Limited Run Retail Highlights: Summer of the WonderSwans
Limited Run Retail Highlights: Summer of the WonderSwans
A handheld worth holding.
Did you know that, in addition to selling hard-to-find Limited Run Games releases, Limited Run Retail also offers tons of games from other publishers and an absolutely massive selection of secondhand classic games? Of course you did, because you’re one of the smart and highly tuned-in people who reads this blog religiously.
But have you seen just how deep into video game history LRR’s retro lineup actually goes? Sure, you can find plenty of NES and PlayStation games there, but those were two of the most popular consoles ever made. They’re not exactly rarities! But poke around a bit and you might just find some weird and wonderful treasures that drift waaaaay out into the weeds.
For my money [editor’s note: this is the individual voice of your cool and highly knowledgeable LRG blogger speaking here], the weirdest and most wonderful thing you’ll find at LRR is the store’s absolutely immense lineup of WonderSwan games and hardware, including this super-premium Chocobo-themed system:
“But cool and highly knowledgeable LRG blogger,” you say, “what on earth is a WonderSwan? And why would I want one?”
Well, smart and highly tuned-in reader, I’m glad you asked. The WonderSwan is a fantastic little slice of video game history that bundles up a bunch of different legacies all at once. A handheld system that debuted in 1999, the WonderSwan was the final attempt by toy and collectible giant Bandai (now part of Bandai Namco) to get into the hardware business. Bandai put its hat in the ring way back in the 1970s and produced a succession of consoles through the years, localizing foreign machines for Japan, yet just never quite stumbling onto the perfect recipe for a hit. At least, not until WonderSwan! Arguably the first portable game system to truly beat the Game Boy on its own terms.
Which shouldn’t be surprising, because WonderSwan was designed by none other than the father of Game Boy himself, former Nintendo engineer Gunpei Yokoi. The WonderSwan launched after Yokoi’s untimely death, but the system has his philosophical concepts stamped all over it. Bandai sold the WonderSwan hardware for a little bit of nothing (the equivalent of $50 at the time!), thanks to its black-and-white screen and low-power processor. Still, Yokoi managed to deliver a powerful and versatile little handheld that boasted an amazing library of titles despite its technical drawbacks—a system that competed with the mighty Neo Geo Pocket in terms of capabilities. Everything from Mega Man to Klonoa to Final Fantasy to Mr. Driller showed up on WonderSwan, and the system did quite well for itself... especially once Bandai shipped an updated version with a color screen.
Weirdly, though, Bandai never brought the system to the U.S. or Europe, so it existed as a strictly import-only affair. But its three- or four-year run coincided with Squaresoft’s falling-out with Nintendo, so it saw upgraded remakes of the early Final Fantasy games, a gorgeous port of Makaitoushi SaGa (aka The Final Fantasy Legend), and lots of interesting one-offs like Blue Wing Blitz and, yes, some Chocobo games.
The WonderSwan library requires a pretty advanced Japanese reading level, since all its games only shipped in Japan, but you can find some of the most interesting selections on offer at LRR. Anime tie-ins like Super Robot Wars and Detective Conan! An early Atelier series game that has never appeared on another system! The original version of Riviera: The Promised Land, which has been remade and localized on subsequent platforms! It’s one of the best and most interesting handhelds ever produced, and it’s almost entirely unknown outside of Japan. Admittedly, its scarcity means that the games don’t come cheap, but sometimes that’s the price of knowledge. (We hear it’s the real treasure.)
