Worst Levels Ever # 9

Unfortunately, although there are lots of fantastic levels and stages in video games, there are also a fair few awful ones. This time, we take a look at another hated mission from the Advance Wars series.
I will more likely pick bad levels from games that I otherwise enjoy. These are the ones that stick out the most and can bring good games down.
This video is a follow-up to Worst Levels Ever # 7. See the video here: • Worst Levels Ever # 7
Please no suggestions/requests for any possible future episodes. There are two reasons why I ask this:
1. This video is all a matter of opinion. What might be my least favourite level of all time might be your most loved and vice versa. I'm hardly going to want to bash a level I love, am I?
2. I'm tired of getting requests or suggestions, and in this case, there's an especially large pool of choices, because just about every game ever has stages, levels and maps.

[@mites7]

Andy: "What's an airport?" Eagle: "This"

[@JacobNintendoNerd99]

+Tabris Hayayi Andy: "What's an airport?" Eagle: "Your worst nightmare."

[@sportakus3]

Andy: "What's an airport?" Eagle: "Your Game Over"

[@ferociousfeind8538]

Andy: "What's an airport?" Eagle: "The one thing that separates me from total world domination, of course!"

[@DiegoG2004]

Jonas Grandt Eagle:Wait,that's a port!

[@idydproductions7356]

Andy: whats an airport Eagle: hell

[@One-Week-Wizard]

Enemy Turn 1 on Rivals in the Advance Campaign is officially the most scary noise in existence the first time around. You've spent your turn desperately trying to get yourself some buildings with your dinky force, thinking, hoping that this won't be too much of a difficulty jump, and then suddenly WHEEEEEEN WOCKAWOCKA WHIIIRRRRRR WHIIIIIRRRRR WHEEEEEEN as your impending doom flies (and trundles) towards you and there isn't a thing you can do about it. Your jaw drops in horror. You can't see them coming. But you know they're coming. You know they're closing in, and you know there's a metric fuckton of them, and there are more on the way.

[@SoldierOfFate]

One Week Wizard Where's Optimus Prime and Godzilla when you need them?

[@hawkecrail5186]

That onomatopoeia is the funniest thing I've ever seen

[@roboticboom2970]

Random guy: MUMMM! Mum of random guy: What son? Random guy: I just pooped my pants, i need a new pair of underwear. Mum of random guy: Um, you are 21, why did you poop your pants. Random guy: Advance Wars, Rivals, Hard mode. Mum of random guy: Oh.

[@sprites75]

dual strike , where hard mode si sometimes easier than normal as you could use any broken COs anywhere

[@Jeffrey76515]

Haha, let's just have a pointless war with tons of real infantry and vehicles. You know, just for old times sake.

[@MarioMastar]

and it's Days of Ruin...of ALL games...to finally explain that the units are "Automated" (despite somewhat graphic detail about soldiers dying in the fight). At least Dual Strike HINTS at it being all a game with Lash's comment...but then again, it's Lash...so you never really know with her. (Well, that and Sami's comment about Drake's CO power being "Against the rules". Which also implies the whole thing is just a very realistic and politically deciding game. Kind of like Yu-Gi-Oh or Pokemon.)

[@SoldierOfFate]

LoLmanX You know what would be really funny? If they settled the rivalry with a good old fist fight. Andy would just hit Eagle in the face with his wrenches and call it a day.

[@MarioMastar]

The Ugly Barnacle XD! Sometimes I wonder if that's what they'd ultimately do when they meet face to face. Notice how every time a CO is beaten, they always run away before being confronted. AW takes no prisoners of war except for what Lin did to Greyfield in DoR.

[@MasterKnightDH]

Mario Mastar Or what Gheyfield did to the Lazurians before then. Dual Strike gets cheesy about the whole thing anyway, even having Surrounded have its cleanup phase be pathetically slow to the point where you have to wonder why Kindle just stands there and only abandons the Andy clone to his demise when the Allied Nuts *FINALLY* grab the last Communication Tower, rather than do the retreating as soon as the Bolt Guard's units are wiped out clearly long before the time limit runs out. I admit Dual Strike pisses me off anyway, but when the story has Black Hole bounce back from being defeated VERY badly again and again, and in very cheesy manners at that, it's begging to collapse under its own weight.

[@wowviewer]

This may be late, but that's probably the reason why I love DoR way better than the trilogy. 2nd game, however, did put a heavy weight on losses and sacrifices (aside from the Orange Star's involvement and storyline). DoR felt that even if we did win, there had been a lot of sacrifices. Heck, one mission, civilians fight. That, and I can actually see the commander in spite the age. The thing in the trilogy, I began to question "How did this kid became a commander?".

[@buzzlightyearpfp7641]

Andy: "What's an Airport?" Eagle: "Your death."

[@BigKlingy]

Just a random note about S Ranking this mission without cheating, anyone messed up enough to attempt this, you should know something about how Advanced Campaign handles S Ranks: Power and Technique don't matter, only Speed. You're always counted as getting 100% Power and Technique on Advanced Mode. Yeah, the game EXPECTS you to get slaughtered so much it doesn't penalise you for losing units. That should tell you something.

[@MasterKnightDH]

Thank the good lord the sequels dropped this and Battalion Wars avoided it as well.

[@BigKlingy]

Especially since it meant the "flawless strategy" required to S Rank most Advanced Campaign missions was to let your entire army get slaughtered as bait while one infantry makes its way to capture the HQ. I wouldn't exactly call that a good military operation.

[@MasterKnightDH]

People like GipFace would. That's what makes the likes of him sadists. I think the biggest issue in the series' balance is failure to provide good Counter Play. It overrelied on defensive charging and then removed that without realizing why it could have been needed. Days of Ruin still has Artillery spam being rewarded, ugh.

[@SoldierOfFate]

So much for being rewarded for actually destroying things and keeping the welfare of your forces in check...

[@Mauritanian1960]

the issues on the ranks and how the levels are designed is the reason why I only play AW2, even this late down the line

[@j.ackermann9110]

Rivals is the punishment for andys dumb question in Kanbeis Error...

[@airtempest8945]

J. Ackermann What's "Kanbei's Error"? Do you mean "Kanbei's Error?"?

[@epicluigimario]

Air tempest in

[@TheBreakingBenny]

He actually asked "What's an airport, again?" Andy may've known that airports have planes for transporting people to other places and continents, but didn't understand why they have *airports* on a fucking battlefield.

[@red5t653]

@@butteredsalmonella In this case, kinda. The question mark implies that there's the distinct possibility Kanbei DIDN'T make a mistake, which given his predeployed forces, makes sense. He already knows he has a tough time building up his own forces so he's starting off with ones already there instead.

[@robinhood7293]

I love how at the end of the campaign, Eagle and Andy are like "Sure brah, I'll have another bout with you! I have a couple hundred soldiers alive who I already ordered coffins for, need to deal with that ASAP!"

[@curtisbrown547]

dont you love it whens strategy games completely abandon any semblance of fairness and just throw their hands up and give the AI litteraly all the possible advantages they can just so the player has to strategize how to exploit the AI instead of how to actually play the game?

[@TheNexDude]

It's nuts Having the AI able see in Fog of War is like a racing where the AI is never effected by alternate terrain

[@skepticpunk_]

Feels like IntSys played too much Mortal Kombat and got Inspired by the AI in those games.

[@MattLyte]

no I don't love it not one bit

[@dr.eggman3623]

You know what would have made this last mission better. If it was optional. Then it would have been actually good for the player, so they aren't 360 no scoped by this level unless they really think they are up to the challenge.

[@NotBenStiller]

Tell me about the airports, Eagle.

[@MasterKnightDH]

Eagle: Airports are places in control of aerial vehicles. In Advance Wars, that has them deploy air units such as Fighters and Bombers. Speaking of, I have plenty of them, so prepare yourself, Andy, you idiot! Andy: Heeey! You're not calling me dumb, are you? :(

[@NotBenStiller]

***** Eagle was supposed to shoot Andy.

[@Ailobyte]

IUnderstoodThatReference.gif

[@NotBenStiller]

Ailobyte It's in the video

[@CorneliusCob]

shut

[@MBey13]

Advance Wars: Hardmode is demonicly hard. Advance Wars 2: Hardmode is actually fair. Still really hard, tho. Advance Wars Dual Strike: Hardmode is too easy. Advance Wars Days of Ruin: Doesn't have hardmode.

[@wowviewer]

+Primson Yao Even though there wasn't hardmode on Days of Ruin, the game still felt difficult lol. First time playing it, good God, it was tough.

[@MasterKnightDH]

+wowviewer And at the end of the day, DoR has some Fake Difficulty and general annoyance going on. Not as much as AWBS, but that doesn't say as much as we'd like.

[@SoldierOfFate]

+Primson Yao Dual Strike's hard mode can be demonic at times. Apparently, all they needed to ramp up the difficulty factor was give Black Hole a Stealth Fighter on Crystal Calamity.

[@MasterKnightDH]

The Ugly Barnacle Ew. Black Hole having anything more on Cry-stal Crapola. Actually, why didn't Dual Strike block forces and the extra COs on Hard Campaign to begin with and design the levels around that?

[@lostanimeworld11]

+MBey13 The main reason why Dual Strike's hard mode is easy compare to other games is because the game allows you to pick any CO you have unlocked, including Hachi and Nell. Not to mention you have Sasha, who can drain the enemy CO Star bar to delay if not prevent the enemy Tag Break from happening, AND ability to use skills. Take away the COs from the top two tiers and ban Sasha, and you WILL have a miserable time. Try throwing not using your own Tag Break while you are at it while the enemy CO's will build their Tag Break faster than you can say "airport" because while you control multiple teams, they only control 1 team, so 3 team "turns" will pass, and the total damage is likely to give the enemy its Tag Break. FREAKING UNBALANCED!

[@Boinkity1]

"It's kinda hard to tell what's happening when all the cutscenes consist of are character portraits and text at the bottom of the screen." I agree completely.

[@myktheprotector]

For anyone out there wondering if this is even possible, I once, ONCE, beat andvaced campaing for the LITERAL hell of it. I ended up looking up a turn by turn guide 20% into it for EVER chapter. I wanted to do rivals because I had never tried it before. it was so hard, it took months to finally finish it. I basically had to abandon HQ and pray he didnt have an infantry to capture it (he didnt). I took a ragtag team of infantry mech, trans helicopter and fighters in to capture HQ. I remember it was so goddamn close that I had thought I lost with one infantry capturing the HQ with 6 hp left, but I was saved by a last second CO power that brought his hp up enough to capture the base. Moral of the story: Andy's shitty CO power can save your ass if the Gods will bless you with the epic opportunity. If you asked me if I'd ever do it again, I'd say: NEVER, NEVER AGAIN!

[@Luminethereploid]

+Michael Choi So you just abandoned your base, and used your remaining units to basically go right past his entire army and into his HQ?

[@myktheprotector]

yeah, basically

[@Luminethereploid]

Michael Choi Balls, you got. Great ones.

[@SoldierOfFate]

It's been proven that the ONLY way to beat that mission is a HQ bumrush. And even then, you better hope there are few fighters/anti-airs/missiles in your path. Surviving the air assault would theoretically be possible with an infantry spam if it wasn't for the hordes of tanks coming your way.

[@ls_rus4666]

@@Luminethereploid Yoda?

[@craigmcpherson1455]

So Eagle wants to challenge Andy to see who is a better CO but gives himself a massive advantage with a map designed for him, starts with more units and more properties. That's like LeBron James challenging Ronaldo to a one on one basketball game to see who is a better athlete and shooting him in the leg first.

[@tacticalstampede5678]

Oh god, 3:10 those were the two CO's that I had for the final battle. No wonder I had such a hard time winning. Took me a good 2-3 hours in the morning and a very bad grade. The funny thing was, Grit and Sami happened to be my favorite CO's, so I didn't mind that much.

[@leemeyer9395]

There my favorite too

[@yokaihollow589]

Despite my liking for him, I don't recommend bringing Drake. Tsunami is good for cutting fuel and dealing damage, but the water thing won't work since all you get is that river in the middle.

[@ninjalen1836]

@@yokaihollow589 Drake doesnt even cut fuel in AW 1

[@timeusthenotverycleverguy3375]

The same happened to me, and when I saw 3:10 I realised why I struggled so much

[@Elyseon]

Advance Wars always rubbed me the wrong way. The commanders treat the act of sending soldiers to die in pointless battles like one would treat a poker night or something.

[@TheBreakingBenny]

It would be understandable if the soldiers sent to battle are in fact genetic clones of their original selves. If the original is at home or something, they are alive! Their clones aren't the real deal anyway!

[@Skul1ManEXE]

It is implied by a few references that the whole thing is one big virtual game or simulation of sorts.

[@blauesnavi3883]

@@TheBreakingBenny I really don't get people saying that clones dying pointlessly are somehow "okay". for god's sake they would still be humans, subject to all the torments of war! if you had twin sons would you be willing to send one of them to die by the hands of some lunatic kid?

[@alexanderkosten7611]

@@hopper8514 In Days of Ruin, they explicitly are factory-produced robots. Clearly IntSys realized the same thing at some point.

[@RagnellAvalon]

@@alexanderkosten7611 This is not the case in the Europe/Japan version, and is one of the few instances where the almost-entirely-made-up script of the American version is a drastic improvement.

[@SoldierOfFate]

Actually, either Grit or Max are both plausible choices for the final mission. But for the right team, you abso-fucking-loutely need Eagle or Kanbei if you want to make the process less painful. I swear, Advance Wars LOVES to punish the player. AI cheating in fog and Rivals are just two examples...

[@MasterKnightDH]

In that case, Advance Campaign is fucking pick your poison: Kanbei's Error within a given amount of time (have fun), The Final Battle, an already bullshit level on NC WITH Kanbei or Eagle, without Kanbei or Eagle, or Rivals.

[@MarioMastar]

What I find really insteresting is how they overcompensated for the computer in Campaign mode, BUT at the same time, made the AI significantly less competent in Campaign. When you challenge the AI in versus mode, they seem to be much smarter, but still at a disadvantage of the player being all around smarter. (Max spamming Artillery) I did a match with Grit against Max on Coral Lagoon. Max almost beat me actually except for one trick. Grit when on the Orange Star HQ can actually hit the Blue Moon HQ and factories from the safety of his side with Rockets, while even if Grit were on Blue moon's side, he couldn't hit Orange Star that safely. Therefore, every unit Max summoned was guaranteed to be bombed and start with 7 or less HP. Also Eagle's weakness really shows when he has to actually WORK for the units. I had Eagle on my team against Max and Kanbei. Eagle was doing terribly even with Lightning Strike. I (using Grit) had to bail him out three times before both of us finally started to take Kanbei down together (Max wasn't a threat to me at all. I kept blowing him up with Rockets, but Kanbei was right next to me...so he was always in my shadow). Yet Kanbei, when he has to buy his units (in all three games), is actually FAR more powerful than he seems. Because of the extra defense AND attack power, he takes at least 1 more hit from most of your units than most other COs would, giving him that extra turn to raise the extra cash needed to summon more units. A Late game Kanbei is VERY hard to hold back, but Eagle...without a ton of Fighters and Bombers pre-built for him, he only really weakens himself when he uses his power. So that's what I found fascinating. The AI being made so OP in Campaign mode, but completely moronic really shows they were overdoing it and using that as an excuse to miss out on how to actually balance the CO's properly. (E.g. Making Eagle, Max and Sturm look Stupid OP, Sonja extremely competent, and Kanbei, Sami, and Andy look underwhelming. The ONLY character who's as hard in Versus as they are in Campaign, despite the buffing, is Grit.)

[@starmaker75]

The Ugly Barnacle it like fire emblem awakening lunatic+ diffucilt

[@MarioMastar]

RAVAGEGHOST147 Ah, I think it was Alakule (one of the large 4P maps, mostly land with small rivers in between and Yellow Comet having the largest segment of land on the bottom right), and I as Grit was Orange Star, Blue moon was Max, Green Earth was Kanbei, and Yellow Comet was Eagle. Me and Eagle were on a team, and Max and Kanbei were on a team. No Fog or weather I think the problem was that Eagle starts off with so much land, but since it takes so long for him to get his power, by the time he got it, he didn't have many units to take advantage of it. At one part, he actually placed his damaged fighter on his only airport and just sat there for 5 turns to heal it up instead of building more bombers. That set him back heavily. Eagle CAN be good in the right hands, but you have to be careful about timing Lightning strike to make the most of it, otherwise, a defensive player who expects it will make sure Eagle wastes it so they can take advantage of the lower defense power and oneshot most of his air units. Probably the best use of Lightning Strike is cleverly placed Rockets to get two hits in, particularly in a Fog map. Also, in a recent fun match I did, it was the one with the rivers that aren't bridged, so you had to use air units or capture bases to really attack the others. Eagle let me capture the airport and built a TON of land units around his base that ended up being completely useless. (same set up as before except I was Sturm...AW1 sturm is SO underpowered, especially against Kanbei). But he DID really cripple Max with his rockets and Missiles, so I was proud of Eagle for that. Lousy Air commander, but GREAT with Indirects in that match.

[@SoldierOfFate]

RAVAGEGHOST147 You have to remember one thing: Colin's units may be weak offensive-wise, but their defense is unaffected. So defense-wise, he has no weaknesses in that department. Eagle's weakness is nonexistent on most maps that don't place emphasis on naval warfare. Kanbei's weakness is the ages-old philosophy of having to spend more if you want more quality.

[@ruthmcnally310]

9:04 Interestingly enough, the AI also played fair with Fog Of War in Super Famicom Wars.

[@ls_rus4666]

You mean the game, that was meant to be easy to pick up for players to apeal to western audience, had a broken AI compared to its predecessors!?

[@corn4618]

@@ls_rus4666 famicom Wars wasnt Even released in the West What are you on

[@ls_rus4666]

@@corn4618 I meant "predecessor" in gameplay And I don't fucking do drugs

[@estrum1647]

the AI in super famicom wars is more smart than advance wars AI

[@the_bane_of_all_anti_furry]

what a huge shame sfw for snes beating out a game from a superior more advanced port

[@ultimateluigi9878]

This is probably the best mission to bust out the Design Maps glitch on and make an overwhelming army appear instantaneously and nuke all of those starting units Eagle has

[@ls_rus4666]

Eagle:WHATTHEWHA-HOW IS THIS EVEN PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE!? Andy: huh? Oh, that's just my advisor's army.

[@movingstone4910]

It's funny how instead of giving you normal advice, Nell just says "I've taught you all I knew!".

[@kiseki8351]

Not even Nell knows how to handle this shit...

[@pkmntrainerred4247]

Andy: Nell, how am I supposed to handle thi- Nell: *Packing her bag* I've taught you everything you need, you can do this, bye! 😅

[@Kohchu]

Advanced Wars normal campaign leaves some room for mistakes here and there. Hard Mode on the other hand basically requires you to play flawlessly. It's so meticulous with how you HAVE to play, that honestly, I don't take any enjoyment out of it personally. After all; it's one thing to play your own way, make mistakes, and learn from it. It's another to basically HAVE to follow a guide with specific instructions on how to move units, just to not get wiped by the unfairly large army the enemy starts with on Hard Mode.

[@voicesofmarshians528]

From what I’ve seen and done, the best way to beat this mission is to send the infantry and mechs to the north bridge, and get the first tank down to a low enough hp where it just sits there and doesn’t attack you. In the meantime, just build a missle, anti-air, and surround them with infantry so they bear the brunt of the air attacks. Eventually, you’ll be able to push through the ground offense to the south, and work your way over to Eagles HQ, while finally having enough funds to spam fighters. It’s tedious, but it works.

[@urbanberndtsson]

*After listening to the enemy movement sounds until ****9:44* That's... a whole lot of units... despite the fact that you start with a few infantry/mechs, AND he has more properties than you ಠ_ಠ

[@SigmaExcel]

“DON'T BRING THEM BOTH TO THIS BATTLE...“ *Me, who had no idea the first time that you can influence your CO's in the last battle* : having sami and grit in my team -.-

[@kinamiya1]

grit can be pretty awesome tho but he excells way more on pvp and chokepoint maps

[@misterpayah7723]

Are we all ready to have Eagle kick the shit out of us again... in HD?

[@329link]

Hopefully they rework the levels a bit in the remake.

[@SoldierOfFate]

@@329link From what's shown in the trailers so far, most (if not all) of the levels will retain the same design as the classic counterparts.

[@axelbruv]

The entire game didn't sit well at all with me. I was left with a very uneasy feeling after I finished playing it. I mean there's a vague story about saving the world (or something)... although at first it just seemed like we were doing a big circle around the map for no reason. Chasing Olaf? Who knows. All I kept hearing from the characters was "That was fun! Let's do it again sometime!" Sorry... what? We were at war a minute ago. And aren't a load of your loyal soldiers dying in said war? Why are enjoying this so much? Am I actually a willing participant in some sort of Battle Royale/Hunger Game? What the hell is this?

[@juergen4ever]

+axelbruv A game truly worthy of the children of the Imperium of Man in WH40K.

[@wowviewer]

+axelbruv That's probably the weakest point of this trilogy. The game is fun and it can get really chaotic, but telling a story was its weakest point. I'd say for the original trilogy, go through the 2nd game. Aside from the Orange Star, they do emphasize it's not all fun and games (Blue Moon's overall campaign says it at best). Sure there's a great taste of victory on the army's final battle, but that is before all the Hell they had to go through. If you want an overall satisfaction, probably try Days of Ruin. It's more balance and in the story, it's probably the closest thing you can get on sacrifices. It's a victory, but the damage is pretty rough.

[@JoelHernandez-tz3vk]

+wowviewer Does EVERY single war game has to be based on the idea that war is hell? I always though the wars games not being based on the idea made them very unique to me, but I guess not unique in a good way it seems. Kinda like Advance Warfare compare to the rest of CoD series I suppose.

[@MasterKnightDH]

+wowviewer Wow, wowviewer. And here I was liking AW2's Campaign better than the other AWs' because it didn't have as much degenerate bullshit. AW1 had bullshit level design where luck determined if you could get an S Rank AT ALL before you could even get into Advance Campaign. AWDS speaks for itself and gets cheesy fast. DoR spends half the campaign being a fucking tutorial and then has random for its own sake rhythm in level length. But yeah, AW2 works out in the story too. It manages to balance the comedy with the serious tone like you point out. So AW2 is definitely ironed out a bit better. It's still far from perfect but it's hardly the weakest installment in the series.

[@wowviewer]

***** Yeah if anything else, AW2 is probably the best campaign you're going to get in the trilogy. I didn't mind most of it (the one that seemed WAY off was Orange Star. Their dialogue gets... out of hand at times. The other forces, aside from Black Hole, does balance well on both serious and comedy)

[@TitanTezwa]

Couple small notes..not to lecture or anything, just felt like saying. After you finish Advance Campaign and get Sturm yourself, his strength and weakness are flipped. He gains +30% Defense, at the cost of -20% offense. His Meteor Strike is nerfed to doing 4 HP instead of 8 as well. The no terrain costs still apply. Also in this game's AC, there are no scores for Power and Technique. They will automatically always be full, so the only factor for an S rank is speed. This makes survival missions basically automatic S-ranks if you survive. So the biggest obstacle to getting S in AC Rivals (besides surviving at all...) is just winning fast enough. Of course, who am I to talk. I can't even finish the first AC mission without an HQ bumrush. Also curious question, who's your favorite CO to use? (Limited to just this first AW for simplicity)

[@whoisthisgit]

I knew Sturm has different stats for campaign and Versus mode, but I didn't think it was necessary to go over for the video. My favourite in Advance Wars 1 is probably Max, because his direct units are so damn powerful. In Advance Wars 2, I don't know, Sturm himself maybe, but I'd feel bad at the time since he's overpowered in the extreme. Sasha is definitely my favourite in Dual Strike, because nothing's cooler than preventing your enemy from using CO powers. In Days of Ruins, Waylon or Tabitha. Waylon because it's amusing to see how little damage his air units take when he uses his CO power, and Tabitha because having such a powerful unit early on can make her deadly. I bet Caulder is a lot of fun to use, but he's even more broken than AW2 Sturm.

[@TitanTezwa]

whoisthisgit I've always been a fan of Eagle and Kanbei, I'm a bomber freak. Same with second game, but I also really enjoyed Sonja from her buffs, and Jess. Dual Strike it was mainly the same. Days of Ruin...hard to pick. I enjoyed Gage and Brenner. Also agreed on beyond broken Caulder. I believe he was even banned on Wi-Fi for that. I didn't mean to sound like you didn't know about flipped Sturm, though. Just random info for others that didn't.

[@Doshspy]

LionPrinceX8 In Dual Strike im thinking Colin when i decide im bored and just play a game against ai with maximum money settings. Funny how good money is in the AW series... But if it were serious play Jake.

[@coolgabe555]

Ben Russell If you want to be really cheap in a normal game go Colin Kanbei, Colin buys the units cheap then Kanbei switches in and trains them to be op.

[@Doshspy]

coolgabe555 That does seem like a dick move... I like it!

[@Icarus723]

For saying "Yahoo!", Andy really doesn't look happy at 8:26.

[@snakeorbreak6258]

more like YAFUUUUUUU

[@Kohchu]

Additional thing I discovered recently. Advance Wars Days of Ruin was actually NOT the first game to do Fog of War properly... as that honor actually belongs to Super Famicom Wars. Yes, the SNES version of Famicom Wars, actually had Fog of War working properly, and AI had to abide the same rules as the player. Which meant targeting enemy Recons to blind their vision was a rewarding tactic in that game. How the AI reacted, depends on the CO you are fighting (some charge blindly into the fog and will be easy as heck to trap, while others are a bit more cautious, choosing to hide units and inch their way out slowly). Allegedly, the GBA couldn't handle that, and so they just removed the check system in Advance Wars, basically making it so the AI doesn't react like Fog of War exists at all... they eventually fixed it in Days of Ruin, though I have to question why Dual Strike didn't also get this fix. Just a little something interesting I thought I'd share.

[@raviolieothedisgustingsupe4504]

The Final Battle: On the left side, if you choose Max on Max Strikes!, you get Grit. If you choose Andy for Max Strikes! and then complete Olaf's Navy by defeating all of his units, you get Olaf. If you choose Andy for Max Strikes! and then complete Olaf's Navy by capturing his HQ, you get Max. As whois said, Max is the best for the left side. Also, as whois said, as long as you don't get Grit, you are fine. On the right, if you complete Kanbei Arrives! in 8 days or less, Mighty Kanbei! in 10 days or less, and Kanbei's Error? in 12 days or less, you get Kanbei. If you use Andy for Captain Drake!, Naval Clash! and Battle Mystery!, you get Drake. And as whois said, if you use Sami for the missions Captain Drake!, Naval Clash!, Wings of Victory! and Battle Mystery!, you get Eagle. If none of those requirements are met, you get Sami. If you meet Kanbei's and Drake's requirements, you get Kanbei. If you meet the requirements for Eagle and Kanbei, you get Eagle. As whois said, as long as you don't get Sami, it's cool. For the normal campaign, Kanbei is definitely your best bet. On the Advance Campaign, Kanbei is very hard to get, and Eagle is definitely not good because of, well, what this video explains. Go with Drake. He is not impossible to get, and nothing bad happens if you use him. While there are no Naval units, he is better than Sami, and his CO Power really comes in handy.

[@endeavorrattata7839]

Damn, as whois said. Super powers weren't available in Aw1, imagine that though. you can use Sami's SCOP and win easily.

[@Jadanbr]

I'm very late, but i like more Grit, not Max to the last mission

[@Jadanbr]

Man i completed the last mission (Normal Campaign) With the "Worst COs"

[@DairunCates]

@@endeavorrattata7839 There's still a cheese strat to S Rank with Sami on Advance campaign. You just have to be a master of infantry baiting and using Sami's rapid capture mechanic. Sturm, it turns out, is awful at protecting his own home base.

[@gravity8120]

At a glance, Eagle seems like the Falco of Advance Wars to me. "Personally, I prefer the air. ports."

[@MasterKnightDH]

"What's an airport, again?"

[@MrSasukeSusanoo]

@@MasterKnightDH andy's worst nightmare

[@ThunderFlarz]

To quote AVGN: What were they thinking?! Now to watch the video in Holy Dante's comment.

[@kerbe3]

I remember this mission, I had Grit and Sami. Sami's job was to build mech units and keep them grouped in the bottom corner to bait meteor strike [it worked every time] then just get a bunch of Tcopters and load up and try to land on as many bases as possible and hope some of the units survived to maybe take a base and the other two just held Strum at bay as best they could.

[@haydenstephan1489]

I remember taking a full week to beat AC Rivals. It was about a dozen years ago. I tried using a turn-by-turn guide but the AI is so unreliable that these guides don't work. There's a lot of AI abuse you've got to do to win. In particular, you need to build AA right away, then damage Eagle's fighters and copters so that they waste a turn joining. Then the bombers get to you and you need to strategically use missiles, AA, and AI abuse with APCs and infantry. In the meantime you have to navigate a T-copter past all the flying units to his HQ. IIRC, his HQ is not guarded. As for his ground units, fortunately it is somewhat easy to create choke points.

[@averageo2343]

I always thought is was weird that Eagle will only assist you to get close to Sami. It's an interesting thing to put in the game, but it's still odd.

[@MutedAndReported3032]

simp

[@comedycomet7234]

IT'S BEEN 5 YEARS I FINALLY BEAT HIM WITHOUT CHEATS! AND I GOT A FLIPPIN B RANK

[@a.mckinnon2854]

This game is kinda messed up. Two "friendly" rivals send soldiers to their deaths to see who would win lol.

[@juansandoval2735]

Same as Shingen Takeda and Kenshin Uesugi from Samurai Warriors...

[@Igorcastrochucre]

This video game thought of you using the best weapon to defeat the main villain and decides use it against you? Man that's a sucker punch. It's like the shiny-armor-thing from Majora Mask becoming sentient and attacking Link after the Mask's defeat.

[@Xertaron.]

I certainly hope they'll change it in the remake. Rivals reminds me of jungle missions in first Hitman - absolutely dogshit terrible levels in otherwise decent game. And wouldn't call Eagle "logical choice for the final battle". To make him even appear there you need to select Sami in all Green Earth missions and her maps in 15, 16 and 17 are the hardest (17 by a country mile, it's Andy's map with more enemies, fog of war and most units available are weaker with her as CO). Granted, mission 18 is a piece of cake compared to Max's or Andy's version, but that's just 1 out of 4. Max is so god damn powerful in this game that he is the best choice in most missions. And if you do that you'll get you'll get Grit and Kanbei in the final battle. Not bad for picking by far the best CO.

[@aegisScale]

I haven't encountered Rivals in the remake, but I suspect they made the CO selection process for Final Battle different. I had access to everyone going in semi-blind (I knew the jist of Final Battle and that I could use Kanbei if I beat his levels faster), so I think Rivals just up and doesn't exist since you can always pick Eagle regardless of pathing.

[@JustAnotherPest]

This mission shows up in one or two of the AW2 romhacks. I think War Room Challenge? But one of your airports is turned into a port. You know, because it's more fun that way. On the plus side, no fog and you start with an AA or something else nice depending on your CO. Grit gets a Missile, Drake gets two Cruisers, and Kanbei actually starts without the AA. Fun times.

[@GeneralCane]

I haven't even played the first Advance Wars but I really enjoy the way you make your videos and it keeps me watching. Honestly this mission on hard mode seems like a level your friend would create to play with you in the second game just to piss you off. Holy hell, designers.

[@SoldierOfFate]

GeneralCane Even the first Hard Campaign mission falls under that category because it all evolves into a HQ bumrush. Scratch that, the ENTIRE Hard Campaign was designed to piss you off.

[@fionordequester6748]

For those curious, I have a consistent strategy for this map that lets you beat it in under 19 minutes. I also have the current record in how low you can get the turns (14 Days), though that requires an extra 26 minutes of save scumming due to RNG. You can find both here! Fast & Reliable Clear (~19 Turns, 19 minutes and 49 seconds): kzbin.info/www/bejne/mYqUhaScr7SIaMU Low Turn Count Clear (14 Turns, 34 minutes & 46 seconds): kzbin.info/www/bejne/h4Kkq398gNmtaJY

[@magoichi75]

Personally the best thing I loved about these games were the design of the units, Green earth was my all time favorite unit styles.

[@gemraldkid6304]

I got this game sometime way after seeing the Most Powerful Characters video on Sturm. The final battle happens to be the reason I took a break. Also, I had Grit and Sami, there. I kinda broke down for a moment after you said that bringing them along is the worst possible mistake you can make.

[@toffee4544]

In Kanbei's error I was thinking about looking at Nell and going "Seriously what the fuck"

[@ContinuumOfHarmony]

I was a god but not any more. That mission killed the mood of a fun game. It was like the developers where told last minute to make this riveal match. Really, a simpler.. a smaller more refined map would have worked better. I buired this mission and you dug it up. Put it back.

[@Stolskai]

"Tell me about the rabbits Eagle" Right when I thought I forgot about it

[@charleslathrop8309]

andy should know what an airport is.

[@layachaz7318]

I really hate this one level especially the Hard Mode one. Did the developers really think that something like this would be fun? It have been 3 years since I have tried to finish this level and still nothing til now

[@nicolasmasson8569]

"Don't bring Sami and Grit at the same time on this battlefield" Me: "Yeah about that..."

[@morgansoper6336]

The first time doing the Advanced Campaign, I brought Grit and Sami (by accident) and wanted to oust myself after having to restart the whole campaign.

[@sombrastudios5765]

Andy:what's an airport? Eagle:your hell

[@dr.eggman3623]

I looked it up and someone actually beat this level with an S rank, although he admitted he got very lucky.

[@lucaadesso5073]

...Well, we have a new God, then.

[@charlix1214]

There are some missions in AW and AW2 which have very good level design. You should talk about them. I love the "tanks!!!" mission, where you play like grit vs adder.

[@unknownstranger6558]

11:25< it's like a mem: Fog of war off, Ah, crap!. Thanks a lot for all your videos!)))))

[@randominternetuser5872]

5:41 Eagle:"hey let's fight for no important reason at all. :D" Andy:"of course,I always wanted to waste thousands of human life for fun!:D" Me:"how are you guys aren't fired yet for being a horrible Human being?"

[@MasterKnightDH]

No wonder the Advance Wars subreddshit is full of people who pulled the sort of atrocious bullshit I complained about here: pastebin.com/g5wZd2AL Oh, and by the way, if you're wondering about the post date, the original was posted a while back but was deleted because the Advance Wars subreddshit have been trying to censor me.

[@kato_dsrdr]

Me getting both Grit and Sami.

[@stevengu1253]

The only few COs that may have a chance against Eagle in that kind of level would be Haichi whose CO powers give out huge deployment cost reductions (and the Merchant's Union), Colin who can spam fodder, Sturm (but he will have a lot of trouble), or maybe Sami if you can somehow get her to use her infantry on Eagle's HQ and utilize Victory March. Half of those COs are in AW2 and you're stuck with Andy, which is not great. However, there may be a way to win this battle by spamming infantry as defense walls and utilizing indirect units. But yeah, you're way outclassed with that level. Wonder what the game developers were thinking.

[@rpgnerd7610]

we need to know what he thinks of the remake version!

[@samuiluzunov5428]

Sadly I couldn't do this mission because my Ds Lite broke in the middle of the final battle.... My heart literally was crushed by a meteor that day.... And the worst part was that after several attempts, I managed to be winning the battle until THAT happened... T_T RIP Ds Lite.

[@ParadoxPupper]

3:13 Stupid Advance Wars Challenge, anyone?

[@SaturnineXTS]

Eagle gives Andy a lesson on what an airport is that he'll never forget for the rest of his life, and have nightmares about for at least 10 years lol

[@ilikedota5]

This level punishes you for picking strong CO's in earlier missions and rewards you for picking weaker CO's in the earlier missions, and doesn't bother telling you.

[@MasterKnightDH]

And the best part is when you still get punished by getting Olaf, who should have had 2 Fighters and no APC in the mix, for going the direct route on Olaf's Navy rather than the obvious solution.

[@ilikedota5]

@@MasterKnightDH On a 0-10 linear scale, AW1 is a 10 on the normal mode (for the most part, sometimes certain spikes), the Advanced mode is a 20 (for the most part, sometimes certain spikes). AW2 is still pretty hard at an 8.5 (although still easy for people who somehow managed AW1. AW3 is mostly a much milder 6.5/7.

[@Maravillante]

Can’t wait to see this mission on the remake

[@WakkaMadeInYevon]

That fucking Of Mice and Men reference Damn you for making my heart ache

[@TheLycanDragon]

+Wakka Flakka Burn The Al Bhed Where?

[@jakewakefield4729]

+Wakka Flakka Burn The Al Bhed I was laughing when I saw that xD

[@WakkaMadeInYevon]

LycanDragon around 9:16

[@ecbrd8478]

I honestly just want to say, that scene was hilarious in the movie There's literally no buildup, no tension, George doesn't even finish tellin' about the rabbits, he just shoots him.

[@NotBenStiller]

"Here's a rabbit, bitch!" Directed by Quentin Tartantino

[@tatertot57]

It's funny, because the first time I ever played this game, I got both Grit AND Sami in the final mission, and was able to beat it by Mech-spamming with Sami and having good distance management with Grit. Knowing what I know now, I'm not surprised I had so many issues.

[@philbrannigan1865]

I remember playing this one as a kid and being so frustrated...glad im not the only one

[@ktvoid]

the funny thing is, i heard in reboot camp this mission is only unlockable when you clear all missions in the main campaign of aw1... plus you unlock COs as you clear missions in reboot camp instead of must having them join the final battle , so its probably not as bad in reboot camp

[@CH-uk1il]

In Reboot Camp, you now have to beat all the missions, even the branching ones to unlock Rivals. THAT is how a bonus level is done! That's like making Darker Side in Super Mario Odyssey mandatory to beat the story. P.S. you even get a choice of who to use in the final mission.

[@subatomicseal7789]

My theory for why this mission isn't utterly horrifying thanks to the total waste of life, is that Advance Wars is just a tabletop strategy game that everyone's taking *way* too seriously

[@cardiv5zuikaku944]

It could just be a mock battle anyways lol

[@Mfenton10]

Hmm... Both AC's are impossible, but comparing both I found the details, which lead to this: In "Kanbei's Error?", he just ambushes you with nothing but, air units. He also has a lot of Anti-Air defences near his bases to prevent you from ambushing HIS bases. He also has a lot of bases next to his main base, which means, you have about 9 days of the air units destroying your army, before capturing 15 bases, after 9 days, your dead. In "Rivals!", Eagle is a jerk for 3 reasons... 1. He has more, POWERFUL units to start with, while you have 3 Mechs. 2. He has LOADS of Bombers and Anti-Air Tanks. 3. He doesn't attack on first day, which gives you time, but on second day, your screwed! So there is the details, if I missed some information, you can reply to this comment. Thank you.

[@picallo1]

Sturm was harder in AW2 but his power charged WAY slower. AW1 it was like every other turn. Anytime you went ham on Strums units, Meteor strike. AW2 final levels, to me were ten times more simple than AW1. And you got to pick your CO's. Andy in AW1 was trash. Typically Kanbei Max and Eagle for me. Kanbei the middle on properties can stand up to Sturms firepower and you can mechball Max to bait meteor strike.

[@breloompauncher5593]

3 years late but in the 4th game Days of ruin it reveals that all factory spawn troops are remote controlled, drones if you will(except infantry based troops, infantry, mechs, bikes and indirects). The only manned troops are the pre-deploys It's a easily missed tidbit in the tutorial section of the game. Either way a waste of government funding

[@MasterKnightDH]

Still a questionable explanation, and it's not talked about again anyway.

[@ShadwSonic]

Ah, "The Final Battle"... I'll freely admit, when I played this game I used an in-depth guide to tell me every move I should make... but there's one problem: IT FAILS TO COVER THIS LEVEL! Not because the guide is unfinished, OH NO, rather because Sturm is far too random to predict! So now I, pathetic n00b that I am, find myself up against this level with no guidance. AND ANOTHER THING! Because your teammates are chosen depending on actions you couldn't POSSIBLY know were important, you can easily find yourself screwed in that department! ONE MORE THING! This all happened on the NORMAL difficulty, so I shudder to think how much worse the HARD campaign is!

[@ShadwSonic]

Well, at least I know who to choose now when I decide to try again: Eagle. See, I'm not doing it for NORMAL completion, I'm doing it for 100% completion! That means the "messed up extra level" is something I WANT to trigger!

[@Santouryu3]

Greyfield: Report on the units in whoisthisgit's group. Where does their strength lie? Battleships? Understood. Ensure you relay my orders tomorrow! whoisthisgit: But I... don't have any battleships in the final battle... Greyfield: All battleships, halt! Don't move an inch without my leave! whoisthisgit: Have you been drinking rum with Captain Drake and Admiral Zhao while you were castaway?

[@MasterKnightDH]

I think TFB should have had its own episode at this point. It just has moronic design. I will never get over Olaf as your west CO being your "reward" for doing Olaf's Navy the harder way.

[@HighLanderPonyYT]

'The Final Battle!' mission was a pain in the nuts. I still remember spending hours upon hours on it, sweating my balls off, with bleeding fingers, trying to mass enough mechs with Andy to divert the meteor strikes (it always strikes the cluster of units with the highest total cost, so bunching up mechs while spreading everything else out makes it less of a pain). I got Eagle on the right, but unfortunately, Grit on the left, so it was a long and tough process of building up enough rockets and whatnot behind the hills and slowly crawling forward. I totally forgot about Rivals! Probably to preserve my sanity. :D The final Sturm mission was such a satisfying and memorable mission though. I love AW!

[@Predator20357]

The advanced version of this match be like: Andy: "Why do you have a full mobile army already?!" Eagle: "Because FUCK YOU! I want to win"

[@awildfurret]

Plot twist: They're playing on Sturm's computer

[@IHateYoutubeHandlesVeryMuch]

Good thing someone actually took the time and defeated the level in hard mode :D

[@MandyDeeB]

I got an add for actual butt paste before watching this. Basically an add for the level.

[@Millacks]

The Eagle vs Andy mission might be in a vr war.

[@sergiomendoza251]

My strategy was using in the beggining apc and transporcopters,later of that recons and tanks in the start for the bases in north and south and later of that anti-air units medium tanks and rockets as a defensive (in normal campaing).

[@jasada1000]

How would you rank the Advance Wars series, from best to worst?

[@Nickdee21]

I’m really interested to know how you are playing this game! Are you on a GBA or using an emulator? These videos are making me nostalgic and I want to play them again haha

[@acephilosopher9186]

I beat AC Rivals once but it took a whole week playing for hours…. Eventually used an HQ rush strat and I think only my infantry was the only thing left standing. Don’t ask me how I got past all those fighters…

[@ShadowBaofu]

This mission reminds me of the last battle in Ender's Game. You basically have to cap his HQ.

[@brobean5437]

Hey Andy what's your favorite internet browser? Andy: 8:30

[@Commanderoko]

I actually found Sami + Grit to be fairly easy. Mechs and Artillery all day long!

[@Ultima2343]

Quick note here: I'm pretty sure they fixed the AI for FoW in AWDS. I read that somewhere and I definitely remember enemy units not hitting mine even though they weren't "hidden".

[@estrum1647]

they cheat when you use air units for no reason

[@Ultima2343]

@@estrum1647 Air units can't use terrain to hide. If you try to put them on a forest or reef tile, they'll be visible to the enemy with the normal vision range.

[@bewill5121]

I want to see a TAS of this level to see if an S rank is even possible in the first place.

[@MasterKnightDH]

This isn't a TAS at all, but: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jqCzYn9umtuqesU

[@selena3467]

Good lord this shitty mission took me 83 in game days and multiple hours to beat. Who taught that this was a good designed map?

[@ImmaLittlePip]

My advice use game genie or use that glitch where you can edit units and buildings

[@jjsoupsworth]

Nice Of Mice And Men reference there.

[@ZabieW]

Shes...rivals. I remember beating the normal version with no real problems, I struggled more with Sturm than on rivals. But I could never, EVER beat Rivals on AC. That mission is merciless.

[@SAGENT2]

Jesus, I don’t blame you for avoiding this mission. AC rivals is fake difficulty at its most heinous

[@justas423]

I wouldn't call it a punishment but more like poor planning.

[@Zwyrx_Hgqfyggz]

"Tell me about the rabbits, Eagle" I shouldn't have got that reference...

[@plaguebringer7865]

What is it

[@Zwyrx_Hgqfyggz]

@@plaguebringer7865 Of Mice & Men. Pretty brutal...

[@Br00c]

5:00 Wow that looked fair. Olaf's face says it all

[@DVthedigitalhero]

Jet: That is kinda bull that they make the best option to beat the final boss gives you a nearly impossible battle...

[@MasterKnightDH]

D.V Fighting Force They do indeed go too far with the intended concept. Assuming it could be welcome in the first place.

[@QuantemDeconstructor]

ummmmmmm what is an airport again?

[@theSato]

Oh boy, another Advance wars one :D