Advance Wars Moves for Haters (Part 1)

With the release of Advance Wars: Days of Ruin, multiplayer is bigger than ever now that Wi-Fi play is included. But before we all forget about the old-school AW series multiplayer, I would like to present the top ten AW techniques that will cause your opponent to yell, punch or possibly throw their (or your) DS. Keep in mind that these are based on the first three games in the series and don't necessarily apply to Days of Ruin, although some of them still do. But since you aren't within punching range of your opponent most of the time, not as funny. Alright then, shall we begin?

10. Unlimited Power (at least it seems like it)
Commanding Officers (COs) in Advance Wars 2 and Dual Strike had two powers, one regular power, and one super power. While most people saved up for the game changing super, I knew a few that preferred normal powers, and since it didn't take much to charge them, it seemed that they used it every three or four days (in some cases every other day!). In AW2, before they changed snow from unit slowing terror to fuel draining nuisance, Olaf could use Blizzard over, and over, and over. Constantly forcing you to rethink your strategy. Or how about Andy? Fighting a Hyper Repair abuser was like fighting Cell in DragonBall Z. Keep trying, they just won't stay down.

9. AMBUSH!!
Games with fog of war (where you can't see anywhere your units aren't at) turn a all out gunfight to a strategic hunt. Nothing makes you jump like going across a forest and seeing "TRAP!" and realizing in horror that you have run into your opponents mega-tank. Then comes the worst part. That mega-tank was leading a battalion, one that now has the jump on you. You suddenly go from confident to panicked. Trying to retreat and regroup at the same time. All while getting shot down like prom night hopes.

8. Where's Aerith When You Need Her?
Sturm in Advance Wars 1 and 2 was awesome. He was a robot who hated love, peace, and harmony (probably kittens, puppies, and your mother too). He was the final boss in Advance Wars 1, a mysterious CO that turned every army in the world against yours. By the time you finally fought him, you were ready to kick his a**. His mobile units, and his overpowered troops did damage but you fought back. So you do some damage to him, and suddenly realized "Wait a sec, what is his power?" Too late!! Sturm calls a meteor down to crush your best troops in a fashion so devastating not even a praying flower girl could save you. It homes in on your most expensive units and cripples them, taking 80 percent of their HP, reducing them to scrap. His forces finish them off and it's back to the drawing board for you. Using that in multiplayer is the equivalent of a middle finger, seriously.

7. Sisyphus, His Legacy Lives On
If you are not familiar with the story of Sisyphus in Greek Mythology, he was damned to push a rock up a hill for all eternity, if he got close to the top, he would lose control and have to start over.
How does this relate to Advance Wars? Well the last thing I mentioned was Sturm's Super Power. As devastating as that was, it only affected a small area of the map. The most deadly ones affect the whole map. Nothing is safe, nothing can hide. Most do damage to everything while boosting the CO's attack. A stalemate turns into a rout. For example. Say your CO is exchanging attacks with Hawke, then all of a sudden, Black Storm. His units heal two, all yours are damaged by two. So your army's advance just got halted and reversed in the same moment. All that time you spent building up your force, wasted. Due to this, most battles in the old AW series was a race to see who gets their power first. Don't even get me started on Tag Powers, basically, it says Game Over.

6. I SEE YOU!
Back before DS, AW multiplayer consisted of passing the DS around like a various substance at a party. Fog of War matches had the nice touch of having a black screen displayed before each army's turn. So that people wouldn't be able to see the other's army. Problem was, some people were clumsy, or just dirty. Nothing screws up your gameplan like getting the GBA and not seeing the black screen but seeing all of your units, all of a sudden, you become paranoid. "What did he see? How much did he see? Did he do it on purpose?" Gameplans become shaky and you are often forced to make changes that lead you to screw up. The worst part, is when next turn you find out your best units are heavily damaged/destroyed. That sub you thought was hidden? Gone. Your ambush party, wiped out. Maybe he didn't mean to look, but as the old adage goes. "You've watched it. You cant UN-watch it!"

That's all for this edition, think those are bad? The worst is yet to come. Next week I reveal the top 5 worst things to do. One of them I became infamous for in my AW circle and I'm PROUD of it. 'Til next time Ladies and Gents.

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