Wikibooks

History of video games/Platforms/WonderSwan

< History of video games‎ | Platforms
  • Various WonderSwan consoles
    Various WonderSwan consoles

History edit

 
WonderSwan logotype.

Development edit

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

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

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

Compute edit

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 edit

 
The WonderSwan could be used vertically, as well as horizontally.

The layout of buttons on the system was designed to allow for either vertical or horizontal play.[7]

Notable Games edit

1999 edit

2000 edit

2001 edit

2002 edit

2003 edit

Gallery edit

  •  
    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 edit

 

Wikipedia has related information at WonderSwan, Gunpei Yokoi  and Bandai

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: WonderSwan

References edit

Parts of this page are based on materials from:
 Wikipedia: the free encyclopedia.
  1. ↑ 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. 
  2. ↑ 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. 
  3. ↑ a b "WonderSwan – Digital Camera (Unreleased) – The Video Game Kraken". Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  4. ↑ "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. 
  5. ↑ "WonderSwan – GPS (Unreleased) – The Video Game Kraken". Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  6. ↑ "Magic Formation WARS [WonderSwan Color - Cancelled] - Unseen64". Unseen64: Beta, Cancelled & Unseen Videogames!. 19 October 2012. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  7. ↑ 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. 
  8. ↑ a b "OLD-COMPUTERS.COM : The Museum". www.old-computers.com. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_video_games/Platforms/WonderSwan&oldid=4032054"