The history of random daily life accessories for portable gaming systems have been well-documented, such as the infamous sewing machine that would connect to the Game Boy Color. What isn’t as well-known is that the WonderSwan once also had a pregnancy tracker, which surfaced online yesterday thanks to Video Game History Foundation co-director Kelsey Lewin.
Japanese pharmaceutical company Tanita may not seem connected to video games at first glance, but they made the news last year when they announced and successfully crowdfunded a modern twin stick arcade stick for the Virtual-On series. But back during the days of the WonderSwan, they also released a full kit for tracking pregnancies, including the program itself on cartridge, a scale, and a SwanCrystal accessory that went with the program.
According to Kelsey, up until now this has been a “holy grail” that she’s been looking for, with no photos online of the box at all. The cartridge has a black IR sensor that works with the scale. Tanita’s official Twitter states that the data is stored in the WonderSwan cartridge itself, and is something like an electronic diary for mothers.
Check out more photos below:
Finally, here’s the boot screen showing off Tanita’s logo:
You nailed it, it’s an IR sensor that works with the scale. The boot screen is different than the normal SC boot screen regardless of what cartridge is in it as seen here: pic.twitter.com/RAH7IhVkeB
— kelsey lewin (@kelslewin) August 16, 2019
Mama Mitte released on the WonderSwan.
