WonderGate
In 2001 Bandai sold the MobileWonderGate: an adapter that connected a WonderSwan to a DoCoMo phone, so games could post scores, fetch rankings, and unlock extras. Game services ended on 31 March 2003. We're writing new servers and new hardware so those features work again on an unmodified console and cartridge.
Then and now
2001
- WonderSwan
- WonderGate adapter
- DoCoMo phone
- Bandai servers
A 9600 bps phone call per session.
Now
- WonderSwan
- Our module
- Your phone
- Our servers
Until the module is out, Swan Revival Link on your computer stands in for it.
Games
8 working of the 25 WonderGate games we've dumpedNobody recorded the original network traffic, so each game's server is worked out from the game's own code. These are tested in an emulator running the real game against our server. None has been online on a real console yet; that needs the module or the EXT dongle.
How to play online · See the rankings, or find your name across every game.
| Game | System | What works | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raku Jongg | WSC | Rankings, tables, names, and stages | Rankings |
| GunPey EX | WSC | 4 of 5 modes | Rankings |
| Tare Panda no GunPey | WS | All 4 modes | Rankings |
| Another Heaven | WSC | Quick-solve ranking | Rankings |
| D's Garage 21: Tane o Maku Tori | WS | National best, all 4 boards | Rankings |
| Sennou Millennium | WS | Net ranking | Rankings |
| Final Lap 2000 | WS | Total and lap times on all 16 courses | Rankings |
| Pocket Fighter | WS | Score upload, rankings, paid extras, and cards | Rankings |
How it works
The console never spoke to a modem. It sends the adapter short commands over the EXT port's serial line: open a socket, connect, send, receive, look up a hostname. The adapter did the networking. So anything that answers those commands can replace the adapter and the phone.
Games ask the adapter to look up their server's hostname, so our adapter points every dead Bandai address at our server. No cartridge needs patching.
Content that only ever lived on Bandai's servers, such as downloadable maps and items, is gone unless it turns up somewhere. Rankings, uploads, and unlocks that the game itself understands can come back.
Thanks
This builds on trap15's wonderfence adapter emulator (MIT), Keitai Archive's work on WonderGateway, and the WSdev wiki's protocol notes.