Advance Wars Cheat Codes & Secrets

Unlockable Commanding Officers

Advance Wars ships with Andy, Max, and Sami available immediately. All remaining COs are locked behind campaign progress or purchased from Hachi’s shop using coins earned in battle. Enemy COs become available to purchase after you encounter them in the campaign.

CO	Unlock Condition	Shop Cost
Andy	Default — available at start	—
Max	Default — available at start	—
Sami	Default — available at start	—
Nell	Default — available at start	—
Olaf	Encounter in Blue Moon campaign arc	40 coins
Grit	Encounter in Blue Moon campaign arc	50 coins
Eagle	Encounter in Green Earth campaign arc	60 coins
Drake	Encounter in Green Earth campaign arc	50 coins
Kanbei	Encounter in Yellow Comet campaign arc	60 coins
Sonja	Encounter in Yellow Comet campaign arc	50 coins
Hachi	Complete the Normal Campaign	50 coins
Sturm	Complete the Normal Campaign	100 coins

Sturm is the most powerful CO in the game — his units cost 20% more to deploy but have universal terrain-star bonuses. Purchasing him is the primary endgame goal for competitive players.

Campaign Progression Unlocks

Completing the main campaign opens additional modes and content. These are the critical progression gates:

Unlock	Requirement
Hard Campaign	Complete Normal Campaign
All enemy COs eligible for purchase	Defeat each CO at least once in campaign
Additional War Room maps	Purchase from Hachi’s shop after campaign milestones
Design Map editor (full save slots)	Complete Normal Campaign
Advance Campaign	Complete Hard Campaign with high overall rank

Hard Campaign increases enemy CO aggression, adjusts starting funds, and in some missions swaps the opposing CO entirely. It is a substantially different strategic challenge, not merely a difficulty slider.

Branching Campaign Paths

The Normal Campaign contains a hidden branch point after Mission 7. When Nell presents you with two available missions on the map screen, deliberately choosing the less obvious route — the southern path toward the sea — locks you into a sequence that includes unique dialogue and slightly different map layouts before rejoining the main path around Mission 12. This does not affect the ending but changes which enemy COs you encounter first, affecting which ones become shop-eligible earliest.

The Coin Shop — Hachi’s Emporium

Coins are earned at the end of every Campaign and War Room mission based on your performance score. The shop is accessed from the main menu.

Item	Cost	Notes
Battle Map Pack 1	40 coins	5 additional War Room maps
Battle Map Pack 2	60 coins	5 more War Room maps
Battle Map Pack 3	80 coins	Final set of War Room maps
Individual COs	40–100 coins	See CO table above

War Room maps are single-player challenge scenarios with no story. They award coins on completion and are the fastest way to grind currency after finishing the campaign, since you can replay them indefinitely.

S-Rank Scoring for Maximum Coins

Each mission awards a score across three categories, displayed at the end of battle:

• Speed — Days taken vs. par time
• Power — Enemy units destroyed
• Technique — Ratio of your losses to enemy losses

Each category scores from 1–100, totaling a maximum of 300. Achieving 300 awards an S rank and the maximum coin payout for that mission. For grinding coins efficiently:

• War Room maps with small unit counts on both sides let you control the Technique score precisely
• Ending missions in fewer days than par by using aggressive pushes through the center rather than flanking is the fastest way to max Speed
• Leaving one enemy unit alive and destroying it last keeps Power at maximum with no downside

Fog of War Information Exploit

In Fog of War missions, you can reveal partial information about hidden enemy units using the cursor without expending a turn. Move your cursor over any tile within your vision range and press A to check the tile — even if no friendly unit occupies it. The terrain info panel appears, and if an enemy unit is hiding there, the tile description briefly flickers before the game hides it again. Experienced players use this to scout chokepoints at zero cost each turn.

Additionally, moving your CO unit to a position adjacent to a forest or reef tile and pressing A on that tile reveals whether it is occupied before you move into it, which is critical for anti-air ambush prevention.

CO Power Meter Tricks

CO Power charges faster when your units take damage. A counterintuitive technique used in difficult missions: intentionally leave a low-HP unit in an exposed position to bait an enemy attack on your turn’s end. The damage charges your meter, and on your next turn you activate the CO Power to swing the battle. This is particularly effective with Max’s Hyper Upgrade (Super CO Power), which needs a nearly full meter — baiting one heavy attack on a 1-HP infantry can push it over the threshold.

Sami’s CO Power, Double Time, applies to foot soldiers only. Combining it with a map that funnels the enemy through city clusters — which her infantry capture faster than any other CO — makes her viable even on maps that appear unit-strength unfavorable.

GameShark / Action Replay Codes

These codes require a GameShark or compatible cartridge device. Game ID for the US release: AWRE-A9CE0B4B

Code	Effect
D9ED5557 4E7FC33F	Max funds (Player 1) — 999,999G each turn
BE452C05 F37F2D07	CO Power meter always full at turn start
3D8A34DC A55D3494	All COs unlocked in CO select menus
EFED5E6D 38E94C51	Infinite repair points — units fully heal each turn for free

Enter these on the GameShark code input screen before booting the cartridge. The All COs code is the most commonly used, allowing Sturm access without grinding the 100-coin purchase price.

Hidden Developer Reference — Map Names

Several of the unlockable War Room maps contain names that are internal jokes among the Intelligent Systems development team. The map “Land’s End” was reportedly named after a phrase used internally during crunch periods on the game’s development cycle, and “Moji Poji” (a map name in the Japanese release, Famicom Wars Advance) translates loosely to “letter by letter” — a reference to the painstaking unit-balancing spreadsheets the team maintained. These names were preserved in the localization at Treehouse’s discretion rather than being replaced with neutral titles.

Multiplayer and VS Mode Unlocks

The VS Battle and Link Battle modes are available from the start and do not require any unlocking. However, additional VS maps become available as you purchase Battle Map Packs from the shop. Two players can compete on any purchased War Room map in VS mode by selecting Battle Maps from the VS menu, making the coin grind doubly worthwhile for players with a link cable and a second GBA.