Did you know that Japanese Game Gear boxes are about the same size as WonderSwan boxes?

Well, you do now--courtesy of the following pair of photos that I recently snapped with my trusty digital camera.

For those who are curious, the games included in these photos are (clockwise from the upper-left): Pokémon Red (GameBoy), Engacho! (WonderSwan), Ganbare Gorby! (Game Gear), Guru Logi Champ (GameBoy Advance), Balloon Kid (GameBoy), Tane wo Maku Tori (WonderSwan), Magical Puzzle Popils (Game Gear), Rhythm Tengoku (GameBoy Advance) and Flash Koibitokun (WonderSwan Color).

I decided to take these photos when I discovered that the boxes that house Game Gear games are nearly the same size as those that house WonderSwan games. Also, I thought some of you might like to see how those boxes compare in size to the boxes of other portable gaming systems, like the GameBoy and the GameBoy Advance.



I'm planning to take more photos like the ones above (and these) in the coming months as I continue to acquire additional 3DS, DS, GameBoy, Game Gear and WonderSwan titles, by the way, so be on the lookout for them if you're curious about that sort of thing.

See also: 'WonderSwan cartridges (and boxes) in context'

Acquisition #140: Flash Koibitokun (WonderSwan Color)

Would you believe it if I told you that this is the game that prompted me to start buying Bandai WonderSwan games (despite the fact that I don't yet own one of these Japan-only handhelds)? Well, it's true.

As for how I became aware of this life-changing game (OK, so that may be laying it on a bit thick): Frankly, I found out about it while perusing one of my favorite websites, Kimimi's Blog.

Late last year, Kimimi published a rather glowing write-up of this Kappa Games-developed title. In particular, this line stuck out at me: "Your small ninja is tasked with making sure precious love hearts find their way across the screen and soften the hearts of the people on the other side." Cute, right?

Just as cute--and just as important in terms of piquing my interest in both Flash Koibitokun in particular and the WonderSwan in general--are the colorful screenshots Kimimi posted of this portable puzzler.



Sadly, I can't yet share any impressions of this acquisition since, well, I still don't have a WonderSwan (or, rather, a SwanCrystal) system. Hey, don't look at me like that. I'll get one soon. Or eventually. I promise.

For the time being, though, I'll just continue to stare at the boxes and flip through the manuals of the handful of WonderSwan I've bought thus far.

See also: Previous 'Acquisition #123' posts

WonderSwan cartridges (and boxes) in context

While prepping my last two "Acquisition #123" (#132: Engacho! and #133: Tane wo Maku Tori) posts, I realized that some of you (many of you?) might like to see how WonderSwan game boxes and cartridges stack up to their counterparts in the portable world.

So, I took a few photos of a few of my recent WonderSwan pick-ups sitting next to 3DS, DS, GameBoy, GameBoy Advance, Game Gear and PSP carts and boxes.

The photos below, as I'm sure you can see, show that WonderSwan cartridges (the clear one on the left, below Wario Land II, and the black one beneath Balloon Kid) are closest in size to GameBoy Advance cartridges.

The photo above, on the other hand, shows how WonderSwan game boxes compare in size to DS and PSP cases. The box on the right, by the way, is for a WonderSwan Color game called Flash Koibitokun.

All "regular" WonderSwan games are in smaller/squatter boxes a la Engacho!, by the way, while all WonderSwan Color games are in the taller ones a la Flash Koibitokun.

Anyway, so now you know how WonderSwan boxes and carts compare to their 3DS, DS, GameBoy, GameBoy Advance, Game Gear and PSP counterparts.

The obscurer, the better

Did you know that "obscurer" is considered an acceptable, usable word? I've always thought you should say "more obscure" rather than "obscurer," but apparently that's not the case.

Anyway, all of that is beside the point. I only brought up the word obscure because it perfectly describes the games that are (briefly) detailed on one of my new favorite blogs, Kimimi's Blog.



Case in point: Kimimi recently covered what sounds like a lovely little WonderSwan Color game called Flash Koibitokun (above), in which "your small ninja is tasked with making sure precious love hearts find their way across the screen and soften the hearts of the people on the other side." (Go here to read more of Kimimi's thoughts on this import title and to watch a gameplay video of it.)

If you're at all interested in "games that generally have little coverage elsewhere," as Kimimi puts it, I'd highly recommend checking out kimimisblog.blogspot.com at your earliest convenience.