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History
Bandai was founded on 5 July 1950 in Asakusa, Tokyo, by Naoharu Yamashina as Bandai-ya (萬代屋). The name comes from a Chinese phrase meaning “eternally unchanging.” The company began as a small toy distributor, selling celluloid dolls, metal toys and rubber swimming rings. Its first original product, the Rhythm Ball, appeared the same year.
In the mid-1950s Bandai introduced an industry-first quality-guarantee system and expanded into metal model cars. The company was renamed Bandai in 1961 and began overseas sales, opening a New York office.
The real breakthrough came in the 1960s and 1970s through character toys. Success with Astro Boy figures was followed by major hits under the Popy subsidiary, including the Kamen Rider transformation belt (1971) and the die-cast “Chogokin” Mazinger Z robots (1974). In 1980 Bandai launched the hugely successful Gundam plastic-model line (“Gunpla”), which became one of its signature products.
During the same period Bandai entered electronic games and video games. In December 1979, it released one of the first japan-made console called the Super Vision 8000. Bandai also released simple handheld and LSI games in the late 1970s and release imported or distributed several early consoles in Japan (such as the Emerson Arcadia, CGE Vectrex and Mattel Intellivision), and later became one of the first major third-party publishers for the Nintendo Famicom (starting in 1985). Titles based on its own licences, such as Kinnikuman, sold very well.
Seeing the video game market had matured, Bandai tried to renter the video game market as a console maker in 1994 with the release of the Playdia. While not being a total failure, the Playdia failed to generate additional revenue and was quickly abandoned in favor of the Apple Bandai Pippin in 1996.
After the failure of those systems, the future was grim at Bandai, but the executive at Bandai found a way out. In January 1997, Sega Enterprises and Bandai announced plans for a roughly $1 billion stock-swap merger that would create “Sega Bandai Ltd.,” a major Japanese entertainment company with projected combined annual revenue of about $6 billion (roughly 600 billion yen). The deal was scheduled to close on October 1, 1997. Bandai President Makoto Yamashina was to become president of the new company, Sega President Hayao Nakayama vice chairman (focused on strategy), and Isao Okawa (CSK chairman and major Sega shareholder) chairman. The new entity would have had three main divisions covering game hardware, multimedia/networking, and toys. Sega was a distant third in the home console market behind Sony’s PlayStation and a recovering Nintendo. It faced inventory write-downs (especially in the U.S.) and declining profitability. Bandai (Japan’s largest toy maker, known for Power Rangers, Sailor Moon merchandise, etc.) had seen its big hits fade and was projecting a large loss (the Pippin being one of them). The idea was to combine Sega’s hardware, arcade, and high-tech strengths with Bandai’s character licensing, marketing, and younger-skewing consumer base. Nakayama optimistically predicted the combined company could become the world’s second-largest entertainment firm after Disney. But the opposition inside Bandai grew rapidly. Roughly 80% of Bandai’s middle managers expressed strong concerns about cultural clashes and loss of identity. Bandai was often described as more “family-like” or informal; Sega was seen as more rigid and corporate. Petitions and angry letters circulated.
But Bandai found its hail mary. Launched in late 1996, the virtual pet became a massive global hit as millions of units sold quickly. By spring 1997 Bandai no longer looked like a company in urgent need of a partner; its fortunes had reversed while Sega’s challenges continued. As such, Bandai withdrew of the deal and started looking for a new direction in gaming. They found their answer in Gunpei Yokoi.
Gunpei Yokoi, the legendary Nintendo engineer behind the Game & Watch and Game Boy, left Nintendo in 1996 following the commercial failure of the Virtual Boy. The departure of Gunpei Yokoi had nothing to do with the Virtual Boy’s poor market performance as it’s departure had been planned for a long time. Yokoi had long intended to retire or become independent when he reached age 55 to have more personal freedom with his ideas. After finishing the Game Boy Pocket as a parting gift in July 1996, he officially resigned on August 15, 1996, after 31 years at the company, turning 55 shortly after. Yokoi then founded his own company, Koto Laboratory.
Bandai approached Yokoi to design a low-cost, efficient handheld that could challenge Nintendo’s dominance in the portable market. Yokoi led the early design work, but he died in a traffic accident in October 1997 before the system was completed. Koto Laboratory continued development under Bandai’s direction. The resulting console was named the WonderSwan.
Release
The original monochrome WonderSwan launched in Japan on 4 March 1999 at the aggressive price of ¥4,800. It featured a 16-bit NEC V30MZ processor, a reflective FSTN LCD capable of eight shades of grey, dual orientation (horizontal or vertical play), and exceptional battery life of up to 40 hours on a single AA battery. The low price and unique design helped it gain a foothold against the Game Boy Color.
Support from major publishers, especially Square which released enhanced ports of early Final Fantasy titles and several exclusives, boosted the system’s appeal. Bandai had finally found it’s place in gaming.
Demise
Despite respectable sales and strong software support in its early years, the WonderSwan was trailing between the Game Boy color. While the Wonderswan was vastly superior to the Game Boy Color, it had one big flaw : the monochrome screen. On December 9, 2000, Bandai fixed that flaw with the release of the WonderSwan Color.
Technical Specifications
- CPU: NEC V30MZ (16-bit) @ 3.072 MHz
- RAM: 64 KB
- Display: 2.49-inch FSTN reflective LCD, 224 × 144 resolution, 8 shades of grey
- Sound: 4-channel digital mono (stereo via optional headphones)
- Battery: 1 × AA (up to ~30–40 hours)
- Controls: Dual orientation (landscape/portrait) with face buttons and D-pad
- Media: ROM cartridges
- Weight: Approximately 110 g (including battery)
Consoles
The WonderSwan was released on March 4th, 1999 in 7 different colors:
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| Skeleton Green | Skeleton Black | Skeleton Blue | |||
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| Skeleton Pink | Metallic Blue¹ | Pearl White¹ | |||
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| Silver Metallic |
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¹ Both the Metallic Blue and the Pearl White were discontinued on July 22, 1999 to make room for the Summer Edition models.
Summer Edition
The two-Tone Color Summer Edition were the result of a survey done by Bandai through Internet to decide what would be the 3 refreshing colors of the summer. The 3 winning colors were released in the Summer 1999.
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| Sherbet Melon | Soda Blue | Frozen Mint | |||
Exclusive
Jusco, which stands for Japan United Stores Company, is the largest supermarket chain in Japan. The company has sold Nintendo exclusive color-variation of different consoles over the year including the Jusco 30th Anniversary N64, the GameBoy Jusco Atomic Purple, the GameBoy Jusco Clear and the GameBoy Advance MARIO & LUIGI.
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| Jusco Purple | |||||
Limited Edition
Bandai released a few limited editions during the life of the WonderSwan. Although they are considered limited editions, the units were widely available. The latest released are a bit more rare since the WonderSwan Color was already in the work and consumer that didn’t yet possess a WonderSwan had no real incentive to purchase the Black & White model.
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| Tare Panda no Gunpey December 9, 1999 (¥7,600) Serial : SWJ-BAN 02 |
Zeon March 23, 2000 (¥6,800) Serial: SWJ-77A009 |
Chocobo Fushigi No Dungeon March 23, 2000 (¥6,800) SWJ-77A00A |
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| Digimon Adventure – Anode Tamer March 23, 2000 (¥5,980) Serial: SWJ-77A007 |
Mobile Suit Gundam MSVS: Earth Federation March 23, 2000 (¥6,800) Serial: SWJ-77A008 |
Digital Monsters Ver. WonderSwan November 11, 1999 (¥6,800) SWJ-77A002 |
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Bundle
Bandai also released a few bundles. The bundles are not limited editions per se as they are merely a package with the Skeleton Blue. The only bundle that comes with a different console color is the bundle that includes the WonderSwan Handy Sonar which comes with a Skeleton Black console.
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| Handy Sonar May 13, 1999 (¥14,600) |
Kaze no Klonoa Moonlight Museum November 11, 1999 (¥6,800) Serial: SWJ-77A003 |
Gunpey November 11, 1999 (¥5,600) Serial: SWJ-77A001 |
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| Meitantei Conan: Majutsushi no Chousenjou! | SD Gundam Emotional Jam Bundle November 11, 1999 (¥6,800) Serial: SWJ-77A003 |
Nobunaga no Yabou November 16, 1999 (¥9,999) Serial: SWJ-KEX003 |
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| Wonder Stadium ’99 | |||||
WonderSwan Reference
WonderSwan Peripheral
Bandai have released (and planned to released) a good number of peripheral for the WonderSwan series: