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GAMEPORT
JA/EN
Bandai WonderSwan handheld

WonderSwan

ワンダースワン

No. 0204 Mar 1999

WonderSwan

Manufacturer
Bandai / Koto Laboratory (Gunpei Yokoi)
Type
Handheld game console · 16-BIT

03

Overview

Overview

A handheld released by Bandai in Japan in 1999. It was developed with Gunpei Yokoi's company Koto Laboratory and was the final hardware Yokoi worked on before his death in 1997.

Name in Japan
ワンダースワン

04

Industrial Design

Industrial design

Its design prioritised long life on a single AA battery and a low price over a colour screen.

05

Technical Specifications

Technical specifications

CPU
NEC V30 MZ (80186-compatible) @ 3.072 MHz
Memory
16 KB
Display
224×144 monochrome LCD, 8 grey levels
Bits (period term)
16-bit
Generation (Wikipedia)
6th generation

Values are from the sources below. Where sources differ, see the notes under Sources.

06

Controller

Controller

An extra set of X/Y buttons lets games be played in both portrait and landscape orientation.

07

Media Format

Media format

  • ROM cartridge

  • ROM cartridge

    A software medium housing ROM chips on a circuit board inside a plastic shell. The Famicom used this format from its 1983 launch; Nintendo's Western packaging called them 'Game Paks'.

08

Launch & Context

Launch & historical context

Release (Japan)
4 Mar 1999[2]
Launch price (Japan)
¥4,800[2]
Units
3.5 million(sold, as reported · Japan · )[1]

It competed with Nintendo's Game Boy line and SNK's Neo Geo Pocket; the WonderSwan Color followed on 9 December 2000 at ¥6,800.

09

Notable Games

Notable games

10

Gallery

Gallery

  • Bandai WonderSwan handheld

    WonderSwan (black)

  • WonderSwan Color handheld

    WonderSwan Color (blue)

11

Timeline

Timeline

  1. 1998.10.21Game Boy ColorNintendo
  2. 1998.10.28Neo Geo PocketSNK
  3. 1998.11.27DreamcastSEGA
  4. 1999.03.04WonderSwanBandai
  5. 2000.03.04PlayStation 2Sony
  6. 2001.03.21Game Boy AdvanceNintendo
  7. 2001.09.14Nintendo GameCubeNintendo

12

Related Consoles

Related consoles

About Bandai →

13

Sources

Sources

  1. [1]
    WonderSwan

    Wikipedia (EN)

    ReferenceAccessed 2026-09-26
  2. [2]
    ワンダースワン

    Wikipedia (JA)

    ReferenceAccessed 2026-09-26
Notes on conflicting sources

Battery life conflicts: EN 40 hours vs JA approx. 30 hours on one AA battery — omitted from captions. Units: EN 3.5 million (all models) vs JA 3.32 million domestic. EN Wikipedia classifies it as sixth generation. Model number not verified; no Bandai primary page fetched.

14

Image Credits

Image credits