Presentation

The WonderSwan is a portable 16-bit video game console created by Bandai.

Historical

The WonderSwan was released in March 1999 in Japan, where it met a certain success. It is a monochrome console that sells well despite the release a year earlier from the Game Boy Color with an asset: its small size. Thus, it has a great autonomy, while being efficient.

The inventor of this console is Gunpei Yokoi, the parent of the Game Boy, who left Nintendo after the failure of the Virtual Boy.

The WonderSwan will undergo two evolutions: the WonderSwan Color which brings a color screen and the SwanCrystal which is a variation of the WonderSwan Color with a better screen.

His three models will have sold 2,061,193 copies in Japan (and thus in the world).

Technical specifications :

• Released: March 1999 in Japan
• Price: around 40 €
• CPU: Bandai SPGY-1001 16 bit at 3.072MHz
• RAM : 128 Mb
• ROM : 1 Kb
• Display: 224x114 pixels 2.1 inch LCD screen without backlight. 8 gray levels
• Audio: stereo
• Support: maximum 128 Mbit cartridges
• Dimensions: 74.3x121x24.3 mm
• Weight: 110g
• Battery life: 30 hours with 1 AA battery