30 Days to the 30th Anniversary!
Day 30...ish: Onwards to the Future!
Well close enough right?
So the 30th anniversary date came and went and I didn't make the post on time despite me having every intention of doing so. Things happened I guess. But enough about me.
The anniversary date came and went rather uneventfully. No special kind of announcement or even any kind of acknowledgement from Nintendo/Intelligent Systems as we already guessed. Which while most of us really expected to happen, is still a bummer to see. Especially considering how long Wars was active for and for it to be ignored like that. Granted it did spend 10 of those 30 years doing a whole lot of nothing but that's besides the point. Given the legacy of the Wars series it deserved much more than silence. So in that regard I can sympathize with how Metroid fans felt when Nintendo did nothing for the 30th anniversary of that franchise.
But that aside. Lets talk about the series itself. The Wars series, Famicom Wars, Game Boy Wars, Advance Wars, whatever you want to call it. It has a long-lasting impact for all of us here hence why we support the series having playable representation in Smash. No doubt about it with the amount of people I see reminiscing about the franchise and all the critical reviews for the game that rave about it. And it's not hard to see why.
From it's beginnings in 1988, Wars brought new life in to the Turn-Based Tactics genre. It was successful enough to get multiple releases (albeit Japan-only) prior to it's breakout installment that would come out 13 years later. Advance Wars on the GBA did everything it's predecessors did and up'd it to the 10th degree. Selling half a million copies in North America alone, Advance Wars proved to be a hit for the GBA and it's success is the primary reason why Fire Emblem even made it out of Japan in the first place (in addition to paving the way for other TBS games). The game was also successful enough to have a follow up release only 2 years later (which is my personal favorite in the series) and IIRC, was the first franchise Intelligent Systems brought to the DS with Dual Strike. Then of course Wars got it's own spinoff title in the form of Battalion Wars which took a life of it's own; having two releases on the Gamecube and the Wii.
And then we get to Days of Ruin; the last entry in the franchise before Intelligent Systems put Advance Wars to a decade-long sleep. The most controversial entry in the series for it's dramatic tone shift which some people love and others loathe. Personally myself I'm in the camp that prefered the Wars World games and that would be my ideal setting for a future AW but I thought DoR was good for what it was. For what it's worth DoR was able to rebound the series back to GBA-level sales numbers after Dual Strike's poor commercial performance. So in that regard it's unfair to blame DoR for the series' absence especially coming at a time where both Advance Wars and Fire Emblem were doing very poorly.
And I think it's safe to say we know how the rest goes. The early 2010's saw the release of FE Awakening which propelled FE to being one of Nintendo's mainstay franchises. I don't attribute AW's absence 100% to FE though I do believe it made Intelligent Systems less keen on doing much in the way of Advance Wars. The official reason given for it's absence was "relationships" but I find it pretty ridiculous that the series was shelved for that long because of that. I mean I don't doubt the series could grow by having a more character based narrative but it's been a decade and they still haven't done anything. It's pretty ironic that the title of the last Advance Wars was called "Days of Ruin" given the state of the franchise now.
But alas! There still lies some hope despite how bleak things look for Wars. While it hasn't amounted to much, Advance Wars is still very much on the minds of Intelligent Systems as it continously gets mentioned in there developer interviews and one interview they did in particular had them outright saying they wanted to remake Famicom Wars. Then of course there's the demand for the series to return from fans who love the game, evident with Wars placing Top 5 in the rNintendoSwitch poll done back in March. Clearly there's demand for Wars to come back from both developers and fans and that's a good sign.
So where does the series go from here? It's hard to tell. For one, I think it's really unlikely now that Andy gets in Smash Ultimate (even though I'm waiting til' September before I proclaim his chances dead). And as for Advance Wars itself, IDK really. If history is any indicator, it'll likely be a huge pile of nothing but we've seen stranger things happen in the world of gaming. At the least maybe there could be an Advance Wars collection released on the Switch/3DS before the year ends. Maybe even a new release as well that releases in 2020. I like to think that the 2020's will be to Advance Wars what the 2010's were to Fire Emblem. Not only coming back to life but also establishing itself as an A tier franchise. That's the dream at least. Let's all cross our fingers guys.
I'm really looking forward to this seeing how dedicated you are to the series. Can't wait to see what comes out of it. Btw did you see this yet?
Yeah I saw. I agree with the 10% rating though I don't necessarily agree with some points made. Glad they acknowledged Advance Wars as one of the last notable franchises left to be represented in Smash (the others being Golden Sun, Rhythm Heaven, and Arms).
I can't keep up with these forums!
Life is too busy, Andy's chances still aren't great. Though I'm still praying.
The game looks incredible despite whether we do or do not get certain characters.
Imagine how AW would be if he got into melee instead of Marth/Roy. lol
Only heard of Fire Emblem because of Melee way back then...
(Chrom Hype!!! Takes the best attributes from Ike/Roy both of which I preferred over Marth)
Good to see you again. Haven't seen you in a while.
I don't think Andy would have been timely enough for Melee. Unless Melee released in 2002 and Intelligent Systems gave Sakurai advance notice (no pun intended lol). If that happened AW would have exploded in popularity considering it was doing better numbers than FE did outside of Japan. Man send me to this time line now lol.
Hey guys! I've only ever played the first AW on the GBA (and wasn't even able to beat it lol), but I thought I'd show up to share my support. Andy's a cool character with outstanding moveset potential and also I love new series getting represented in Smash. Especially Rhythm Heaven, Golden Sun, Arms, and Advance Wars deserve a character. Andy's chances may be low as of now, but the fact that his series is one of the most important which are lacking a character in Smash, is probably increasing his chances pretty much.
Infantery & Tanks haven't been confirmed too return as an AT yet, though they were present in Sm4sh and Brawl. Maybe this means they get used for Andy's moveset? Well, probably not.
Thanks for supporting! Welcome to the Orange Star Army!
I don't think Infantry & Tanks means deconfirmation for Andy though it makes him more unlikely. I pictured his moveset using the different kinds of units from Advance Wars and non-pixelated. Would still like that kind of moveset though. Anything to get our boy in the game lol.
Dropping in again to say I still support. btw I see some of you guys using the Smash art of Andy that my friend Locomotive111 on DeviantArt did a few years ago (like in Ura’s pfp). Always nice to see his work around, really talented guy.
Yeah I saw his drawings. He did a handful of them including characters from other series. I dig the artstyle. And nice to see you here again. It's always nice to see supporters; old and new show up here.
And speaking of which for anyone out there. If you happen to lurk in this thread feel free to post lol. The more the merrier.