That Advance Wars Reboot Will Be Here Some Day

Remember me talking about Advance Wars? Well don't worry, I have more other things to say. Sit down child, this is a very important rant about the sorry state of a niche video game that has no fan base.

I'm ranting about the art direction. Something about the original GBA games, with the very simple animation and cute sprite work gave it some heart. The game was far from a technical marvel, nor did it have some beautiful, abstract art style. The graphics were practical, like war itself. The graphics were in total support of the gameplay. The bright colors helped differentiate things quickly when looking at the battlefield on a tiny, unlit GBA screen. Unit designs were varied so that you could tell a Tank from a Mega Tank with a quick glance. That they managed to squeeze a little personality into the game via Commanding Officers and a simple story mode felt like that Nintendo icing on the cake. Like how Miyamoto had original Star Fox designers Argonaut add a Fox to the game, and also decided that the Fox's best friends are all his natural prey.

What I'm trying to say is, I really think they should have just kept the original pixel style, and sharpened it up a little. Or better yet, Don't update it. Then toss it up on the eShop for like 10 bucks per game. Oh, they already did that? By releasing the original GBA versions on the Wii U Virtual Console?

I say, don't change it, because, I'm pretty much at a loss at what the art direction could be. I don't like what WayForward is doing, but I don't know what to do either.

That's not true. To be honest, I actually prefer the art style of the last Advance Wars reboot, Advance Wars Days of Ruin. It retained some of the Intelligent Systems art style, but had a grittier detail that feels more like a game about the destruction of war. The actual story mode and dialogue in the game remained the corny, lighthearted game that other Advance Wars we're, gritty art style be damned.

Forget about that gritty reboot of Advance Wars, imagine a gritty REBOOT of Advance Wars. Just like Bomberman Zero. I'd buy it. And the rest of the remaining Advance Wars fans would be divided once again, just like Days of Ruin. Days of ruin for Advance Wars fans, that's for sure…

Imagine all that, not so great. But then imagine if the folks behind Octopath Traveler and Live a Live got a shot at this remake with their super crisp HD sprite work. That, combined with the fantastic hand drawn art in those games would make the perfect fusion of graphics and gameplay, just like the originals. Man, why didn't I even think of that? Why didn't Nintendo think of that? I have my theories. The main one being that I feel like every other company is calling up Acquire Studio to doll up some of their old, pixel based IPs. For my much more ridiculous theories, I guess this Advance Wars discussion needs another post. Well it doesn't need any posts really, but here we go.