Advance Wars Switch Dev Thanks Fans For Positive Reception, Calls Release A "Life Dream"

There is no hype or exaggeration—it’s REALLY good just looking at it and lovingly recreated. Very excited to return to this!!

Question : Have you tried out Advance Wars on Switch yet?

Me : Not yet since first time I saw the game on Switch. I still unsure with the gameplay as I have never heard of this game before, but I might give some attention.

I played for 4 hours tonight. This is exactly what I wanted they improved something I loved in pretty much every conceivable way.

...Dual Strike DLC, Dual Strike DLC, Dual Strike DLC...make it happen Nintendo!

Please sell well... please sell well.... I need a NEW entry!

This IP deserves the Fire Emblem treatment more than Fire Emblem itself

Never owned a GBA, but I knew all the great games it had. This was one of them, and I'm just thankful that I'll experience a game that I've dreamed of playing for so long.

@YoshiF2 Fire Emblem was on the brink of death and was only saved because Awakening's changes to the formula spoke to a larger audience than it's previous one. How can Advance Wars "deserve" the Fire Emblem treatment more when it would only be copying exactly what Fire Emblem has already done? And if Nintendo isn't even willing to test Reboot Camp in Japan, how can it be ready to re-invent itself with confidence that low?

Buy it, guys! Nintendo needs to see we want a new game.

Worked with Fire Emblem. Worked with Pikmin. Will work with Advance Wars!

That's cool and all, now do Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade + The Blazing Blade, please.

@Joeynator3000
Yeah, we NEED to have Dual Strike COs in Multiplayer. After all who wouldn't want to hear remastered themes of Sasha, Jugger, and Von Bolt?

Cool for him but I still prefer pixel art

@PigmaskFan ....and Kindle. xD

Also the units and the dual CO mechanic. As for the game right now, only thing that's bugging me is that the CO power themes are gone, I really hope we get an update that brings that back as an option.

@Thief for the Fire Emblem treatment I mean the almost yearly releases. Although I didn’t know that it wasn’t releasing in Japan. It seems the series over there have been low due to the original GBA game being heavily delayed due to 9/11. After that, the series never recovered with sales over there.

Anyway, the point I meant is that, as a strategy game, Advance Wars is heavily superior over FE from a gameplay perspective and I wish it could get a boost so we could get new games each, I don’t know, a couple or each 3 years, instead of FE.

Also, it seems that Advance Wars Days of Ruin never released in Japan either… what the hell?
It was even developed in Japan.

So THATs why they killed the IP after that game😡😡

I will admit that I didn’t like the new aesthetic on first sight. Now that I’m actually playing the game I love it. It suits the game perfectly and is a big improvement on the GBA original. Well done Wayforward on a great remake 👍🏻

I honestly don't know how I missed these games back during my GBA heydays. I'm having a blast playing through the first game for the first time ever.

Wayforward deserves praise for the work they put into these remakes. Makes me wonder if Nintendo would consider letting them handle other dormant IPs like Golden Sun, F-Zero and Kid Icarus.

I can't stress how amazing this game is. All the praise is well deserved. The music, the animation and the changes to the AI all help to really make the game shine.

Here's hoping now that Wayforward have their foot in the door with Nintendo they get the chance to develop a Dual Strike remake or, even better, their own sequel.

Lol dude if your life's dream is to re-release a slightly touched up 20 year old game... You need better dreams.

This game is great and just what I needed. Nintendo could have pulled a capcom and just threw these games together in a collection and released them and I’d have still bought it but I can see WayForwards effort here and really appreciate what they’ve done. You have options to make the games a bit easier, great cinematics and sound, and the new look may be divisive but I don’t mind it. I would love to see WayForward roll off of this one and give us a dual strike rerelease with the other ds game in tow if they can improve that one. A whole new game would be great but I missed dual strike and I hear it’s the pinnacle so….

@theModestMouse LOL! I didn't even realize he said it was his "life's dream", there's no way he can actually mean that. Underwhelming graphical update, very limited voice-acting, and absolutely no promotion for it from WayForward's end - yeah you can just feel the enthusiasm that went into this remake. /s

Reading more of this article, my favorite part has to be Mark Bozon quote-tweeting James and tagging Nintendo, demanding a new game because WayForward "CLEARLY" has the "chops". The same studio that could only be bothered to tweet pictures of a cake in the months leading up to this game. But River City Girls going on sale for 50% off? Half a dozen tweets about that in the last week alone.

I'm not going to lie, I believe WayForward cut corners everywhere they could (from barebones multiplayer to skipping over Japan entirely probably so they didn't need to hire Japanese voice actors) just to get this game out the door and attempt to get what they REALLY want; a completely original Advance Wars game they get complete creative control over.

@Thief “I believe WayForward cut corners everywhere they could (from barebones multiplayer to skipping over Japan entirely probably so they didn't need to hire Japanese voice actors)“

LOL… no Wayforward doesn’t have a say in which territories the game is released. That’s up to Nintendo, as well as the budget. It’s not like they wouldn’t release it in Japan because of something as trivial as voice actors.

In my previous comment, after my research, I said that the reason they don’t release this games in Japan is because of the poor sales caused by the delays after 9/11…. That combined with the fact that not even Days of Ruin was released over there. That killed the IP in Japan.

Not for something so meager as voice acting

I imagine the dream for here would be to create an original entry

Could end up being be this series' turning-point.

@YoshiF2 "That combined with the fact that not even Days of Ruin was released over there. That killed the IP in Japan."

The IP was "killed" globally, not just in Japan, for the last 15 years. Let's not pretend Dual Strike or Days of Ruin had phenomenal sales anywhere - they sold abysmally.

And there's no way of knowing WayForward didn't make the decision to skip over Japan - it totally could have been their call. You're outright refusing to even acknowledge that it could be the case while I'm, at least, suggesting it's a possibility.

Reviving a franchise, and a Nintendo-owned IP no less, only to skip over Japan is incredibly foolish and short-sighted. Why even bother reviving Advance Wars if you're not going to aim for every country possible? That money would have been better spent towards new entries for IPs like Star Fox or Kid Icarus at that point.

@theModestMouse

more than I've done to be fair.

I've played all the games in the series and am a massive fan, and I'm liking this latest release but it feels a bit clunky and unresponsive compared to the GBA originals. Things like having to wait a few seconds after winning a map match before the victory dialog appears, the lack of contrast on the map to clearly highlight the move range of some vehicles, the fact you can't seemingly turn off the CO's power move animation (but can turn off the animations elsewhere otherwise), being able to only play friends online, etc.

I'd love it if Nintendo or Intelligent Systems themselves handle a Dual Strike/Days of Ruin re-release.

@Thief I hope Intelligent Systems adopt the franchise again.

@Thief that’s not how things work. Wayforward is the developer. Nintendo is the publisher and the owner. Wayforward doesn’t choose where to release the game. Wayforward is the employee, Nintendo is the employer. Developers just develop the games. They don’t have a single say in how, where and when titles release. Nintendo is the one who allocates the budget for game development and final say in things.

Sorry, but that’s how things work in the gaming industry.

Nintendo made the choice not to release it in Japan because they don’t see an audience over there.

Also, Days of Ruin sold 320,000 units in the US alone, which is a pretty healthy figure for a DS game.
While Dual Strike sold 340,000 in both countries.

What we can both agree on is that it’s stupid not releasing it in Japan, as those games already are in Japanese. Obviously Nintendo didn’t want to allocate resources in marketing and shipping. But they could at least have tried to see if there was a market.

shame the game is likely going to flop in sales because of the delay

Ordered my copy yesterday, excited to try it out after work during the week

Warms the heart to see not only the passion he has for these games, but the fan acknowledgement and appreciation he has for them. Nice to see a down to earth developer.

Regarding the comments of the Advance Wars series being dead in Japan, didn’t this series started as a Japan exclusive series called Famicom Wars? There are still a ton of Famicom Wars titles that were never localized.

@Anti-Matter Before your time perhaps. Advance as in Gameboy Advance.

Ended up staying up to 2am playing last night. I love it! I’ve missed this series, I missed Andy, Max and Sam! It makes me so happy to see them and all the others return in such a lovingly and well crafted reboot.

I hope it does well enough to bring the series back, but keeping the right, bright and cheery tone this time.

It's a great game but at 80 cad plus 15% taxes here in Québec, it's a pretty expensive life dream.🤑

I’m having a blast playing Advance Wars this weekend (and Final Fantasy). All I can think about is how I would love this director to get a crack at Golden Sun next! Using a similar style with the animations, it would be awesome!

@Thief
Nintendo are in charge of marketing their property, as much as Wayforward would like to talk about it, they're more than likely contractually obliged to leave it to Nintendo.

Nice to see it finally come out. Hope it does well despite the pointless delay.

I like to try the game out, but I also know that it's only a matter of time till they come to NSO GBA which I'm already paying for.

This indeed was my most anticipated release last year but 2nd only to the Suikoden 1+2 remaster. 3rd was the pixel remaster final fantasy. Yes I’m old lol

I've been playing it and I'm absolutely hooked, it's an amazing remake!

Thing is it's been a long time since I played the original GBA games so I'd forgotten the plot. When Nintendo first delayed the release because of the invasion of Ukraine I was with pretty much everybody else going "what a ridiculous reason to delay the game".

Now that I've played it...and the initial story is the unprovoked invasion of a country by a literal Russian stereotype apparently based on Stalin...yeah nah ok, that might have been a little too on the nose at the time. Fair shout, Nintendo.

@theModestMouse It's okay to let people be enthusiastic about things without sounding like a *****, you know.

@JohnnyMind How is it "disingenuous" to see these games as bad? That's how I see them and I've backed up my reasons why several times to you - underwhelming graphics, barenones multiplayer, limited voice-acting to the point that entire sentences are only half read, $60 pricing. Did you also think it was "disingenuous" when people called Pokémon SwSh and SV bad games or is that only the case when it involves games you like? You don't see me telling people they are wrong for liking this game, opinion is subjective.

"even went as far as mentioning not being able to redeem the Gold Points as a reason to skip it"

If Nintendo and WayForward can't be bothered to adjust a game's internal release date data for physical gold coin redemption, why should the be rewarded? You seem to love bringing this up like it's an own; it's not, and it's funny to see you constantly bring this up in every article like it should be tolerated. It's yet another example of the laziness on display and people should be informed on ALL the flaws before buying this, and at FULL-PRICE no less.

Grow up.

@ZZalapski If James' "life dream" is remaking a GBA game with minimal changes and dropping the ball when it comes to actual new features like online multiplayer, then no, Mouse isn't being rude by calling tha out. At best, James is exaggerating, and at worst, he's BS-ing to sell people on a game that is almost definitely going to struggle with sales.

Been playing for a few hours now since yesterday.. really nice remake but really disappointed they didn’t make a map market to download from.. would have made the ga,e last so much longer. ..but maybe we can create one here at nintendo life ..(by brcoming friends with those interested)

@Thief Voice acting is overrated. "Very Limited voice acting" is not enough to dismiss a game outright.

@Ulysses There are literal lines where the reading stops half-way through, it's pretty distracting and makes me wonder why they even included voice-acting at all. Were the actors charging per word?

Underwhelmed is the right word for how I feel about this remake. It had potential for so much more, better 3D models, better online, better pricing etc. Hopefully it doesn't kill the franchise.

I'm thankful we got another chance to revisit these games and in so doing show our tangible support ($$$) for potential future entries (both the AW franchise and the modern combined arms warfare turn-based tactics genre as a whole). So my thanks in turn go out to Wayforward; I'm not going look a gift horse in the mouth here. This genre is SORELY underrepresented on consoles outside of swords and sorcery fantasy (although speaking of which, right about NOW would be an outstanding time for Sega to release a Shining Force III remaster; it's only been a QUARTER CENTURY now, guys!).

@Thief I’m glad you liked Reboot Camp

My life dream would be 60fps but that’s just me.

@JohnnyMind Haven forbid I have opinions that differ from yours. So glad I have you to share things I have already said on other articles, makes my life a lot easier! /s

I've played through the tutorials and the first 5 missions, and I've been having a blast. WayForward did an excellent job.

@Thief it’s a really good game. Why do you get so excitable about really minor issues in a game You have no intention of buying? If you bought the game and felt cheated that would be a good basis for your opinion.
Buy the game so Your opinion can be validated.
You might end up pleasantly surprised 😀

@Thief I was able to redeem gold points late yesterday but it didn’t work yesterday morning

Edit: I think it has been fixed in NA anyway

I just had an interesting thought. I guess with the resurgence of the Fire Emblem series Intelligent Systems has had their hands more than full to have tried to resuscitate this series themselves. So Nintendo appointed WayForward... Not a bad move. I wonder what will happen if this series finally reaches the popularity they were originally hoping for so that new entries can be released? Guess we'll see how well this release performs soon enough.

@Don it did indeed and then became gameboy wars but the series has had a strange run in japan since it was introduced to the west. The original was delayed there possibly not to compete with gamboy wars 3 which was released at a similiar time. Eventually advance wars was eventually released there as 1 and 2 double pack. Days of ruin wasn't released in stores over there either but instead was a club nintendo reward for 3ds years later. Only dual strike I believe had a no issues launching there.

@Anti-Matter if you want something similar which is cheaper, you could try War Groove which is a kind of similar turn based tactical combat strategy game. Try War Groove and if you like it, you might also like Advance Wars 1+2

@JohnnyMind to be honest the board game aesthetic doesn't bother me too much. We play this game for the gameplay and the strategic fun factor, not the graphics.
I think I remember that you could still change the map size in the custom maps in the originals too, no?

its s great game, I was worried it would be too easy but still stuck on first level with a medium tank haha

@JohnnyMind
Sorry I haven't gotten around to it yet so I can't comment, unfortunately. I picked it up and intended to play it but when I got back my partner had surprised me with downloading the FF Pixel remasters because he knew I wanted both so I'm playing that instead, I'm incredibly blessed.
Things never go to plan with what I intend to play xD

@JohnnyMind
For sure, I'll let you know! ^-^
I'm still hyped about getting to it, but I already have all the other FF games on the Switch which I accumulated over time with all the SE sales and I was biding my time to start from the beginning so this is long overdue for me xD The plan is to beat 1 and 2 and have a break and then play AW but we will see.
Well it 'keeps me quiet' as he puts it

Edit: Wish I could play a bajillion games like you and @nhSnork but that doesn't work for me I can have a rhythm game on the side, and a co-op game that I play for like an hour at night and I'm slowly making my way through round 2 on Pokemon stadium NSO, but any more than that I couldn't manage, you guys must never burn out though, bet it's nice!

I've platlyed a few hours. It's a great remake 🙂

Almost 50% through advance wars 1 now. Was unsure of the new arr style at first but few missions in it clicked. The board game look of the map I'd actually forgotten until reading these.
Very few other changes (like yellow comet is now called gold comet understandably,though my brain always wants to say golden comet)

Only criticism I have are multiplayer could been handled better

Intelligent systems should get all the credit. The groundwork was already done.

I tried it on gba but still can't get into it. I hope it is a bit more accessible now

Great game but with 2 major issues:

1) You can't skip battle animations.
2) Multiplayer is trash.

I'm glad the guy is happy with his work.. good for him. But this is what annoys me about modern Nintendo these days.. why give us a remake of an awesome game. Why not use the mechanics and the design etc and give us an actual new entry??

@JohnnyMind Hey Johnny, thanks for the mention and reading my review. I have done the same, and I agree with all your points. From all the dissenting voices I gather the following and its proper solution:

• The game is not better than the original: It doesn't have to, it doesn't pretend to be, is just another attempt to reach new players and please older ones, improving most things and not diminishing others
• Bad online features: Similar to the previous point, there wasn't online in the original. So nothing lost, so to speak. True, they barely did the minimum, but it seems it was most they ran out of resources / time than saying "you know what, screw online features".
• Partial voice acting or short cutscenes: really? what did they expect? A full length movie? I could even say it wasn't necessary. Many RPGs of 60 dollars barely talk or just mumble.
• Which leads me to this point: with so much love and care to this faithful remake, how can you even say they were lazy and underperform?
  Again, do not let your preconceptions get the best of you. This game is worth $60, day one, and you are missing a lot by not playing it. It doesn't replace the originals; is more Advance Wars. How can we go wrong with that?