What's the deal with wonderswan IPS mods?

[koifish | 557]

Unfortunately this is not a lead-in to a Jerry Seinfeld monologue (or maybe fortunately). I am interested in an IPS modded wonderswan, but I'm not sure how to discern which ones have what features. Is this a system where there is only one mod that anyone uses, and so you can expect that one unit being sold as having scanlines/"retro pixel mode"/monochrome settings, while another is described as having "palette switch" that they are describing the same thing, or are there multiple different wonderswan IPS mods with different features and you have to figure out which one is on the system you're buying?

Also, I'm wondering if wonderswan IPS screen mods in particular are worth it or not. I don't usually like non-OEM screens, but for WS I am tired of having to sit at home under a lamp and hold the system in a specific angle to get proper looking colors and minimal glare. This system has so much glare it is unreal, though maybe it is worse for me, since I have a swancrsytal, and it has a gigantic glossy bezel around the screen.

Curious to hear your thoughts on OEM vs IPS in your experience. Having more than one place to be able to play a portable would be nice (and I can't always rely on the sun where I am). Let me know what you think.

Edited June 14, 2023 by koifish
Clarification

[Tanooki | 4,943]

I don't have one, but the same quality sourced IPS panels the Gameboy family, NGPC, etc get is present there and it is a night and day difference.  It's jumping from can I see it to, damn that pops like my phone does situation.  Unless you're utterly against a hardware mod, go for it.

As to the other, can't say, but I know there are a number of partial if not finished game translations.  Romhacking dot net is your best option and they do classify the updates to categories and write up what they do with pictures, try that.

[koifish | 557]

Thanks for the input. And I realized my OP was confusing; I wasn't asking if WS were worth it (I have a swancrystal so I already think they are :P) but rather whether IPS screen mods for this system were worth it or not. I'll update the OP to clarify that point.

[drxandy | 3,235]

Unless you want your hardware stock, yes the IPS screen kits are fantastic for actually playing. I have only done one, for regular gba and the screen looks great. I have a dmg, pocket, and a sp that I plan on getting ips kits for eventually.

[Tanooki | 4,943]

Well as I said in the other post, I don't have the WSC (almost did some months ago though.)  The screen is in parallel much like the GBC.  So for me the best comparison are the same more or less style/size screens they've adapted to the GBC that also fit into the WSC with the differing sized micro pcb/flat cable combo needed to drop it in there.  The screens are fantastic, they open up a huge world of difference in playing your games because like a mobile phone device you get that night bright sharp clean image that's so easy to see.  But if the WSC one is truly like the GBC IPS you get many brightness settings, of which one is NO light and that one isn't an off screen just a unlit one like a stock system, maybe those will absorb the sun like a TFT one would (I never tried) so maybe that might be a perk.

When I thought I was going to end up with one, I was going to get both an IPS panel but also a flash kit since most the games, good ones at that, are unreadable without fluency and many have partial/full translations so that would have been great.