Nintendo Wars/Characters

A list of the many characters found in the Advance Wars slash Nintendo Wars games.

Andy
The main hero of Advance Wars and Black Hole Rising. Often considered the mascot character of the series by fans, he is well known among the fanbase for his naivety and frequent lapses in intelligence. His units are well rounded, while his CO Powers, Hyper Repair and Hyper Upgrade, revolve around healing his units.

Tropes exhibited by Andy:
 * Bash Brothers: With Max.
 * Cloning Blues: Black Hole is oddly fond of cloning Andy, and the Andy clone in Dual Strike has a brief tearjerker moment reflecting on this.
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He's an Idiot Hero and The Mario, but his Super CO power is very good and very cost effective.
 * Demoted to Extra: He does not appear at all in the Dual Strike campaign. His clone, however, does.
 * The Engineer
 * Expy: Of Luffy.
 * Fan Nickname: Blandy Andy, for his complete lack of a day to day power.
 * And Average Andy.
 * Friendly Enemy: To Hawke. You would think that after hanging out with Lash for so long, he would be... reluctant to ally himself with the energetic and excitable Andy.
 * Idiot Ball: "What's an airport?" indeed.
 * Idiot Hero
 * Keet
 * The Mario, aside from his unit-healing powers.
 * Mr. Fixit
 * Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: "Time to roll up my sleeves!"
 * The Rival: To Eagle.
 * Spanner in the Works: Ohohohohoho!
 * Verbal Tic: The fandom's Evil Andy, who says "I'm Andy!" at the end of every sentence.
 * White Magician Girl: A rare male example, due to his healing powers and general innocence.

Max
Orange Star's bruiser, notable for his brash spirit and ridiculous muscle growth throughout the games. He specializes in smashing things with his super powered tanks, and as a result, slept though Indirect Units 101. His CO Powers, Max Force, and Max Blast, further ramp up the firepower on his direct units.

Tropes exhibited by Max:
 * Bash Brothers: With Andy.
 * The Big Guy
 * Crippling Overspecialization: Not so bad in Advance Wars 1, when his direct units had 150/100 stats daily, but as his powers have gotten nerfed, his horrible indirects (-1 range to all of them, with reduced firepower) make him tougher and tougher to use.
 * His indirects actually have normal firepower in Dual Strike. Their reduced range still sucks, though.
 * Dumb Muscle, to a degree.
 * He is at least somewhat smarter by Dual Strike, as he at least knows how stupid it is to walk into battle without planning first.
 * Heroic Build: Complete with a Lantern Jaw of Justice.
 * Incredibly Lame Pun: Just look at his CO Powers.
 * Lightning Bruiser: At least until Dual Strike, where he lost his movement boost during his CO powers.
 * Love Triangle: He was hinted to be in one with Grit and Nell. Grit, not wanting to have it ruin his friendship with Max, left Orange Star.
 * Muscles Are Meaningless: In each AW game, his character design has gotten more and more muscular, while his units and CO Powers have gotten worse and worse. A popular fanon joke blames steroid use.
 * Linear Tanks, Quadratic Artillery: Max is better than Grit at low levels of play, but Grit is much better than Max in advanced play.
 * Odd Couple: Max used to be best friends with indirect specialist, and polar opposite, Grit, before the latter defected for Blue Moon. One of their Tag Victory quotes in Dual Strike lampshades this.
 * Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: "Check out these cannons!"
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Literally.

Sami
The head of Orange Star's Special Forces, Sami is an infantry specialist. Day-to-day, her Infantry and Mechs are tougher to kill and hit harder, at the expense of everything else all other direct-combat units. While this sounds pretty suckish, in conjunction with her CO Powers and the affected unit's low cost, Sami is considered to be high tier. Her Victory March has earned her the nickname "Lady of War" amongst the fans. Personality-wise, she's the most sensible and dependable of the three. Strangely, though it says she likes long hair, she wears instead an ear-length cleancut hairstyle. Constantly Ship Teases with Eagle of Green Earth.


 * Action Girl
 * Bare Your Midriff
 * Fan Nickname: Lady of War. Anyone who knows the power of Victory March will know why.
 * Instant Win Condition: Sami's superior property-capturing skill make players of her particularly fond of this.
 * Her Super CO Power gives +2 movement for infantry and mechs, and allows them to capture any property that turn, regardless of health. An infantry on 1 HP can walk 5 spaces and capture a 20 HP HQ in one turn!
 * Only Sane Man: Sort of. Unlike Andy and Max (and many other COs), Sami is a career soldier who takes her work very seriously. We need a trope for the inverse of Military Maverick, a serious character in a Mildly Military game.
 * Although even she is Mildly Military compared to Real Life, especially in regards to her outfit.
 * Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: "Move out, grunts!"
 * The Rival: Was this to Sonja when they were in the academy. Nowadays, they are good friends.
 * Ship Tease: With Eagle.
 * Super Soldier: Her infantry may as well all be super, thanks to their astonishing capture skills. A SINGLE GRUNT can capture a WHOLE CITY in a SINGLE DAY during her SCO Power. WOW.

Nell
Commander-In-Chief of Orange Star. She got the top job after Olaf left for Blue Moon, and the first game dropped some pretty heavy hints that they were father and daughter, but this was never resolved and subsequently dropped, mostly because that was nothing more than a joke started with a pun Andy made in the first mission of AW1. She's normally a super-secret unlockable with the ability to randomly do extra damage with ANY attack. Her powers only exacerbate this.


 * Big Good: In the first two games. At least for Orange Star.
 * Beauty Mark
 * Born Lucky
 * In the comedy sketches, she's well renowned for never losing a coin toss. If that isn't luck, I don't know WHAT is.
 * Demoted to Extra: In Dual Strike, her sister Rachel is the leader of the Allied Nations. She has to stay back in Macro Land and clean up the mess Black Hole made in the last war. She does talk to Rachel briefly in the beginning and at the end of the campaign.
 * Hotter and Sexier: Compare her AW1 and 2 appearances with her Dual Strike look.
 * Love Triangle: With Max and Grit while the three were at military school together.
 * Mission Control
 * Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: "It's Payback time!"
 * Voice with an Internet Connection
 * Winds of Destiny Change: Her CO powers.

Hachi
Former Orange Star Commander-In-Chief, now runs the Battle Maps game shop. Selling... people and maps. Another game-breaking secret unlock, he buys things cheaper than everyone but Colin, but with no decrease in effectiveness. His powers make everything EVEN CHEAPER and allow deployment from ANY CONTROLLED BUILDING. If he's facing someone that isn't himself, Nell, or Sturm, the battle's already decided.


 * Cool Old Guy
 * Dirty Old Man: Not quite, yet he does mention wanting to spend time with various, younger, female COs.
 * Discount Card
 * Hypocritical Humour: One of his winquotes is "Rematches are free!" and yet another of his winquotes is "Battles cost too much!" Maybe he's senile.
 * Izchaks Wrath: Doesn't actually happen (you can't attempt to steal anything anyway). But given how powerful a CO he is, you probably don't want it to happen...
 * Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: "To heck with this!"
 * Retired Badass
 * Screw the Rules, I Have Money: Ignoring the fact he's able to deploy units for a cheaper price (not as cheap as Colin's, but then again Hachi's units aren't weaker either), his Super CO Power allows him to deploy units directly from cities rather than just factories, something no other CO is capable of.
 * Shop Keeper: Having retired from active duty, Hachi runs Battle Maps, the in-game shop.
 * Shout-Out: Thankyou, come again!"
 * We Sell Everything: COs! Maps! Palettes! Menu items! Blobs of goo!

Rachel
Leader of the OS forces in Omega Land, she's Nell's little sister and leads the Allied Nations in Dual Strike. Day to day, she can heal units by 3HP instead of 2. Her powers allow her to summon three missiles against her opponents and to become her sister for the day.


 * Awesome but Impractical: Her standard CO skill gives one more HP for units to heal, but it still costs money.
 * Badass Biker
 * Bare Your Midriff
 * Big Good: In Dual Strike, she is the head of the Allied Nations.
 * Born Lucky, just like her sister, Nell.
 * Though this only occurs on her standard CO Power.
 * Inverse Military Maverick - She's arguably more serious than Sami.
 * Macross Missile Massacre: Her SCO power launches missiles at groups of enemy units.
 * The Medic: Can heal her units 1 HP extra on bases.
 * Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: "Finally, some real competition!"
 * Supporting Leader: It depends on whether or not you consider her or Jake the main character of Dual Strike. If not, she is this.

Jake
A recent CO graduate, Jake excels on the plains. He fights better on them, but this means the player has to choose between the attack bonus from this open terrain or the defense from places like cities and forests. He uses 'hip' lingo and is always listening to music through his headphones. He's (arguably) the real hero of Dual Strike out of him and Rachel.


 * Bishonen
 * The Comically Serious: In the NA version he spouts totally rad lingo with a totally deadpan expression.
 * The Generic Guy (in the JP version)
 * Headphones Equal Isolation: He averts this, as he is one of the most outgoing and sociable of all the Allied Nations.
 * The Hero: Might be this in Dual Strike, or it could be Rachel.
 * Hipster (in the NA version; you know it's bad when the villain calls you as such.)
 * Naive Newcomer: Has a little bit of this.
 * Nice Guy
 * Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: "Prepare to get served!"
 * Ship Tease: With Sasha.
 * Totally Radical (in the NA translation)
 * Totally Radical (in the NA translation)

Olaf
He left the top job at Orange Star to take the one at Blue Moon. He's then stated in the next game to be a local to there though. He's a Papa Wolf to his men and takes his duties as head of BM seriously. In the first game, he seemed to be the villain, but this was later proven to be false. He's grown from his more cowardly persona into a Father Christmas look-alike. Seriously, one of his pallette swaps makes him look like Santa Claus! Strong in snow, but weak in rain.


 * An Ice Person: Olaf's units are unaffected by snow, which gives him a great advantage when he taps his snow-causing CO powers.
 * Especially in Dual Strike, where his CO power makes it last TWO turns, and it gives all his units a 20% firepower boost. But in the former two, rain devastates his movement range worse than anyone else, pretty much making him the reverse of Drake.
 * Canada, Eh?: "Ohhhhhhh Blue Moon!!! My home and native land!!!"
 * Demoted to Extra: Not present in the Dual Strike campaign. The game handwaves it by saying he is busy rebuilding his hometown which got destroyed in the previous game.
 * Doomed Hometown: Courtesy of Lash.
 * Fat Bastard: In the first game.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Really does care about his fellow C Os.
 * Kill It with Ice: His SCO Power smacks all enemy units for 2 HP damage.
 * Kill It with Water: And by "It", I mean Olaf.
 * The Mario: Weather aside, all of his units are average.
 * Patriotic Fervor: Really, REALLY loves Blue Moon.
 * Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: "Your weapons are powerless before the might of nature!"
 * Slouch of Villainy: Seemed this way at first in AW1, as he would always slouch in his chair, and he seemed to be the game's villain at first. However, this was subverted later, as he isn't actually a villain, and he doesn't have the chair in later games.
 * Stop Helping Me!: Olaf's snow powers can screw over allies as badly as they do enemies.
 * He also EXERTS this personality several times, notably the T-Minus 15 mission in AW2.
 * Ted Baxter
 * Took a Level in Badass: He was a pretty sucky CO in the first game. Then in Black Hole Rising, his mass damage SCO Power made him a lot more useful, and his powers improved again in Dual Strike, even overcoming his weakness in rain. He's also an example in story terms: he was a bumbling villain in the first game, but became a lot more competent in the sequels.

Grit
Another CO formerly of Orange Star that moved to Blue Moon. He was Max's best friend, despite there being a love triangle between the two of them and Nell. He's very laidback and takes no particular joy in fighting, though he's very good at it. His abilities are to hit better and further with indirects and suck with everything else (except for infantry). It's a surprisingly effective tactic, though, and he's often high tier.


 * The Archer: Technically, since his specialty is indirect combat.
 * Badass Beard
 * Looks more like a goatee to me...
 * Brilliant but Lazy
 * Captain Ersatz: Of Daisuke Jigen.
 * Dissonant Serenity: He has a very calm demeanor, even during times of war and chaos, which is seemingly all the time, given the game's title. Even his theme reflects this.
 * Friendly Sniper
 * The Gunslinger
 * I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Actually, he wants his best friend to be happy.
 * Love Triangle: With Nell and Max. Not wanting to ruin his friendship with Max, Grit left Orange Star.
 * Squishy Artillery Expert
 * Military Maverick
 * Mighty Glacier: Grit's only real weakness is that he can't win things quickly: the fact that long-range units can't move and fire on the same turn means that he's slow to advance. This can be exploited if you play as a CO that can mobilize rapidly, such as Colin, Sami, or Sensei, as they have a chance to control the centre of the map before he can and gain an economic advantage (of course, Colin and Sensei are also broken...).
 * Nerf : The increased speed of the game in DS hit him so hard, so much that he goes from considered as one of the Top 5 CO in the whole game into the single worst CO in the game.
 * Nice Guy: He will not tolerate those who ruin innocent people's lives, though.
 * Nice Hat: An odd, vaguely Russian-style cowboy hat, to be exact.
 * Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: "Let's do us some target practice!"
 * The Rival: to Adder.

Colin
New boy and rich kid of the Blue Moon army. He's unsure of himself, but seems to have good business acumen. He buys units cheaper, but they're not as good as standard units. The cheapness of units means you can roll out the advanced ones quicker and more frequently, putting him firmly in the top ranks.


 * Cute Shotaro Boy
 * Discount Card
 * Fiction 500: ...Just how much money does he have, anyway?
 * Naive Newcomer
 * Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: "I'll give it everything I've got!"
 * Screw the Rules, I Have Money / Crimefighting with Cash: The more money Colin has in reserve, the more powerful his units get when he uses his Super CO power. If you're feeling particularly miserly, this can lead to Colin one-shotting a Megatank... with a Mech unit.
 * Or an Infantry.
 * Sibling Yin-Yang: With Sasha.
 * Tagalong Kid
 * We Have Reserves: While he doesn't think like this, his abilities, producing weaker units for less cost, sure do lead to this for someone controlling him.

Sasha
Older and more confident sister of Colin. Her powers are similarly money based, in that she takes cash from her trust fund to fuel her army. This contribution to the war efforts is worth 100G extra for every city. Doesn't sound like much, but it adds up. She may not be as innately powerful as her brother, but together they make an incredibly powerful tag team. It is in fact widely regarded as one of the deadliest in the game. They buy units cheaper and faster, you can never get your powers out and they always have more money...


 * The Chick
 * Fiction 500
 * Mana Burn: Her first tier CO power drains her opponent's CO Gauge. Can come in very handy.
 * Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: "You've made me very, very... upset."
 * Screw the Rules, I Have Money
 * Ship Tease: With Jake.
 * Tough Love: She is very strict with Colin.

Kanbei
In the first game, he was a slightly slimy and unlikeable generic emperor guy (mostly due to his quick judgements and third-person speeches), but in subsequent games he's become a strong and honorable Father to His Men. He insists on the best for his army, and has MUCH more powerful troops for a big cost boost. He's another Game Breaker on his own and makes an even better one with his young daughter, Sonja.


 * Demoted to Extra: Does not appear in the Dual Strike campaign. Perhaps he was looking for his sock.
 * Honor Before Reason: He actually sort of admitted to this in one of the battles in Black Hole Rising where he fought for a cluster of cities that held little strategic value (this has happened a lot in real life wars).
 * Also happens before "Fowl Play", where he insists on meeting with Adder even though Sonja points that it might be a trap.
 * He exemplifies this in Advance Wars (the first), where he goes to extreme lengths to defend his country... including trying to beat the crap out of a Power Trio that really meant it no harm.
 * Large Ham
 * Lord Error-Prone: In Advance Wars, certainly.
 * One mission is even named "Kanbei's Error?"
 * Mighty Glacier: In a sense: his units have superior offense and defense, but they're more expensive to deploy, so he takes longer to build up his forces.
 * Overprotective Dad: Once he did get over panicked on Sonja getting a paper cut.
 * Papa Wolf: Do NOT endanger or threaten his daughter. Seriously, if you thought (apparently) threatening his country made him go berserk... look, if you value your life, for the love of God, don't mess with Sonja.
 * Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: "I hope you thoroughly enjoy the taste of my sword!"
 * Power At a Price: Literally, in this case. His units have superior attack and defense, but cost more to make. The inverse of Colin, although both are effective COs.
 * Samurai
 * Third Person Person: in Advance Wars. Seems to come to his senses later, but still cannot find his socks.

Sonja
Daughter of Kanbei and head of his intelligence service. Her powers let her see further in Fog of War, making her dominate these maps. At other times, she's of little use, though.


 * Born Unlucky: Sonja is one of three COs who has negative luck, giving her units the chance to deal less damage than expected.
 * Counter Attack: Her SCO power. She also has better counterattacks as a day-to-day power in Black Hole Rising.
 * Defog of War: Sonja's main strength is that she has an increased vision range in the fog.
 * Geo Effects: In Dual Strike, Sonja reduces enemy terrain by 1 star. This makes her a perfect counter to Lash, and also a surprisingly good tag team partner.
 * Girlish Pigtails
 * Hypercompetent Sidekick to Kanbei.
 * Not So Different: Lash makes her realize that she enjoys war just as much as Lash does.
 * Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: "Just like I planned..."
 * The Rival: To Lash, somewhat.
 * Stone Wall: During her SCO power. Watch as your attacking full HP mech is decimated by her defending Recon.
 * The Strategist
 * Teen Genius
 * We Work Well Together: To Sonja's bewilderment, with Lash.

Sensei
Hinted to be the ultimate badass from the old series, he's Kanbei's increasingly senile mentor. He's a paratrooper master, meaning his copters and infantry are beastly. He's definitely a mid to Top(or even God) ranker tier wise, and a Cool Old Guy to boot.


 * Beware the Nice Ones : Old, and calm, if a bit eccentric. You do NOT want to make him angru though, as Adder find it the hard way.
 * Cool Old Guy
 * Difficult but Awesome: True of him generally, but especially with B-Copters. It's tricky specialism in a unit that can be so easily countered, but with enough of them, you will just take everything apart.
 * Glass Cannon : His ability boost a unit that is basically from this category Up to Eleven, especialy in Black Hole Rising, slightly less in Dual Strike.
 * It's Raining Men: Copter Command paradrops 9HP infantry units on all the cities Sensei owns. Airborne Assault drops 9HP mechs.
 * Boring but Practical: There are so many uses for a sudden wave of 9HP footsoldiers.
 * His entire premise as a CO really, depending on how you view it, might cross with Awesome Yet Practical, basically he take every boring strategy in the game and put it in one CO. This resulted in a CO with the boring part of an ability of several CO(notably, he has Sami's Infantry and Transport Buff without the Capture speed, money making ability like Colin, and Copter buff from Eagle who buffs every air unit)
 * Lethal Joke Character: In Black Hole Rising, all of his vehicles and ships take a 10% attack penalty and his strongest units, his battle copters, can still be taken down in one hit by any anti-air vehicle. But a combination of the aforementioned Goddamned Bats and the fact that his copters are truly deadly once he's on a roll can make him almost as bad as Grit.
 * Eccentric Mentor
 * Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"
 * Nerf: Copped a huge one in Dual Strike. His vehicles got stronger, but his infantry lost 30% of their attack power.
 * On the other hand, the faster CO power charge make him capable of spamming his absurdly useful CO power, making him a far more annoying CO to play against. Theres a good reason hes considered broken.
 * Older and Wiser: Sensei is implied to have been the CO Mr. Yamamoto from Super Famicom Wars.
 * Old Master: Why do you think he's called Sensei?
 * He starts to go a little senile in Dual Strike, even.
 * Old Soldier
 * Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: "Ha ha! I didn't get old for nothing!"
 * Those Two Guys: Has a bit of this going on with Grimm.

Grimm
A former wrestler who loves eating and brawling. He hits harder and takes hits harder. Though pretty two dimensional, he's high tier.


 * Bald of Awesome
 * Big Eater: "Believe it or not, I ain't hungry!"
 * Boisterous Bruiser: If not this trope, then Grimm's a close relative.
 * Catch Phrase: "Oooh yeah!"
 * Glass Cannon: His boosted offense is offset by a loss to defense. His CO abilities further emphasize his "hit them fast and hard before they hit you" approach to war, altering each of those stats accordingly.
 * Incredibly Lame Pun: "Things are looking Grimm for you!"
 * Stout Strength
 * Those Two Guys: With Sensei.
 * Trademark Favourite Food: Donuts.

Eagle
Arrogant but virtuous. He leads Green Earth, has spats with Jess and romantic hints towards Sami. He's an Ace Pilot that gets boosts to his air force.


 * Ace Pilot
 * Animal Motifs: An eagle, as if that needed explaining.
 * Bonus Boss
 * Fragile Speedster: in Advance Wars, Lightning Strike lets Eagle move his units twice in one turn, but the second time around they have nerfed attack and defense. It also takes a while to charge. Black Hole Rising tweaks it a bit so that he doesn't have the nerfs, but the power takes even longer to charge. Dual Strike breaks it completely by rejigging Lightning Drive into a minor version of Lightning Strike (nerfed attack, normal defence) - but with a short charge time (same charge time as Hyper Repair, for example).
 * Goggles Do Nothing
 * Insufferable CO
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Especially in the first game, with that massive vendetta against Andy.
 * Scarf of Asskicking

Drake
A nice, laid back guy who often mediates between Eagle and Jess. He's a naval buff, meaning his abilities in that area are boosted. He's also immune to the effects of rain, which he can cause too.


 * Awesome but Impractical: Tag team Drake with Olaf. The ensuing dual strike will put all enemy units down 4 HP, halve their fuel, and double their fuel usage for the next three turns while you get a +20% attack boost. Practical? Heck no. Fun? Heck yes.
 * Bad Powers, Good People: Drake's energy-draining CO powers contrast with a relaxed, gentle nature.
 * Demoted to Extra: Does not appear in the Dual Strike Campaign.
 * Kill It with Water: Drake's CO power causes a tsunami to hit all enemy units on the map.
 * Self-Deprecation
 * Talk Like a Pirate
 * Team Mom: Drake is essentially the reason why Eagle and Jess haven't killed each other yet.
 * Understatement: Green Earth is liberated from Black Hole tyranny towards the end of Black Hole Rising. Drake's response? "Whew... that's nice."

Jess
Ground Specialist of Green Earth. She's got some undisclosed beef with Eagle.


 * Bifauxnen
 * Closer to Earth: She's probably one of the more level-headed and realistic commanders in the game. Which, given the tone of the original Advance Wars, isn't really saying that much. Also, the fact that she specializes in ground units...
 * Easy Logistics: Easier than the other characters anyway, as her CO Powers resupply all units with fuel and ammo. Ironically makes her pretty useful in air and naval battles, even though her planes, copters, and ships take an attack penalty.
 * Fiery Redhead: Usually averted, as she is quite level-headed. But she can be very passionate at times.
 * Improbable Weapon User: Her portrait in Black Hole Rising shows her hoisting a tank shell over her shoulder. Cue fan jokes about Jess and her comically oversized crayon.
 * Odd Couple: She is pretty much the complete opposite of Javier, but they work well together.
 * Tank Goodness: Her specialty is tanks, and all of her land-based vehicles have superior firepower.
 * Tsundere: Type B. Eagle brings out her Tsuntsun side.

Javier
A CO styled on a Knight. He uses antiquated language and gets bonuses from Comm Towers.


 * Antiquated Linguistics: "Allow me to slap the foe with extreme prejudice!"
 * Verbal Ticked: "Ho, Sir Clone of Sir Kanbei! I challenge your honor on the... er... field of honor!"
 * Crippling Overspecialization: Easily a Game Breaker if he's captured enough communications towers, but without them, he's just The Mario with added defense against indirect attacks and ridiculously situational CO powers.
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer: He's basically Lord Error-Prone, but competent.
 * Large Ham: "Look at these rockets! Like shining lances of justice!"
 * Badass Mustache
 * Shout-Out: Javier is a walking Shout-Out to Don Quixote. He also makes one to Conan the Barbarian.
 * Stone Wall: Defense is already a specialty of his, but after capturing only a few control towers, any of his units are Nigh Invulnerable. His Super CO power compounds this intensely.
 * For anybody who has Dual Strike and hasn't tried this, play as him on Megapolis. It's a cakewalk, but still incredibly enjoyable.

Sturm
Big Bad. Evil. Looks like Darth Vader. Gamebreakingly powerful opponent. Banned from tournament usage in Black Hole Rising since he improves all in his units movement, power, defense (though not to Kanbei's level), with no draw backs. His only weakness is that he has no regular CO-power and his Super CO-power has the longest wait in the game before he gets enough charge to use it, but given its damage and that it buffs his units caught in it, that's not an issue.


 * Badass Cape
 * Big Bad: of the first two Advance Wars games.
 * Colony Drop: His SCOP drops a meteor onto the battlefield for 8 HP damage in a 5x5 pattern.
 * Slap-On-The-Wrist Nuke: It has no other effects on the map.
 * Commissar Cap
 * Final Boss
 * Glass Cannon: in AW1 Campaign, where he has 120/80 stats and no movement penalties.
 * Lightning Bruiser: in AW2, where he has 120/120 stats and no movement penalties or increase in cost.
 * Manipulative Bastard: In AW1, he manages to pit every other nation against each other.
 * Meaningful Name
 * Purposefully Overpowered: In AW2.
 * SNK Boss
 * Stone Wall: in AW1 VS, where he has 80/120 stats. The offense loss is likely to prevent him from dealing heavy damage with his lack of movement penalties.
 * Shout-Out / Expy: Darth Vader, obviously.
 * The Faceless
 * He also doesn't have any arms, apparently.
 * He also doesn't have any arms, apparently.

Flak
Imagine Max without his few restraints or glimpses of intelligence. You get Flak, but instead of a permanent power boost, he can hit stronger or weaker than usual, with his powers exacerbating this tendency and its effect.


 * Angrish
 * Artificial Stupidity: His AI rather-fittingly seems to have an even more severe case of this than that of most of AW2's other computer-controlled enemy COs.
 * The Brute
 * Dumb Muscle
 * Evil Counterpart: To Max.
 * Goggles Do Nothing: It may be that Flak is concerned with protecting his head, as he always wears a helmet and goggles, even though it isn't necessary.
 * Joke Character: He has absolutely useless combat "talents" and is easily one of the franchise's most hilariously lame characters story-wise.
 * Lantern Jaw of Justiceless: in Black Hole Rising.
 * Meaningful Name: Especially in Japanese, where his name is "Kong".
 * Starter Villain: Although he's clearly not the one at the top of Black Hole's organization.
 * Unskilled But Strong: The actual reason for his attacks dealing random amounts of damage to his opponents.
 * Walking Shirtless Scene: Too bad he looks like a failed sketch of Butthead...
 * Incredibly Lame Pun: The european release renames him as "Helmut". Welp, he wears a helmet.

Adder
Very thin, pale and gaunt. Obsessed with himself. He's quite the Smug Snake, and revels in his paper thin evilness. His meter fills up faster (according to the game) and lets him move faster when it does. In actuality, his meter charges up no faster than anybody else's, but his powers have a reduced cost considering their effectiveness.


 * Ambiguously Gay
 * Boring but Practical : Fast charging Power that give movement boost is far more versatile and useful than you can think off.
 * Dark Chick
 * Evil Counterpart: to Grit
 * Fragile Speedster: Adder's CO Powers give him movement boosts. The "fragile" part comes from the fact that while his units are average, average tends to lose out to specialized in Advance Wars.
 * Hannibal Lecture: Delivers one to Grit in Black Hole Rising, observing that Grit (who originally defected from Orange Star to Blue Moon) never really cared much about loyalty to a cause, and invites him to join Black Hole. Grit notes that he has a point, but the deal-breaker is Black Hole's barbaric treatment of civilians.
 * The Mario: Like Andy, his units are completely average day to day.
 * Meaningful Name
 * Narcissist: He is described as "a self-absorbed CO who believes his skills are matchless". His Hit is also "his own face".
 * Sissy Villain
 * Smug Snake: Come on. His name is Adder, for crying out loud (Snake in the Japanese original).
 * Ted Baxter: He believes his skills are matchless.

Lash
Evil genius who thinks nothing of maiming, murdering, experimenting, and building new death toys. Her powers are terrain-based. She's somewhat of a Shadow Archetype of Sonja. And a gamebreaker.


 * Bare Your Midriff
 * Dark Chick
 * Evil Genius
 * Evil Counterpart: to Sonja.
 * Funny Afro
 * Giggling Villain
 * Meaningful Name: And in case you were wondering, it's "Kat" in Japanese and German.
 * Which makes her referring to herself as a "kitty" in Advance Wars Dual Strike make quite a bit more sense.
 * Military Maverick: Except she never wins any battles.
 * Not So Different: To Sonja.
 * Perky Goth
 * Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: Game over, freak!
 * Psychopathic Manchild
 * Shout-Out: One of her CO power quotes is "Whatever! I do what I want!"
 * Stripperiffic: The heroes can't match her, when it comes to being stripperiffic, that is.
 * Teen Genius
 * Teen Genius

Hawke
A man of few words. He leads his men very competently and nearly destroys Green Earth in the process. All his units are naturally more powerful than everyone else's for no cost (though not as much as Sturm's), but his high-powered Powers fill up slowly are extremely expensive, even considering how strong they are.

"Hawke: We're leaving. NOW."
 * Ambiguously Brown
 * Badass Longcoat
 * Bastard Understudy
 * The Dragon: He fills the storyline role, but is statistically inferior to Sturm.
 * Dragon with an Agenda
 * Enigmatic Minion
 * Evil Counterpart: to Eagle.
 * Expy: Hawke eerily resembles Scar in Fullmetal Alchemist both in appearance and personality.
 * Knight of Cerebus
 * The Mario: Has 110% universal attack in return for a CO Power priced one star higher than it should be balance-wise.
 * Meaningful Name: The Evil Counterpart of 'Eagle'.
 * Must Have Caffeine: According to his character profile, anyway.
 * Noble Demon: He clearly wants to Take Over the World, and he's more than willing to sacrifice friends and foes alike in order to do so. However, he isn't willing to sacrifice allies or enemies just for revenge, nor is he willing to take over the world if doing so means destroying it in the process. He even offers to
 * Papa Wolf / A Father to His Men: Solely towards Lash. His first priority when
 * Papa Wolf / A Father to His Men: Solely towards Lash. His first priority when


 * The Stoic
 * Worthy Opponent
 * Worthy Opponent

Von Bolt
Old man trying to live forever by sucking Omega Land dry. Seen as a poor man's Sturm. His Powers aren't as impressive as Sturm, and he fails to make the same impact.


 * Big Bad: of Dual Strike
 * Bowdlerize: His Jap name is 'Hell Volt'.
 * Evil Old Folks
 * Living Forever Is Awesome
 * Immortality Immorality
 * Meaningful Name: Boy, Black Hole really likes this trope, don't they?
 * Static Stun Gun: His CO power hits a group of enemies with lightning, leaving them immobile for a turn.

Jugger
Possibly a robot, or a weirdo who likes to dress like one. He's basically Flak, only with an even more erratic luck spread and much cooler dialogue.


 * Bald of Evil: "Jugger has no need of hair."
 * Expy: of Flak.
 * Expospeak Gag: "Smack-laying in a downward direction."
 * Fat Bastard: The "fat" to Flak's "muscular".
 * Robo Speak
 * Stout Strength: Well, if/when he gets lucky, at least.
 * Tron Lines
 * Third Person Person
 * Unskilled But Strong: Just like Flak.

Koal
Called Zak in the EU version. A short, arrogant man painted like a kabuki actor and using very flowery language, his special power gains him attack bonuses on roads and makes him a mixture of Adder and Jake. Also has the notably lowest Tag Break in the game: A whopping 35% attack penalty to team-ups with Rachel due to having called her ugly.


 * A Warrior and a Scholar
 * Expy: of Adder. Gets a bonus on roads, but his CO meter is redistributed to make his standard CO power more expensive (preventing back-to-back CO power use.)
 * Flanderization: Regarding his low tag power with Rachel. Yes, he called her ugly... and sucked the life out of her beloved homeland, dictated exactly how, and openly said he doesn't give a rat's ass about the moral ramifications.
 * The Napoleon
 * Smug Snake
 * "Wake-Up Call" Boss: The second time you fight him in turn survival takes a lot of turns, until you realize various ways to beat him in just 1 - 2 turns.

Kindle
Candy in the EU, she's an upper class socialite. Her powers revolve around controlling territory to gain boosts and inflict nasty wounds.


 * : As she herself puts it...


 * Rich Bitch
 * Smug Snake: and she knows it.
 * Worthy Opponent: Finally considers the Allied Nations to be such in the end.

An approximate character tier list for the Wars World series (please note that these games are the kind of games that force people to reconsider what "overpowered" is, since most COs are stronger than average):


 * Deliberate Game Breaker: Sturm
 * Lethal Joke Character: Sensei
 * Powerful, but not quite game-breaking: Jess, Hawke, Nell, Eagle, Sonja (in Fog of War), Kanbei, Grimm, Kindle, Von Bolt, Lash, Sasha, Javier (when controlling just one communications tower)
 * Balanced: Andy, Max, Sami, Olaf, Adder, Sonja (out of Fog of War), Koal, Rachel, Jake
 * Underpowered: Drake, Javier (without a communications tower)
 * Joke Character: Flak, Jugger (though both can lean towards Lethal Joke Character if luck swings your way)

Will/Ed

 * Bishonen
 * Conveniently an Orphan: While he is sure to be parentless post end of the world, they take until the final chapter to reveal he lost them earlier to the war.
 * He also mentioned this to Greyfield at the end of chapter 12.
 * Decoy Protagonist: Very much so in the first half of the campaign, until
 * Expy: His CO abilities and power work best on the plains, similar to Jake.
 * Hell, his theme, while not the same song, does sound rather similar to Jake's.
 * Lightning Bruiser: +2 movement to all land units during his CO Power (on top of the attack boosts from his CO Zone) is very, very good at breaking a stalemate and usually leaves quite a mark.
 * Meaningful Name: His US name. Compounded by his Leitmotif, "We Will Prevail". Annoyingly subverted by the EU version.
 * The Messiah
 * No One Gets Left Behind: Brenner drilled this into him quite convincingly.
 * Wide-Eyed Idealist
 * Wide-Eyed Idealist

Brenner/O'Brian

 * Animal Motifs: His brigade has a wolf as their nickname and on their insignia, plus his European leitmotif is called "Indomitable Wolf".
 * Awesome Music: His theme "Hope Never Dies". Arguably the most badass theme of the game.
 * Catch Phrase: "Where there's life, there's hope."
 * Expy: Gameplay-wise, of Andy.
 * Father to His Men: to the point where one LP makes his tone of voice generally patient.
 * The Good Captain
 * The Last DJ
 * The Messiah
 * No One Gets Left Behind
 * Stone Wall: Favors this style, with his large Zone giving only defense boosts and his Power restoring HP.
 * No One Gets Left Behind
 * Stone Wall: Favors this style, with his large Zone giving only defense boosts and his Power restoring HP.
 * Stone Wall: Favors this style, with his large Zone giving only defense boosts and his Power restoring HP.

Lin
"Dr. Morris: Honestly! Where is your sense of humor? Lin: It was shot off in the war. Very sad."
 * Anti-Hero/Knight in Sour Armor: Is willing to Shoot the Dog and play devil's advocate, but is still firmly on the side of wanting to help everyone.
 * Bare Your Midriff
 * Cool Big Sis: Becomes one of sorts to Will and Isabella. Especially Isabella.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Par excellence.


 * Expy: Imagine Sonja, grown up and with a heavy dose of cynicism.
 * Good Is Not Nice: Compared to the other idealist heroes, Lin is a lot more cynically pragmatic.
 * Hypercompetent Sidekick: She's actually the one who comes up with the army's tactics, not Brenner. Played with in the tactics session for Fear Experiment.
 * The Lancer: to Brenner.
 * Shoot the Dog:
 * Shut UP, Hannibal:
 * The Stoic

Isabella/Catleia

 * Easy Amnesia
 * Eyes of Gold
 * Game Breaker: Her CO Power is, literally, Will's and Gage's combined with no drawbacks. Plus an attack boost to every unit type. This basically dominates everything. She is, to say the least, frowned upon by competitive players.
 * Jack of All Stats: As far as her CO Zone abilities go, yes. Otherwise....
 * Ms. Exposition: Fills this role in the campaign, as she is never a usable CO outside the Trial Maps. Her status in multiplayer as an uber CO really places this in perspective, though...
 * Mysterious Waif
 * You Gotta Have Aqua Hair
 * You Gotta Have Aqua Hair
 * You Gotta Have Aqua Hair

Forsythe/Carter

 * A Day in the Limelight: Makes a brief dialogue appearance in chapter 12, followed in chapter 14 by the one and only time you engage him directly.
 * A Father to His Men
 * Anti-Villain
 * Climax Boss: Of the campaign's first half.
 * Cool Old Guy
 * Honor Before Reason
 * Jack of All Stats: No CO Power or specialties, just the biggest damn CO Zone in the game. This in itself is his weakness, as the boosts aren't very strong.
 * The Obi-Wan: To Tasha and Gage.
 * Worthy Opponent: Despite the fact the Rubinelle Army is in the hands of a Complete Monster, Forsythe refuses to use Caulder's weapons or dishonorable tactics, including those that involve sacrificing his own soldiers, to prevail, and treats his enemies civilly. Greyfield and Waylon have no such reservations.
 * Worthy Opponent: Despite the fact the Rubinelle Army is in the hands of a Complete Monster, Forsythe refuses to use Caulder's weapons or dishonorable tactics, including those that involve sacrificing his own soldiers, to prevail, and treats his enemies civilly. Greyfield and Waylon have no such reservations.

Gage/Trak

 * Cold Sniper: Even Lampshaded in the PAL version, where his Leitmotif is called "Ice Warrior".
 * Blue Anime Hair
 * Expy: Plays like a mixture of Grit and Drake with focus on artillery and naval units, and has a relationship with Tasha much like Drake/Eagle and Grit/Olaf in AW2.
 * The Lancer: To Forsythe and Tasha. Later ends up joining Lin on the 'pragmatic' side of team good.
 * No Social Skills
 * The Stoic
 * Walking Shirtless Scene

Tasha/Zadia

 * Ace Pilot
 * Bare Your Midriff
 * Dead Little Brother: Fights to avenge her dead brother.
 * Expy: Plays and acts much like Eagle, but with more rage and less arrogance.
 * Fiery Redhead
 * Lightning Bruiser: The airborne equivalent of Will, with even higher attack boosts.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Her and Gage are even colour-coded.

Admiral Greyfield/Sigismundo

 * The Caligula
 * Catch Phrase: "I'll see you hanged for this!"
 * Also has a penchant for calling his enemies swines.
 * Climax Boss
 * General Ripper / Insane Admiral: You do not want to get on this guy's bad side. Given that he is more than willing to use his new superweapon when it will kill his own men, staying off his good side might also be recommended. Seriously, if you even come in contact with him, you're screwed.
 * In Love with Your Carnage: Prior to almost every chapter where he commands the enemy forces, before the protagonists inevitably turn the tables.
 * Jerkass
 * Karmic Death: Protip: is a bad idea.
 * Kick the Son of a Bitch:
 * Meaningful Name: The Japanese/European version is named after an almost equally megalomaniac Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire who once famously described himself as "King of the Romans and above grammar" when criticized for speaking poor Latin.
 * The Neidermeyer: See above. The guy executes his troops for losing battles.
 * Social Darwinist
 * Stone Wall: Provides big defense boosts for naval units and copters, and his CO Power restores all his units to max fuel and ammo.
 * Crippling Overspecialization: None of the above helps him if there are no ports, much less water, on the map to use, rendering him one of the least effective COs.
 * There Is No Kill Like Overkill:
 * There Is No Kill Like Overkill:

Waylon/Finn

 * Ace Pilot
 * Cool Shades
 * Dirty Coward
 * Hot-Blooded: "Now hit me! Whooooo!"
 * His thrill-seeking antics are so over the top that the men in his unit were happy to ditch him in favor of going with Brenner.
 * Jerkass
 * Laughably Evil
 * Mighty Glacier: Tasha's opposite. He boosts the defense of aircraft, which are usually Glass Cannon units.
 * Money, Dear Boy: He wants no part of what he calls Brenner's "charity work", but he's all for living in (relative) luxury as a mercenary for Greyfield.
 * Moral Event Horizon: He probably crossed it a long time beforehand, but
 * Rich Bastard: "One more mission and I can retire to my burned-out mansion!"
 * Smug Snake
 * That One Boss: Most anyone you ask will agree that "Waylon Flies Again" is one of the most aggravating maps of the whole campaign.
 * Token Evil Teammate: For a couple of chapters, though in his first appearance he just sits there and lets Brenner do the dirty work.
 * Totally Radical / Jive Turkey: "Why are these Lazurians up in my business?"
 * Try to imagine all of Waylon's dialogue in a Good Ol' Boy southerner accent and he becomes even more hilarious.

Caulder/Stolos

 * Arms Dealer
 * Big Bad
 * But for Me It Was Tuesday: was something normal for him
 * Catch Phrase: "Fascinating...", and to a lesser degree "I am merely curious" in his European incarnation.
 * The Chessmaster / Manipulative Bastard: Would be a Magnificent Bastard if he wasn't a Complete Monster.
 * Clone Degeneration: His "children", also,
 * Evil Albino
 * Evil Cannot Comprehend Good
 * Final Boss
 * For Science!: "Your curiosity comes at the cost of people's lives!"
 * Hannibal Lecture: about his reasons being "pure" as he wasn't driven by money.
 * Shut UP, Hannibal: "Are you done yet?" (took a bit, though.)
 * Returning to Hannibal Lecture, he delivers a special one that's almost an Easter Egg if you lose chapter 23:


 * Gamebreaker: In a game where CO powers have been nerfed, he's the one character who's probably stronger than most of the original CO's. His only power is his CO-Zone, and that's all he needs. It's 3 by 3 and never changes, and gives any units in it 50% increase to attack and defense, and heals them 5 HP every turn.
 * Grand Theft Me:
 * Lack of Empathy: "What is life? Merely a protein-based mechanism for energy consumption. It is really nothing special."
 * Large Ham: He's so cartoony in retrospect that for all that he's actually even crueler than Greyfield, he at least is actually amusing to watch.
 * In the PAL version, his hamminess is toned down a lot, making him a much more serious villain.
 * Mad Scientist: So much so that the rest of the scientific community cast him out.
 * Meaningful Name: Japanese/Europe only. Stolos is an alternate name of Stolas, a demon from the Ars Goetia said to be a keeper of wisdom. Its appearance? An owl.
 * Omnidisciplinary Scientist: For someone "kicked out of the medical academy", he doesn't exactly limit himself to medicine.
 * They Called Me Mad ...and they were right.
 * Shoot the Medic First: The main reason why he's such a Game Breaker is that all units in his (large) CO zone are healed by 5HP at the beginning of his turn, plus he has Tabitha's monstrous Zone boosts. This, of course, means that destroying the unit he has boarded is a top priority. Considering that it has 180% attack and defense, this is easier said than done.
 * Suspicious Videogame Generosity: In the beginning of the final battle, you have a rather large advantage. Do not be fooled, Caulder is not an Anticlimax Boss. He's Nintendo Hard.
 * What Is Evil?: Tries it on Will. Given his nature, nobody's fooled.
 * Xanatos Gambit: He does a few of these. Justified in that his main motive is curiosity about how humans will behave when thrust into adverse conditions; whatever way they react, he still wins.

Penny/Lili

 * Break the Cutie: It is implied that Penny's "slightly" psychotic personality is due to Caulder's experiments on her.
 * Companion Cube: Mr. Bear, though this is only present in the NA version.
 * Consulting Mister Puppet: Penny does this constantly to Mr. Bear.
 * Creepy Child: Lily's leitmotif in the JP/EU version, "Cold-Hearted Doll", lampshades this.
 * (sort of)
 * Eyes of Gold
 * Elegant Gothic Lolita
 * Giggling Villain
 * Lethal Joke Character: Do not be fooled by her large but puny CO Zone. Her day-to-day power (the only CO with one in this game) is complete immunity to weather effects, regardless of if the units are in her Zone or not. Rain severely limits your vision and brings fog of war, sandstorms reduce attack signficantly, and snow reduces movement. Now, imagine that Penny gets three turns of having a huge advantage over you, ESPECIALLY if it rains. And that large Zone helps the CO Gauge build up very quickly.
 * Opposite Gender Clone
 * White-Haired Pretty Girl
 * Opposite Gender Clone
 * White-Haired Pretty Girl

Tabitha/Larissa

 * But for Me It Was Tuesday: was even more of a random person to her than he was to Caulder himself.
 * Daddy's Little Villain: Her abilities are even watered-down versions of her "father's".
 * Dark Action Girl / Waif Fu: "If you reach for your weapon, she will kill you."
 * Death From Above: Her CO Power calls in the Great Owl for an airstrike. In other words, it's Sturm's power. However, with the massive destruction you can already wreak by keeping the gauge full, this attack is more often used as a humiliating Finishing Move.
 * Difficult but Awesome: Her CO Zone is 0, meaning it only applies to the unit she gets into. The fun part? +180% attack and defense to that one unit, making it really damn hard to kill. If you do not smash this unit to bits quickly, and allow Tabitha to build up her gauge (and thus increase the size of her Zone), kiss your tucus goodbye. The only thing keeping Tabitha in check is that she's nothing special otherwise.
 * The Dragon
 * Elegant Gothic Lolita
 * Evil Albino
 * Eyes of Gold
 * Lack of Empathy: Pretty bad about it.
 * Opposite Gender Clone
 * There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Her whole game revolves around this.
 * You Gotta Have Aqua Hair
 * You Gotta Have Aqua Hair

Cyrus

 * Beta Test Baddie: Inverted. He helps the heroes because of the motivation of this trope.
 * Bishonen
 * Eyes of Gold
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy
 * Eyes of Gold
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy

The Beast/Drakov

 * Blood Knight
 * The Brute
 * Climax Boss: Pretty good for only being a Starter Villain and an unplayable CO.
 * Disaster Scavenger
 * Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": In the US version, as he's called "The Beast". He forgot his real name, anyway.
 * Evil Laugh
 * Rape, Pillage and Burn
 * Starter Villain:

Doctor Morris/Doctor Moritz

 * Hurricane of Puns
 * Pungeon Master: The fact that he does it in the worst situations possible doesn't help..
 * Shoo Out the Clowns: After a bit (roughly, the post Lin's Gambit difficulty spike), he really only shows up to make others comment that it isn't the right time to make jokes, or to do something scientific.
 * The Smart Guy

Davis/Cole

 * Butt Monkey: Gets stuck with Greyfield, and trying to prevent Greyfield from could very well have earned him a Senseless Sacrifice.
 * Dying Like Animals: No denying he's a Chicken.
 * Only Sane Man: The only non-Mook in the room where was planned who didn't cross the Moral Event Horizon at best for it.
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: In the European version, his final fate is never revealed. The American version all but states that he in The Saved Village.

Mayor

 * Dirty Coward: In a rare non-humorous example.
 * Dying Like Animals: Something of a Wasp.
 * Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": He is only ever refered to as Mayor.
 * Entitled Bastard: He's a perfect example of this.
 * Genre Blindness: He trusts Caulder to keep his word, it goes as well as you'd expect.
 * Too Dumb to Live:
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: Subverted; after meeting Greyfield, he isn't seen for quite a few chapters (players will most likely assume that he stayed at the shelter, given that is pretty much what he wanted), then pops out of nowhere, apparently having never left.
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: Subverted; after meeting Greyfield, he isn't seen for quite a few chapters (players will most likely assume that he stayed at the shelter, given that is pretty much what he wanted), then pops out of nowhere, apparently having never left.

Unnamed IDS Agent

 * Mook: Albeit one with a personality in the US version.
 * Miss Exposition
 * Only Sane Woman
 * Unusual Euphemism: Sweet corn casserole! They have freakin' ROCKETS!