Advance Wars: Dual Strike

Turn-based warfare has never looked so clever and so adorable at the same time. Advance Wars: Dual Strike brings Nintendo's beloved turn-based strategy to the DS and uses both screens to play out battles on two fronts at once. You command units on a grid-based map, capture buildings, manage your finances, and send tanks, infantry, and aircraft against the enemy.

The key to the series lies in the commanders, the so-called COs, each of whom bends the rules in their own way: one lowers unit costs, another boosts firepower, yet another controls the weather. Dual Strike adds the option to deploy two commanders into battle at once and to combine their passive bonuses along with their devastating Super CO Power abilities. Meanwhile, the bottom screen can host a second battlefield, so keeping track of both is a strategic challenge in itself.

The series is developed by the Japanese studio Intelligent Systems under Nintendo, the same studio behind Fire Emblem. Dual Strike is the third main entry in the franchise and the first on the DS, following the successful titles from the Game Boy Advance. It offers an extensive campaign, a rich skirmish mode, and a War Room full of challenges for high-score hunters.

Culturally, Advance Wars earned fame as one of the most accessible yet deepest turn-based strategies for the everyday player, a genre that otherwise often feels aloof. Its clean rules, legible pixel graphics, and balanced mechanics made it a favorite of critics and the tactical-game community alike.

Today Dual Strike ranks among the most prized strategies on the DS, and the whole series enjoyed a comeback thanks to a modern remake of the first two entries. This, however, is the DS peak, where a simple concept became a master class in turn-based warfare.

Why play: An accessible yet deep turn-based strategy that cleverly engages both screens and a two-commander system.