting! I actually had my first computer graphics class on an Apple IIe in 1993, and that was definitely outdated at that time. I built a fish bowl with waving seaweed and a fish that would swim to the right and reappear on the left.
