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WonderSwan to Be Phased Out

Posted: 20th February 2003 22:03

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Bandai, the manufacturer of the SwanCyrstal, WonderSwan Color and WonderSwan, announced that they will stop mass production of the SwanCrystal (their latest version of the handheld device).  Furthermore, they have no future hardware plans as of now.

http://www.gamesarefun.com/cgi-bin....,30952,

While it was never brought over to the North American market, the WonderSwan was able to establish a nice little niche market over in Japan.  Sales have really sagged in recent weeks though.  Bandai is to the point where they are only moving 800 to 1,000 units weekly.  

The WonderSwan Color garnered much of its attention through ports of popular game made to the system, particularly those by Square and Capcom.  Square ported Final Fantasy I, II and IV, and Romancing SaGa to the system while Capcom brought its Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Pocket Fighter, and Mega Man and Bass.

Bandai handheld plans are now to develop software for the GameBoy Advance, hoping to release a game this coming fall in Japan.  

Source: GamesAreFun
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This is just one less competitor to Nintendo's dominance in the handheld market.  As already stated up above, it was never released in the North American market and only established a niche in Japan.  Every bit of competition against Nintendo helps it though.  On the positive side, this will result in the GameBoy Advance getting another quality developer in the form of Bandai.  

Next up for Nintendo (about a year or so away though): Nokia's N-Gage.



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