Battalion Wars

Wage war against a tyrannical empire in this real time tactical action game.

NA release: 19th September 2005
JP release: 27th October 2005
EU release: 9th December 2005
Developer: Kuju London
Publisher: Nintendo
NGC Magazine Score: 90%
Mods Used: Widescreen Code

After making the rather dreadful Reign of Fire, Kuju London ended up working with Nintendo with an idea that would blend turn based and real time strategy. While it was initially developed under the name “Advance Wars: Under Fire”, it had its own gameplay elements and story. Nintendo of America wanted to avoid connections to Advance Wars, so it was renamed Battalion Wars (although it was still called Famicom Wars in Japan). This idea failed spectacularly at separating it from Advance Wars as it still sounds like an Advance Wars spin off, and everyone presumed it was part of the franchise anyway.

Replaying Battalion Wars, I understand what the developers were trying to do with Reign of Fire, where you were part of an army using different vehicles. It didn’t work (likely due to budget and deadlines). Battalion Wars takes this concept much further, with a very colourful and cheerful visual style alongside it (one that fits Advance Wars really well, hence why people associate the two so much). You have cartoony generals and troops that reminds me a lot of Worms.

You control one unit and can move and shoot, with a lock-on to help target enemy units. You don’t have dual analogue control (which I’m not a fan of) as the C-stick is used to select between different unit types (or even individual units) to order them to stand guard, follow you or attack your target. The D-pad is only used to swap between two camera angles, so I feel like the D-pad would be better to select with full camera control on the C-stick. However, the most important part of this is the Z button.

The Z button lets you directly take control of another unit, swapping between infantry, tanks, helicopters, planes and more. Each unit has their own strengths, weaknesses and abilities and, most importantly, they’re all enjoyable to use. As you can always command other units, you don’t have to worry if you don’t want to control a specific kind of unit, as you just need to tell it what to attack.

Battalion Wars certainly has plenty of flaws – selecting units to control in the heat of battle is a bit of a mess – but there’s just a wonderful vibe throughout the whole game. I found myself smiling from start to finish and there’s enough missions where you can approach your own way, from having your entire army follow you, sitting back and trying to command your army properly or just trying to go it alone. Great stuff.

Great

When you’re presented with something that’s such an accomplished labour of love, it’s very difficult not to recommend it, let alone be disappointed by it. This was a very pleasant surprise indeed and, we hope, the first of many in the future.
Geraint Evans, NGC Magazine #113

Remake or remaster?

A remastered collection of both games with more control options (let use use both sticks to move an aim) would be wonderful. I think it was a massive missed opportunity to not make one for the Wii U, the second screen would be great for ordering troops.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to buy Battalion Wars