Collection essentials #603: Advance Wars: Dual Strike (DS)

The two Advance Wars games were among the best offerings in the GBA library. The turn-based strategy gameplay perfectly towed the line between accessibility and complexity which can be very difficult for others in the genre. You can read more about those games and how the basics of gameplay work in my previous post about them. https://samsessentials.blogspot.com/2025/09/collection-essentials-513-514-advance.html

There wasn’t a whole lot to criticize about Advance Wars 2, but some may have felt that it felt a bit too much like it didn’t have as many new gameplay elements as a sequel should have. Dual Strike still retains more or less the same basics, but introduces a lot more to the formula than 2 did. For example, there was only a single brand new unit type introduced in Advance Wars 2, whereas Dual Strikes ups the ante by introducing seven! 

Perhaps the most notable new gameplay feature is the ability to have a “tag team” of commanding officers. When you have a tag team, only one CO can be active at a time, but the player may swap to the other CO at the end of their turn. Since COs tend to have different strengths and weaknesses, this gives players the ability to find a team that synergizes well, and the downsides of a given CO won’t persist for the whole match if they only need to be a factor for part of the time. But the biggest advantage of having a tag team is the extremely powerful “Dual Strike”. When both COs have their power gauge fully charged, the Dual Strike lets you use the Super CO Power of the first CO, and then take an extra turn in which they will use the Super CO Power of the other CO! This can drastically alter the complexion of a match. Players can also play with solo COs as well, and the tag team mechanic is not forced except for in certain chapters of story mode. Also, there are some maps that have two different fronts which a player’s two COs are separately in charge of. If the secondary front is won, then the winning CO will form a tag team with the player’s other CO on the main front, giving them a major advantage.

The game also introduces an experience point system. When playing with a certain CO, you’ll get experience points for them which can be used to equip abilities that enhance their performance in different ways. This is another way to mitigate a CO’s weaknesses. Again, these abilities are not forced on the player, so those looking for a more “pure” Advance Wars experience can still have it.

The sheer amount of unlockables and content in this game is very impressive and can keep fans busy for hours and hours on end. It has what you’d expect from previous games such as a single-player campaign with multiple difficulty levels, and a “War Room” which has a large series of challenges on various maps to be conquered. There are quite a few more COs in this game than in the first two, and as previously stated, ways to customize them. There’s a new Survival mode introduced, and even a little real-time-combat minigame as a little bonus.

When it comes to competitive multiplayer games, “balance” is usually desirable, meaning that different playable characters in the game are at roughly the same level of strength and player skill will matter more in the outcome of a match rather than which character they play as. Dual Strike isn’t the most balanced game in the world by any stretch, which may be a criticism for some…but in my opinion, it didn’t really have to be. With COs of various power levels and a lot of optional abilities, the imbalance of the game perhaps can be seen as a desirable way to provide a handicap when facing another player who is not as skilled or experienced with Advance Wars. A new player has a legitimate chance to compete or even win when playing as a very strong CO on certain maps against one of the weakest COs even when controlled by an experienced player. I do think that’s kind of neat.

One thing that is pretty unfortunate about Dual Strike is that, even though the Nintendo DS was capable of online multiplayer, the game lacks any online functionality whatsoever. This isn’t truly the fault of the developers, because this was an early DS game and the system’s online services were not available just yet when the game launched. It’s a shame, as this would have been an absolutely perfect game to have online multiplayer. 

I remember when Dual Strike first came out. I had been aware of the previous Advance Wars games and knew they were great, but with my limited budget I had passed on getting them in favor of other games. When Dual Strike came out to rave reviews, I was hungry to get more games for my still-young DS, and I picked it up soon after it came out, the very copy shown in the photo. Back then, I progressed a ways in story mode, but struggled a bit in the mid-game and wound up putting it down for other games. Several years later, when I decided to really get into the whole series, I played through the first two games on GBA and then revisited this one. And that’s when I truly fell in love with Dual Strike. I didn’t play it to 100% completion, but I played it an awful lot, unlocking all the important stuff. I’ve put over 100 hours into the game, which for me is unusual as I’m someone who likes to play a wide variety of video games rather than focusing on a small handful (in case you hadn’t noticed).

Advance Wars 1 and 2 have seen remakes on newer hardware, but sadly Dual Strike has not received the same treatment. However, the game isn’t super expensive on the secondhand market, so it shouldn’t be too much trouble to find a working DS to give it a go. But, come on, Nintendo, give us a modern version with proper online play, for Pete’s sake!

Advance Wars: Dual Strike is one of my favorite games of all time. It took a game that was already practically perfect and made the formula even better with more features and content. It’s easily one of the best games on the DS, and an absolute quintessential essential in my collection!