Play online

WonderGate games can go online again through RevivalGate: post scores, see the national rankings, and unlock the extras that once needed a DoCoMo phone and Bandai’s servers. The easiest way is my custom MesenCE emulator with the WonderGate adapter built in and switched on: download it and play. A real WonderSwan can go online from Chrome or Edge with an ExtFriend-compatible cable: Connect a console, nothing to install (untested so far). My USB-C RevivalGate module will add phones. Mednafen works too, with Swan Revival Link.

Pick your setup

Setup	You need	Works on
MesenCE (recommended)	My MesenCE build. Nothing else	Windows, macOS, Linux
A real WonderSwan	An ExtFriend-compatible cable, and Chrome or Edge	Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS (untested)
USB-C module	The module, and my phone app or a computer	In design
Mednafen (advanced: uses the terminal)	Mednafen 1.32 or newer, Swan Revival Link, Node.js 22	macOS, Linux
RetroArch, phones	Not yet

With MesenCE

Download my MesenCE buildIt's MesenCE, a high-accuracy WonderSwan emulator, with the WonderGate adapter built in.
- Windows: unzip it and run Mesen.exe. If Windows SmartScreen warns about an unknown app, choose More info, then Run anyway.
- Mac: unzip it and move Mesen to Applications. It's signed and notarized by Apple, so it opens like any other app.
- Linux: install SDL2 (sudo apt install libsdl2-2.0-0 on Ubuntu and Debian), unpack the archive, and run ./Mesen.
To put your name on your scores, link your account: sign in, choose “Link a console”, and enter the code in Settings, WonderSwan, WonderGate tab, under Account. MesenCE offers to open both the first time a game goes online unlinked. It's optional: without it your scores are posted under the name the game uses.
Power on the game and open its WonderGate menu. Each game's leaderboard page shows the way in, including the hidden ones (hold the buttons while the game powers on).

With a real WonderSwan

Plug an ExtFriend-compatible cable into the console's EXT port and your computer, then open Connect a console in Chrome or Edge and click Connect. The page plays the adapter itself: nothing to install, and the console doesn't need modifying. If you're signed in, your scores carry your name.

Connect a console

Untested so far: nobody has played online with a real console yet. My own EXT dongle will work too, once it's built.

Advanced: Mednafen and the terminal

Mednafen has no menus of its own: it's started from the terminal. If that's how you already play, Swan Revival Link plugs into it. Everyone else: MesenCE and Connect a console above need no terminal at all.

Swan Revival Link

For Mednafen (and a cable, if you prefer the terminal): a small program that stands in for the 2001 WonderGate adapter and phone. It answers the game the way the adapter did and sends its traffic to my servers. Your console and cartridge stay as they are: no patches.

Download for macOS Download for Linux x64 Download for Linux ARM64

Unpack it in your home folder: it makes a swan-link folder, which the commands below use. It needs Node.js 22 or newer. The Mac version is signed and notarized by Apple. There's no Windows version; on Windows, use MesenCE.

Put your name on your scores (optional)

~/swan-link/swan-link --link ABCD2345

Without this, your scores still post, under the name you type in the game.

With Mednafen

Install Mednafen 1.32 or newer (brew install mednafenon a Mac, your package manager on Linux), quit it, and paste this into the terminal once:

curl -fsSL https://swanrevival.com/link/install.sh | sh

It installs Swan Revival Link in ~/swan-link, turns on Mednafen's WonderGate for every game, and offers to put your name on your scores. Then open any game in Mednafen and go to its WonderGate menu. Each game's leaderboard page shows the way in, hidden ones included.

Without the installer

Download Swan Revival Link (above), unpack it in your home folder, and either turn the WonderGate on for every game once (with Mednafen closed):

~/swan-link/swan-link --setup-mednafen

or switch it on for one game at a time:

mednafen -wswan.excomm 1 -wswan.excomm.path ~/swan-link/swan-link "Raku Jongg (Japan).wsc"

A real WonderSwan, from the terminal

The same as Connect a console, with Swan Revival Link on macOS or Linux instead of the browser:

Find the cable's port: ls /dev/cu.usbmodem* on a Mac, ls /dev/ttyACM* on Linux.
Start Swan Revival Link on that port and leave it running:
```
~/swan-link/swan-link --serial /dev/cu.usbmodem1101
```
Open the game's WonderGate menu.

Why these emulators?

The WonderGate needs the emulator to hand the console’s serial port to an adapter. Stock MesenCE and ares model the port but don’t connect it to anything, so I added the adapter to MesenCE, one of the most accurate WonderSwan emulators. Mednafen can hand the port to another program (wswan.excomm), which is how Swan Revival Link plugs in.

Using another server

Swan Revival runs the default server, but you’re never tied to it. MesenCE has a Server address on the WonderGate tab (with “Use default” to come back), and Swan Revival Link takes --server. Any server that speaks the same WonderGate tunnel works. Your account link stays with the server it was made on and is never sent to another. Connect a console, in the browser, always uses RevivalGate.

RetroArch and Phone Support

Not yet. The same adapter can go into a RetroArch core, which would also cover Android. Tell me on GitHub if you’d use it.

If it doesn't connect

The game can't find the phone or adapter: In MesenCE, check that Connect a WonderGate adapter is ticked (Settings, WonderSwan, WonderGate tab; it's on unless you turned it off), then power the game on again: the adapter is plugged in at power-on. With Mednafen, check the two wswan.excomm settings and the path. With a cable in Connect a console, check the page says Connected and that the cable is in the console's EXT port before you power it on; from the terminal, that Swan Revival Link is running on the right port.
Connect a console has no Connect button, or the cable isn't in the list: The page needs Chrome or Edge on a computer; Safari and Firefox can't use USB serial devices. If the cable isn't listed, unplug it and plug it in again, and close any other program using it (an ExtFriend tool, say). On Linux, your user may need to be in the dialout group.
It connects, then shows an error: Check the server address (WonderGate tab in MesenCE, --server for Link) and your internet connection. With Link, ~/.swanrevival/link.log says what went wrong; in Connect a console, open Technical log on the page.
My scores don't show my name: Link your account (above); in Connect a console, just be signed in. Scores posted before you linked stay under the in-game name.

What's sent: only what the game itself sends (its name, scores, and requests), plus your link token if you linked. Nothing else from your computer.