History VideoGame / NintendoWars

** Gameplay-wise, Versus and War Room each run off of a single menu that allows the player to switch between the original ''Advance Wars'' and ''Advance Wars 2'' rulesets. As a result, ''Advance Wars 2''-exclusive War Room maps can be played with the original ''Advance Wars'' ruleset, with appropriate changes made to the enemy CO(s) faced in each map.
** Aesthetic-wise, character designs blend the Japanese and international versions of all three Wars World games; for example, Nell is based on her ''[=AW1=]'' art, Sonja has her international ''[=AW2=]'' design but regains her glasses from the Japanese art, and Lash is closest to her ''Dual Strike'' design. Unit models feature a plastic, toy-like look in reference to the Japanese ''Dual Strike'' boxart. Buildings and other properties on the map are based on ''[=AW2=]'' sprites, battle scenes feature the [=COs=] reacting to the encounter as in the first game, and CO Power activation plays a character-specific remix of the first game's CO Power jingle instead of going directly into a powerup theme like the later games.

** During the final mission of the first Advance Wars' Campaign in ''Re-Boot Camp'', the player can freely pick the [=COs=] that protect Andy's flanks, as opposed to them being pre-determined by certain choices made in the campaign. The BrutalBonusLevel "Rivals" is now an optional level unlocked by completing all the other missions in the branching paths which can be selected after completing the final mission, meaning that it no longer needs to be completed to finish the basic campaign experience, so there's no need to worry about selecting Eagle this time around.

** In ''Re-Boot Camp'', Andy's [=COs=] at his flanks in the final mission of the first game's campaign can be manually selected instead of being predetermined by the decisions made during the campaign. While it's not possible to double-up on Blue Moon and Green Earth [=COs=] (and Max and Sami are still designated to the Blue Moon and Green Earth positions, respectively), it ''is'' possible to have Kanbei alongside a Green Earth CO, something which is not possible in the original game. Should this be the case, Kanbei's forces end up using the Blue Moon position instead.

* PowerCreep: Zig-zagged in the ''Advance Wars'' trilogy. On paper it looks like the co's are balanced in the first game and, barring the secret commanders who are overpowered by design, that over time more powerful co's are available with advantages without corresponding disadvantages to balance them out. In practice everyone's unique niche, which more often than not just meant that you can play in a way that makes the disadvantages meaningless and just use their main skills, often outdoes the boost the new ones have over the balance.

** ''Re-Boot Camp'' periodically shows subtle but noticeable smoke on map animations of vehicles at very low HP.

** While every unit uses up fuel (or rations, for infantry) and ammunition, it is very easy to resupply units. [=APCs=] resupply any units adjacent to them at the beginning of the turn. (Or resupply one unit manually that they drive up to.) Including battleships and aircraft, with no explanation how a ground-based vehicle can refuel a fighter jet. As well, the [=APC=] has infinite supplies, and can rearm and refuel all units indefinitely.

* NotHisSled: While most maps were kept faithful in ''Re-Boot Camp'', "Border Skirmish" in the second game is the one exception: it now has FogOfWar on all difficulties instead of just the hardest, and they added an extra enemy on your side of the river to act as a tutorial. Players familiar with the original who skip the tutorial may be in for a nasty surprise...

*** If the AI has a seaport under their control, the AI will insist on having at least one Lander at all times even if the AI has no immediate use for them, and should its Landers be destroyed, the AI will immediately build more Landers to replace them if it has enough funds, which can be expolited to make the AI waste its funds on building an expensive unit it has no use for. The AI's love for Landers was also brought back in ''Re-Boot Camp'' despite it generally improving the AI and fixing other flaws it had in the original games.

** "The Final Front" is normally an ''extremely'' difficult mission, with a time limit, two Black Cannons suppressing the center of the map, and a giant death laser that annihilates anything through the central base and Sturm's entryway into his own base every seven days. However, a keen eye will notice that Sturm focuses his offensive on the western half of the map, paying little heed to the eastern half. The eastern base could easily sneak through Sturm's eastern flank and rush to destroy his giant laser in a swift stroke with little resistance at all.

* PowerCreep: Zig-zagged in the ''Advance Wars'' trilogy. On paper it looks like the co's are balanced in the first game and, barring the secret commanders who are overpowered by design, that over time more powerful co's are available with advantages beyond what the earlier ones where capable of. In practice everone's unique niche often outdoes the boost the new ones have over the balance.

* MutualDisadvantage: Units such as Cruisers and Bombers, unit types that cannot attack units of their own general class, suffer from this trope. It's especially notable with Cruisers, as there's no real direct-attack counter against them; Battleships are indirect attackers, Cruisers are made to have an advantage against Submarines and aircraft, and if Cruisers seldom get close enough to a shoreline for ground units to attack them. Starting with ''Dual Strike'' Cruisers are able to attack other vessels including other Cruisers...albeit poorly.

** "Hot Pursuit" in ''Black Hole Rising'' is a tough mission to tackle normally, but some AI manipulation can bait all of Sturm's considerable land to focus on the center instead of your flanks, and [[https://i.redd.it/uzwwtro11d0b1.jpg trap them all in a single chokepoint traffic jam]]. This works because the wounded infantry moves first and attempts to retreat but cannot, while the later moving intact vehicles are all aggresively trying to advance but cannot.

** Grit no longer carries a gun in ''Re-Boot Camp''. He lacked a gun in ''Dual Strike'' but carried a revolver in the first two games. His CO Power animation has him point a FingerGun.
** ''Re-Boot Camp 1+2'' mostly keeps the dialogue for both games but excises some moments that haven't aged very well, such as Flak and Max no longer calling each other "gorilla" and "ape-man" (referring to each others' physiques in context, not anything racist).

** Andy's version of "Naval Clash!" requires him to protect a Missile unit for 10 days. If you put the Missile in a Lander and hide it in a certain reef, Drake will never find it, guaranteeing you a win by [[WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing doing nothing for the remaining turns.]]

* SinglePaletteTown: Used in ''Advance Wars'' to distinguish between nations

** ''Re-Boot Camp 1+2'' mostly keeps the dialogue for both games but excises some moments of potential UnfortunateImplications, such as Flak and Max no longer calling each other "gorilla" and "ape-man" (referring to each others' physiques in context, not anything racist).

* AmbiguouslyHuman: The fact that Sturm is noted to be an alien raises the question if the same can be applied to everyone associated with Black Hole. It doesn't help that the likes of Adder and the ''Dual Strike'' antagonists look very freaky to begin with, while the [=BH=] foot soldiers are FacelessGoons in astronaut-like suits.

** In the European and American scripts, the factories are completely automated; it's soldiers they need. Surviving officers have been training able-bodied refugees to bolster their fighting numbers.