The Advance Wars series is full of excellent, catchy music. Given how you'll be listening to a character's music everytime it's their turn, it's a good thing, too.
Advance Wars/Black Hole Rising/Dual Strike
Since the themes are done in a variety of styles, there's a good chance that one of the themes will be somebody's favorites. Especially for the first three Advance Wars games. So let's list 'em all!
- Orange Star:
- Andy's Anthem. Surprisingly, Andy is the only one with an "anthem" instead of a theme.
- Nell's Theme fits for tutorial levels (at least in the first game).
- Sami's Theme is a triumphant march. Fittingly, her SCOP is called "Victory March".
- Rachel's Theme is a bright and cheery theme that illustrates her Nice Girl nature while keeping her utmost seriousness in saving her homeland.
- Hachi's Theme is a calm and laid back theme with an air of peaceful shopping.
- Jake's Theme is a rock-style theme basing itself around the then-modern style of rock-and-roll. Jake, being designed to work with such an aesthetic, matches such a theme.
- Max's Theme sounds laid back and boisterous, which fits the muscular CO perfectly.
- Blue Moon:
- Olaf's Theme. In contrast to Nell's, it's every bit a villain's theme (at least in the tutorial and the first few missions in the first game).
- Grit's Theme is a very laid back country tune, fitting the laid-back CO.
- Colin's Theme. Who knew that polka music could be so awesome!
- Sasha's Theme is a merry jingle that wouldn't sound out of place during Christmas.
- Yellow Comet:
- Kanbei's Theme is styled in a theme stereotypical to his code.
- Sensei's Theme is a hilarious trumpet/harpsichord example, somewhat reminiscent of old-time radio in its start-up. Often used in parodies like Bob Squad to denote when something silly or dumb is happening.
- Grimm's Theme crashes in right from the start, just like the reckless CO himself.
- Sonja's Theme is serene and graceful, sounding almost too peaceful to be in a war-based game.
- Green Earth:
- Eagle's Theme has an '80s rock n' roll sound that wouldn't be out of place in Top Gun.
- Jess' Theme features a light industrial-sounding beat fitting an armored vehicle specialist; you'd be forgiven if you thought it was a track from Command & Conquer: Red Alert.
- Javier's Theme's sounds are like a rush to war to defend one's homeland. All the while, it gives off a boisterous vibe.
- Black Hole:
- Hawke's Theme. Just like Hawke himself, this dread-filled tune lets you know that Hawke means business whenever you have to fight him.
- Sturm's Theme is prefaced with a siren-like sound, as a warning that you're facing off with the real Big Bad.
- Bolt Guard: Von Bolt's Theme. Absolutely overblown and pompous, with the use of bagpipes to reinforce his evilness. Very fitting for a Big Bad. Better still, it gets darker and more intimidating as it progresses, scaling up the menace the more units he has to move and the longer his turns take. It wouldn't feel out of place in a scene where the Big Bad is Putting on the Reich.
- But it's not just the themes that get attention in this game...
- Black Hole Coming, from the first and second games. Despite being from the lighter incarnations of the series, is incredibly dark and foreboding. A fitting tune to hear when preparing for the last few levels in the game. You know you're playing by Black Hole's rules, and failure is not an option.
- The Black Hole Rising ending music makes you think about all the memories you'll have from campaign, and all those virtual lives lost in freeing Macro Land from Black Hole's tyranny.
- The Green Earth Theme really carries the sense of a long and drawn out conflict, making everyone weary, yet the battle is far from over.
- Super Power and Tag Power themes. When you hear them, it's time to ROCK!
- Black Hole's Super Power and Tag Power themes.
- It's short, only fifteen seconds, but Blue Moon's mission screen theme perfectly captures the grim heroism of its soldiers, and ominously sets the mood when you're staring down one of their harder missions. Especially T-Minus 15.
- "It's a Trap!" from Dual Strike. Black Hole mocks you and your attempts to stop it.
Days Of Ruin/Dark Conflict
- Days of Ruin had a darker and grimmer setting, and its set of COs tended to add bombastic rock and roll to the more traditional techno beats. "Hope Never Dies", Brenner's theme, is merely the beginning. The theme fits its name perfectly though. Getting your ass handed to you on a gold plate, sometimes you don't want to go on. Then your opponent end his turn and Brenner gets on stage, instantly pumping liquid courage into your ears.
- Flight Of The Coward, Waylon's theme, is also worthy of mention. Particularly worth mentioning concerning his theme is that the first time you encounter him he is fleeing and you only hear the comical intro of the song and then it cuts to the next player because his turns are so short. He seems like a joke. The first time you face him in battle though you get past the intro and know that he is serious now.
- Mr. Bear/Penny's theme reflects her personality perfectly... Also, listen closely to that whisper sound effect in the background: What have you done, What have you done, what have you done, what have you done, what have you done, what have you done, what, what, what have you done! Her CO info says Caulder subjected her to mental and biological experiments when she was a baby
- Isabella's Theme Is rather upbeat for such a grim game, and fits in with the ongoing motif of there being hope despite the new world.
- Proud Soldier, Gage's theme, with killer bagpipes.
- Decadence. A dark piece showing the hopelessness of an After the End world such as this.
- Power Up drives home the "never give up hope" attitude with all the force and fury of a typhoon and appropriately boots up for the first time as you're (hopefully) making a come back against Admiral Greyfield. Also, its dark counterpart Stormy Times is no slouch in reminding you that all hope is lost for your cause.
- The Big Bad's themes in every Advance Wars game so far have been memorable, and Puppet Master, Caulder's theme, is no different. With heavy drum beats and a demented circus-like theme, it really fits the mad scientist you're trying to face off with.
- We Will Prevail, the main character's theme. It's a joy hearing it after Will snaps out of his Heroic BSoD.
- Goddess of Revenge, Tasha's theme, fits wonderfully for a Blood Knight like her.
- As soon as you hear Greyfield's theme, even before he hits the Moral Event Horizon, you know that this is not a kind and mentally-balanced man.
- Cruel Rose, Tabitha's theme. She's a cold calculated killer bitch and this theme enhances her role as Daddy's Little Villain.
- This game allows you to not play as a CO. This theme gives us a reason why we should try it!
- Lin's theme, Supreme Logician, is just as awesome than the other themes, and can really get your brain pumping ideas for your next move to victory!
- Forsythe's theme, Hero of Legend, a majestic orchestrated piece that sounds less guitar-heavy but more like something out of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.
- First Strike is the menu theme. It's dark and serious, but it gets you into the groove of fighting to save the last survivors of a ruined world.
Re-Boot Camp
The remake takes most of the awesome CO themes from the originals and turns them up to eleven. The biggest glow up is when you activate their CO Power, which remixes their CO themes even further adding more energy and style depending on the CO.- Andy's Anthem becomes a rave party when he uses his powers.
- Olaf's theme gives a great deal of seriousness and fury. A given considering he is fighting ruthlessly against anyone who dares threaten Blue Moon. When he uses his powers, his tune takes on a more dread-inducing tone, complete with siren-like alarms in the background.
- Grit's theme sounds like something straight out of a western. The power version swaps out the melody for an electric guitar, perfectly fitting for when he gets serious. It also resembling the more rock-heavy Orange Star themes adds some Foreshadowing too.
- Colin's theme adds flutes and percussion not present in the original, and it all further adds to his Naïve Newcomer status. It becomes fast-paced and confident when he uses his COP and SCOP.
- The instrumentation of Sonja's theme becomes more like a classical orchestra which fits her academic style. Her powered up version breaks out into a full orchestral marching band.
- Sensei's theme, now with a full jazz orchestra. The power version turns it into smooth electro-swing, and even incorporates the original GBA drumroll.
- Eagle's theme was widely regarded as one of the few duds in the original soundtrack. The remake turns it into a pulse-pounding heavy metal track, that somehow gets EVEN MORE METAL during his Powers.
- While most Power themes ramp up the intensity compared to the original, Drake's goes in an entirely different direction: slowing down the tempo and adding Surf Rock elements. It really sells the feeling of Drake in his element: the seas might be stormy for his enemies, but for him it's smooth sailing.
- Jess's theme is more industrial than before, even adding a more cybernetic feel. And true to the name of her CO Powers Turbo Charge/Overdrive, her power up cranks up the tempo and speed of her theme.
- Lash's theme is every bit what a modern update to the song should be. Grows ever more techno when she uses her powers.
- Most people thought Clone Andy's Anthem would be the same as Andy's. Hoo boy, were they dead wrong. They were instead treated with what can only be described as an auditory Uncanny Valley Dark Reprise of Andy's anthem that perfectly serves as a grand introduction of Black Hole and the evil they relish in. His CO theme is even more foreboding, setting the mood that this Andy is not the one who doesn't know what an Airport is, but instead the one who has caused some of the greatest atrocities in Cosmo Land's history.
- The update to Sturm's theme manages to make him sound even more evil than he already was with some very heavy metal. It also goes on for over 4 minutes without looping, adding extra elements to the original song.
- And if you thought Sturm was done and you've backed him into a corner, his Final Boss music kicks in for the final battle of Advance Wars 2. The build up as the tensions rise, and the added instruments after his theme starts shows he's done playing games.