Don't Worry, Nintendo Hasn't Cancelled Advance Wars For Switch

It'll probably be released late next April, only to be overshadowed by Zelda that released a few weeks after.

I was expecting a release date from the Direct. I just hope that this game doesn't get forgotten by people since the marketing for it has been quiet for a while now.

Nintendo is going to sit on it until world peace is attained, apparently.

Stephen Tostitos

Already replayed through the original advance wars 1&2 since this has been delayed, so...

I imagine many probably did the same. Let's face it, some voice acting and a new coat of paint doesn't change the core experience of this series at all.

But it kinda stinks because I can see the launch sales being even lower now after delays

I highly doubt Nintendo is going to pull the plug on this game, not when it's in a near-finished state, and especially not when so many people want to play it.

The only reason why they cancelled Star Fox 2 (which was nearly finished) was because the Nintendo 64 was right around the corner, and they felt the series would make a better splash on the newer hardware than on the SNES.

Today, if Nintendo cancelled the game, they'd be pulling a Batgirl, and we all know how much flak Warner Brothers got for that.

And look at Metroid Dread: that project was shelved for over 15 years before it was finally released. And the aforementioned Star Fox 2 was released over 20 years later. So this game will eventually come out.

lol literally a “soon” reply with no actual release date update mentioned in this direct.

Wouldn’t surprise me they are literally waiting until the Russia/Ukraine conflict ends as some form of double downing misguided moral highroad guided decision to save face lol.

The game was literally done too for a long time. Someone actually got to play the game before the plug was pulled.

Would be hilarious if BoTW 2 released before this game just so Nintendo saves face from their initial irrational decision for cheap virtue points

I'm hoping we finally get a release date next year. I was so excited to play the first two games as I only got into the franchise with Days of Ruin on the DS.

It's a good thing there's no shortages of Tactical/strategy rpgs coming out soon 😋

I mean we got "very near completion" Pikmin 4 after only 7 years, can't have everything at once. 😂

I want it…but there is a new FE on the way. I can wait.

Hopefully in this time they've improved the visuals to more of a pixelated, cel-shaded art style more like the originals. The remake seemed to lack the charm of the original in the trailers visually imo.

Also, it's pretty puzzling & peculiar that they delayed Advance Wars due to the ongoing conflict, but promoted and are releasing Goldeneye which actually heavily features Russian soldiers & infantry. I'm not opposed to releasing either medium of entertainment, just find that to be curious reasoning.

Also also, so I guess that means no Battalion Wars 3 or new Nintendo published Army Men: Sarge's Heroes anytime soon either huh? Dang.

... Wun can only hope.

Watch them release it the day after the war ends.

How bout just make an Advance Wars 3 while they're at it.

@NintendoByNature Looking at the facts that I 1. Own Three Houses and still haven't played any route, 2. Need to at least try the Triangle Strategy demo (and maybe the full game if I like it enough), and 3. Fire Emblem Engage was announced today, I think this is one I can safely wait on.

Does anyone else think it was insane that Nintendo could simply take over that persons game and delete it?! How come there are no articles about this? The person gained access to Advance Wars, had the game on their switch, played it and Nintendo was able to delete the game from the switch without the owners consent. This is huge! That's another reason I hate digital games as we are really just renting them.

@AstroTheGamosian

I mostly agree with you and don't think this will happen. But I also don't think cancelling or not releasing a nearly completed game is out of the realm of possibilities. In fact I think there are far more instances of this happening in gaming than any other modern medium perhaps. And while there would surely be disappointment, I also don't think there would be 'Batgirl' type or levels of coverage and outspoken backlash by the participants. I'd say the gaming industry and it's consumers are more accustom to unpopular decisions. It would be unfortunate though and hopefully it comes sooner than later and this doesn't set a weird precedent of releases having to account for real-world events and states.

... Wun can only hope.

@5th313ment

yea that was wild lol. I didn't even know that was possible. And you're right, not much coverage on that. Crazy times. I wonder if that person got some sort of backroom NDA deal for their compliance from Ninty on the low. However they probably just got some Platinum & Gold Coins and Club Nintendo merch smh damn.

... Wun can only hope.

@Tyranexx haha yep! And we have sparks of hope, front mission, and tactics ogre or whatever. So quite a bit of Tactical rpgs between now and January!

Feel like they’ll have edited the game so deeply to be sensitive towards the war going on it’ll just be a bad experience once it ever comes out. On the flip side, we could have the first video game to end a war due to the rioting of gamers that will uprise and end all world wars.

@5th313ment which also proves that Nintendo could offer refunds on digital games if they wanted. Clearly the technology is there and working already.

@NintendoByNature Outside of Mario + Rabbids, I'm ashamed to admit I forgot about the rest of those lol.

I mean obviously the game is still coming out. The game is all done, considering that they delayed it just like a month or something before it was supposed to come out.

They're just sitting on the finished game for half a year now waiting for the Ukraine war to be over. Which is the most bizarre decision considering it's a cartoony war game and there have been plenty of highly realistic war games that have come out during other wars lol. Basically once the Ukraine war is over Nintendo will announce that it is launching. So hopefully for both Ukraine and Europe in general and Nintendo gamers, it'll launch sometime next year.

Just launch the damn game already. This virtue signaling nonsense doesn’t benefit anyone.

I was disappointed to not seeing AW during the direct. Shameful behavior by Nintendo lol

@MrHonest Nintendo should donate some proceeds to the victims of the war and release the game. That'd probably increase sales, good pr etc but Nintendo is so weird

I feel like people aren't understanding why this game's release is so important. This is an instance of Nintendo reviving a dead IP and outsourcing it to studios with devs who probably played and loved the original releases when they were younger. I feel like if this game does well, Nintendo could do this again. I have hope in WayForward. I'm praying this game sees the light soon.

I hope they're using this time to polish and add features to the game, maybe I'll buy it when it finally releases

@Fizza oh boy…look up the release date of the 1st game…

By the time this game releases, all hype for it will be long gone.

Great games that deserve better...especially with what could be a genuinely deep and hugely addictive multiplayer aspect.

That is true but it was delayed because of "recent world events", not because the game was unfinished.

I was a little worried. Good Direct and all, but I had been hoping to get that nice early Christmas present of "Advance Wars, releasing December 2nd" or some such. Still, if they're willing to put out a new Fire Emblem game in January, with all its themes of war and conquest, I feel like they may as well just go ahead and send out Advance Wars.

Delaying it for the ukraine wars is one of the most stupid things nintendo has done, most people understand the difference between real life and gaming. The only one that (pretend) didn't understand it are those freaks at twitter, and their kind didn't buy games, they only complain about it.

Oh, and this direct is good, new trpg fire emblem, new zelda, bayonetta 3, octopath traveler 2, rune factory 3 special, fatal frame, and that new games from danganronpa devs, there's a couple of games that I'll buy from this direct 😃

This is why war is bad: games get delayed. No wars = All the games.

@5th313ment
To be fair this is one of the few, if only times ive seen where people lost access to digital content on their system like that and it was under some very unusual circumstances.

Normally digital games should be playable even if the game is delisted or in the case of something like PT, completely scrubbed off the servers, its far from perfect but definitely feels preferable to things like cloud or service based gaming where you cant play the game once the service is down or it is delisted.

Yes, war irl is bad, but this is getting ridiculous.

I think we have gotten used to hearing about the war in Ukraine so much we have forgotten how big of a shock it was when it started. I think Nintendo did the right thing when they delayed it. But now they are in a tight spot. Should they wait until the conflict is over? That could be in a few months or in two years. Do they wait until public interest in the war has slowed down a bit? That seemed to happen in the last 4-6 weeks, but then Ukraine started its counter offensive and now everybody is talking about the war again.

@Jimmy_G_Buckets That would’ve been way better.

Amazon recently updated their listing from 'we don't know when...' to 'Dec 31st 22'.

I'm guessing it will be on shop shelves one day without an Internet announcement.

If you look at the CS tournaments this year, that community seems totally undisturbed by the war: https://escharts.com/upcoming-tournaments/csgo

Nintendo displays PR at a whole different level that we will never truly understand. I'm not overly disappointed because they haven't completely stopped giving us games. I'm just disappointed in the decisions made that led to this whole situation.

I have been asking for years for a new one in the series, but having played the originals for a very long time I do not want to go back. I wanted a new game so can you all please buy this one and then I might get my wish.
If you haven't played these games and you like the type then I rate these games as almost perfect.

if its not announced soon its cancelled

Since my analogue pocket is coming before the end of the year, might be replaying the originals soon.... still hope the poor series gets launched... remains my favorite turn based strategy game

I thought Nintendo said they are halting sales in Russia? The official Russian site was updated with Splatoon 3, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and Mario Strikers. As for Advance Wars, I hope Nintendo is not waiting for the war to end to release it because it will not end anytime soon.

Probably being dense, but why don't they just release it? Fortnite had an invasion season around the time the conflict started, and nobody said anything about that.

Can Nintendo access my Nintendo Switch and delete any game....and refund me?

So Nintendo does not offer privacy to its users. This is really frustrating. A breach of trust.

So...Nintendo could refund any digital game....like steam.
But Nintendon´t...
hm

sad.

I was under the assumption they paid that woman to delete the game from her switch and paid Her a pittance to not leak to pirates. haha

@countzero Eventually the war will end soon, Ukraine already won back most of their territories from the Russian army and members of the Russian regime are dying, even Vladimir Putin himself is hit by an incurable sickness atm cause by himself really. Ukraine will still win even if they do nothing, the Russian had nowhere to go for supplies and almost every place in Russia is in turmoil plus the Chinese choose not to back them up. This game will be release very soon.

Time to play through Tiny Metal 1+2 again instead I guess.

@WanzerAce I honestly prefer the pixal art of the originals over the look of this new one anyway…

Nintendo. Grow a spine. It’s that simple unless you’re disgustingly using a war to cover up some other incompetent failing on finishing this up. Using a war as an excuse to delay a cartoon bloodless turn based combat board game is despicable.

Hope it bombs just to show companies that delaying games for stupid reasons shouldn't be a thing

Keep on delaying it if you want but it may never see the light of day if (most likely when) Putin hits his nuke button.

I get not releasing the game when the war was just starting, but now? I don’t think people would be mad

You don’t understand guys, they need to meet their 75 farming-RPG’s quota first!

@Scaredy_Cat my problem with Tiny Metal is: this game is only fog of war...but the fog is only to you, not to the oponent AI

They should just make changes to the game to remove the Russians. Problem solved.

@Zimon agree. I don't know why there isn't a two hour refund ability for the eShop. Even an hour would be better than nothing.

I got tired of waiting. I just started playing the OG advanced wars on GBA while at work. I’m good now.

Nintendo, I'm going to cancel my pre-order soon and forget about this game if it doesn't release soon.

Their will always be war so by your logic you will never release this game? I mean COD is more intense and graphic than this in its depiction of war and that is still releasing on time. This didn't have to be delayed for so long and who knows how much longer.

@AstroTheGamosian Meanwhile, me sitting in the corner over Kirby GameCube being announced at E3 2005, confirmed for a late-2005 release date and then being pulled because they could not find a gimmick with co-op, lmao.

@Notshane While Nintendo is known for their gameplay gimmicks, I think they sometimes rely too much on them. It potentially leads to the story (which is, to me, the most important element of a game) being sacrificed.

It's the same thing with their consoles as well. They rely too much on some sort of gimmick, and their track record has been hit or miss.

While you have hits like the Game Boy, DS, 3DS, Wii, and Switch, you also have misses like the Virtual Boy, GameCube, and Wii U. All of them had some sort of gimmick, but some succeeded where others failed.

Basically, Nintendo's last traditional console was the N64, but some argue that their use of cartridges while their competitors used discs put them behind the competition. It's for that reason why we have those "I haven't been a Nintendo fan since the SNES" kinds of people, when Nintendo led the pack.

Gimmick or no gimmick, I'd still buy a Nintendo game or console. But I would love to see Nintendo go the traditional route at least once in the future, making a console that stands on par with it's competitors, even though some people argue that they don't need to.

@AstroTheGamosian That was a very well-written insight. Showing that you're still very much a Nintendo fan, but acknowledging that it'd be great to see Nintendo try a more simple route in regard to game development once without relying on a specific console's strength.

I enjoyed that read. Though I do still enjoy a lot of things about those "misses" you mentioned, I understand where they could've excelled more. Amidst them, though, the Wii U was the greatest of ideas and I am sad it was never fully realized. GameCube being a close second.

@Notshane Oh, believe me, I still enjoy those "misses" as well. In fact, some of my favorite games of all time were on the GameCube. The Wii U was a good concept, but poorly realized and marketed. I was hoping they could turn things around with it like they did the 3DS, but I freely admit that it was a flop (but nowhere near as much of a flop as the Virtual Boy).

And yet, nothing was stopping third-party developers from designing their games around a traditional control scheme. As it is, it was third-party developers who carried the Xbox One and PS4 during the majority of their lifespan, especially in the beginning, yet they wrote off Nintendo way too quickly.

Of course, some of the more fanboy types will insist that what I said was wrong, that Nintendo doesn't or shouldn't go the traditional route once again. But the reality is, if future generations of Xbox and PlayStation are running games that are bigger, better, and more lifelike, while Nintendo is still operating on hardware from a couple generations ago, they WILL be left behind--gimmick or no gimmick--whether they like it or not.

If anything, the Wii U was a harbinger of things to come if Nintendo continues to rely too much on gimmicks and not enough on power. While the Switch's gimmick was wildly successful, that formula will not necessarily translate into further success down the road. The more people realize that, especially within Nintendo itself, the more likely Nintendo will be able to truly compete in an ever-expanding industry.