Advance Wars

Advance Wars
The game's North American boxart
Basic info
Developer	Intelligent Systems
Publisher	Nintendo
System	Game Boy Advance
Ratings
North America:	"E" for Everyone
Europe:	11+ (ELSPA) 6+ (USK) 7+ (PEGI)*
Australia:	G8+
Japan:	N/A
Release Dates
North America:	September 10, 2001
Europe:	January 11, 2002 April 3, 2014 (Wii U Virtual Console)
Australia:	2001
Japan:	November 25, 2004* April 3, 2014 (Japanese Wii U Virtual Console)*
Advance Wars Guide on StrategyWiki

Advance Wars is the title of first installment of the Advance Wars series to be released outside of Japan. In it, the player is an adviser employed by Orange Star as war rages across Cosmo Land. It was followed up by a sequel titled Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising.

In Japan, the game was released only as part of a compilation called Game Boy Wars Advance 1+2. Advance Wars was previously scheduled for release in Japan as Game Boy Wars Advance (Japanese: ゲームボーイウォーズアドバンス) on October 12, 2001, but was cancelled. There are multiple regional differences between the Japanese and English versions.

Advance Wars was re-released for the Wii U Virtual Console in North America and Europe on April 3, 2014, at a price of £6.49. Previously, it was announced in the Japanese version of the February 2014 Nintendo Direct that Game Boy Wars Advance 1+2 was to be one of thirteen Game Boy Advance games to be released on the Japanese Wii U Virtual Console on the same date. At E3 2021, Nintendo announced that a remake of Advance Wars alongside Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising will be developed by WayForward and released as part of another compilation titled Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp.

Game modes

Below are the game modes in Advance Wars.

Field Training

Field Training is the tutorial mode of the game. In it the player is taught basic gameplay in a series of small scale maps, each with its own theme. It is an obligatory mode before the player can access Campaign, War Room, Stats, and Design Maps. It also serves as an introduction to the plot of the Campaign mode.

In this mode, Olaf of Blue Moon has invaded Orange Star and it is up to the player, in the role of an advisor, and Nell, their instructor in the arts of war to hold Olaf at bay.

Campaign

The Campaign is the main mode of the game. It is where the plot unfolds and where the player can unlock new COs by meeting certain criteria, as well as earn Advance Wars Coins, the currency used in Battle Maps. There are over 30 missions in this mode, though the player will only play up to 22 of them in one run. If the player wishes to access them all they will have to clear it thrice.

After the success in Field Training there are still Blue Moon forces in Orange Star. However, Nell cannot leave the capital so the player is introduced to Andy, a new Orange Star CO. Later joined by Max and Sami they try to put an end to the war, fighting through several countries and meeting several new COs before they finally succeed in doing so.

There is also a secondary campaign, Advanced Campaign. This campaign is the 'Hard Mode' of the game. It is the same as the regular campaign with the exception of difficulty having increased. In return, the player will always receive full marks for their Power and Technique ranks.

War Room

War Room is the second mode in which the player can earn Advance Wars Coins, but no new COs or maps can be unlocked. Generally speaking, War Room missions have the player at a disadvantage compared to the opponent which is AI controlled. All War Room missions in the first Advance Wars game have clear weather and start without units. There are 20 missions in this mode, only two of which feature Orange Star COs as opponents.

Vs. Mode

Vs. Mode is the fourth battle mode of Advance Wars. In it there is a selection of maps that the player can play on, though several of these have to be bought in Battle Maps before being accessible. War Room maps can be used in this mode, as well as Special, Versus, 3 player, 4 player, and pre-deployed, but not Campaign Maps. It is also possible to play on maps created by the player in the Design Maps mode.

Stats

Stats is where the player's achievements are kept track of. There are two options:

• Records, where the player can look up their top five scores on any War Room map.
• Rank, where the player can view their current and past earned Advisor Rank.

Battle Maps

Battle Maps is the mode where the player can buy new maps, COs and miscellaneous items. The currency used is Advance Wars Coins, which can be earned in Campaign and War Room to a maximum of twelve for one mission. The owner of the Battle Maps is Hachi, a former Orange Star CO. Battle Maps is unlocked after the player earns their first coins.

Design Maps

Design Maps is the mode where the player can create their own custom maps and save them. Up to three of these maps can be saved, which can played on in Vs. Mode and Link Mode, or can be traded in Link Mode.

Link Mode

Link Mode is the mode where the player can connect their copy of Advance Wars to up to three other Game Boy Advances. There are three options:

• To use Multi-Pak each linked Game Boy Advance needs to have its own copy of Advance Wars inserted. This mode is the same as Vs. Mode, only each player has their own copy of the game.
• To use Single-Pak only one linked Game Boy Advance needs to have a copy of Advance Wars inserted. This mode is the same as Vs. Mode, only each player has their own screen so there is no need to pass the Game Boy Advance after each turn. All battles will take place in Fog of War, and victory must be won by rout.
• To be able to trade maps each linked Game Boy Advance needs to have its own copy of Advance Wars inserted.

Units

These are the units available in Advance Wars:

Unit		Type	Cost	Move	Range	Fuel	Ammo	Vision
	Infantry	Infantry	1000	3	1	99	-	2
	Mech	Infantry	3000	2	1	70	3	2
	Recon	Vehicle	4000	8	1	80	-	5
	Tank	Vehicle	7000	6	1	70	9	3
	Medium Tank	Vehicle	16000	5	1	50	8	1
	APC	Vehicle	5000	6	---	70	-	1
	Artillery	Vehicle	6000	5	2-3	99	9	1
	Rockets	Vehicle	15000	5	3-5	50	6	1
	Anti-Air	Vehicle	8000	6	1	60	9	2
	Missiles	Vehicle	12000	4	3-5	50	6	5
	Fighter	Plane	20000	9	1	99	9	2
	Bomber	Plane	22000	7	1	99	9	2
	B Copter	Copter	9000	6	1	99	6	3
	T Copter	Copter	5000	6	---	99	-	2
	Battleship	Ship	28000	5	2-6	99	9	2
	Cruiser	Ship	18000	6	1	99	9	3
	Lander	Ship	12000	6	---	99	-	1
	Submarine	Submarine	20000	5	1	60	6	5
A colored background indicates a unit that was introduced in this game.

Commanding Officers

These are the Commanding Officers available in Advance Wars:

CO		Country	CO Power	CO Meter	Hit	Miss
	Andy	Orange Star	Hyper Repair	30,000	Mechanics	Waking up early
	Max	Orange Star	Max Force	30,000	Weight Training	Studying
	Sami	Orange Star	Double Time	25,000	Chocolate	Cowards
	Nell	Orange Star	Lucky Star	30,000	Wilful students	Olaf
	Olaf	Blue Moon	Blizzard	30,000	Warm boots	Rain clouds
	Grit	Blue Moon	Snipe Attack	30,000	Cats	Rats
	Eagle	Green Earth	Lightning Strike	50,000	Lucky Goggles	Swimming
	Drake	Green Earth	Tsunami	40,000	The sea	Heights
	Kanbei	Yellow Comet	Morale Boost	50,000	Sonja	Computers
	Sonja	Yellow Comet	Enhanced Vision	30,000	Computers	Bugs
	Sturm	Black Hole	Meteor Strike	50,000	???	???
A colored background indicates a CO that was introduced in this game.

Nomenclature

Names in Other Markets
Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	ゲームボーイウォーズアドバンス (Gēmubōi Wōzu Adobansu)	Game Boy Wars Advance
ChineseSI	高级战争 (Gāojí Zhànzhēng)	Advanced Wars
ChineseTR	GBA大戰 (GBA Dàzhàn)	Game Boy Advance Wars
French	Advance Wars
German	Advance Wars

Gallery

• 

  Logo (North America)

• 

  Logo (Europe)

• 

  Key art

Artwork

Commanding Officers

• 

  Nell

• 

  Andy

• 

  Max

• 

  Sami

• 

  Olaf

• 

  Grit

• 

  Kanbei

• 

  Sonja

• 

  Eagle

• 

  Drake

Screenshots

• 

  Title screen

• 

  Mode selection

• 

  Field Training victory

Videos

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Official English trailer

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Wii U Virtual Console trailer

See also

• List of Missions in Advance Wars

External links

• Official site (Japanese)
• Advance Wars manual (Europe)

Games
Famicom Wars*	Famicom Wars Super Famicom Wars
Game Boy Wars*	Game Boy Wars Game Boy Wars 2 Game Boy Wars 3 Game Boy Wars TURBO
Advance Wars	Advance Wars* Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising* Game Boy Wars Advance 1+2* Advance Wars: Dual Strike* Advance Wars: Days of Ruin* Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp
Battalion Wars*	Battalion Wars Battalion Wars 2
Cancelled games	64 Wars Knight Wars