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SwanSong Desktop Wiki

SwanSong Desktop is a native macOS player and translation workbench for WonderSwan, WonderSwan Color, SwanCrystal, and Pocket Challenge V2. The current source line is the 0.2 beta and requires macOS 14 or later on Apple silicon or Intel.

Current 0.2 beta status

• SwanSong Open IPL is the only startup path. There is no BIOS picker or original-firmware import, storage, download, or override.
• Local authorized .ws, .wsc, .pc2, .pcv2, and supported one-game ZIP imports work from the Mac.
• The signed first-party Homebrew Catalog installer is implemented but remains Coming Soon, has no production trust key, and makes no network request.
• Gamepads use the standard controls macOS exposes through GameController. USB and Bluetooth work when the device appears as a compatible controller; raw vendor-specific HID layouts are not guessed.
• SwanSong Desktop and SwanSong for Analogue Pocket are separate products and release lanes. Neither installs or updates the other.

Start here

• Architecture and Source Ownership explains which repository owns each product and how the macOS app reaches the pinned ares engine.
• Open IPL documents the BIOS-free 0.2 startup contract and historical boundary.
• Homebrew Catalog distinguishes implemented installer code from the deliberately unpublished production catalog.
• Gamepads defines what “USB gamepad support” does and does not mean.
• Build and Test lists the live app and acceptance commands.
• Release Gates defines signing, source, artifact, Homebrew, and beta-channel requirements.
• 0.2 Beta Testing is the tester checklist and known-limits page.

Versioned release notes are authoritative for historical behavior. In particular, 0.1.0 required user-supplied startup files and 0.1.1 made Open IPL the default while retaining optional private original-firmware overrides. The override is removed only in 0.2.