This site is dedicated to WonderSwan, a series of gaming handhelds distributed by Bandai since 1999 in Japan and other asian countries that was discontinued in 2003 (the last few games were commercialized in early 2004).
Why does Swan of Wonders exists?
The system is little known outside Japan, where it was a moderate hit, because many games are menu driven or text heavy and only available in japanese thus impenetrable to most western gamers.
Also due to Bandai less than favourable reputation among american and european gamers compared to the likes of Atari and SNK, WonderSwan is very little talked in english forums and blogs even compared to lesser popular handheld like Lynx and Neo Geo Pocket despite having a bigger game library than the two put together.
In fact at the time of this site conception there aren't any english site or community dedicated to it.
Swan of Wonders will attempt to shed a bit of light upon this rather obscure (outside Japan) gaming handheld.
Is it worth to play or collect games for WonderSwan?
Well that depend on each own tastes and interests.
Personally I would say there are more worthy game consoles to collect or play japanese imported games on like PC Engine and Sega Saturn however WonderSwan has a better game library than many would give credit for.
Because Bandai always had a big hand into japanese animation many popular anime franchises got at least one game release on it:
Gundam, Saint Seiya, Dragon Ball, Hunter x Hunter, Detective Conan, Digimon, Naruto, One Piece, Inuyasha, Shaman King, X and much more.
So if you are interested in japanese animation you could be attracted by WonderSwan.
Also because Bandai secured licenses and support from many big japanese publishers (Squaresoft, Namco, Capcom, Konami, Taito, Sega, Sammy and even Sony) , WonderSwan has a good number of ports and spinoff from popular japanese franchises:
Final Fantasy, SaGa, Front Mission, Klonoa, Tekken, Mr. Driller, Pocket Fighters, Rockman (Megaman), Makaimura (Ghosts 'n Goblins), Beatmania, Rainbow Island, Puzzle Bubble, Golden Axe, Guilty Gear, Arc the Lad, Devil Dice and more.
Of course there are also original games on WonderSwan, for example Sting cult RPG Riviera: The promised land began life on WonderSwan (2002) and was only latter ported to GBA (2004) and PSP (2006).
Why does Swan of Wonders exists?
The system is little known outside Japan, where it was a moderate hit, because many games are menu driven or text heavy and only available in japanese thus impenetrable to most western gamers.
Also due to Bandai less than favourable reputation among american and european gamers compared to the likes of Atari and SNK, WonderSwan is very little talked in english forums and blogs even compared to lesser popular handheld like Lynx and Neo Geo Pocket despite having a bigger game library than the two put together.
In fact at the time of this site conception there aren't any english site or community dedicated to it.
Swan of Wonders will attempt to shed a bit of light upon this rather obscure (outside Japan) gaming handheld.
Is it worth to play or collect games for WonderSwan?
Well that depend on each own tastes and interests.
Personally I would say there are more worthy game consoles to collect or play japanese imported games on like PC Engine and Sega Saturn however WonderSwan has a better game library than many would give credit for.
Because Bandai always had a big hand into japanese animation many popular anime franchises got at least one game release on it:
Gundam, Saint Seiya, Dragon Ball, Hunter x Hunter, Detective Conan, Digimon, Naruto, One Piece, Inuyasha, Shaman King, X and much more.
So if you are interested in japanese animation you could be attracted by WonderSwan.
Also because Bandai secured licenses and support from many big japanese publishers (Squaresoft, Namco, Capcom, Konami, Taito, Sega, Sammy and even Sony) , WonderSwan has a good number of ports and spinoff from popular japanese franchises:
Final Fantasy, SaGa, Front Mission, Klonoa, Tekken, Mr. Driller, Pocket Fighters, Rockman (Megaman), Makaimura (Ghosts 'n Goblins), Beatmania, Rainbow Island, Puzzle Bubble, Golden Axe, Guilty Gear, Arc the Lad, Devil Dice and more.
Of course there are also original games on WonderSwan, for example Sting cult RPG Riviera: The promised land began life on WonderSwan (2002) and was only latter ported to GBA (2004) and PSP (2006).