History VideoGame / NintendoWars

** Pointless Weakness: Rachel's extra costs for extra repairs, Max's indirect issues, and Eagle and Drake's sea/air weakness on maps where that doesn't exist. Most infamously, Colin's slightly inferior units for slightly cheaper units that can ZergRush until the cows come home. Air units try to avert this issue with themselves with fuel upkeep, with varying results for each installment of the entire series.

** [[JustForPun Not an actual example, but considering Blue Comet is led by Olaf, Grit is one cold sniper.]]

The ''VideoGame/BattalionWars'' games (which have their own page) are for the [[GameCube GameCube]] and Wii and are RealTimeStrategy games with a view and style more reminiscent of a ThirdPersonShooter than an overhead game like {{Warcraft}}. They form their own separate continuity and story. In addition to commanding your forces in real time, all gameplay is from the point of view of a single unit that the player can switch between at any time, while at the same time actively controlling the viewpoint unit itself.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: The Megatank. There really was a tank the size of a small office building- the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panzer_VIII_Maus Panzer VIII "Maus" Land Cruiser.]]

* KarmaHoudini: The civilians in ''Days of Ruin'' -- while literally DyingLikeAnimals would have been too extreme, they should still have been gutted for being [[spoiler:[[AllOfTheOtherReindeer reindeer]]]].

The ''Advance Wars'' series, known in Japan as the ''Famicom Wars'' series, is a series of TurnBasedStrategy video games produced by Creator/{{Nintendo}}. The original ''Famicom Wars'' was developed in-house by Nintendo's R&D1 staff (the same team behind ''{{Metroid}}'' and ''KidIcarus''), while the sequels were all made by Nintendo subsidiary Intelligent Systems (of ''FireEmblem'' fame), with HudsonSoft behind later parts of the ''Game Boy Wars'' series and Kuju involved with the ''Battalion Wars'' series. The series is composed of the following games, with most of the titles being [[SuperTitle64Advance named after the platform they were released on]]:

** On top of the Advance Campaign, there is a bonus mission in the first Advance Wars called Rivals!, where Eagle challenges Andy to a battle. On normal mode, it's already pretty tough, with Eagle having more cities on his side to build an army from. Advance Campaign Rivals! is incredibly unfair, since Eagle starts with a MASSIVE army, and you only have the same three infantry you would in normal mode.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: While they're still playable outside of Campaign mode, Flak and Adder mysteriously disappear from Black Hole for the duration of ''Dual Strike's'' campaign. Possibly justified in that their abilities were too similar to Black Hole newcomers Jugger and Koal/Zak, and the newbies were more integral to the new BigBad.

** Pointless Weakness: Rachel's extra costs for extra repairs, Max's indirect issues, and Eagle and Drake's sea/air weakness on maps where that doesn't exist. Air units try to avert this issue with themselves with fuel upkeep, with varying results for each installment of the entire series.

** The second fight against Kanbei in the first game becomes surprisingly easy if you block the chokepoints leading to your base as he has few amount of indirects and yet clogs the path with his tanks, rendering his superior numbers useless.

* TheMessiah: Jake in ''Dual Strike''; Brenner/O'Brian and Will/Ed in ''Days of Ruin''

* ACommanderIsYou

* ShootTheDog: In one of the endings of ''Dual Strike'', [[spoiler:Hawke shoots Von Bolt's life-support system because Jake can't bring himself to. Given he also kills Sturm at the end of ''Advance Wars 2'', he seems to be making rather a habit of this. Note that this is averted if Jake chooses to shoot Von Bolt.]] (Also in ''Days of Ruin'', [[spoiler:when Lin leads the final battle against Greyfield/Sigismundo and executes him rather than leave it up to Will/Ed.]])

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: The AI in Campaign mode of at least the first two Advance Wars games is often able to fire on you in Fog of War in circumstances where it shouldn't otherwise be able to see you (when you're hiding in woods, for example).
* TheDragon:
** Hawke in ''Black Hole Rising'' is regarded as Sturm's top [=CO=], the leader of all the other Black Hole [=COs=], and a dangerous tactical genius. [[BigBad Sturm]], however, is ''considerably'' more powerful.
** Kindle/Candy in ''Dual Strike'' is second in command of the Bolt Guard, under Von Bolt.
** Tabitha/Larisa in ''Days of Ruin/Dark Conflict'' is Caulder's oldest child, and a very dangerous and capable [=CO=], despite (or perhaps because) of her [[ItsAllAboutMe arrogance]].
** Ubel in ''Battalion Wars''.
* TheManBehindTheMan: Sturm in the first ''Advance Wars'' game, Kaiser Vlad in both ''Battalion Wars'' games, and Caulder/Stolos in ''Days of Ruin''.
** The latter shows up fairly early on though, but his real role doesn't get revealed until much later.
* TheMessiah: Jake in ''Dual Strike''; Brenner/O'Brian and Will/Ed in ''Days of Ruin''

* TheObiWan: [[spoiler:Captain Brenner/O'Brian]] in ''Days of Ruin''
* TheQuietOne: Hawke in ''Black Hole Rising'' and ''Dual Strike''. Gage/Trak in ''Days of Ruin''
* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Most of the factions in the ''Advance Wars'' series have more male [=COs=] than female ones
** Although this is somewhat [[JustifiedTrope justified]]; real life armies don't have that many female officers either. Also averted in ''Days of Ruin'', where exactly half of the [=COs=] are female.
*** The female [=COs=] also tend to be CloserToEarth (with the exception of the female villains). And Orange Star's commander-in-chief (Nell) is female.
** Lampshaded in Battalion Wars, where Nova's promotion of Mjr. Nelly to [=CO=] is a Really Big Deal to the traditionalist Tundrans.

** [=COs=] with short power bars also stand out -- such as Colin, Sensei, Adder, and Sasha with their two-star regular CO powers, and Sonja, Adder, Hachi, and Koal with five-star Super CO Powers. Borders on AwesomeYetPractical with Colin, Sensei, and Hachi. Note that Adder appears on both lists.

*** Seaplanes can be made AwesomeButPractical by using four of them and rotating them in and out of an aircraft carrier. Essentially, they work in pairs: one pair attacks while the other pair sits in the carrier.

* AwesomeYetPractical: Neotanks are more powerful than Md Tanks, but have none of the latter's weaknesses, barring cost naturally. (Loss of mobility/fuel compared to light tanks.) This ''really'' shows in Dual Strike, where although they're a bit weaker than Megatanks, their lack of crippling flaws means they're the better option most of the time. And they're a little cheaper too!
** Battleships in Days of Ruin can move and fire, unlike other indirect units, and they also happen to have the longest range in the game. Did I mention they're also ''cheaper'' than they were in previous games despite the massive buff? The only thing stopping them from entering GameBreaker territory is a decent-sized nerf on their damage output.
** Anti-Tank units too, considering they're an indirect unit with the ability to counterattack (even against ''copters'') and do at least decent damage to just about anything. See the Demonic Spiders example in YMMV.

* ''BattalionWars'' for [[GameCube Nintendo GameCube]] (2005, ''Totsugeki!! Famicom Wars'' in Japan)

* ''BattalionWarsII'', officially abbreviated ''[[{{Wii}} BWii]]'' (2008, ''Totsugeki!! Famicom Wars VS'' in Japan)

The ''BattalionWars'' games (which have their own page) are for the [[GameCube GameCube]] and Wii and are RealTimeStrategy games with a view and style more reminiscent of a ThirdPersonShooter than an overhead game like {{Warcraft}}. They form their own separate continuity and story. In addition to commanding your forces in real time, all gameplay is from the point of view of a single unit that the player can switch between at any time, while at the same time actively controlling the viewpoint unit itself.

Compare and contrast {{Fire Emblem}} and {{Nectaris}}, its Fantasy and Sci-Fi counterparts, respectively.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Viruses cannot make plants grow under people's skin. The Creeper does seem to be heavily based on the real world Cordyceps fungus, which, at least in the ant version of the fungus, causes the ants to go insane and then die, the fruiting body bursting out of their corpses.

** Hawke in ''Black Hole Rising'' is regarded as Sturm's top [=CO=], the leader of all the other Black Hole [=COs=], and a dangerous tactical genius. [BigBad Sturm]], however, is ''considerably'' more powerful.

* SoundtrackDissonance: Isabella's CO theme in ''Days of Ruin''

* SuperSoldiers: Days of Ruin has a twist on this. Caulder's "children" are super ''commanders'', meant for command room action.

* TheDragon: Hawke in ''Black Hole Rising'' ([[SubvertedTrope subverted]] once you get to fight [[BigBad Sturm]], who is ''considerably'' more powerful than his second-in-command); Kindle/Candy in ''Dual Strike''; Ubel in ''Battalion Wars''; Tabitha/Larisa in Days of Ruin/Dark Conflict.

* YouFailPhysicsForever: [[ConvectionSchmonvection Plasma?]] [[FridgeLogic Arcing between two or more fallen meteors?]]
** [[TwoWords Three Words]]: [[RuleofCool Rule of Cool]].

* EvilVsOblivion: [[spoiler:Ultimately what drives Hawke to betray Von Bolt. Hawke has no delusions about the kind of person he is, but he also cares about the people he leads (having one of the few healing CO powers) and the damage he may do. Von Bolt doesn't care about what damage he causes as long as what he's focused on gets achieved, and thus has no problem turning the world into a wasteland to achieve his own goals. Put simply, Hawke is aware that there may be nothing to rule after Von Bolt has his way with things, and even before being betrayed he had second guesses about the plans that were being made.]]

* [[spoiler:EvilVsChaos: Ultimately what drives Hawke to betray Von Bolt. Hawke has no delusions about the kind of person he is, but he also cares about the people he leads (having one of the few healing CO powers) and the damage he may do. Von Bolt doesn't care about what damage he causes as long as what he's focused on gets achieved, and thus has no problem turning the world into a wasteland to achieve his own goals. Put simply, Hawke is aware that there may be nothing to rule after Von Bolt has his way with things, and even before being betrayed he had second guesses about the plans that were being made.]]

There is a character sheet for the general Advance Wars series [[Characters/NintendoWars here]]. Other than that, the various games provide examples of:

** An interesting case, as the pairs also represent opposites. Grit and Adder are both gaunt men who rely on precision, but Grit is nice, laid back, and he forces anyone playing as him to take things slow, while Adder is a SmugSnake with a [[FragileSpeedster quickly charging power bar and CO powers that allow his units to sprint across the map]]. Both Sonja and Lash are [[TeenGenius hyper competent young women]] with terrain based gameplay, but Sonja is polite, formal, calculating, and [[LawfulGood does things by the book]] (unless [[IfMyCalculationsAreCorrect her own research proves to be better]]), while Lash is a childish, selfish, [[ChaoticEvil erratic]] brat who [[{{Stripperiffic}} dresses much less conservatively than Sonja]] and has [[AnimeHair much wilder hair]]. Hawke and Eagle are both [[WhiteHairedPrettyBoy White Haired Pretty]] [[JerkAss Jerks]] who [[SeriousBusiness tend to take things seriously]], but Eagle is very HotBlooded and Hawke is TheStoic. Flak and Max are the most similar pair, but Max is more blunt while Flak is an idiot. Basically, Max prefers not to think too deeply, while Flak outright can't.

* EvilOldFolks: Von Bolt. Caulder may or may not be old, but he's certainly too old to be a WhiteHairedPrettyBoy. Kaiser Vlad is allegedly 100 years old.

* BadBoss: Deconstructed with Greyfield. He threatens his men with execution for having the Creeper virus (among many other reasons), which leads directly to its rampart spread when the infected keep quiet about it and stay in close contact with the healthy. It gets so bad [[spoiler:Greyfield himself gets it, and Caulder doesn't hesitate to point out the delicious irony/hypocrisy]].

* CoolAirship: The Great Owl from ''Days of Ruin'' could possibly qualify as this, considering it's a gigantic flying laboratory... with a hangar bay big enough to have a full-scale battle with ''tanks and rockets and stuff.''

* DarthVaderClone: Sturm bears a considerable resemblance, with a full face mask and a cloak that covers his body. The face mask he wears in 2 resembles Vader's helmet even more so. Von Bolt makes an interesting comparison as Palpatine, being a frail old man in black but who still possesses great power.

* EasyLogistics: 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 indefinitely all units indefinitely.

** It's been joked about to no end how the APC's are incapable of resupplying themselves, for some odd reason.

* [[spoiler: EvilVsChaos: Ultimately what drives Hawke to betray Von Bolt. Hawke has no delusions about the kind of person he is, but he also cares about the people he leads (having one of the few healing CO powers) and the damage he may do. Von Bolt doesn't care about what damage he causes as long as what he's focused on gets achieved, and thus has no problem turning the world into a wasteland to achieve his own goals. Put simply, Hawke is aware that there may be nothing to rule after Von Bolt has his way with things, and even before being betrayed he had second guesses about the plans that were being made.]]

** Green Earth CO are Air combat specialist that constantly bickers with his friend who is a Ground specialist and a fat guy that specializes in Naval combat. They are basically the crew of GetterRobo.

** In ''Black Hole Rising''

** In ''Dual Strike''

* ''ForScience!'': Caulder/Stolos's motivation.
* FragileSpeedster: the Buggy in ''Game Boy Wars 3''; cheap and fast, but its defense is right in between that of the Infantry and the Mech, if you can believe it.

* GeneralRipper: Greyfield/Sigismundo.

** Air units in general (all games) only can be attacked by a few types of units but get shredded ''fast'' by them. In the Advance Wars series even Fighters (the least squishy plane unit) take upwards of 70% damage from a Missile barrage.
* GoodVersusGood: Played with in ''Days of Ruin''. The start of the second arc begins with several battles between the New Rubinelle Army (who Brenner's Wolves side with) and Lazuria. At first the latter look like the villains but it turns out that the NRA- on orders of [[TheCaligula Greyfield]]-actually shot first. The Lazurians just trying to defend their homeland and turn out to be sympathetic. Brenner and Forsythe both lament that they are forced to fight each other despite both being honorable and wanting the conflict to end.

** A weird case for veterans of the first three ''Advance Wars'' games, the scoring for ranks wasn't that hard to figure out, but come ''Days Of Ruin'', they were reworked so that much confusion was had over suddenly sucky scores. The Technique score now rewards you for using less units overall than your opponent, not how few you ''lose'', meaning that the usual strategy of spamming Infantry toward the end of missions to make up for losses actually worked against the player.

* IWasJustPassingThrough: In ''Black Hole Rising, Hawke describes [[spoiler:turning up after faking his own death, killing Sturm and saving everyone else's lives]] as "a test of his power".

* KarmaHoudini: the civilians in ''Days of Ruin''--while literally DyingLikeAnimals would have been too extreme, they should still have been gutted for being [[spoiler:[[AllOfTheOtherReindeer reindeer]]]]

* LostForever: the Excellence Medal in ''Game Boy Wars 3'' requires you to clear all 45 maps in 54 battles
* LuckBasedMission: 100% Power in any ''Battalion Wars 2'' mission where the final objective is to capture a facility capable of making units respawn fast
** The final mission of ''Days Of Ruin'' is nearly impossible unless you follow a day-to-day guide, and even if you follow the walkthrough for every single move you make, you can still lose.

* ManinaKilt In Battalion Wars 2, the Anglo Empire veteran soldiers all wear kilts(and have fancy handlebar mustaches).

* {{Meganekko}}: Sonja in the non-american releases for the first game and Dual Strike. Her alt costume in the American version of Dual Strike retains this.

** Grit should be obvious though, he wears a cowboy hat.
* MissionControl: [=COs=] in ''Advance Wars'' that aren't actively fighting take this role

** Several times in ''Dual Strike'', you meet up with allied [=CO's=] who demand that you fight them to prove your own worth. Though these could be handwaved as friendly practice wargames, it's possible that the characters treat their soldiers as chess pieces. Which is about as well as players treat their units. One of the worst examples is Mission 12 where you fight two friendly [=COs=] because one of them wants to test you a bit. What makes this case noteworthy is that it's also the mission that introduces [[WeaponsofMassDestruction Missile Silos]].

* NamesTheSame - Yamamoto may refer to Mr. Yamamoto from ''Super Famicom Wars'' or Sensei's name in the Japanese versions of the ''Advance Wars'' games.

* NoCampaignForTheWicked: all games in the ''Advance Wars'' series, including ''Days of Ruin''. In the first ''Battalion Wars'', however, you could play as other countries including Xylvania and Iron Legion in certain bonus missions. There's also an entire campaign (albeit with 3 missions in the sequel where you play as the Iron Legion.)

* NonIndicativeDifficulty: Hard Campaign in ''Dual Strike'' allows you to use all of the [=COs=] at the start as opposed to regular campaign

* NotSoDifferent and IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: Von Bolt to Jake, in the ending to ''Dual Strike''; also, Greyfield/Sigismundo to Lin in ''Days of Ruin'' ([[spoiler:unfortunately for the latter, Lin is an AntiHero and shoots him anyway]]
* ObviouslyEvil In ''Battalion Wars'' Xylvania and its predecessor, the Iron Legion
* OldMaster: Sensei in ''Black Hole Rising'' and ''Dual Strike''

* ThePlague: ''Endoflorescens terribilis'' (Also known as Creeping Derangea and Green Thumb) is a virus that causes parasitic flowers to grow from inside a person which soon break out through the skin as vines covering their limbs and body. It is later revealed to be a Bio-Weapon made by Dr. Caulder that failed due to its inherent flaw of photophobia which prevented it from thriving until after the apocalypse blotted out the sun.
** OnlyFatalToAdults: This is Inverted with the early version of Creeping Derangea which can only infect people under the age of 20. Completely averted with the later version which works faster and can infect anyone regardless of age.

** Although, oddly enough, Old Xylvania looks just about the same in Battalion Wars 2, except everything's on fire instead of poisonous and green.

*** If this goes on too long, you get Wasteland. The water turns green(Red on the map), the trees die, the ground is dry and hard all the bases look abandoned when we see them in battles. Yes, all this just because [[spoiler:some old guy wants to live forever.]]
* PowerTrio: Particularly in ''Black Hole Rising'', each good guy team seems to have one

** Also in Battalion Wars, although not all factions are trios. (Note that these also fall under TwoGuysAndAGirl)

*** Tundran Territories - Major Nelly (Id), Tsar Gorgi [[spoiler:until his death at least]] and Marshal Nova (Ego/Superego interchangeably)

--> '''Colin:'''[[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch "Let me show you the power of money."]]
* PrestigeClass: sort of, for various units in Game Boy Wars 3
* QuirkyMinibossSquad: Adder, Lash and Flak in ''Black Hole Rising''; Koal, Lash and Jugger in ''Dual Strike'', Caulder/Stolos' children in ''Days of Ruin'' also count, although you only actually fight two of them.

* {{Retool}}: ''Days of Ruin''; also applies somewhat to ''Game Boy Wars 3'', which involves various stuff inspired by ''Nectaris''
* RPGElements: ''Game Boy Wars 3'' in particular
* SchizoTech: mostly in the first three Advance Wars games. You have no shortage of missile units and even stealth aircraft, but once you get to the naval combat it goes right back to WWII - big guns and bombers. Fixed, to some extent, with missile boats in ''Days of Ruin''.

* SelfDeprecation: Drake, particularly after the "Navy vs. Air" mission in ''Black Hole Rising''

* SNKBoss: Sturm in both of his appearances. In the first game, he gives all of his units a free offense boost, but lowers their defense, and has a CO-power that drops in a huge meteor on your highest concentration of units, though the playable version of him is much weaker. In Black Hole Rising, he gives all of his units a major offense and defense boost with no drawbacks (no weakening other units or raising their price like other [=COs=]) and only has his slow-charging Super-CO power, no normal one, but that one is all he needs. He calls in meteor again, which like before hits the highest concentration of his enemies units, knocking 8/10 of their max health, doesn't hurt his units while also giving them even more an power and defense boost. Unlike in his first appearance, the playable version is just as strong as one from the campaign. Subverted with Dual Strike; Von Bolt is no wimp, but not as powerful as Sturm. Played straight with Caulder in Days of Ruin, however. He has a 3 by 3 CO-zone that gives all of his units, regardless of type, the highest boost their power and defense in the game, and repairs them by 50% of their max health each turn (though this can be used against him somewhat, as the healing takes funds). His zone never increases and he has no CO-power, but what he has is more than enough. He and Sturm are both banned from tournaments involving their respective games.

* StoneWall: the MB Tank, particularly in ''Game Boy Wars 3'', a game virtually full of ''GlassCannon units'' no less

* SuspiciouslySmallArmy: Very guilty of this. No more than 50 units under your control ever. Note however that every unit in the Advance Wars games except for Megatanks/Wartanks/APCs/Ships is a literal unit composed of no fewer than ten of whatever you're specifically talking about.

* TheDragon: Hawke in ''Black Hole Rising'' ([[SubvertedTrope subverted]] once you get to fight [[BigBad Sturm]], who is ''considerably'' more powerful than his second-in-command; Kindle/Candy in ''Dual Strike''; Ubel in ''Battalion Wars''; Tabitha/Larisa in Days of Ruin/Dark Conflict.)

** Although this is somewhat [[JustifiedTrope justified]], real life armies don't have that many female officers either. Also averted in ''Days of Ruin'', exactly half of the [=COs=] are female.

* ThisIsUnforgivable: [[spoiler:the Andy clone's death]] in ''Dual Strike''

** And a few Black Hole [=COs=] at the very least ''dress'' in a manner clearly meant to suggest Nazis, Flak (grunt soldier), Adder (officer), and Sturm (general) most obviously
*** Green Earth is also EXTREMLY German in their dresscode. Long coats, Stahlhelme and the like. Also, Jess fom Green Earth is especially good with tanks who both shoot harder and go faster, making it very easy to blitz.

* TimedMission: all missions in ''Game Boy Wars 3'', and a few in ''Advance Wars'' series; most cases in terms of turns, not actual time

*** Although in ''Dual Strike'' the timer is set for such a long time you can basically start the battle, have a shower, walk the dog, go to work, have an extended summer vacation and the timer still wont run out.

* TooDumbToLive The civilians from ''Days of Ruin''. Although understandable that they don't want to get involved in conflict, they keep forgetting that the Battalion is just about the only thing standing between them and oblivion. In particular, the "Mayor" turns the civilians against the Battalion primarily due to his fear that they will usurp his authority. [[spoiler: Near the end, he makes a deal with Caulder/Stolos for the cure to the Creeper and to be left alone. Caulder/Stolos reneges on his deal and kills the Mayor with the supposed "cure".]]
** [[spoiler: And he ''[[LaserGuidedKarma deserved]]'' it.]]
* TotallyRadical: Due to another {{Woolseyism}} (see below, Jake from ''Dual Strike'' speaks in a somewhat grating 90's slang dialect, using "words" such as "sup?" and "dude" when they're not especially appropriate. His Japanese counterpart, John, is extremely serious and uses his headphones for military communications.)

* TurnedAgainstTheirMasters: [[spoiler:Caulder was on both ends of this: he reveals himself to have been a clone who killed his own creator, the real Caulder; and Cyrus turns on him for being immoral]]
* UnexpectedGameplayChange: Combat mode in ''Dual Strike''
* UnstableEquilibrium: in Campaign in Game Boy Wars 3, you must build up a good army of units or you'll never stand a chance of even reaching [[ThatOneLevel Bissum Desert]] or the Zone E maps

* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: The last missions of each game (excluding the first) in the ''Advance Wars'' series all revolve around the {{Big Bad}}'s DoomsdayDevice or secret fortress hideout, which is usually guarded by numerous canons and/or giant laser guns.

** Leveling up units in Super Famicom Wars, Game Boy Wars 3, and Days of Ruin
** Materials in Game Boy Wars 3 makes lesser unit losses more punishing
** Arrangement in Game Boy Wars 3's Campaign mode

* VillainDecay: Hawke, the same person that marched his troops by an erupting volcano for a strategic advantage, who basically crushed an entire country, and abandoned his army as they fell at the liberation of Green Earth. At the end of Black Hole Rising, just when the allies are about to win, Hawke [[spoiler: kills Sturm personally and basically regards the whole of the game as a 'test of his skills']]. Cut to the start of Dual Strike, and suddenly not only is Hawke NOT in charge of Black Hole, he's barely even an important member whom is [[spoiler: deposed of when he stumbles upon the truth]].

* WarForFunAndProfit: Sturm in the first ''Advance Wars''. Caulder/Stolos in ''Days of Ruin'' does War For Fun And ForSCIENCE!, but explicitly not profit

** [[TwoWords Three Words]]: [[RuleofCool Rule of Cool]]

* ZergRush: Mech Spamming. It can work against ground-based army short of Medium Tanks but the strategy falls apart if air units come into play...

* AwesomeYetPractical: Neotanks are more powerful than Md Tanks, but have none of the latter's weaknesses, barring cost naturally. (Loss of mobility/fuel compared to light tanks) This ''really'' shows in Dual Strike, where although they're a bit weaker than Megatanks, their lack of crippling flaws means they're the better option most of the time. And they're a little cheaper too!

* BadBoss: Deconstructed with Greyfield. He threatens his men with execution for having the Creeper virus (among many other reasons) which leads directly to its rampart spread when the infected keep quiet about it and stay in close contact with the healthy. It gets so bad [[spoiler: Greyfield himself gets it, and Caulder doesn't hesitate to point out the delicious irony/hypocrisy]].

** [=COs=] with short power bars also stand out - such as Colin, Sensei, Adder, and Sasha with their two-star regular CO powers, and Sonja, Adder, Hachi, and Koal with five-star Super CO Powers. Borders on AwesomeYetPractical with Colin, Sensei, and Hachi. Note that Adder appears on both lists.

* CerebusSyndrome: The plot got somewhat more serious between the original ''Advance Wars'' and ''Black Hole Rising'', the plot between ''Black Hole Rising'' and ''Dual Strike'' was even more so, and the ''[[ContinuityReboot Days of Ruin]]'' was as serious as ever.
* CharacterDevelopment: Nearly all the CO's got fleshed out between Advance Wars 1 and 2, especially the non-Orange Star ones that the character now gets to control. Olaf went from a bumbling villain to a grumpy but competent leader, Kanbei went from silly levels of idiocy to an honorable but tactically-dense emperor, Eagle went from a revenge-driven {{Jerkass}} that never thought things through to a more reasonable team player, and so on.

** Aircraft Carriers, which also ferry an air force overseas. [[hottip:*:Aircraft carriers work quite differently between ''Dual Strike'' and ''Days of Ruin''. They can carry two aircraft in both games, but other than that, they're very different. In ''Dual Strike'', aircraft carriers are powerful indirect attackers with a range of 3-8 squares. In ''Days of Ruin'', aircraft carriers themselves can only attack at close range with rather weak machine guns, but the aircraft they're carrying can launch from it, move, and attack in the same action, assuming that the carrier itself hasn't moved any distance. Aircraft carriers in ''Days of Ruin'' can also produce seaplanes, which are capable of attacking any unit in the game for decent damage. To top it off, they repair the aircraft they're carrying every turn, just like an airport.]]