Famicom Wars

Famicom Wars[lower-alpha 1] is a wargame produced by Nintendo. It was released on August 12, 1988 for the Family Computer in Japan.[1] It was later re-released on Virtual Console. It is the first game in the Wars series.

Famicom Wars
Developer(s)Intelligent Systems
Nintendo R&D1
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Director(s)Satoru Okada
Kenji Nishizawa
Producer(s)Gunpei Yokoi
Designer(s)Hiroji Kiyotake
Hirofumi Matsuoka
Programmer(s)Toru Narihiro
Artist(s)Makoto Kano
Composer(s)Hirokazu Tanaka
Kenji Yamamoto
SeriesWars
Platform(s)Family Computer, Virtual Console (Wii, 3DS, Wii U)
ReleaseFamily Computer
  • JP: August 12, 1988
Wii Virtual Console
  • JP: May 19, 2009
3DS Virtual Console
  • JP: December 26, 2012
Wii U Virtual Console
  • JP: December 3, 2014
Genre(s)Turn-based tactics
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay
Title screen of Super Famicom Wars

Players take control of one of two warring nations, Red Star and Blue Moon, as they seek to establish turn-based dominance over each other. After selecting which stage to start the game and setting which, if either, player will be controlled by a person, the Red Star army is given the first turn. The objective in each stage is to either conquer the enemy's headquarters or destroy all remaining enemy units in one turn. During each turn, the player is given a certain amount of funds which can be used to build units in factories, seaports, and airports in their command, as well as cities near their headquarters. Each unit has their own specialty and abilities, with ten land units (including two foot soldier units), four air units, and two sea units. Some units use firepower against the enemy, while others provide support to allies. Only foot soldier units are capable of conquering cities, which are used to repair or refuel damaged units and gain more funds. There are 15 maps available at the start of the game, with two secret ending maps dependent on the player's nation when playing against the computer.

Development

Development of Famicom Wars began as Intelligent Systems changed its direction from creating hardware to developing simulation games.[2]

Reception and legacy

On release, Famicom Tsūshin (now Famitsu) scored the Famicom version of the game a 33 out of 40.[3][1] The 1989 "All Soft Catalog" issue of Famicom Tsūshin included Famicom Wars in its list of the best games of all time, giving it the Best Simulation and Best Commercial awards.[4]

The original Famicom Wars was followed by a series of sequels which were released only in Japan as well, which includes Game Boy Wars in 1990 and Super Famicom Wars in 1998, both which were developed by Intelligent Systems and Nintendo, as opposed to a sub-series of sequels to the original Game Boy Wars, which were developed and published by Hudson Soft. The series eventually made its international debut with Advance Wars, released for the Game Boy Advance in 2001. The maps from both Famicom Wars and Super Famicom Wars were later included in Advance Wars and its sequels.[5]

A group of six soldiers from the game appears in the Wii game Captain Rainbow. The soldiers aspire to win the volleyball gold medal.[6]

Super Famicom Wars

The fourth game in the series, Super Famicom Wars,[7] features four playable armies.[8] It was available to download to writable Nintendo Power cartridges in May 1998[9][7] and released for the Satellaview Super Famicom add-on.[7] The game is available on Nintendo's Japanese Virtual Console for Wii,[10] Wii U,[11] and 3DS platforms.[12] An English-language fan translation was released in 2018.[8]

Notes
  1. Japanese: ファミコンウォーズ Hepburn: Famikon Wōzu

References
  1. "ファミコンウォーズ [ファミコン] / ファミ通.com". www.famitsu.com. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
  2. Iwata Asks - Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon Archived November 4, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  3. 30 Point Plus: ファミコンウォーズ. Weekly Famicom Tsūshin. No.257. Pg.40. 12–19 November 1993.
  4. Famicom Tsūshin, no. All Soft Catalog '89, 1989 Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. Accessed 2007-11-25 Archived 2011-06-29 at the Wayback Machine
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-10-20. Retrieved 2008-08-06.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. Life, Nintendo (2017-12-26). "'Super Famicom Wars' And 'Princess Minerva' Translated to English". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on 2018-01-30. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
  8. "Fan Translation Makes Super Famicom Wars Playable In English - Siliconera". Siliconera. 2018-01-02. Archived from the original on 2018-01-07. Retrieved 2018-08-21.
  9. "スーパーファミコンウォーズ [スーパーファミコン] / ファミ通.com". www.famitsu.com. Archived from the original on 2018-08-21. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
  10. "Japanese Nintendo downloads: Super Famicom Wars, Diner Dash". Engadget. Archived from the original on 2018-08-20. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
  11. Bivens, Danny (October 3, 2013). "Japan eShop Round-Up (10/02/2013)". Nintendo World Report. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
  12. Bivens, Danny (November 28, 2016). "Super Famicom Wars, Live A Live and More Hit 3DS eShop in Japan - News". Nintendo World Report. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
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