WonderSwan

The WonderSwan (ワンダースワン) is a handheld game system that was launched in Japan by Bandai on March 4, 1999, about a year after the discontinuation of the Pippin platform.

History
The first WonderSwan console was developed as a grayscale device by Koto Laboratory, the company founded by former Nintendo engineer Gunpei Yokoi (横井 軍平). Bandai showed off the new handheld system at the 1999 Tokyo Toy Show.

It was soon followed by the WonderSwan Color (ワンダースワン カラー). A range of peripheral accessories were produced, such as the WonderWave infrared communicator and the WonderBorg robotic kit, which were shown at the 2000 Tokyo Toy Show. The active matrix SwanCrystal (スワンクリスタル) was unveiled by Bandai at the 2002 Tokyo Toy Show. Though well-received, the WonderSwan line was unable to fend off competition from Nintendo's Game Boy Advance and was eventually discontinued in 2003.

Titles

 * ''See: List of WonderSwan titles

Accessories

 * ''See: List of WonderSwan accessories

Legacy
Though sold only in Japan, the WonderSwan remains Bandai's last and best-selling console to date. Over 3.5 million units of the consoles were sold and over 10 million games were sold.

In 2018, a scene in the Blu-ray release of Evangelion: 2.22 depicted the character Asuka with a fictitious handheld console that resembled the back of a WonderSwan bearing Bandai and Pippin platform logos.

Archived links

 * WonderSwanWeb official site (archived 2003-12-23, 2001-05-15, 1999-01-25)
 * Bandai Wonderswan Series Wiki at Fandom (archived 2015-05-10)