The Bandai Wonderswan...your thoughts?

[Jeckidy]

What are your thoughts and impressions of the Bandai Wonderswan console?

Here is my review:

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

[Rassilon]

I got one originally for the final fantasy remakes, and still have the FF II special edition wonderswan color, along with FF 1,2 and 4.

But its pretty pointless now, as all of those games are on GBA (and 4 has a brilliant remake on DS).
If it had a backlight, i'd like it a lot more. even the later wonderswan crystal still wasnt backlit.

I should probably sell it, but i dunno if there is any market for them anymore...

[JFLY]

Wasn't there a Makaimura (Ghouls 'N Ghosts) game released for the black and white screen system? How'd that turn out?

[Metal_Sonic]

Ah yes, the Bandai Wonderswan, Ive had many a what the fuck is a Wonderswan?

[Phantar]

as far as i recall it was a handheld that could have been pretty awesome, but due to some marketing blunder, Bandai hardly got any support for it. It has a very small library (coparable in its size to the Virtua Boy), and had virtually no impact on the market when it was released. Which is a shame, because judging from some screenshots I saw, it had a nice, crisp color display, pretty advanced for its time.

[Jeckidy]

Wasn't there a Makaimura (Ghouls 'N Ghosts) game released for the black and white screen system? How'd that turn out?

I have it. It was decent, though I admit I've never been a huge fan of the series.

[Jeckidy]

OK So I've updated my opinions with a few things.

as far as i recall it was a handheld that could have been pretty awesome, but due to some marketing blunder, Bandai hardly got any support for it. It has a very small library (coparable in its size to the Virtua Boy), and had virtually no impact on the market when it was released. Which is a shame, because judging from some screenshots I saw, it had a nice, crisp color display, pretty advanced for its time.

197 titles is comparable to the Virtual Boy? (22) and if I recall it did garner some percentage of the handheld market (about 8% which is not much but somewhat notable) thanks to the Squaresoft games.

Anyways, I still think that, while it had its flaws, the WonderSwan wasn't really that bad, though I still stand by some of what I said about it, like the fact that it's not so import friendly and that alot of games were ported to/from other systems, but if you have some knowledge of japanese you have access to the entire library and some games that actually are pretty good. It took me a while to appreciate this system but I've started to enjoy it a bit more.

I also wrote some small reviews for each model:

WonderSwan (Monochrome):
This is the initial incarnation of the WonderSwan. The monochrome unit looks nice for a black and white screen, and is suprisingly easier to see than the Color model, has a sleek look and feel, and is smaller than the others. It includes a contrast dial which can help a bit on the games that use a darker palette, like Terrors and Makaimura. Longest battery life as well, over 30 hours on one AA battery. Also the cheapest and most common of all models, and there were almost as many good monochrome WS games as there were color titles. Reccomended.

WonderSwan Color:
My least favorite model among the three because of the faint screen. Notice the screen is always black when the unit is turned off. Even with the contrast dial, the games are a pain to see, whether in color or not. Only worthwile in the sense that it is more common and affordable than the Crystal, and might even serve as a decent backup if you already own that. If I had to choose, I would rather use a Crystal instead, but it's the only model that allows you to adjust the contrast on Color games, if that means anything to you.

SwanCrystal:
The best model of the WonderSwan line. Improves the sound, design, clarity, and ghosting issues of the Color. The best model out of the three, but slightly uncommon as well. However, it's worth getting if you're serious about owning a WonderSwan.


I also should note that if a game is hard to see on one model like Makaimura/Ghosts 'n Goblins, it is hard to see on pretty much every other model too. I can't enjoy that game much because of the ridiculously dark palette, but thankfully this only occurs in a small number of games.

[Black_Tiger]

I bought a Wonderswan color FFII combo and FFI + FFIV back when it was current and was very happy with it. The only drawback was the lack of a backlight. Did the final version (Crystal?) have a backlight?

It was very cool hearing the unique PSG soundtracks, especially for FFIV. I believe that the GBA ports all used SNES sounding music. FFIV also uses the Axelay effect for airship flying, which is cool too.

[otaku]

I had a swancrystal wine version bought by me new library is decent size but quality...and then there's the language barrier. Its worth owning though for judgement silver sword alone (which will set you back 100+ USD but again still worth it and you gotta love that you can play it properly thanks to the form of the system)

[Jeckidy]

I bought a Wonderswan color FFII combo and FFI + FFIV back when it was current and was very happy with it. The only drawback was the lack of a backlight. Did the final version (Crystal?) have a backlight?

No, it didn't. However, I found someone selling a Crystal unit modified to have a backlight here: http://page16.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/u31207294

It was very cool hearing the unique PSG soundtracks, especially for FFIV. I believe that the GBA ports all used SNES sounding music. FFIV also uses the Axelay effect for airship flying, which is cool too.

Indeed, you also have more save slots on the WSC versions as opposed to the GBA ones (but not more than the PSX ones in FF Origins, if that counts).

Also, Digimon Battle Spirit 1 and 2 for Gameboy Advance were also ported from the WonderSwan Color but seem to retain the original music. I wonder if its being emulated on the GBA?

[Zz Badnusty]

Nice thread! WonderSwan is certainly a unique system.

I have one of each iteration, and unfortunately even the WS Crystal screen is still less than optimal.
The standard B&W is hardly playable for action games unless you set up the perfect lighting conditions beforehand. As 5233 mentioned Makaimura for WonderSwan is really dark which makes the already challenging difficulty completely frustrating, otherwise it would have been a fantastic game, the art and levels are awesome ...just hard to see! There is a Worm Light accessory that plugs into the port on the side of the unit but even that can create a glare.

The lack of multiple expansion ports for the unit was somewhat of an issue since you could only use one peripheral at a time.

The sound problems can be mediated by purchasing one of the two headphone accessories that can connect to the expansion port. Both models available have proper volume knobs to provide a full range of loudness.

One of my favorite aspects of the WonderSwan is the control layout and the ability to play games in a vertical format. It really seems as though Bandai pushed this feature as quite a few games took advantage of it. Crazy Climber is a perfect port for the system, and many actions games incorporated horizontal and vertical displayed levels such as Klonoa Moonlight Museum, Magical Drop, and Rockman & Forte. Other games that were "tate" include: Rainbow Islands Putty's Party, some Bird Seeding puzzle game, Gunpey EX, Sorobangu, and Tetris (those last three being color games).

Other notable color games include: Rockman EX Wonderswan, Mr. Driller, Guilty Gear Petit, Golden Axe (kinda lame playing, but it always was), and Final Lap Special GT (also available in a B&W version so be careful which you purchase).

The Wonder Witch set allowed home programming of games which is how Judgement Silversword came to be.

Two player games can be cable linked or infra-red linked with the Wonder Wave peripheral, but again with either of those in use you are unable to use a Worm Light of headphone adapter.

I think the last notable peripheral was the Wonder Gate which allowed the WonderSwan to be tethered to a celular phone for use as a data screen for maps and such.

Gunpei Yokoi certainly was brilliant. RIP.

[j_factor]

Fun fact: When Bandai was in the process of creating the Wonderswan, they were in negotiations with Sega for a merger of the two companies. Imagine the WonderSwan Color released worldwide and with the full backing of Sega. Imagine (for the Japanese market) if Bandai had been exclusive to Dreamcast. Sega-Bandai would've had better fortunes as a game system company than they were separately. Too bad that didn't happen. (Also, Sammy sucks.)

I do have one major thought to contribute about the Wonderswan. The monochrome version has no reason to exist. Considering the timing, there was no reason to release a new monochrome portable game system. They should've just skipped right ahead to the color system. Same goes for the Neo Geo Pocket.

Also, if a backlight wasn't considered feasible, they should've given it a frontlight. As shitty of a system it was overall, the "Pocket Pro" version of the Game.com was pretty effectively lit, and still had a pretty good battery life and was cheaply priced (not that anyone bought it).

[Jeckidy]

Nice thread! WonderSwan is certainly a unique system.

I have one of each iteration, and unfortunately even the WS Crystal screen is still less than optimal.
The standard B&W is hardly playable for action games unless you set up the perfect lighting conditions beforehand.

It is? It seemed fairly good for a monochrome console when I played it as I aquired that version recently, but it's been years since I have played another entirely monochrome unit to compare (the last was the original bulky Gameboy!).

As 5233 mentioned Makaimura for WonderSwan is really dark which makes the already challenging difficulty completely frustrating, otherwise it would have been a fantastic game, the art and levels are awesome ...just hard to see! There is a Worm Light accessory that plugs into the port on the side of the unit but even that can create a glare.

That's true. If you ever try it out on an emulator, you can fully see the great details at a higher resolution (WonderSwan games look pretty good even at high-res), but what is sad is that games like Makaimura are even darker on the Crystal. That's why the contrast wheels on the mono and color units help slightly. I haven't gotten to try the Worm Light yet or any of the other accessories, but for the most part I agree with the rest of what you said. By the way, the bird seeding game is called D's Garage 21: Tane wo Maku Tori. Also, Tetris was the last monochrome compatible Color title to be released, long after the monochrome was discontinued. And speaking of accessories, I saw a japanese website mention a TV Tuner called the TV Swan which sounded pretty nifty.

The Wonder Witch set allowed home programming of games which is how Judgement Silversword came to be.

I still want to check out the WonderWitch. There's also a 32MB asian flashcart for the system which is really rare called the WonderMagicColor which would be good for testing homebrew or whatever else if you get lucky enough to find it.

Gunpei Yokoi certainly was brilliant. RIP.

Amen.

Fun fact: When Bandai was in the process of creating the Wonderswan, they were in negotiations with Sega for a merger of the two companies. Imagine the WonderSwan Color released worldwide and with the full backing of Sega. Imagine (for the Japanese market) if Bandai had been exclusive to Dreamcast. Sega-Bandai would've had better fortunes as a game system company than they were separately. Too bad that didn't happen. (Also, Sammy sucks.)

Interesting. Sammy makes some awesome pachinko machines, but their games have always been lame. The only good video game I think they ever made was Rolan's Curse 2 for Gameboy.

[Jeckidy]

Also, for those of you who are unaware, I created a detailed Wonderswan Masterlist for english-speaking users, which you can view here: http://jeckidy.webs.com/wonderswanenglishlist.html

Your comments and suggestions on it in any way would be welcome. Thanks.

[Jeckidy]

The standard B&W is hardly playable for action games unless you set up the perfect lighting conditions beforehand.

Just to follow up on this: the only real action game I have for the original monochrome wonderswan is Makaimura, which like we all have said is painfully dark, even on the Crystal. However, I find it the most tangible on the monochrome unit when the contrast is adjusted and didn't have as many problems playing it then. Sure, there is some ghosting but it wasn't totally detracting from the experience, at least in my humble opinion.