I never thought I would ever own a Wonderswan, being that they were never released here, and all the games are in Japanese
But after a visit to Games Temple in Leeds I now do
The Wonderswan was originially released in 1999 with the colour version released in 2000, it was developed by Gunpei Yokoi who had previously worked for Nintendo contributing to various consoles including the Game Boy
The system uses a 16 bit CPU and 64KB of RAM

The console features two D-pads, this is so the console can be used either in landscape or portrait modes. They are labelled Y1-4 and X1-4, and with A and B action buttons, along with the device controls sound, start, and power

The rear of the console with model label, battery compartment, and cartridge slot

The console runs from just one AA battery which goes in a plastic caddy which clips into place

The EXT port and volume control

From the remaining two sides, the console is quite small and very light
I have no games for the Wonderswan and the console will not start up without one, the screen will flicker briefly and turn itself off again, which looks to be normal behaviour
E - Out of DATA, 200:1
© 2026 IWH Software (Ian Hill)