Nintendo’s E3 nostalgia is missing one big series: Advance Wars

This year, Nintendo focused its Electronic Entertainment Expo digital event on reviving its old franchises more than they have in quite a few years. We have a new Star Fox, a new Zelda, and a new Mario. Of course, fans are bemoaning online about how their cherished series is missing (or this year, the “blasphemous” form one took), and to me, the biggest absence is … Advance Wars.

Advance Wars is actually part of Nintendo’s Wars series dating back to 1988 with Famicom Wars, one the company’s longest-running series, so it has the retro cache that would have fit in well at the conference. It’s the 10th anniversary of Advance Wars: Dual Strike, so now would’ve been the perfect time for it. The other franchises that made comebacks this year, Star Fox and Metroid, have been dormant for only four and five years, respectively. Advance Wars has been away for seven.