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NeoGAF: WonderSwan Club / aka: Tumbleweed Portable Club

GhostSeed

Member
dkWob.png


What is WonderSwan?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WonderSwan

Bandai Wonderswan 101: A Beginner’s Guide

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I finally got a SwanCrystal system and broke out some of my WS games that I've been sitting on for years.

It's a pretty fun system so far despite the non-backlit screen.

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Judgement Silversword
It's a hard to play with the WS "d-pad" but it's still very good although the 360 version renders the exclusivity of this WS game a mute point.

Maikaimura
Typical G&G difficulty but I'm liking it so far. And it's not as hard as the arcade or SNES versions so far which is a plus.

Rainbow Islands
There is way more voice acting on this cart than I would expect. And overall I'm liking the game play.

Rockman & Forte
Solid Mega Man action so far but it's harder than I expected.

Wizardry
I'm totally lost ATM because of the hiragana but I walked around the dungeon and got killed, LOL.

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I still have to try out Star Hearts, Wild Card, and Youhumakai (sp?) although the language barrier may prove too difficult on most of those.

Anyone else pick one of these up one of these systems back in the day or recently?
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And for everyone else on GAF, -_- .....

42VRg.gif
 

John Blade

Member
If you want, you can add more info from this link

Bandai Wonderswan 101: A Beginner’s Guide

Give you a basic 101 idea of the system. They're quite a few good games (mostly thanks for SquareSoft lunching couple of big name games on this handheld). The game I did play quite a bit is Klonoa: Moonlight Museum. Not the best Klonoa game but it's still a fun game on this handheld.
 
Had a Wonderswan Color and a Swan Crystal and loved them dearly. Not sure what ever happened to my Swan Crystal, but they sell them used for ~$100 USD in Den Den Town these days. I also see Judgement Silversword here and there for a pretty penny as well.
 

Takao

Banned
I've always wanted one of these, but the overwhelming majority of games being completely in Japanese is quite the barrier.
 
I'm headed to Tokyo in October. Could I get one of these and some good games for reasonably cheap? Always been interested in having one.
 

Borman

Member
I have the Final Fantasy WSC. Love the system, just wish there were more things I could play and actually understand what is happening.
 

@MUWANdo

Banned
He's not? What's to be confused about.

I assumed he was confusing it with Radiant Silvergun since that's what a lot of people do, but I looked it up and found out there's actually a JS port for 360 that I managed to completely avoid hearing about (probably because it's attached to Eschatos, a game that didn't interest me in the slightest). Oops!
 
This was such a cool piece of tech back in the day. I loved how thin it was, how you could flip it on its side, and how you could see the insides from the back.

I have two of em, along with FF1/2/4. Never tried to play anything else, but I love those games so much that it doesn't matter.
 

meppi

Member
Great little system. Too bad not many games were released for it.

Namco Wonder Classic is till this day one of my favourite Golf games of all time.
 
Played a load of Wonderswan games via an emulator (I know) a few months ago. Lots of great quirky stuff available. Rhyme Rider Kerorican was a highlight!
 

BOTEC

Member
Yo, represent! (Man, that's a shitty pic)

3jzxv.jpg


I picked up my Crystal along with the Judgement Silversword reprint, so I was pretty late to the "party," but it's easily my favorite handheld. Neither Gameboy (OG nor Advance) nor the Neo Geo Pocket did anything for me, and forget the multimedia mess that are the DS and PSP. Wonderswan felt like a real video game system. My favorite game is the SaGa remake, but I got stuck early on because they changed a puzzle solution from the GB version. I also sunk a lot of time into Riviera, but the GBA port came out soon enough, so I switched to that. I gave serious thought to seriously reviewing Judgement Siversword, but that game kicked my ass early on so I never finished it. Dicing Knight never did anything for me, nor did Front Mission, since it's a watered down port of the SNES version. X, and Namco Wars I picked up on a whim after I stopped playing handheld games only for completeness sake so I don't have any concrete impressions. And I picked up Wild Card and the Kappa Games thing only for the cover art. Oh, and ONE AA. Love this thing.
 

Gameboy415

Member
If you're into fighters, definitely check out Guilty Gear Petit 1 & 2 for WSC!!

They even have an exclusive character - Fanny the nurse.
 

Ken

Member
There was a SRW game I really enjoyed on my WS. Had Ez-8 on the front cover I think. Let me find it.

Super Robot Taisen Compact 2

Had the Crystal Blue WS IIRC.
 
I have one of those Final Fantasy WonderSwans. Wish I still had the box, though. Great little system and I loved that it ran on one battery.
 

Celine

Member
What a unpopular club it is, GhostSeed ...
Oh well I just joined, got a boxed Swan Crystal in good condition and Swan Colosseum cartridge for 70 euro:


Wonderswan surely is underapprecciated in the west, there is very little sites/fanbase dedicated to it.
I've written a ten articles series about WS cancelled games for Unseen64 that are going online in these days if anyone is interested:
http://www.unseen64.net/category/wonderswan-2/

BTW recently the demoscene group Titan released an impressive (polygons bitches!) tech-demo for the little Bandai handheld:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH27BeaIxQ4

EDIT:
I've always wanted one of these, but the overwhelming majority of games being completely in Japanese is quite the barrier.
Bu bu but
572384435_o.jpg
!B8hF!kwBmk~$%28KGrHqZ,!jIEzNwjcc+zBM3Rw-U4KQ~~_35.JPG

(and a bajillion other anime franchises)

EDIT2:
For sale-agers:
In August 2000 Bandai reported 1.55M sold (and 1.7 shipped).
By March 2001 the total shipment reached 2.8 thanks to WSC introduction.
Overall WS(C/SC) total shipment was reported by CESA to be 3.32M.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
I have a Swan Crystal and an original black and white Swan.

I don't think all that highly of the system, though. I have Klonoa, Rockman and Forte, Makaimura and Digimon Battle something (a surprisingly cool fighter). The majority of the games on the system are...not that interesting. I've really looked heavily into the library and have used emulators to determine what I want to buy but I just don't think there are many good games on the system.
 

Yes Boss!

Member
I'm part if the club. I have a Swan Crystal with Judgement Silversword and I also have the full Wonderwitch Dev Kit.

Definitely should buy a few of the platformers.
 

Takao

Banned
I have a Swan Crystal and an original black and white Swan.

I don't think all that highly of the system, though. I have Klonoa, Rockman and Forte, Makaimura and Digimon Battle something (a surprisingly cool fighter). The majority of the games on the system are...not that interesting. I've really looked heavily into the library and have used emulators to determine what I want to buy but I just don't think there are many good games on the system.

but have you played medarot perfect edition
 

Celine

Member
I have a Swan Crystal and an original black and white Swan.

I don't think all that highly of the system, though. I have Klonoa, Rockman and Forte, Makaimura and Digimon Battle something (a surprisingly cool fighter). The majority of the games on the system are...not that interesting. I've really looked heavily into the library and have used emulators to determine what I want to buy but I just don't think there are many good games on the system.
That's because it was made by Dimps as One Piece Swan Colosseum (another "smash bros like" fighter for WS, even better IMO).
Dimps surely was on fire in those days, they were behind SvC: MotM and Sonic PA for NGPC.

My main problem, as already stated by Takao, is that being WS strong on strategy/RPG games but always confined to mostly japanese language it kind of ruin the game selection for those of us outside Japan.
Also many of the best games on WS eventually got ported later to other platforms while NGP gems are still exclusive to that handheld.
If I could read japanese stuff like Riviera, Namco Super Wars (exclusive),Arc the Lad game (exclusive), Front Mission, Final Fantasy 1/2/4 remake, SaGa remake(exclusive)/Romancing,Wild Card,Blue Wing Blitz would be in my to watch list...
Stuff like Judgement Silversword or Dicing Knights are too expensive for me.

I believe that the "slow" nature of many games on WS was due to its design.
While it could display GBA-like 2D the CPU was clocked at 3Mhz (half of that of NGP).

This thread needs more WonderBorg.
And lazy panda WS edition.

Why not also the Mama Mitte version lol
VRTfo.jpg

2ht7s.jpg
 

Vert boil

Member
Missed the thread when it was first posted.

Played a load of Wonderswan games via an emulator (I know) a few months ago. Lots of great quirky stuff available. Rhyme Rider Kerorican was a highlight!

RRK is cool. Miss the days when they put some effort into the packaging. The instructions were on playing cards.

WS Tetris is by far my favourite WS game and the Tare Panda boxset happily sits on top of my PVM.


I have the Klonoa boxset as well but it's been stuck in Japan for a long time. Really should get that shipped over.
 
Had a Wonderswan Color and a Swan Crystal and loved them dearly. Not sure what ever happened to my Swan Crystal, but they sell them used for ~$100 USD in Den Den Town these days. I also see Judgement Silversword here and there for a pretty penny as well.

Seriously? $100? 8000 Den Den Town in Osaka? I got one for less than 1000 en just a few weeks ago. I live out in the sticks, but the prices in Den Den Town are usually only 10-20% more. Occasionally double at some stores.
 
I'm headed to Tokyo in October. Could I get one of these and some good games for reasonably cheap? Always been interested in having one.

You can get a Crystal and more One piece / Inu Yasha / Gundam / Super Robot Wars than you can carry for a pittance.

Tokyo can be a little pricier than other parts of Japan, especially Akihabara stores that carry lots of old and obscure titles, but 1000-2000 yen (current exchange rate gives you about 80 yen for a dollar) should be plenty for the system. I got Final Fantasy 1 and 2 for 200 yen each, but they can go up to 1000. The common anime licenses go for a few hundred yen, less common games maybe 1000-2000, and I haven't really looked for the rare games.
 

bjork

Member
I've always wanted one of these, and I see used ones for fairly cheap at japangamestock, but I'm unsure of their reputation so I've never taken the plunge. I'd really like to play the Klonoa and beatmania games on WS.
 

d+pad

Member
Ah, the WonderSwan! I've been collecting games for this lil' guy (or is it gal?) since I came across a few posts about it on one of my favorite blogs, http://kimimisblog.blogspot.com/

So far I've acquired Engacho!, Flash Koibitokun, Mr. Driller, Rainbow Islands: Putty's Party and Tane wo Maku Tori. Sadly, I don't yet have a WS (or, rather, a SwanCrystal) system, but I plan on rectifying that soon :)
 

RM8

Member
Oh man, I've been wanting a WS for a while. Love the design and how it can be held horizontally and vertically, and it has an interesting library.
 

ranmafan

Member
Oh yeah the Wonderswan. I had a Wonderswan color that I imported the Spring before I studied abroad in Japan. I remember seeing the commercials for it on some anime tapes and all and thinking, this looks cool. I really wanted to play Final Fantasy on that as well as one of the gundam games that came out for it. Didn't play it too much but I really did like it. It was a nice purchase. I really should've brought it back with me to Japan.
 

Link1110

Member
This thread is making me want more games for my WSC. I have the FF games (FF4's soundtrack is... Interesting in 8-bit quality) SaGa, and Langrisser. Are games for the system expensive these days?
 
I have a Wonderswan Color. I only bought FF 1&2, and played through them each to the end. Since then I don't think I have turned the darn thing on.
 

bede-x

Member
Just discovered this thread and I'm in the club with these babies:


Truth be told I don't think the system itself is that great and on a personal level I find even a lesser regarded handheld such as the N-Gage better, though that's possibly due to my crappy Japanese making the Wonderswan library an impenetrable fortress. Still, it's a system with a few games I gotta have and as such deserves a spot in the collection. I'm looking forward to adding Makaimura to the collection at some point in the near future and hopefully I'll be good enough at Japanese some day to be able to play Arc the Lad and Wizardry.
 

djtiesto

is beloved, despite what anyone might say
This thread is making me want more games for my WSC. I have the FF games (FF4's soundtrack is... Interesting in 8-bit quality) SaGa, and Langrisser. Are games for the system expensive these days?

You should get the Arc the Lad game they made for it (even though I heard it wasn't very good) and let me give it a spin one day! :p

I'm interested in one of these for the SaGa 1 remake especially and the Arc the Lad game.
 

Katzii

Member
I only really want to get a Wonderswan to get the version of Rainbow Islands that is on it, but paying twice the price for the game that I would for the console is a bit of a turn off, especially since that is literally the only game I want for it.

EDIT: Oh wait, there's a Puzzle Bobble game for it, too? Okay, two games.
 

RM8

Member
I just joined WonderSwanGAF since I bought one for really cheap in Japan with 5 games!


Currently Rockman & Forte is my favorite game. Maikamura isn't too far behind. I'm pretty shocked at how nice the d-pad feels, I was honestly expecting it to be awful.
 

Celine

Member
I'm thinking to buy Mr. Driller but there isn't any available on ebay at the moment.
Is the game rare and expensive for WS?

However I'm thoroughly enjoying One Piece Swan Colosseum, so much I just need to unlocked the 13rd and last character to "complete" it.

So pretty:

Currently Rockman & Forte is my favorite game. Maikamura isn't too far behind. I'm pretty shocked at how nice the d-pad feels, I was honestly expecting it to be awful.
Well, that's because it isn't exactly a d-pad.
Sammy brought out an accessory called Wonder Coin for its Guilty Gear Petit release to alleviate the issue:
WonderSwan-Wonder-Coin-1__130x89.jpg


Ironically Neo Geo Pocket had the opposite problem in that games that required just orthogonal input weren't as comfortable on the (amazing) digital stick.
So included in PacMan and Crush Roller there were a plastic red ring that prevent the player from hitting diagonal ways:

 
Escaflowne makes it's only Super Robot Wars appearance on the Wonder Swan. I've always been tempted to pick up the system just for that.
 

krae_man

Member
If you want, you can add more info from this link

Bandai Wonderswan 101: A Beginner’s Guide

Give you a basic 101 idea of the system. They're quite a few good games (mostly thanks for SquareSoft lunching couple of big name games on this handheld). The game I did play quite a bit is Klonoa: Moonlight Museum. Not the best Klonoa game but it's still a fun game on this handheld.

Moonlight Museam is the best Klonoa game. The level progression was just perfect. First you do a spring jump, then you use a block. Then a block and a spring jump. Then a fan. Then a fan and a block, then a fan a a spring jump. Then a fan, a block and a spring jump. Every single stage adds a new element to the puzzle solving.

It also doesn't have any of those annoying autoscrolling levels.
 
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