Retro|Spective 218: Hardware

[Baseley09]

Bizarre that bandai and SNK both fell into a weird trap of both offering black and white systems before quickly shuffling out a colour model in regret.

Only ever had Swan colour an tbh it was very cool but the screen was so hard to see, conditions had to be perfect.

[jonathan_ingram]

Only ever had Swan colour an tbh it was very cool but the screen was so hard to see, conditions had to be perfect.

Same, I adore the system but only ended up with a handful of games like Blue Wing Blitz, Densha De Go! Space Invaders and the game that got the most play, Front Mission. More of a side curio alongside the GBA / NGPC I also had at the time.

A friend had Beatmania with the clip on wheel and that was very cool

[wakka]

I always thought about buying a SwanCrystal when they were down to ~£40-£50 new on Play-Asia, back in the early mid 2000s, but I never did for some reason.

I think I was partly put off by the fact that an awful lot of the library seemed to be RPGs and VNs that would have been impenetrable without Japanese knowledge.

The double d-pad is such a distinctive look. It was Gunpei Yokoi's final piece of hardware, too, I believe.

I kinda miss handhelds that were cheap toys, like they were in the 90s and up through GBA (which was £80 at release iirc).

Now they're these massive **** off tablets that cost hundreds. And the capabilities are incredible, but, yeah. I miss those toy-like handhelds. I guess Playdate is maybe the only thing with similar energy now.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Don't think I ever actually saw a Swan handheld in the flesh.

[Asura]

I loved the Wonderswan. When I was in Japan in the late 00s, every second-hand store was full of them, of all different kinds, and they were dirt-cheap too. I was learning Japanese at the time and it was a console which was kinda uncompromisingly Japanese, where many of the games really did need you to be able to read and very few of them featured an English version (IIRC just a few Digimon games that saw release in Hong Kong).

That said, I think its legacy is somewhat over-valued. As Bandai made it, and Bandai funded a lot of anime at that time, the Wonderswan featured as product placement in many shows; like characters would use one at one point, or maybe they would just have a WS sat on their bedside table or bedroom desk. This gives an impression, especially outside Japan, that it was a really big deal, when in practice, it was certainly successful in Japan, moreso than the NeoGeo Pocket consoles, but waaaaay behind the Game Boy line in terms of ubiquity. In those second-hand places you'd have a bucket of Wonderswan stuff to 10 buckets of Game Boy stuff, and it was on that level where, having been discontinued for about ~3 years at that time, from what I observed, most adults would recognise one as something they'd seen, but also, comparably few adults had used one/knew much about them unless they were gamers (this is pre-smartphone era, where ownership of a videogame playing device wasn't a given).

I love them though. They have a feel for me like the NeoGeo. It's probably just because of the lack of international release and the kinda esoteric nature of the system. It's very Japanese, and it really makes me wish that Gunpey Yokoi's book would be translated into English as I'd love to read it.

[Neon Ignition]

Hardware 55 - Wonderswan Skeleton Green
This translucent green version of the system was one of multiple colour variants produced to widen the appeal of the system




Good to be Green?

[Asura]

Hardware 55 - Wonderswan Skeleton Green
This translucent green version of the system was one of multiple colour variants produced to widen the appeal of the system

Good to be Green?

My favourite was the Skeleton Blue colour version of the system, which looked a lot like this.

[Yakumo]

I used to see loads of those Tarepanda Wonderswan consoles back in the day because nobody wanted them. Tarepanda was a big thing in the very late 90s for girls.
These days you never see those consoles.

[Asura]

I used to see loads of those Tarepanda Wonderswan consoles back in the day because nobody wanted them. Tarepanda was a big thing in the very late 90s for girls.
These days you never see those consoles.

This makes me wonder... In the 00s the real lame ducks of the UK 2nd-hand game world were Dreamcast keyboards, Donkey Konga bongos and those N64s with the moulded Pikachu shell.

The Dreamcast keyboards because they were big, made in large quantities, sold off at massive discount when the DC started to get wobbly, and they only had use for a very limited number of applications. The Bongos again because they were big, but also of limited-use and they sold in large numbers; Guitar Hero controllers had a similar issue but they worked with more games/games with long DLC tails so it wasn't quite so bad. Then the Pikachu shell N64s because they were pig-ugly and in my experience, even the little kids they were marketed at hated them.

I wonder what the Japanese equivalents were. Admittedly I saw a lot of Game Boys during my time there but then, Game Boys aren't ever considered a lame duck and they're practically indestructible, so retain their 2nd-hand value.

[Yakumo]

This makes me wonder... In the 00s the real lame ducks of the UK 2nd-hand game world were Dreamcast keyboards, Donkey Konga bongos and those N64s with the moulded Pikachu shell.

The Dreamcast keyboards because they were big, made in large quantities, sold off at massive discount when the DC started to get wobbly, and they only had use for a very limited number of applications. The Bongos again because they were big, but also of limited-use and they sold in large numbers; Guitar Hero controllers had a similar issue but they worked with more games/games with long DLC tails so it wasn't quite so bad. Then the Pikachu shell N64s because they were pig-ugly and in my experience, even the little kids they were marketed at hated them.

I wonder what the Japanese equivalents were. Admittedly I saw a lot of Game Boys during my time there but then, Game Boys aren't ever considered a lame duck and they're practically indestructible, so retain their 2nd-hand value.

Those ****ty Game Cube Bongo Drums are still everywhere now. Nobody ever wanted them. Same with the horrid blue N64s with Pikachu on them.
Dreamcast keyboards on the other hand are not so common. Japan got two types. The original large white one then a much nicer compact model. I have one of each as the larger one is required for some debug features on games that require the number pad.

[egparadigm]

Those ****ty Game Cube Bongo Drums are still everywhere now. Nobody ever wanted them. Same with the horrid blue N64s with Pikachu on them.
Dreamcast keyboards on the other hand are not so common. Japan got two types. The original large white one then a much nicer compact model. I have one of each as the larger one is required for some debug features on games that require the number pad.

No element of bias there. 🤣

[phillv85]

I’ve got me a skeleton green Wonderswan, had it for years. In fact I think I have a few, they used to be dirt cheap. Got a regular one in a greasy box, can’t remember the colour, the green one unboxed, an FF2 Colour and one of the Korean ones in, I think, clear black with 2 digimon games that I believe will be in English, but it’s sat on my shelf sealed for the past ~15 years. There aren’t many games to play on the system without reading Japanese, and most of the good ones cost a small fortune now. Interesting little system all the same.

[Hirst]

Same with the horrid blue N64s with Pikachu on them.

I'm pretty certain there was a cottage industry of several people importing the Pikachu N64s from Japan, shoving PAL innards inside them and then selling them on. They were never enormously rare, but about 5 years ago there seemed to be absolutely tons of them turning up in the UK. I've heard the export ones were a slightly different shade of blue, but I've never been into the N64 enough to know if that's true or not.

[Yakumo]

I'm pretty certain there was a cottage industry of several people importing the Pikachu N64s from Japan, shoving PAL innards inside them and then selling them on. They were never enormously rare, but about 5 years ago there seemed to be absolutely tons of them turning up in the UK. I've heard the export ones were a slightly different shade of blue, but I've never been into the N64 enough to know if that's true or not.

I couldn't say if the PAL and Japanese ones are different shades of blue but I can see someone picking them up very cheap from over here. Nobody wanted them. They're bigger than a standard N64 and very ugly.

[Hirst]

I couldn't say if the PAL and Japanese ones are different shades of blue but I can see someone picking them up very cheap from over here. Nobody wanted them. They're bigger than a standard N64 and very ugly.

They’re wider at the front but much wider at the back, just to fit the pointless Pikachu on it, but then they had to put a sticker on it to explain that the foot is a reset switch. If anyone but Nintendo did it, it would be considered one of the worst console designs of the 90s.