'' Wars '' series , technically known as and , is a series of military turn-based tactics video games , usually developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo . The series debuted in Japan on August 12 , 1988 . Like another Intelligent Systems series , '' Fire Emblem '' , earlier installments of the series were released only in Japan ; '' Advance Wars '' ( 2001 ) was the first to reach the North American and European markets . '' Advance Wars '' was released in the United States on September 10 , 2001 , but put on hold in Japan and Europe due to the following day 's events . Although released in Europe in January 2002 , neither GBA game was released in Japan until the '' Game Boy Wars Advance 1 +2 '' compilation which released for the Game Boy Advance on November 25 , 2004 and for the Wii U Virtual Console on April 3 , 2014
following day 's events
September 11 attacks
Wars (series)