WonderSwan Color (WSC)
WonderSwan Color is a handheld game system developed by Bandai and released in Japan on December 9, 2000. The name of the console reflects its main difference from its predecessor - a color image instead of the black and white WonderSwan. In addition, WonderSwan Color has become somewhat larger and heavier (by 7 mm and 2 grams), acquired a 64 KB RAM and a wider LCD display. The system is compatible with older games released for the original WonderSwan.
For quite some time, Nintendo had a monopoly in the market for handheld gaming systems, but WonderSwan and later WonderSwan Color, released at the turn of the millennium, proved to be very popular, which allowed Bandai to capture about 8% of the Japanese gaming market. Success is primarily due to the small cost of the console - 6800 yen or 59 US dollars. In the west, the console is little known, as it is primarily focused on Japan, and almost all games were published in Japanese.
Another impetus for the popularization of WonderSwan Color was an agreement with Square, under which the early parts of the Final Fantasy series and some other games were to be ported to the console. As a result, Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy IV, The Final Fantasy Legend, as well as such well-known games as Front Mission and Romancing SaGa appeared on it. However, the more powerful competitive Game Boy Advance system soon began to gain momentum very quickly, and the developers of Square, by then partnering with Nintendo, switched to it, freezing many planned projects for the WonderSwan Color. Bandai tried to regain lost success and released an upgraded version of its console - SwanCrystal, but it failed to make a significant breakthrough,
Before starting the game, the user must enter some personal data: name, date of birth, gender and blood type. The console was produced with a body in five different colors: blue, pink, black, blue and orange.