The relatively unknown to us deadOtaku blog, devoted to "covering esoteric extremities of Japanese popular culture", recently added an excellent multipage overview of the Bandai Wonderswan handheld, and we dig it.

As the intro explains: "In a time when few dared to challenge Nintendo's Pokemon-fueled dominance of the handheld console market, Bandai released a challenger to Nintendo's throne: Wonderswan. It was affordable, had a wide range of titles and supported by Bandai's own extensive anime-licenses and looked like it might have a chance competing against the Nintendo Game Boy despite it being a difficult uphill battle."

But it's the succinct software profiles that are particularly good, such as the ever-droolworthy Judgement Silversword ("Inspired by the classic shooter Radiant Silvergun, Judgement SIlversword was the last game to be released on the Wonderswan. Originally developed as an amateur game using the Wonderswan development WonderWitch, Judgement Silversword was later released as an professional game... [it] is perhaps the most rare and sought after game on the Wonderswan, still fetching prices of over $100 on eBay.") [Via Wonderswan.co.uk]