Game Boy Wars

Game Boy Wars
Developer	Intelligent Systems
Publisher	Nintendo
System	Game Boy
Release Date	JP May 21, 1991

Game Boy Wars is a tactical RPG that was released for the Game Boy in 1991. It was the second game of the Famicom Wars series, following the original Famicom Wars, and it marked the first handheld entry for the series. Like all of the pre-Advance Wars entries in the series, it was only released in Japan.

Gameplay

This follows the basic gameplay of the original in having armies compete to conquer or destroy the other side. Red Star is retained as the name of one of the factions, while the other is called White Moon in this installment. Players can create up to 50 units for their side, from 24 different types of units, and the game contains 36 maps in total. Some gameplay differences include map titles being six-sided rather than four-sided and capture progress on territories being retained after a unit is destroyed or moved elsewhere. The game was also known for moving very slowly and having weak enemy AIs, to its detriment. This game could also support two-player gameplay.

Legacy

This was notable as the first of the Wars games to feature Game Boy in the title, which would be retained for the Japanese versions of most following games. It was also notable as the only one of the Game Boy Wars games to be developed and released by Intelligent Systems and Nintendo, as the other Game Boy Wars games were developed and published by Hudson Soft.

Ports/Remakes

• In 1997, Game Boy Wars Turbo was released as an enhanced version of the original game.

Sequels

The next Famicom Wars game to be released was Super Famicom Wars in 1998, and Game Boy Wars 2 came out later that year.