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

On how the Bandai WonderSwan wormed its way into my head (and heart)

Those of you who follow me on Twitter likely are aware that the Bandai WonderSwan--aka one of the few handhelds that dared to compete with the GameBoy, GameBoy Color and GameBoy Advance in the late 1990s and early 2000s--has worked its way into my brain as of late.

What prompted this (quite frankly baffling) fascination-bordering-on-obsession? Honestly, I think it was this recent post over at Kimimi's Blog. After I read Kimimi's commentary about the WonderSwan RPG, Namco Super Wars, I recalled being intrigued by a few earlier posts dedicated to games--Flash Koibitokun and Tane wo Maku Tori, especially--that were released for this odd, Japan-only portable.

The original, monochrome WonderSwan.

As much as I'd like to say this is nothing more than a passing fancy, that would be far from the truth. After all, I've already picked up a few WonderSwan games via eBay (don't worry, I'll reveal which ones sooner rather than later), and I've currently got my eye on a rather sweet looking SwanCrystal system.

(Quick aside: The SwanCrystal, released in 2002, was a fairly capable, and comparable, competitor of the GameBoy Advance--what with its screen resolution of 224 by 144 pixels and ability to display 241 colors at once. The WonderSwan Color, released in 2000, was similarly capable, but its screen was quite a bit less desirable than its curiously-named successor, while the original WonderSwan, designed by Gunpei Yokoi and released in 1999, had a monochrome screen à la the first GameBoy.)

Anyway, do any of you have a WonderSwan, or have you ever dreamed of owning one, as I currently am?

Additional proof that Kimimi (of Kimimi's Blog) is an awesome chick

Everybody who has been to Kimimi's Blog--and that's all of you, right?--knows that said blog's proprietress is an awesome chick.

(I apologize if the word "chick" offends any of you, by the way. I'm only using it here because I called Darwin Yamamoto a "dude" in this similarly-themed post. As such, I thought it would be only fitting to describe Kimimi as a "chick" in this one.)

Well, I recently discovered that Kimimi is even more awesome than I originally imagined. You see, after chatting with her--in the comments section of this blog post--about Sega's Sakura Taisen (aka Sakura Wars) series, Kimimi offered to send me her spare copy of the Saturn version of the series' first title.

Sakura Taisen's beautiful box art.

After hemming and hawing for a bit, I took her up on her generous offer--despite the fact that I don't currently own a Saturn. (Full disclosure: I've owned two in my lifetime, the first of which was bought and sold while I was a teen and the second of which was bought and sold about five years ago.)

I know I could play the game using an emulator like SSF, but I'd prefer to play it on the real thing. So, I'm going to do my best to keep from playing it until I pick up another Saturn (and a copy of the awesome-tacular Saturn Bomberman).

In the meantime, I'd also like to extend a hearty "thank you" to the folks at Aksys Games and Dudedle Studio, who recently sent me review copies of Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom and Sugar Shooter 2, respectively. Expect to see "somewhat gay" reviews of both titles shortly.

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.