Advance Wars

Just because this battle fits in the palm of your hand doesn't mean the stakes are small. On the contrary, this all-or-nothing fight will have you accessing guns, grenades, launchers, and weaponry of all…

100 10 September 2001

Simulator Strategy Tactical Turn-based strategy (TBS) Action Science fiction Warfare

Advance Wars is a simulator developed by Intelligent Systems, released 10 September 2001 on Wii U and Game Boy Advance.

Verified 29 Sep 2026 Sources: IGDB , Wikipedia

What Advance Wars is

Advance Wars is a simulator game developed by Intelligent Systems and released in 2001. It was published by iQue. It is available on Wii U and Game Boy Advance.

The premise, in the publisher's words

The story of the Advance Wars begins in the "Field Training" tutorial mode, with the nation of Orange Star in a war against the neighboring nation of Blue Moon, with Olaf as the Blue Moon Army commanding officer (CO). Olaf suddenly ordered an invasion of the Orange Star nation and is in battle with the Orange Star Army. The campaign continues the story that started in the tutorial. Nell, the de facto leader of the Orange Star COs, gives the player the duty of a tactical advisor for the Orange Star Army. The player follows the war effort through all four countries, with its own COs, over the course of the game. Starting with having only one choice of a CO to advise, Andy, the player will…

Description from the publisher · source

How it plays

It is played from a bird view / isometric perspective. Its themes are action, science fiction and warfare. It supports multiplayer for up to 4 players online. Local play supports 4 players. Available modes: Multiplayer and Single player.

Where it sits in the Wars series

Advance Wars is the ninth of 17 entries we hold in the Wars series. The next entry was Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising in 2003. Its critic score of 100 is 14 points above the series average of 86. That makes it the highest-rated entry in the series.

See all 17 Wars games in release order →

How it was received

Advance Wars holds a critic score of 100 out of 100. That places it above 99% of the 2,881 rated simulator games in our database, which average 71. Games released in 2001 averaged 72, so it scored 28 points above the year average. Players rate it 92, 8 points lower than critics did — a gap worth knowing about before you buy.

What it launched against

Advance Wars launched on 10 September 2001, within three weeks of Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill 2 (2001), Ico and Devil May Cry. It reviewed better than all of them.

Released around the same time: Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill 2 (2001), Ico, Devil May Cry.

Cheats and codes

We have not confirmed any working cheat codes for Advance Wars yet. Rather than reprint a list we have not tested, this section stays empty until one is verified.

Know one? Send it in and we will test it →