The Wonderswan is a handheld system designed by the same person as the Gameboy.
It has only ever been released in Japan and is unlikely to make it over here.
First released in a monochrome version.
The actual system itself runs from a single AA battery and features
two sets of control buttons so it can be played either horizontally
or vertically. It came in loads of different colour cases such as Skelton
Pink or Crystal Blue. Designed by the late Gumpei Yokoi who also designed
the Gameboy. Also comes with its own 'killer' puzzle game Gunpey. It's
a bit like a cross between Pipemania and Tetris.
The updated colour version has a much nicer colour screen which doesn't show
as much LCD ghosting. It also comes in a range of striking clear crystal cases.
Released in July 2002, the SwanCrystal was an all round upgrade with larger and clearer screen 2.8-inch
reflective TFT LCD, better sound, and battery life.
Specs
| CPU |
3.072 MHz 16-bit |
| Display |
- Reflective TFT LCD Screen Resolution: 224x144 pixels
- Colours: 4096
|
| Memory |
512K VRAM/WRAM
|
| Power |
1 AA Battery Est Battery Life: 20 hours
|
| Size (cm) |
12.80 x 7.43 x 24.3 Weight: 3.35 oz
|
Accessories
WonderWitch. This is a development kit for the WonderSwan which allows you to write
your own games for the system.
WonderBorg. A programmable robot bug with various sensors. Kind of like a small bug version
of big track which is programmed remotely by a WonderSwan with a radio programming cart.
It has the added benefit of being able to sense its surroundings.
Battery and Adaptor. Allows two WonderSwan systems to be linked together for 2 player games.
Games
There are loads of games apart from Gunpey such as Ghosts and Goblins
available for the black and white version of the system.
There are currently only a few games available for the colour version,
such as Guilty Gear X shown. Black and white games are compatible with the colour version.
Chilloutgames