====== Bandai WonderSwan Color (2000) ======
===== Usage =====
WonderSwan Color in MESS requires a cart dump in .ws, .wsc or bin format to work. To run it, you can use the "cartridge" (cart) device, e.g. from command line
mess wscolor -cart "C:\pathtogame\gamename.wsc"
===== Known Issues =====
WonderSwan Color emulation in MESS still has imperfect sound.
===== History and Trivia =====
The WonderSwan Color is a handheld game console designed by Bandai. It was released on December 30th, 2000 in Japan, and it had a moderate success.
The main feature of the WonderSwan Color, compared to the original WonderSwan, is of course the color LCD screen. In fact, the new system was slightly larger and heavier than his predecessor, and features 64k of RAM. On the other hand, no substantial change has been done to the internal hardware, making the WonderSwan Color fully compatible with the original WonderSwan library of games.
Prior to WonderSwan's release, Nintendo had virtually a monopoly in the Japanese videogame handheld market. Thanks to its low price, Bandai's handheld was able to cut its own position in the market.
Another reason for the WonderSwan's success in Japan was the fact that Bandai managed to get a deal with Squaresoft to port over the first "Final Fantasy" games, previously released on Famicom in the 1980s, with improved graphics and controls. Together with the large number of Bandai's games based on popular manga and anime brands, this helped to sell a lot of units.
However, with the success of the Game Boy Advance and new agreements between Squaresoft and Nintendo, the WonderSwan Color and its successor, the SwanCrystal, quickly lost their advantage.
== Personal Data ==
Before a WonderSwan can play games, the player must enter some personal information. The personal data screen can be reached by pressing the start and power buttons simultaneously. It requests a name, birthday (year, month, day), sex and bloodtype. The name will appear under the Bandai logo when the system is turned on. Option settings for default volume and contrast may also be set here.
== SwanCrystal ==
The SwanCrystal was the third version of Bandai's WonderSwan handheld game console, succeeding the WonderSwan and WonderSwan Color. It was released November 2002.
It is essentially the same as the WonderSwan Color, except that it uses a TFT LCD, superior in response time to the LCD technology used previously. This helps the visualization of the game on the screen and reduces the ghosting effect. Other notable differences are the four selectable volume settings (only 3 three were present before), and the position of the power button (now in the front of the system, instead than on a side).
Due to lack of hardware changes, the Bandai SwanCrystal is compatible with games for both the WonderSwan Color and the original WonderSwan.
The SwanCrystal was available in four case colors: Skeleton Blue, Skeleton Black, Blue Violet and Red Wine.
//(info from Wikipedia)//
===== Links =====
* [[wp>WonderSwan_Color]]
* [[wp>Swan_Crystal]]
===== Other Emulators =====
* Oswan -- http://sourceforge.jp/projects/oswan/
* Cygne -- http://cygne.emuunlim.com/
* Mednafen -- http://mednafen.sourceforge.net/
* WSCamp [no link]
Generated on Sun Jul 19 10:17:28 2009