Welcome to WonderSwan World: Special Glamour Shots® Edition

Three WonderSwan-focused posts in a row? Seriously?

Yes, seriously.

I guess you could say I have Bandai's Japan-only GameBoy competitor on the brain right now. Don't worry, I'll write about something else in the next few days. (In fact, a couple of half-finished, 3DS-centric posts are staring at me, begging to be wrapped up, as I type this one.)

In the meantime, I hope you'll enjoy ogling the following photos I recently snapped of my WonderSwan Color system and a selection of the WonderSwan games I brought on the road with me this year.



I took these photos in a Palm Springs (California) hotel room, by the way. Its decor didn't exactly lend itself well to such snapshots, so I improvised a light box by going to a nearby Walmart (don't judge), buying a large piece of white poster board and then laying it on a table near our room's main windows.

Granted, that isn't a whole lot different from what I did to nab game and console photos back when I lived in Seattle. There, I placed items on a white, well-lit IKEA table that also effectively replicated a light box.

Anyway, enough about that. I promised WonderSwan Glamour Shots®, so let's focus on them from here on out, shall we?

The first two showcased here are of my translucent black WonderSwan Color system. It's a real beauty, isn't it? Honestly, I'm head-over-heels in love with this handheld's design. Strangely, I think I like the look of the original WonderSwan best (it's a tad sleeker and smidge more minimalist than its two successors), but the Color is pretty sweet, too.

If you'd like to see a few photos of the WonderSwan Color's box, by the way, you can do so by checking out my first "Welcome to WonderSwan World" post or this Flickr photo album. (The latter includes shots of a number of WonderSwan game boxes, cartridges and manuals, too, in case that sort of thing interests you.)

Kaneko's Peetan: another import-only GameBoy title I desperately want to own

Despite the headline above, I'm not at all sure if this obscure, Japanese GameBoy puzzler should be called Peetan, Piitan or Pitan.

Based on what I've learned about katakana so far, I'd be far more likely to use either Pitan (perhaps with a macron over the "i") or Piitan than Peetan, but since the double-e version seems to be the most common usage on the good ol' Interwebs, I'll go with it here, too.

Anyway, who really cares how you're supposed to spell the game's name? The real reason you're reading this is to find out why I want to own it, right?



My response: it's a single-screen action-puzzler that stars a bunch of cute chicks--and I'm not talking about the kind who have big chests and wear tight skirts.

It helps, of course, that Peetan was produced by the fine folks at Kaneko, who also had a hand in making the similarly obscure Game Gear title called The Berlin Wall.

Sadly, I doubt I'll be buying a copy of this one anytime soon, as I've yet to see one pop up on ebay or any of the online Japanese game shops that I frequent, so while you wait for that to happen you might want to check out the video above as well as Retro Collect's admirably thorough review.

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.

Hey, a Ghostbusters game that doesn't suck!

Thanks to the Francophone folks at 1up-games.com, I've finally found a Ghostbusters game that doesn't suck.

That's really kind of sad when you consider how many Ghostbusters games have been released since the film first hit the big screen in 1984.

So, which game is now the sole entry on my personal list of non-sucky Ghostbusters games? HAL Laboratory's rather obscure--and oddly named--New Ghostbusters II, released in Europe and Japan in 1990. (Actually, Sega's 16-bit Ghostbusters title, also released in 1990, was pretty good, too, so let's be generous and say my "non-sucky" list consists of two games.)

What do I like about this Famicom/NES title? I like its graphics, which remind me a bit of Mother/Earth- bound, for starters. (Which makes sense, as HAL Laboratory had a hand in making all three of the Mother games.) Also, I like its tight, arcade-y gameplay.

Unfortunately, the review at 1up-games.com is in French, so unless you can understand that language it isn't going to do you much good if you want to know more about this game. Thankfully, it's been reviewed in English, too--here and here, for instance.

If reading isn't your thing--or if you'd rather just see the darn game in action--check out this YouTube playthrough of the title's first two (of six) levels.