Wonderswan Original (mono) forward compatable?

[Anapan]

Can you play Wonderswan Color games on an original greyscale Wonderswan?
Is the correct term for playing newer games on older hardware actually "Forward Compatible"?

I'm looking forward to Flashmasta's new flashcart, and the remixed Final Fantasy tunes, but I really want to play it on a low latency b&w screen after my friend talked me out of getting a Game.com (Sonic Jam - "You'd be better off with that Speedy Gonzales pirate romhack on on a DMG").

I know I'd probably have an easier time getting a Swan Color or Swan Crystal, but I think I'd enjoy FF1 on the original better.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I have both the original WS and the Color. I get an error message when I insert the Final Fantasy games into the original.

[Betagam7]

What exactly is your reasoning for wanting to play it on the OG Swan?

I'm not following your logic about the game.com comparison...

[Anapan]

I get a kick out of playing games on Grey LCDs! Currently having a blast playing through Bomberman Quest and Final Fantasy Adventure on my DMG and Gameboy Light. Right now I'm grinding FFA on my GBL in front of a campfire and creek listening to Shiru's FM remixes. Doesn't get any better than that!
I want more options - especially remixes and upgrades of my favorites that I haven't played yet.
Too bad about the o ws. I will get a color one.
First I'm gonna buy that android bookreader with an e-ink display (Nook I think) so I can root it and play emulators on it.
Thanks for the answer. I don't want to play the bad Rockman & Forte on original hardware that bad.

[Betagam7]

I get a kick out of playing games on Grey LCDs! Currently having a blast playing through Bomberman Quest and Final Fantasy Adventure on my DMG and Gameboy Light. Right now I'm grinding FFA on my GBL in front of a campfire and creek listening to Shiru's FM remixes. Doesn't get any better than that!
I want more options - especially remixes and upgrades of my favorites that I haven't played yet.
Too bad about the o ws. I will get a color one.
First I'm gonna buy that android bookreader with an e-ink display (Nook I think) so I can root it and play emulators on it.
Thanks for the answer. I don't want to play the bad Rockman & Forte on original hardware that bad.

The good thing about Wonderswan (well, in your case) is that a good proportion of its games are black and white only and will run like this on the colour/crystal models.

It's the opposite situation to the NGPC where most of the games were made for the colour device. If you haven't already though you might want to check out a Neo Geo Pocket as most of its colour games are backwardly compatible to play on the greyscale original and some like Puzzle Bobble/Bust-a-move even change up the graphics for it to help visibility, others like Evolution will actually play on black and white even though they say they won't when you first boot them up.

If you're going to grab a Swan though then I'd get the Crystal not the Color as the screen is much better on it and it doesn't suffer from motion blur. I only have a handful of games for my Swans but the black and white games all play in black and white and don't self optimise or colourise like GBC games do.

[Anapan]

Oh Cool - I never knew that; Thanks! I enjoy my NGPC a lot, and I never bothered to check for backward compatibility. I guess that settles it - I'll get an original Neo Geo Pocket!

[Betagam7]

Oh Cool - I never knew that; Thanks! I enjoy my NGPC a lot, and I never bothered to check for backward compatibility. I guess that settles it - I'll get an original Neo Geo Pocket!

I'm quite interested in picking one up myself in the future.

Even some of the games that aren't compatible do funny things when you put them in like display extra artwork or even change into a completely different game. The King of the Fighters board game title, for example, loads up an early SNK arcade game instead!

The Wonderswan is a system I really want to like but I have such a hard time finding games I want to play on it in comparison to the NGP.

[colorcomputerstore]

I picked up a WonderSwan in Japan... thought they would be more popular for fans of Japanese systems in the USA. The systems are everywhere on the Japanese auction sites and very cheap. I came back to the states and sold my system but the guy didn't buy any of the games I had. LOL. So now I'm stuck with some color and B/W games and no system.

[Anapan]

You were right to buy the system