Advance Wars 2 - Black Hole Rising
Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising is a downloadable legacy strategy release for Wii U developed by Intelligent Systems. It centers on combat encounters, turn-based tactical decisions, and battlefield assessment, with controls, information, and pacing arranged around the GamePad, Wii U Pro Controller, or another layout supported by the download.
- AI score · out of 10
- 8.4 / 10
About this game
Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising is a downloadable legacy strategy release for Wii U centered on combat encounters, turn-based tactical decisions, and battlefield assessment. Missions add map constraints, new rules, and tougher opposition, with progress divided into stages, tasks, matches, or growth milestones that make its immediate goals understandable. Its value depends on whether these rules continue to create judgment and room for mastery rather than on length, sales, or series recognition. Short campaigns are judged by repeat-challenge value, while longer ones are judged by variety, pacing, and recovery after failure. Maps, unit states, and action feedback determine whether complex situations remain readable, while the original aspect ratio, scaling, filtering, sound, and television output need to preserve key information and the source game's style. The genre-specific limitation is that tutorial depth, dense menus, pointer precision, and long scenarios increase the learning curve. Platform conditions also include control mapping, display ratio, emulation behavior, saving, controller compatibility, and the retired download service affect present-day use. The downloadable legacy release is judged for emulation behavior, control mapping, and retained conveniences rather than inheriting the original media score.
Collected in series
Advance Wars puts you in charge of a miniature army, moving tanks, infantry and aircraft one turn at a time. Capturing towns pays for reinforcements, while terrain and unit matchups turn each map into a tactical puzzle. Later campaigns add new fronts and a harsher vision of war.
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Wii U
AI review
AI reviews are subjective assessments, not player ratings. See each review for its evidence and limitations.Published date:
Broader commander tactics with an obsolete link menu.
The Wii U Virtual Console edition of Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising keeps the readable grid battles of its predecessor but lets four allied nations take turns in the campaign. Choosing a commander involves deciding whether to use a regular power now or wait for a more decisive Super CO Power. New units and region-based missions make that decision matter rather than simply adding names. Hidden stages, War Room, map design and a tougher Advance Campaign provide substantial room for continued study. Visuals retain the familiar clear outlines, while new commander themes bring fresh energy to the soundtrack. The Wii U reissue retains a Link Mode menu from the GBA version that cannot provide its original cable multiplayer; the firsthand review confirms that local versus play can instead pass a controller between players. This specific usability blemish does not erase the rich solo tactics. It best serves players who know the first game and want more combinations and mission structures.
Strengths
- Super powers and regional missions create new timing choices.
Weaknesses
- Visual change is slight and the old link menu is unusable.
Who it is for: Tactics players seeking more Advance Wars depth.
Play notes: Wii U Virtual Console; documented local versus uses one passed controller.
View scoring basis
| Dimension | Review state | Score | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dimension Regional missions and challenge modes add lasting breadth. | Reviewed | 8.5 / 10 | Not provided |
| Dimension More commanders and powers widen tactical alternatives. | Reviewed | 8.8 / 10 | Not provided |
| Dimension Established clarity and new music support the expanded cast. | Reviewed | 8.0 / 10 | Not provided |
| Dimension Wii U play works, but the legacy link menu misleads. | Reviewed | 7.4 / 10 | Not provided |
Review sources
Not provided
Core information
- Developer
- Intelligent Systems
- Publisher
- Nintendo
- Release date
- 2014
- Platforms
- Wii U
- Content kind
- Game
- Release state
- Released
- Region
- Worldwide
- Official website
- Not provided
- Offline minimum players
- Not provided
- Offline maximum players
- Not provided
- Online minimum players
- Not provided
- Online maximum players
- Not provided
- Categories
- Strategy & Tactics · Primary genre
- Tags
- Real-time CombatTurn-based TacticsMain Story 20–50 HoursResource ManagementTop-downSolo-friendlyCommand-based CombatReplayable3D GraphicsWarLong-term ProgressionSlow Burn
- Supported game languages
- Not provided
- Requires base game
- Not provided
- Standalone
- Not provided
- Age ratings
- Not provided
- Play modes
- Single playerMultiplayer
- Perspectives
- Top-down
Release editions
- Game Boy AdvanceWorldwide2003
- Wii UWorldwide2014
Game gallery
Sources
Not provided