Advance Wars is originally for the Game Boy Advance. In my opinion, it’s one of the most bare bone, simplistic turn based strategy game. You can win just through having a good overall game plan, figuring out what your opponent is going to do next. It doesn’t really have any niche things that give odd advantages except for CO power.

I initially played Advance Wars Dual Strike, which is the 3rd game in it’s series not including Famicon Wars. It introduced Co-swapping. This allowed a player to utilize 2 characters at once. I played way too much of that game, but never really played it against another person. I just grinded out the War Room version.
Advance Wars is bare bones because just by learning the game matchup. There’s little to no RNG involved usually, and you usually can always find a way to outplay your opponent.

Most of the gameplay revolves around 3 different modes of fighting. You can choose the Campaign, War Room, or Versus mode. The Campaign is different for each of the games, and usually revolves around the same cliche story where a young upstart Commanding Officer leads a small rebellion or a resistance force against an oppressive larger military force. The War Room is a smaller game mode that doesn’t really have a story line, but your commanders will gain buffs and stats though gold you win through small skirmishes. The Versus mode is just a mode to battle other players in real life. Versus balanced because both players start in balanced positions. One is given a slight materialistic advantage, however due to compensate for the advantage of one player starting first. There is nothing other than skill, strategy, game knowledge, and reading your opponent that will win you the game.