Table of Contents
Which Wonderswan to buy?
History of Wonderswan – the true heir of Game Boy
History of Wonderswan – the true heir of Game Boy. Part 2.
I have always been surprised – why do so few companies release portable consoles? If you ask a thirty to forty-year-old person about companies that released portable consoles, at best they will remember Nintendo and Sony, and at worst they will talk about Tetris.
But there were quite a few such companies: Sega, Atari, Nec, Nokia, SNK, and finally, Bandai, which we will talk about now.
If you are already tired of Nintendo and Sony portables, why not turn your attention to Bandai Wonderswan?
This was a series of consoles that could not boast huge sales, but at the same time, it is unique enough to draw attention to it in 2024.
The Wonderswan family included three types of consoles:
1. Wonderswan;
2. Wonderswan Color;
3. Wonderswan Crystal.
Pocket Challenge should be noted separately.
This console was also developed by Koto Laboratory, but not for Bandai, but for Benesse, a company that was involved in children's education in Japan.
Pocket Challenge cartridges can be easily launched on Wonderswan. But not vice versa (at least, there are videos of launching Wonderswan games on Pocket Challenge, but how this is implemented is not clear).
Wonderswan
The sales of this console started in March 1999.
Considering that Bandai asked Koto Laboratory to develop a "killer" of Game Boy, it can be said that everything turned out as planned. If we take the classic Game Boy from 1989, then Wonderswan is much better.
Two main improvements should be noted: the screen, which was improved to 16 shades of gray (compared to 4 in Game Boy), and the console's battery life, which was 40 hours on a single AA battery (Game Boy also had 40 hours, but on four AA batteries).
By the way, the screen is the main difference among all Wonderswan consoles. So let's talk about the main conceptual difference between Wonderswan and other consoles. We are talking about the two-sided form factor. When you take any Nintendo or Sony console, they are made either in a horizontal or vertical form factor. It is immediately clear how to hold such a console.
But if you take a Wonderswan, you will see that it can be held both ways.
And this is the main feature of all Wonderswan consoles.
And before moving on, let's stop at two drawbacks inherent in this console: it has a black-and-white screen, and it rots.
The first means that later (color) games will not run on it. And in principle, this is just a feature that needs to be taken into account.
But rotting is an important issue. All Wonderswan consoles I bought had a screen that rotted to some extent. At the same time, the gray film for repair is very expensive, and if you see a Wonderswan with a green screen, it means it has been repaired.
This is both a plus and a minus. Repair means that the console is no longer 100% authentic. On the other hand, it has been repaired, and you won't have problems with the screen for some time.
There is another negative point inherent in all Wonderswan family consoles – they do not have a backlit screen.
Wonderswan Color
This console went on sale in December 2000.
As you might guess, the only conceptual difference was the appearance of a color screen. It's strange that Koto Laboratory didn't think of such an improvement right away, as this idea was floating on the surface. At least, when Nintendo heard that Bandai was planning to make a Game Boy killer, they immediately released the Game Boy Color with a color screen.
Some changes in usability can also be noted. First, all buttons are now labeled (this is convenient, for example, for writing guides), and second, the Power button was moved to the front panel (which doesn't make much difference).
There is another plus compared to the first console in the Wonderswan family – the Color version can run all existing Wonderswan cartridges.
Wonderswan Crystal
In July 2002, an updated version of the console – Wonderswan Crystal – appeared on the Japanese market.
The only difference from the previous version is the new TFT screen, which is indeed better than that of the Wonderswan Color.
Such a TFT screen is already similar to a modern one, it does not need adjustment, so the contrast wheel has disappeared.
Wonderswan Crystal is made of high-quality plastic and feels slightly more comfortable in the hands.
Like the Color, this version of the console is fully backward compatible with black-and-white Wonderswan games.
The main problem with Wonderswan Crystal is that it is very expensive. Don't even approach it without 20,000 rubles. This price is due to the fact that it was released in a very small batch.
Epilogue
This family of Wonderswan consoles turns out to be a bit strange. Huge sales made Game Boy and Game Boy Advance consoles quite common, and as a result, moderately cheap. In turn, Wonderswan consoles are much rarer, and because of this, they have strange pricing:
The regular Wonderswan can be bought for 3-4 thousand rubles. But it can only run half of all existing games, so it cannot be recommended (only for collection or if you already have a Color).
Wonderswan Crystal – can run all games, but it is very expensive (from 15 thousand rubles). At the same time, it does not have a backlit screen.
Only Wonderswan Color remains, which costs about 7-10 thousand rubles and can run any games. For the money you save by buying this version instead of Crystal, you can buy an IPS screen on AliExpress.
And finishing the article, I want to draw your attention to the following point. The whole story of buying a Wonderswan turns out to be very expensive. If you buy WS Color + IPS screen + flash cartridge, you will spend about 25-30 thousand rubles. So think about it, maybe just stop at the emulator?
