BANDAI WONDERSWAN

Bandai finally makes a system that doesn't bite it

   

Wonderswan color

 

     Wonderswan Gundam Version

Zaku II special edition

 

  Wonderswan Monochrome

It's been a long time since Nintendo had some serious competition in the handheld market. In Japan Nintendo has about a 90% share (as opposed to 100% in the U.S.) At one time of the remaining  the Wonderswan had about 8%. A pretty decent machine, I've had the opportunity to try one of these out at my local used game shop. Pretty light, about the size of a GBA. Games are about on par with what's on the GBA. Earlier models were in B&W, and later released with a color display.

In 2002 Bandai released the Swan Crystal (Crystalswan) that used a slighlty smaller screen but could play both Wonderswan color and the B&W Wonderswan games.

What this console really has going for it is the multitude of cross licensing with various Bandai franchises, like Gundam wing, etc. One of the first releases was an exclusive Final Fantasy game. Too bad this thing never made it here, I like RPGS but can't read Japanese. Has at least 100 games before petering out in 2004, and usually goes for about $35.00 plus shipping on Ebay. It's nice to see that after years of trying Bandai finally made a game system that doesn't suck.