Before I begin I want to give you guys my sales pitch for Andy. I know he's not going to have the greatest of chances obviously (thanks daddy Intelligent Systems) but hopefully i'll influence you guys to give him a high want scores. Gonna have to abridge this somewhat because i'm a bit under the weather.
So what's that Advance Wars thing you're so passionate about Crazy Uncle Ura?
If you haven't already, you need to play Advance Wars (any one of the four games released worldwide) and see for yourself how fun and addicting the game is. If you still own a Wii U you can get Advance Wars 1-3 on the Virtual Console. Said alternative would be the best way to support the official release but otherwise you can look to alternative means like finding a used copy or something.
Advance Wars is the critically acclaimed turn-based strategy game made by Intelligent Systems. It's roots goes all the way back to 1988 when the franchise debuted on the NES as Famicom Wars. With that, the franchise is one of Nintendo's most senior franchises ever with only a handful of series that predate Wars (Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Kid Icarus, Punch-Out, and the retro's) and is older than it's fellow TBS series; Fire Emblem. Wars is also a franchise that had perfect attendance on every Nintendo system prior to it's absence in the 2010's (spawning 12 games across the NES, SNES, Game Boy/Colour, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, and the Gamecube). The only exception to this is the N64 which actually had a game in development that got cancelled.
As you can see, this is a franchise with so much historical significance to Nintendo's history.
Despite what people might say, Advance Wars is not a "modern Fire Emblem (technically Fire Emblem is a medieval Advance Wars when you think about it lol). AW plays competently different from it's sister series. For an example, where Fire Emblem puts an emphasis on building relationships between characters and keeping your units alive, Advance Wars is all about that pure strategy experience with all the different kinds of units that can be used. I would also argue that while Fire Emblem is the better of the two in the story/narrative department, Advance Wars' gameplay is way more complex and requires for much better strategic planning. Really, the only two similarities between the two are that they're both TBS games.
It's also a misconception that "units are expendable" in Advance Wars which does have some truth to it but doesn't paint the whole story. In Advance Wars, you want to keep certain units alive on the battlefield to obtain a strategic advantage over your foes. If you just brain dead build a Neo Tank and send it to die a death, then you're not playing the game right. You also have to consider the money aspect of the franchise so naturally the more you spend on a unit (more so the much more expensive ones) you'll have more emphasis to keep those units alive. Your resources are only so limited and you want to make the best decisions that will lead you to victory.
Outside of the game itself, the series has achieved massive critical acclaim from critics all across the spectrum. Advance Wars was also retroactively awarded a perfect 10/10 score from Edge magazine and is in the elite camp of a dozen or two games that have gotten that rating along with Ocarina of Time/Breath of The Wild and Super Mario 64/Galaxy.
Fans have also been clamoring for the series to return as well.
rNintendoSwitch did a poll asking what series not yet on the Switch they wanted to see on the console and Wars was voted in the Top 5 with nearly 4,000 votes accounted for (after Smash Bros was revealed of course). Indie titles like Wargroove and Tiny Metal show that interest in the AW genre is still alive and well despite the series' absence.
Okay so what about the goofy, dim-witted wrench kid anyways?
To put it simply, Andy is the face of Wars as a whole. He's the first central character of his franchise and is pretty much to Wars what Marth is to Fire Emblem. It's a common mistake among some people that Max and Sami are on equal footing on Andy when it comes to series importance. This just isn't true. Andy is the main character throughout the entire campaign and in the last AW1 mission he's mandatory to use while Max/Sami are optional if you met certain criteria. Even the Advance Wars logo itself bares Andy's signature wrench as it did for that game and all of the Wars World Trilogy
Yeah Andy wasn't the main character in every AW game but the other main characters of the franchise don't have as much importance as he does. Jake was the co-protagonist of Dual Stike alongside Rachel and Will was the main character of a game that was a serious departure to the classic style of Advance Wars. Andy himself represents the goofy, cheerful feel of the franchise better than anyone in the series and when it comes down to it he would have the most to offer as a Smash Bros character with his unique wrench gimmick (will explain later).
So now that I talked about Andy's importance to his own franchise, what about the Hyperactive Whiz Kid himself?
Andy at the start of the first Advance Wars is a new CO to the Orange Star Army (Orange Star being one of the four nations in Wars World; the setting in which Advance Wars 1-3 take place). Andy is a bit dim-witted and usually requires the aid of his strategic advisor for the fundamentals of the game. Even despite this, Andy is a bold, friendly, and courageous CO that will do anything to help those around him. Throughout the entire game, Andy is blamed by fellow nations Blue Moon, Yellow Comet, and Green Earth for attacks done on it's nations and the whole story revolves around Andy and co. fighting their way against all these factions. This goes on until it's revealed that it wasn't Andy who did the attacks but rather a clone of Andy created by the otherworldly, diabolical tyrant known as Sturm; the leader of a nation know as Black Hole. In a bid to claim Wars World for himself, Sturm orchestrated all the chaos in order to conquer all the nations amidst their unrest. However, Sturm's plot was discovered and foiled by Andy & co. who teamed together for the final conflict of the game and ended the tyrant's ambition. Andy himself is the central force against Sturm in the final mission and he's the one who takes center position against Sturm (the only CO that's mandatory to use in the game). It's here where his personality truly shows off where despite the odds heavily against him, Andy had none of Sturm's ambitions and motivates everyone to take him head on despite Sonja's plea to escape.
In the sequel; Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising, Sturm returns making good on his promise to take revenge on the nations of Wars World. Andy is once again thrust in to battle as he and fellow Orange Star CO's are responsible in liberating their nation from Black Hole's grasp. While AW2 doesn't have a central character the way it did before, Andy is still the most important character of the franchise once again. He's the leading force against Sturm once again in the end of the game and displays his courageous, fearless attitude where he takes Sturm head on despite knowing that doing so could result in his death. Even right at the end of the story, Andy is the only CO among the Allied Nations to stand up to Sturm when the latter attempts to self-destruct and kill all the allied CO's. Just watch the ending of AW2 and see for yourself. Even with Advance Wars not being a story heavy game, Andy's personality clearly shines bright here and we see just how far his courage will take him if it meant the safety of his friends and the world around him.
In Advance Wars: Dual Strike, Andy is not featured in the story as Jake/Rachel take on the mantel of lead protags. Despite this however, it's stated in the story of Dual Strike that Andy became a legend throughout Wars World for his efforts in putting an end to Sturm's ambition on two different occasions. Andy, however remains playable in Dual Strike despite not being apart of the campaign.
