WonderSwan Color
ワンダースワンカラー
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A handheld game system designed to deliver colour graphics and extended battery life in a compact form, representing Bandai’s evolution of the original monochrome WonderSwan. The direct competitor to the Game Boy Color.
Description
The WonderSwan Color features a lightweight chassis with a 2.8-inch reflective TFT LCD capable of displaying 241 colours simultaneously from a palette of 4096. The system retains the dual-orientation control layout introduced with the original WonderSwan, enabling both horizontal and vertical play modes. Connectivity options include a link cable for multiplayer and data exchange. Its resolution remains 224×144 pixels, consistent with the original model, ensuring backward compatibility with monochrome titles.
Internally, it uses a 16-bit NEC V30 MZ CPU running at 3.072 MHz, paired with 512 KB of RAMand 2 KB of VRAM, supporting cartridge-based storage up to 16 MB. Audio is delivered through a single speaker with stereo output via headphones. Power is still supplied by a single AA battery, offering approximately 20 hours of play, a key advantage over competing colour handhelds.
Released in Japan in December 2000, the WonderSwan Color launched with titles such as Final Fantasy I & II, reinforcing Bandai’s partnership with Square and its appeal to RPG enthusiasts. Contemporary reception praised its affordability, colour display, and strong software support. Retrospectively it was a distinctive alternative to Nintendo’s Game Boy Color. If you didn’t have a WonderSwan you missed out on a wide variety of JRPGs and anime licensed titles on a wholly competent system.
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