Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp (21st April 2023)

[darksnowman]

Absolute no-brainer. It would be completely insensitive to be promoting a game like this right now.

[MindFreak]

Yeah, that was so obvious that even I though of it!

[Dcubed]

For those still holding out hope that Nintendo will still release this game... Need I remind you all that Nintendo is notorious for sitting on completely finished games and never releasing them?

 

NES: Simcity, Earthbound Beginnings

SNES: Starfox 2, Special Tee Shot, Kid Kirby, Sound Fantasy

Virtual Boy: Zero Racers

N64: Animal Crossing (Western Release), Sin & Punishment (Western Release), Panel De Pon 64 (Remade into Pokemon Puzzle League; eventually released as part of Nintendo Puzzle Collection for the GCN), The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time: Master Quest (Released on GCN)

GCN: Super Paper Mario (ported over to Wii), DK Barrel Blast (ported to WiI), Kirby Gamecube (parts of this game were salvaged for Kirby's Adventure Wii), Nintendo Puzzle Collection (Western Release)

Wii:  Project Zero 4 (Western Release), Disaster Day of Crisis (US Release), Captain Rainbow (Western Release), Line Attack Heroes (Western Release), Pikmin 3 (ported to Wii U)

Wii U:  Pikmin 4, Fire Emblem NES English localisation (Ported over to Switch), Mother 3 English (supposedly finished but ultimately had its release cancelled when they started winding down Wii U support in favour of Switch).

GB/C: Pokemon Picross, X (Western Release - this was actually just recently leaked!), Metroid 2 DX, Tomato Adventure (Remade for GBA)

GBA: Drill Dozer EU version, Kururin Paradise EU version, Wario Ware Twisted EU version, Advance Wars 1 JPN version (eventually bundled with Advance Wars 2 when it was released in Japan 3 years later)

DS: Steel Diver DSiware, Daigasso! Band Brothers Western Release (cancelled in favour of releasing the sequel in EU territories instead), Advance Wars Days of Ruin JPN version (eventually given away for free as a DSiWare download for a limited time only).

 

Funnily enough, I just recently made a post about how strange it was that Switch didn't have as many high profile cancellations as previous Nintendo consoles... Guess AW 1+2 will now be joining this list  

Edited March 9, 2022 by Dcubed

[Ronnie]

2 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

Guess AW 1+2 will now be joining this list  

They said it's being delayed. Not cancelled. If it does get cancelled then by all means add it to the list. Until then, wait and see.

[killthenet]

Yeah, it's a completely understandable decision to postpone the release given the situation in Ukraine. There is no indication that the release will be shelved indefinitely, I think you're overreacting @Dcubed

[Ashley]

28 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

For those still holding out hope that Nintendo will still release this game... Need I remind you all that Nintendo is notorious for sitting on completely finished games and never releasing them?

 

NES: Simcity, Earthbound Beginnings

SNES: Starfox 2, Special Tee Shot, Kid Kirby

Virtual Boy: Zero Racers

N64: Animal Crossing (Western Release), Sin & Punishment (Western Release), Panel De Pon 64 (Remade into Pokemon Puzzle League; eventually released as part of Nintendo Puzzle Collection for the GCN), The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time: Master Quest (Released on GCN)

GCN: Super Paper Mario (ported over to Wii), DK Barrel Blast (ported to WiI), Kirby Gamecube (parts of this game were salvaged for Kirby's Adventure Wii), Nintendo Puzzle Collection (Western Release)

Wii:  Project Zero 4 (Western Release), Disaster Day of Crisis (US Release), Captain Rainbow (Western Release), Line Attack Heroes (Western Release), Pikmin 3 (ported to Wii U)

Wii U:  Pikmin 4, Fire Emblem NES English localisation (Ported over to Switch), Mother 3 English (supposedly finished but ultimately had its release cancelled when they started winding down Wii U support in favour of Switch).

GB/C: Pokemon Picross, X (Western Release - this was actually just recently leaked!), Metroid 2 DX, Tomato Adventure (Remade for GBA)

GBA: Drill Dozer EU version, Kururin Paradise EU version, Wario Ware Twisted EU version, Advance Wars 1 JPN version (eventually bundled with Advance Wars 2 when it was released in Japan 3 years later)

DS: Steel Diver DSiware, Daigasso! Band Brothers Western Release (cancelled in favour of releasing the sequel in EU territories instead), Advance Wars Days of Ruin JPN version (eventually given away for free as a DSiWare download for a limited time only).

 

Funnily enough, I just recently made a post about how strange it was that Switch didn't have as many high profile cancellations as previous Nintendo consoles... Guess AW 1+2 will now be joining this list  

There's ~4 entries per system (and some of them did get released, just in a different form/console) which must work out to single figure percentage points per console. "Notorious" might be a stretch.

Did titles like Captain Rainbow actually get localised and then cancelled? Or just not localised because that's not really "completely finished".

[Dcubed]

Just now, killthenet said:

Yeah, it's a completely understandable decision to postpone the release given the situation in Ukraine. There is no indication that the release will be shelved indefinitely, I think you're overreacting @Dcubed

Going by Nintendo's history? It's a perfectly reasonable stance to take.  They are notorious for super overreacting to world events, especially with the AW series, and it's absolutely their SOP to cancel and sit on fully completed releases indefinitely.

I'm willing to bet money on AW 1+2 never getting a retail release on Switch now.

Hopefully Wayforward will get another chance to take a crack at some of Nintendo's more forgotten IP in the future though.

[Dcubed]

10 minutes ago, Ashley said:

There's ~4 entries per system (and some of them did get released, just in a different form/console) which must work out to single figure percentage points per console. "Notorious" might be a stretch.

Did titles like Captain Rainbow actually get localised and then cancelled? Or just not localised because that's not really "completely finished".

Can't remember exactly where I read it, but word on the street is that a Captain Rainbow localisation was done and finished before being shelved forever; same with Mother 3 on Wii U.

This isn't abnormal for Nintendo as a company, so I'm inclined to believe the tale.  There's plenty of other examples that we know of with certainty, even ones that haven't had their ROMs eventually released via VC (such as Drill Dozer EU version) or leaked (X for GB being a recent example); such as Arcaic Sealed Heat for the DS and Project Zero 4 for Wii, which we know were localised but shelved indefinitely for various reasons.

This is absolutely standard fare for Nintendo... hell, it was actually abnormal that we didn't already see more cancellations for Switch; something that I already highlighted in the main Switch just a few days ago in fact!

Edited March 9, 2022 by Dcubed

[Julius]

1 hour ago, Dcubed said:

For those still holding out hope that Nintendo will still release this game... Need I remind you all that Nintendo is notorious for sitting on completely finished games and never releasing them?

Except there's a perfectly valid and understandable reason that it's been delayed, and as has been said, they said that it's being delayed. I don't think it's time to freak out just yet. 

Now, if things miraculously wind down in Ukraine by mid-June when we'd expect a special Direct from Nintendo (I'd give wiggle room up until the end of July considering E3 seems all but gone), and if we don't see it during their big summer Direct, then by all means I think we can start to question what's going on. But again, it all depends on the climate and situation in Ukraine by that time -- if at that point in time things are still anywhere near as bad as they are now, I wouldn't be surprised if it releases somewhere between September and December.

I still think it'll release; the world and this industry is very different to how it was back when the original games first released, and it takes a whole lot less for a company like Nintendo to market a game like this than was the case back then. I can see why in the days of the GBA a game like this might get cancelled if it was delayed, because there would be practically zero marketing momentum, logistics were more of a nightmare, etc. Nintendo can tweet that the game is coming May 15th or whatever in a month's time - if things have stopped being as crazy as they are - and instantly get far more eyes on the game that way than they would have been able to back in the early 2000's. 

There are plenty of other games to play for the time being, and like @Hero-of-Time says, and as I agree wholeheartedly: considering what's going on, it really doesn't matter. It's a game which will no doubt make some people smile, frustrate others, or just be completely ignored by some sections of the Switch crowd, and that's fine. At the end of the day, it's just a game. 

I'm surprised by the delay -- I genuinely didn't think it would happen myself. But again, fair play to Nintendo, because it's the right thing to do. 

Edited March 9, 2022 by Julius

[Glen-i]

1 hour ago, Julius said:

I'm surprised by the delay -- I genuinely didn't think it would happen myself. But again, fair play to Nintendo, because it's the right thing to do. 

I'm not, I knew it'd be delayed as soon as Ukraine was invaded, especially given how AW1 starts.

Speaking of, it's worth remembering that the original Advance Wars got a 3 month delay in Europe because the American release happened the day before 9/11.

So let's wait a few months before panicking, eh?

[Jonnas]

I was wondering the other day how the Russian invasion would affect the discourse around Advance Wars (especially when the very first arc in the story is about fighting a stereotypically Russian fellow).

I think Nintendo made the right call here, sticking to the original release date would be tasteless at best.

3 hours ago, Dcubed said:

Nintendo is notorious for sitting on completely finished games and never releasing them

For cryin' out loud... the vast majority of titles you mentioned were localizations in specific territories, and you even snuck in some titles that merely changed systems (you cannot in any good faith claim that Super Paper Mario "never released"). The announcement itself promises a further release date. There's no need to overreact to this.

Nintendo is not going to unilaterally cancel an entire game made by a trusted 3rd party, one month before it was meant for release. You can claim it's not going to release in Japan, but that part was true even at the time it was announced.

[Dcubed]

26 minutes ago, Jonnas said:

For cryin' out loud... the vast majority of titles you mentioned were localizations in specific territories, and you even snuck in some titles that merely changed systems (you cannot in any good faith claim that Super Paper Mario "never released"). The announcement itself promises a further release date. There's no need to overreact to this.

Nintendo is not going to unilaterally cancel an entire game made by a trusted 3rd party, one month before it was meant for release. You can claim it's not going to release in Japan, but that part was true even at the time it was announced.

The Gamecube version was 100% finished and ready for release before it was shelved in favour of porting it to the Wii (the GCN version was just about 2-3 months away from release after its E3 showing).  The point of its inclusion in that list (and indeed, the point of the list entierly) is to highlight how Nintendo very commonly cancel 100% completed releases for various reasons; be it political, technical, PR related (Starfox 2 being a famous example) or to push over to another platform instead.  AW1+2 being 100% completed and ready for release does not preclude a cancellation at all.  Also, those games all have 100% completed localisations, even the region exclusive games are perfectly fine examples of finished products that Nintendo decided to sit on instead of releasing (in some cases, they did eventually get VC releases though).

In looking at just the Advance Wars series alone, we have had two cancellations of 100% completed Japanese releases owing to world events.  This is not new territory for Nintendo, in fact, it is absolutely normal for them to do this.  If anything, Switch has been an outlier to the usual trend!  And when it comes to cancellations of Nintendo releases, very rarely do Nintendo make public announcements regarding a cancellation (Namco's original version of Metroid Prime 4 is a notable exception to the trend, which is why it was so shocking when it happened); instead, it is almost always done through an indefinite delay (be it done publicly or quietly).

At this point in Switch's lifecycle, I cannot realistically see AW 1+2 getting a retail release now.  This conflict is not going to blow over any time soon, and by the time that Nintendo's PR department deems it "safe" to release AW1+2? Switch 2 will almost certainly already have been announced, if not already on store shelves; well past the point of viablity for a retail release of this game.

For what it's worth, if the game was releasing towards the start of the Switch's lifecycle and this same event/delay happened? I would just assume that Nintendo would eventually release the game at retail... But we're not at that point.  We're instead coming to the end of the Switch's life; and it's too late for AW1+2 to have a 3rd crack at a retail release now.

Edited March 9, 2022 by Dcubed

[Sheikah]

At this point in Switch's lifecycle, I cannot realistically see AW 1+2 getting a retail release now.  This conflict is not going to blow over any time soon, and by the time that Nintendo's PR department deems it "safe" to release AW1+2? Switch 2 will almost certainly already have been announced, if not already on store shelves; well past the point of viablity for a retail release of this game.

So they'll do what you've been saying they often do then - release it on Switch 2 instead. It'll all be fine. [emoji14]

[Dcubed]

3 minutes ago, Sheikah said:

So they'll do what you've been saying they often do then - release it on Switch 2 instead. It'll all be fine.

Do you really think that a game as niche as Advance Wars has a realistic shot at getting ported/remade onto Switch 2? We're lucky that this game even got made/announced at all! No way are they throwing away even more money at this game now!

As much as it pains me to say it, it's just not a viable option for Nintendo to pursue.  The game is too niche, and they've already overspent on the project as it is.  I can't see it happening for this one

Edited March 9, 2022 by Dcubed

[Ike]

Guess Fire Emblem is cancelled too. And Splatoon 3.

[Sheikah]

Do you really think that a game as niche as Advance Wars has a realistic shot at getting ported/remade onto Switch 2? We're lucky that this game even got made/announced at all! No way are they throwing away even more money at this game now!

As much as it pains me to say it, it's just not a viable option for Nintendo to pursue.  The game is too niche, and they've already overspent on the project as it is.  I can't see it happening for this one [emoji20]

Ported/remade? I'd be gobsmacked if Switch games weren't mostly compatible with Switch 2. It's the way games consoles are going now - people are expecting their games to work on the next console.

Anyway, let's all look forward to quoting all these sensationalising posts in future when this game is eventually released.

[Dcubed]

Just now, Sheikah said:

Anyway, let's all look forward to quoting all these sensationalising posts in future when this game is eventually released.

I fucking hope we do!!! For once, I don't want to be right!!

[MindFreak]

I don't see any recent (as in for the past 7 or so years) examples in that list. And no game in recent time where we have already seen it.

Plus, they are probably almost done printing the game, ready to ship it within the next couple of weeks. Having them stored somewhere shouldn't cost them a huge amount of money and as soon as the conflict is de escalated by the end of March, they will announce a new date for the game. (Military analysts don't expect the war to go on beyond March.) 

I also think that one of the reasons for this is that the war makes advertising the game really hard so instead of just sending it out without any promotion, they hold on to it. 

[Ronnie]

3 hours ago, Ike said:

Guess Fire Emblem is cancelled too. And Splatoon 3.

Yep, may as well cancel all future games. The Switch "is at the end of its life" after all. Now where have I heard that before.

[Glen-i]

10 hours ago, Ike said:

Guess Fire Emblem is cancelled too. And Splatoon 3.

Yeah... Advance Wars is light years away from those two in terms of popularity, even without it's horrendous luck with world events. Hardly the same thing.

[darksnowman]

11 hours ago, Ike said:

Guess Fire Emblem is cancelled too. And Splatoon 3.

Say it ain't so.

[Ashley]

Plus it's not like Nintendo hasn't released a game at the end of a console's life before. 

I could see maybe if this carries on for a while they may "quietly" just release it digitally but I could see it being close to the end of the year before we see anything.

[Mr-Paul]

Surely all the game cards will have been printed/whatever the right word is for making a Switch cartridge.

It'll be released. Who knows when. It may be a limited physical release of what was already produced, plus digital. I'd have thought Switch 2 will be compatible for digital unless Nintendo decide to go a different direction.

But now is not the right time. A very sensible and sensitive decision.

[Dcubed]

Pirated copies have leaked it seems…

[Ashley]

I like that very believable story.