Advance Wars Returns: A Fan-Made Campaign for the Black Hole Era
When Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising wrapped up on the Game Boy Advance, fans of its turn-based, grid-based warfare were left wanting more. Advance Wars Returns is one answer from the community: a ROM-hack of that game by the modder ViviTheBlossom, which replaces the official campaign with an entirely new story and its own missions while keeping the familiar look and feel of the Intelligent Systems original.
It is a finished project rather than a work in progress, and the version we reproduce is the 3.3 revision from July 2021. One enthusiast roundup of GBA hacks ranks it among the best, saying it feels like an official expansion rather than a rough patch, which gives a fair idea of its ambition.
At a glance
- Based on: Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising (Game Boy Advance, 2003)
- Created by: ViviTheBlossom
- Released: 2021 (version 3.3, July 2021)
- Genre: Turn-based tactics
- What sets it apart: a brand-new story and mission set, plus reworked commanding-officer mechanics
What changes from the original
The headline addition is the campaign: 42 new missions, playable on both a normal and a hard difficulty. Alongside it sits a rebuilt War Room with 30 standalone missions, the mode where you pick scenarios one at a time instead of following a story.
The CO (commanding officer) and CO-Power systems have been reworked, so tactics that worked in the base game do not simply carry over. If you know the series, expect to re-learn when a power is worth charging and how best to spend it.
Multiplayer has not been forgotten either. Part of the Versus mode map pool has been swapped for maps from the Advance Wars By Web community, which are designed with player-versus-player balance in mind.
A collector's angle
Fan-made tactics sequels for the GBA are uncommon as physical objects. This one is a natural fit for anyone who finished both official Advance Wars games on GBA and wished for a third.