The WonderSwan Color was released on December 30, 2000 (only in Japan).

It was created by Bandai, and the successor to the original WonderSwan. In Japan, it was met with modest success and sales (especially considering Nintendo's near-monopoly of the handheld market). The market share of the WonderSwan Color was approximately 8%, according to Bandai.

The WonderSwan Color also had great third party support, with companies such as Squaresoft.