History of video games/Platforms/WonderSwan
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Various WonderSwan consoles
History
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Development
[edit | edit source]Following his 1996 departure from Nintendo, Gunpei Yokoi, the designer of the Game Boy and the Virtual Boy, spearheaded the creation of a new handheld with Bandai through his new company Koto Laboratory.[1] Though Gunpei would die in a traffic accident in 1997 the console continued to be developed.[1]
Launch
[edit | edit source]The original WonderSwan was released in Japan on March 4th, 1999 by Bandai at a cost of ¥6800 yen.[2][1]
In 1999 an accessory was announced that would allow photos from a specific digital camera to be sent to a WonderSwan, however this device was not released.[3]
In 2000 the WonderGate was announced, a device which would allow the WonderSwan to connect to NTT DoCoMo mobile phones and connect to the Internet.[4]
The improved Wonderswan Color was released in December 2000, and managed to climb close to a 10% marketshare of Japanese gaming handhelds before the GameBoy Advance was released.[1]
An ultimately unreleased GPS add on was demoed in 2001, as well as three games by Namco that would leverage the GPS support.[5][6] Also in 2001 an unreleased wireless adapter for a Casio watch camera was announced.[3]
The WonderSwan crystal was released in 2002 with an improved display.[1]
Legacy
[edit | edit source]The WonderSwan Monochrome, Color, and Crystal collectively sold an estimated 3.5 million systems in Japan, the only region it was officially sold.[7]
Technology
[edit | edit source]Compute
[edit | edit source]The WonderSwan uses a 16 bit SPGY-1001 processor, a custom version of the NEC V30 MZ, clocked at 3.072MHz.[8]
The WonderSwan has 16 kilobytes of RAM.[8]
Design
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The layout of buttons on the system was designed to allow for either vertical or horizontal play.[7]
Notable Games
[edit | edit source]1999
[edit | edit source]- Gunpey
- Digimon Adventure: Anode/Cathode Tamer
- Ganso JaJaMaru-kun
- Buffers Evolution
- Clock Tower
- Kaze no Klonoa: Moonlight Museum
- Magical Drop for Wonderswan
- Makaimura for WonderSwan
- Mr. Driller
- Puyo Puyo 2
- Tekken Card Challenge
- Rockman & Forte Mirai kara no Chōsensha
2000
[edit | edit source]- One Piece: Become the Pirate King!
- Rainbow Islands: Putty's Party
- Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms II
- Ring: Infinity
- Rhyme Rider Kerorican - The only game to use the system diagonally.
2001
[edit | edit source]- Blue Wing Blitz
- Digimon Battle Spirit
- Guilty Gear Petit
- Guilty Gear Petit 2
- Final Fantasy II
- Judgement Silversword
- Romancing SaGa
2002
[edit | edit source]- Final Fantasy IV - RPG
- Digimon Tamers: Battle Spirit Ver. 1.5
- Digimon Battle Spirit 2
- The Final Fantasy Legend
- Front Mission
- Namco Super Wars - Crossover Tactical RPG
- Riviera: The Promised Land - RPG
- X: Card of Fate - Card battle game based on a manga.
2003
[edit | edit source]- Rockman EXE N1 Battle
- Rockman EXE WS
- Kidou Senshi Gundam: Gihren no Yabou Special - Mobile Suit Gundam: Gihren's Greed
- Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord
Gallery
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The monochrome WonderSwan -
The WonderSwan Color -
The WonderSwan Color back. The console ran on a single AA battery. -
The red-purple wine colored SwanCrystal. -
The blue colored SwanCrystal. -
The WonderSwan WonderWave allowed limited IR communication with other WonderSwan consoles, as well as the Sony PocketStation as shown here. -
The Headphone Adapter and WonderWave modules.
External Resources
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References
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Parts of this page are based on materials from: Wikipedia: the free encyclopedia. |
- ↑ a b c d e Plunkett, Luke (April 8th, 2011). "The Game Boy Creator's Last Handheld Was A Wonderful Little Thing" (in en-us). Kotaku. https://kotaku.com/the-game-boy-creators-last-handheld-was-a-wonderful-lit-5790050. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
- ↑ Khaw, Cassandra (9 May 2014). "How the WonderSwan became an ugly duckling" (in en). The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2014/5/9/5698650/bandai-wonderswan-history-jeremy-parish. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
- ↑ a b "WonderSwan – Digital Camera (Unreleased) – The Video Game Kraken". Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ↑ "La console de jeux devient terminal multifonction" (in fr). Le Monde.fr. 19 April 2000. https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/2000/04/19/la-console-de-jeux-devient-terminal-multifonction_3617269_1819218.html.
- ↑ "WonderSwan – GPS (Unreleased) – The Video Game Kraken". Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ↑ "Magic Formation WARS [WonderSwan Color - Cancelled] - Unseen64". Unseen64: Beta, Cancelled & Unseen Videogames!. 19 October 2012. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ↑ a b "Happy 20th birthday, Wonderswan" (in english). Destructoid. March 2nd, 20219. https://www.destructoid.com/stories/happy-20th-birthday-wonderswan-544280.phtml. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
- ↑ a b "OLD-COMPUTERS.COM : The Museum". www.old-computers.com. Retrieved 29 October 2020.