Advance Wars
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| Advance Wars | |
| Developer | Intelligent Systems |
| Publisher | Nintendo |
| System | Gameboy Advance |
| Release Date | US September 9, 2001 EU January 11, 2002 |
| Gallery | GH Gallery |
| Rating | ESRB: E |
Advance Wars is the first Famicom Wars game on the Gameboy Advance. Even more significant is the fact it was the first in the series to be released outside of Japan into both the US and Europe.
Story
Orange Star is training up its first new adviser for the war against Blue Moon. But things are more than it seems, with the unusual attacks from Green Earth claiming that CO Andy attacked them first. Teamed up with the COs Andy, Max, and Sami the player has to go to war with the nations of Wars World and discover the reason behind the war.
Gameplay
Advance Wars is a turn-based game, much like the Fire Emblem series. The player takes control of a CO, each of which has a different ability that effects the units. These effects can be winter bonuses, or naval bonuses, or the ability to recover HP. Each CO also has a CO Power they can activate once they take enough damage.
Units are either pre-deployed or must be manufactured in bases, airports, or sea ports. Victory can only be attained by defeating all of the enemy's units or by capturing their HQ using infantry units. Players receive 1000 in funds from each property they own which can be used to repair units or build new ones.
Each unit has its own specific strengths and weaknesses. Tanks are strong against most ground units, but weak against aircrafts. Infantry have few advantages over other units, but can cross mountains or rivers and capture bases. Battle copters are strong against infantry and tanks, but are easy prey for anti-aircraft units, as well as Cruisers and Jet Fighters.
Release
Although the first Famicom Wars game in America and Europe, the game remained unreleased in Japan. This is due to the 9/11 attacks in America. The game had already been released in America, but due to sensitivity to the recent attack, the game was considered inappropriate by Nintendo and the release was canceled.
Legacy
Advance Wars received two sequels, Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising and Advance Wars: Dual Strike. Unique among these three games is that they created a sub-series of games within the Famicom Wars series. Each of the games features the same cast from the previous game and has a somewhat continuing story. Previous games did not feature this.
Remakes/Rereleases
In Japan, the game was bundled with the sequel in the Gameboy Wars Advance 1 + 2 compilation. This was released shortly before Advance Wars: Dual Strike since the first two Advance Wars games had not been released in Japan as stand alone games.