Introduction
Famicom Wars
I'll let that boxart speak for itself for now. Let's jump straight into the intro.
Warning: Some animations contain rapidly flashing imagery in this post and throughout the LP! 
We start off on a nice clear day, blue sky as far as the eye can see. However there are air raid sirens in the background.
Suddenly, a lone soldier parachutes in from the sky. Note: There are no paratroopers in this game.
A few more paratroopers drop in as the first guy cheers them on or something. Explosions and gunfire can be heard.
The drops go on for some time, with each new trooper firing off into the distance as soon as they land.
Suddenly a trooper runs back in from the right, purused by a tiny tank. Good luck little dude.
The tank chases the little guy all the way off the screen.
Music: Title Theme
Suddenly the tank flees so quickly back to the right that its treads are up in the air. What could the tank be running from?
Ah, a giant tank. That's fair. Note: There are no giant tanks in this game.
The giant tank fires a ludicrously sized round. Seriously that's as tall as the soldiers are.
The rather large round falls straight to the ground and stops, hurting no one.
The little tank coasts back on screen, crashes into the cannon ball that's bigger than it, and somehow that works to blow up the giant tank.
And with that, welcome to Famicom Wars.
Released all the way back in 1988, Famicom Wars is the first in the "Wars" series -- a turn-based strategy series by Intelligent Systems (part of Nintendo) that is better known outside of Japan as simply "Advance Wars". The first few entries of the series never left Japan; it was only with Advance Wars on the Game Boy Advance that the rest of the world got to experience it. In that, the Wars series is similar to Intelligent Systems' other strategy series (Fire Emblem). I may have also LP'ed the first game in that series.
If you're familiar with the Advance Wars games, you know all those things you love and enjoy about the series? Charming characters with unique gameplay powers? A campaign that pits the player against multiple armies and a goofy villain? You won't find any of that here. But we'll get into all of that later. Really, Famicom Wars isn't a bad game, but it has aged rather horribly over the last 30+ years.
Since every map in this game is available in later games, there's really no reason to play Famicom Wars yourself. Thus why I'm going to play it for you. And to spice it up, I'll throw a little challenge into each map.
Other tidbits:
- I'm using a fan translation patch, since I can't read the original Japanese. The game isn't very text-heavy anyway though.
- There's no story to speak of, but I'll go over each map as we get to it, so please don't spoil them.
- Save states will be used each turn to save my sanity. These maps take hours to play through as it is.
- Aiming for a main update once a week with occasional bonus updates.
Table of Contents
- Part 1: Bean (1 of 2)
- Part 2: Bean (2 of 2)
- Part 3: Unit Overview: Infantry
- Part 4: Crater (1 of 2)
- Part 5: Crater (2 of 2)
- Part 6: Bonus Update: Crater HQ Capture
- Part 7: Unit Overview: Mech
- Part 8: Triangle (1 of 3)
- Part 9: Triangle (2 of 3)
- Part 10: Triangle (3 of 3)
- Part 11: Unit Overview: APC
- Part 12: Ball (1 of 2)
- Part 13: Ball (2 of 2)
- Part 14: Unit Overview: Tank
- Part 15: Coral (1 of 2)
- Part 16: Coral (2 of 2)
- Part 17: Unit Overview: Medium Tank
- Part 18: Puzzle (1 of 2)
- Part 19: Puzzle (2 of 2)
- Part 20: Unit Overview: Artillery
- Part 21: Mist (1 of 2)
- Part 22: Mist (2 of 2)
- Part 23: Unit Overview: Rocket
- Part 24: Deer (1 of 2)
- Part 25: Deer (2 of 2)
- Part 26: Unit Overview: Supply
- Part 27: Alara
- Part 28: Unit Overview: Anti-Air Tank
- Part 29: Lost (1 of 2)
- Part 30: Lost (2 of 2)
- Part 31: Unit Overview: Anti-Air Missile
- Part 32: Volcano
- Part 33: Unit Overview: Copter
- Part 34: Turtle (1 of 2)
- Part 35: Turtle (2 of 2)
- Part 36: Unit Overview: Scout
- Part 37: Squash (1 of 2)
- Part 38: Squash (2 of 2)
- Part 39: Interlude: Wars World Bingo
- Part 40: Unit Overview: Fighter
- Part 41: Cube (1 of 2)
- Part 42: Cube (2 of 2)
- Part 43: Unit Overview: Bomber
- Part 44: Mirror (1 of 2)
- Part 45: Mirror (2 of 2)
- Part 46: Unit Overview: Battleship
- Part 47: Shark (1 of 2)
- Part 48: Shark (2a of 2)
- Part 49: Shark (2b of 2)
- Part 50: Unit Overview: Lander
- Part 51: Roundup and Credits
- Part 52: Blue Moon Speed Run
- Part 53: Royal (1 of 2)
- Part 54: Royal (2 of 2)
- Part 55: Blue Moon Credits
The game's soundtrack is pretty basic but here are the tracks we've seen so far:
Soundtrack
- Attack Enemy Territory
- Battle Results
- Battle Theme
- Building Takeover
- Continue Game
- End Turn
- Enemy Turn Type A
- Enemy Turn Type B
- Game Over
- Map Select
- Menu Theme
- Mission BGM Type A
- Mission BGM Type B
- Receive Supplies
- Stage Clear
- Title Theme
- Transport Theme
- Air Unit Battle
- HQ Capture
- Surrender Theme
- Unknown Theme D
- Credit Roll
Basic Unit Data
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Unit Cost Move Type Fuel Ammo Reload Range Notes Infantry 1000 3 Foot 99 9 1 G 1 Can capture any property Mech 2000 2 Foot 70 3 3 G 1 Can capture any property except HQ Medium Tank 16000 6 Vehicle 70 6 5 G 1 Tank 6000 5 Vehicle 50 4 4 G 1 APC 4200 6 Vehicle 70 4 3 G 1 Can carry one infantry or mech unit Rocket 13000 4 Vehicle 50 5 7 G 3-5 Cannot attack after moving; cannot counterattack Artillery 5500 5 Vehicle 30 3 6 G 2-3 Cannot attack after moving; cannot counterattack Supply 3000 5 Vehicle 60 N/A N/A N/A Cannot attack; supplies to adjacent ground units AA Missile 11000 4 Vehicle 40 2 8 G 3-5 Cannot attack after moving; cannot counterattack AA Tank 5500 5 Vehicle 50 4 3 G 1 Fighter 22000 10 Air 99 5 8 G 1 Scout 15000 10 Air 99 4 8 G 1 Bomber 20000 8 Air 99 5 6 G 1 Copter 4000 6 Air 60 4 3 G 1 Can carry one infantry or mech unit Battleship 28800 6 Ship 99 6 6 G 3-5 Cannot attack after moving; cannot counterattack Lander 18500 5 Ship 99 6 3 G 1 Can carry any two ground units
Combat Data
Below is the damage each unit does at full strength to each other unit (on neutral terrain), from what's been posted so far:
pre:
Defending Unit Damage Inf Mch MTk Tnk APC Rkt Art Sup AAM AAT Ftr Sct Bmb Cpt Btl Ldr Infantry 4.5 3.5 0.5 1.5 2.5 0.5 1.5 2.5 0.5 1.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 1.5 0.5 0.5 Mech 5.5 4.5 2.5 3.5 4.5 3.5 4.5 9.5 4.5 4.5 1.5 2.5 1.5 2.5 0.5 0.5 Medium Tank 8.5 9.5 4.5 6.5 7.5 8.5 9.5 8.5 8.5 7.5 1.5 2.5 1.5 2.5 1.5 1.5 Attacking Tank 5.5 4.5 2.5 4.5 9.5 5.5 7.5 6.5 8.5 7.5 1.5 2.5 1.5 2.5 1.5 1.5 Unit APC 8.5 9.5 1.5 2.5 4.5 3.5 3.5 5.5 3.5 4.5 1.5 2.5 1.5 2.5 0.5 0.5 Rocket 4.5 3.5 5.5 6.5 6.5 4.5 5.5 6.5 5.5 6.5 N/A N/A N/A N/A 1.5 2.5 Artillery 4.5 3.5 4.5 5.5 5.5 3.5 4.5 5.5 4.5 6.5 N/A N/A N/A N/A 1.5 2.5 Supply N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A AA Missile N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 6.5 7.5 6.5 7.5 N/A N/A AA Tank N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 6.5 7.5 6.5 7.5 N/A N/A Fighter 5.5 5.5 0.5 1.5 2.5 1.5 2.5 4.5 1.5 1.5 4.5 6.5 9.5 6.5 0.5 1.5 Scout 4.5 4.5 0.5 0.5 1.5 0.5 1.5 3.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 4.5 6.5 7.5 0.5 0.5 Bomber 5.5 5.5 6.5 7.5 7.5 6.5 7.5 7.5 6.5 6.5 N/A N/A N/A N/A 4.5 6.5 Copter 5.5 5.5 0.5 0.5 1.5 0.5 0.5 4.5 1.5 1.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 4.5 0.5 0.5 Battleship 8.5 8.5 8.5 9.5 9.5 8.5 8.5 9.5 8.5 9.5 6.5 7.5 6.5 7.5 4.5 7.5 Lander 1.5 1.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 4.5 6.5 5.5 6.5 2.5 4.5
Unit Icons
pre:
Unit Map Combat Animation Infantry
Mech
APC
Tank
Medium Tank
Artillery
Rocket
Supply
AA Missile
AA Tank
Fighter
Scout
Bomber
Copter
Battleship
Lander
