______ / \ / \ / ___ \ | / \ ___\ | | \ \ \\ | | _ \ \ W O N D E R S W A N \ \ / \| | --faq-- \\___\ \ \_/| | \ \__/ | by J. T. K A U F F M A N \ / \_________/ ver.0.88 .230999 WonderSwan FAQ bt J.T.Kauffman ver.0.88 23aug99 ___________________________________________ ::TOC. :1:Intro. :2:Specs. :3:Layout. __Buttons __I/O Jacks __Other __Icons :4:Accessories. :5:Noteable Games. :6:Misc. __Answers __Color __Popularity :7:Outro. __Ver.info __Disclaimer __References __Contact ________________________________________ :1:Intro. The WonderSwan (or WS) is a portable gaming system released by Bandai in the early Summer of 1999. Clocking in with the smallest dimensions and the higest resolution of any previous major portable system, the Wonderswan is currently taking Japan by storm (well, kind of...). A North American release (yes, with the same name) has been announced, but no date has been set. As for this FAQ, I realised that there was next to nothing (read: 1 FAQ on GunPey) on the net on the WonderSwan info-wise, and felt that ths system was worthy of at least it's own FAQ... It's pretty rough right now, but it should do the trick... Feel free to send mail regarding corrections/info/etc... Anyway... ________________________________________ :2:Specs. Model Number: SW-001 Dimensions: with battery pack: 74.3cm x 121cm x 17.5cm with AA battery: 74.3cm x 121cm x 24.3cm Weight: 93g Power Source: 1 LR6 (AA) battery, or WS Battery Pack Battery Life: 30 hours Price: JY4800 Body Colors: Skeleton Black, Skeleton Blue, Skeleton Green, Skeleton Pink, Frozen Mint, Soda Blue, Sherbert Melon, Pearl White (discontinued), Metallic Silver (discontinued), Metallic Blue (discontinued) Set Includes: WonderSwan portable video game system, one LR6 (AA) battery, 30 page intruction manual --more to come-- _______________________________________ :3:Layout. The WonderSwan has a very unique layout: it can be held either vertically, like a Nintendo Game Boy, or horizontally, like a Sega Game Gear or a NeoGeo Pocket (the orientation depends on the game). For the sake of simplicty, we'll look at the system horizontally, which is how the majority of games are played... _____Buttons: We have the following buttons: - left side: Power switch - front, top left hand corner: "Y" buttons, labeled *(1) to ****(4), with 1 being in the 12o'clock position, and the rest following clockwise. - front, bottom left hand corner: "X" buttons, labeled *(1) to ****(4), just as the Y buttons. - front, near the middle, towards the left side: Sound button, and to it's right, the Start button. - bottom, towards the right hand side: Contrast volume. - front, bottom right hand side: "B" button, with the "A" button to it's right. Most of the buttons change functions from game to game, but generally in horizontal mode, the X buttons serve as a directional pad, with the A and B buttons being action buttons. In vertical mode, the Y buttons function as a d-pad, with the X buttons being action buttons. The other buttons are pretty self-explanitory: The sound button changes from full volume to half volume to mute (unless headphones are plugged in - then it has no function). The Start button (usually) will start the game. The Contrast volume makes the contrast on the screen greater or lesser, so that you can adjust the screen to your light source. _____I/O Jacks: As for input/output jacks, we have just one: - right hand side: External jack This external jack serves as a jack of all trades, to make a hideously bad pun. So far, it connects the headphones, link cable, or HandySonar to the WS. However, it isn't a normal headphone jack, so you must buy an adapter to use headphones with the system, and it also means that you can't play 2-player and use headphones at the same time, since the jack can only take one plug at a time (this is what you get in a system that retails for about $40). _____Other layout features: - top right-hand corner: external speaker, for when you do not have headphones attached; rather weak... - back, middle bottom: battery holder/battery pack holder & release button: the WS comes with a battery holder that clips onto the back of the system, and is released by a small release button lever. Unlike most portable systems, the WS doesn't actually hold it's battery (1 AA) within the body - instead, you insert the battery in the holder, and then slide the holder into the WS. It's rather different, but rather nice when you look at the size of the optional battery pack. - back, middle top: cartridge slot: your basic cartridge slot; you insert the game of your choice in here before turning on the system's power. - back, top left corner: strap holder: for attaching a wrist or neck strap to the WS (both of which are very popular in Japan - if you look at the GameBoy Color or the NeoGeo Pocket Color, they both have them as well...) _____Screen Icons: The bottom of the screen has a bunch of little icons (or marks, as the instruction book calls them...) that occasionally light up. Here's what's what, going from left to right: - olive-looking (two circles) icon (Power On Mark): tells you that the system is on. - the cartridge icon (Intialize OK Mark): tells you that the cartridge has initiallized alright. - star icon: I have no clue, and I don't feel like translating at the moment... - battery icon (Low Energy Mark): battery or battery pack is running low... - speaker icon (Speaker Mark): tells you what level the WS' external speaker is set at; there are three levels - two waves (semi-circles) is full volume (which is still rather quiet), one wave is half volume, and no waves is mute. Disappears after a while, reappears when you change the volume... - headphone icon (Headphone Mark): tells you that you have headphones plugged in (this causes the speaker icon to disapper... - sideways man/right side up man (Orientation Mark): Tells you which way the WS should be oriented - if you're holding it, and the large cicle in the icon (the man's head) isn't pointing up, you're holding it the wrong way... (this should be pretty easy to figure out...) - circle icon (ETC Mark) - again, I have no clue... possibly changes depending on the game, since it's etc.?... ___________________________________ :4:Accessories. Name: Battery Pack Price: JY1950 Model #: 9094-0020 Function: Serves in place of the battery and battery holder. The battery pack ends up being flush with the back of the unit, which cuts down the thickness of the system by about 7cm. Name: Link Cable Price: JY1450 Model #: 9094-0030 Function: Links to WS units together for 2 player games. Name: Headphone Adapter Price: JY2700 Model #: 9094-0040 Function: Turns the WS's Ext. jack into a normal headphone jack, so that any pair of headphones with such a jack can be used instead of the external speaker. Includes the adapter and a pair of WonderSwan 'bud'- style earphones. Name: Battery Pack Quick Charge Unit Price: JY3800 Model #: 9094-0050 Function: Charges the battery pack for use. Includes the charger and one battery pack. Name: HandySonar Price: JY9800 Model #: ? Function: Serves as a submersable sonar device for fishing. You can see a representation of the water floor on the WS's screen. A few notes on the above: -All of the prices are the suggested retail price for Japan, and are listed in Japanese Yen (abbr. 'JY'). The current exchange rate for the US$ is hovering around 110-115yen to $1, although your price for importing these to the U.S., or your respective country, may be quite different. -As far as I know, all of the above items, with the exception of the HandySonar, are liensed by Bandai and distributed by Sammy, whose logo is quite prominent on the packaging. -I have also seen two promotional WS items that are worth mentioning: the first is a WonderSwan wrist strap that was given away with the system when it first came out (I believe), and the second is a carrying pouch that was given away when the new batch of two-tone colors (Frozen Mint, Soda Blue, and Sherbert Melon) came out in Mid-Summer 1999. _______________________________ :5:Notable Games. This is not meant to be a comprehensive list of games, but a look at the big names, and in no real order. Also, anything marked with a star (*), see the numbered comment below...: Title Genre Company Price ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon ARPG Square/Bandai JY3800 for WonderSwan Densha de Go! SIM Taito JY3800 Pocket Fighter FGHT Capcom/Bandai JY3800 Puzzle Bobble PUZ ?? JY3800 Terrors ADV ?? (*1) JY3980 Klonoa Moonlight Museum ACT Namco/Bandai JY3800 Last Stand SRPG Bandai JY3800 GunPey APUZ Koto/Bandai JY2980 Nobunaga's Ambition (*2) for SIM Koei JY4200 WonderSwan Ghosts and Goblins (*3) for ACT Capcom/Bandai JY3800 WonderSwan Neon Genesis Evangelion SIM/ACT Bandai JY3800 Young Detective Conan (*4) ADV Bandai JY3600 Mobile Suit Gundam MSVS SIM Bandai JY3800 Rockman & Forte (*5) ACT Capcom/Bandai JY3800 Destiny of an Emporor (*6) for SIM Koei JY4200 Wonderswan Digital Monster ver.WonderSwan SIM Bandai JY3800 Super Robot Wars Compact SRPG Banpresto JY4500 Beatmania for WonderSwan (*7) RYTM Konami JY4800 SD Gundam Emotional Jam SIM Bandai JY3800 Chaos Gear SRPG Bandai JY3800 Vaitz Blade RPG Bandai JY3980 Tekken Card Challenge CARD Namco/Bandai JY3800 Genre key: ACT: action ADV: adventure APUZ: action puzzle ARPG: action role-playing game CARD: card battle FGHT: fighting PUZ: puzzle RPG: role-playing game RYTH: rhythm game (aka music game) SIM: simulation SRPG: simulation role playing game JY: Japanese Yen *1: There are two versions of this game, one with a mini-novelization (I think...) and one without. The mini-novel one is priced at JY3980, and the non-novel one is priced at JY2980. *2: I think that's what this is... it's all in Kanji (and my Kanji is horrible...), and it's a Koei game... Actually, it's probably not, but I don't know any other Koei sim games... (It's the one with three kanji...) *3: This is the Americanization of the name - the actual name is something that most people wouldn't recognise... *4: I believe that's the English title for this anime series - if not, please let me know... *5: Rockman in Japan = MegaMan in N.America/Europe, and Forte = Bass. *6: Same thing as *2 - I can't read it, so I'm guessing... this one is 2 kanji 'no' 2 kanji... *7: Beatmania for WS comes with a mini-turntable that attaches to the B button... it's actually not that bad, all things considered... Many of the games you will have heard of, and the ones that you haven't (like Terrors, Vaitz Blade, etc.) are fairly big titles here in Japan, so they deserve to be up there. As for the fact that you have heard of many of the games, Bandai is being smart and doing a ton of licencing. They went to other popular game companies (namely Square, Namco, and Capcom) and licenced their big names, and also went after popular anime (Conan and Evangelion). It's worked too... Ghosts & Goblins and Conan both have come out while I've been in Japan, and they've both sold out immediately most places (including Laox in Sendai, which is a mega-electronics store...) ________________________________________ :6:Misc. _____Answers Answers to questions that no one will probably ask, but just in case: - Yes, the worldwide name for the system will be WonderSwan. - No, I have no clue why they named the system the WonderSwan... - Yes, the name is slowly growing on me... - Yes, that is supposed to be the WS logo done in ASCII art at the top of the FAQ... - Yes, there have been other cool things that have had 'swan' in their name - check out late releases by the musical group 'Swans' (particularly "The Great Annihilator," "White Light from the Mouth of Infinity," and "Soundtracks for the Blind.") _____Case Color If you're trying to decide what color WS to get, I'd recomment Skeleton (Clear) Black - all of the cartridges that I've seen are clear black, and all of the accessories are opaque black, so everything matches nicely... Another thought on the line of colors, the least popular color here in Japan is Skeleton Pink (as if you had to guess) - I've actually seen it discounted merely for it's color... And now for a short history of the case colors... Before the system was released, Bandai had a poll going on their web page as to what colors to release - there were about 20 different versions, if memory serves. When the system was released, there were 7 versions available (the 4 Skeleton (or see-through) colors, the 2 Metallic colors, and Pearl White). On July 22, the 2 Metallic colors and Pearl White were discontinued to make way for the 3 Two-Tone colors (Frozen Mint, Soda Blue, and Sherbert Melon). These casings have clear colored front casings and clear white back casings (hence the name Two-Tone). Even though the Metallics and Pearl are discontinued, they are not that hard to find here in Japan, so if you're interested in one of them, hunt around a bit. _____Popularity As for the popularity of the WS, it's the second most popular portable system right now. The breakdown is like this (this comes from the weekly game charts from http://come.to/magicbox/ -I have always thought that it was Famitsu Weekly, but they don't publish the system sales, just about 10 other charts... anyways...): 1. GameBoy Color 2. WonderSwan 3. NeoGeoPocket Color 4. GameBoy Pocket 5. GameBoy Light 6. NeoGeo Pocket The GameBoy will be entrenched in first for a long time, but the WS is doing about twice the business that the NGPC is... the other three are so far behind it;s not even funny, and since they're all just variations.... (Note that the Sony Pocketstation and the Dreamcast VMU aren't counted as portable systems: they're accessories for console systems...) _____WS Web Page The official WonderSwan web page is located at: http://www.swan.channel.or.jp Keep in mind that it is a Japanese page, so more than likely you'll get a bunch of garbage for letters (note: I haven't been able to get Netscape to display Japanese, but IE and NeoPlanet can - you have to download the Japanese language add-on for IE from Microsoft, though...) __________________________________________ :7:Outro. _____Versions 23aug99:0.88: Added the missing color, Metallic Blue, and wrote a short section on the history of the colors. Also added the address for the official WS web page... 22aug99:0.87: Wrote the initial version in one sitting. Probably full of mistakes, as my reference material consisted of a WS brochure and the WS Instruction Book.... Still need the internal specs for the system... and translations for a few icons... other than that it's pretty complete for now... _____Trademark/Copyright Info: WonderSwan is copyright Bandai. All other trademarks property of their respective owners. This document is copyright J.T.Kauffman 1999 and cannot be reproduced for profit in any form. It can be freely distributed over the internet as long as it is unaltered and is only distributed on free (i.e. non- subscription) sites. If you do choose to post this document on your site, please email me to let me know. _____References - WonderSwan Instruction book - WonderSwan Summer 1999 pamphlet - WonderSwan system - Magic Box (http://come.to/magicbox) _____Contact Info J.T.Kauffman stormwalker@hotmail.com since 22aug99, Shibata, Japan.