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General:
The WonderSwan is Bandai's handheld console that was meant to compete against the Nintendo Gameboy Color (though it was actually designed by Gameboy designer Gunpei Yokoi) and SNK's Neo Geo Pocket Color.
All of the WonderSwan models tend to be about the same size, and are rather small. For people with big hands, it will feel a bit awkward, but it's light and portable.
For controls, there's the A and B buttons, Start, Volume, Power, four X buttons which serve as the directional pad in horizontal mode, and four Y buttons which serve as the directional pad in vertical mode.
Unlike the Gameboy systems or the Neo Geo Pocket Color, the Wonderswan does not have a square screen, but a rectangular one, giving it the ability to optimize gameplay by being played in either a vertical or horizontal position. Games such as New Tetris, for example, will play in vertical mode to avoid cropping the screen. However, these extra buttons find use outside of vertical mode. For example, on games that play strictly horizontal, such as Final Fantasy, one can use the extra buttons as shortcuts to menus, among other things.
The graphics are good for a console of its time. Even the black and white games are detailed, and at their best, the color games look almost as good as GBA.
The monochrome and color models use a contrast wheel to adjust the brightness of the screen. Though I have yet to try the original monochrome Wonder Swan, the WS Color gave me alot of issues when trying to adjust the contrast to fit the games I was playing, as it either looked too dark or too bright. There is a third and final model called the SwanCrystal. The first two models of the Swan had ghosting issues, whereas the SwanCrystal corrects this. Also, the Crystal uses a fixed contrast rather than an adjustable one, which shows the games as they were intended, and makes them easier to see most of the time, but you still need a decent lighting source to see it. But even on the SwanCrystal, some of the black and white games are still too tragically dark (Makaimura comes to mind), though not all games have this issue. Regardless, the major downside is that none of these systems are backlit.
Battery life is a plus. The system ranges anywhere from 15-30 hours depending on the Wonderswan model you're using, and on one AA battery.
As for the sound, it is too weak on the actual system. Even at full volume its not very good. Honestly, I have had much better results through emulation. The sound is very 8-bit, but the volume control is limited, so you won't always hear the music in its full glory.
As for the library: The Swan had a brief boost in popularity thanks to a deal with SquareSoft to make color ports of Final Fantasy 1, 2 and 4. Of course, being a Bandai console, many of the titles you will find are based on anime licenses such as One Piece, Inuyasha, Digimon, Hunter X Hunter, etc.
The library, while fairly large (100+) compared to other non-Gameboy systems such as the Neo Geo Pocket Color, is mostly mediocre, or at least that was my impression. Personally, I liked the NGPC's library better. Many of the Swan's games are largely text-driven, making it rather inconvenient to players who lack japanese knowledge. Likewise, the titles that tend to be more import friendly are mostly ports, or titles that many diehard gamers have played before, and in much better renditions than these, though that's not to say there aren't a few exclusives that are worth seeking out.
Pros:
-Long battery life
-Novel approach to gameplay by emphasizing the horizontal/vertical aspect
Cons:
-Mediocre game library
-No backlight
-Weak sound
