Dynasty Warriors Advance

Dynasty Warriors Advance (真・三國無双 Advance) is a video game for the Game Boy Advance portable handheld system, part of the Dynasty Warriors series. The game was published by Nintendo, and developed by Koei using their external development company Omega Force. It was released on August 29, 2005.

Gameplay
The earlier PSP game is based on Dynasty Warriors 4, but each stage is broken down into a map of smaller battles that you move around like a board game. Advance is mostly its own game, but uses a similar "board game" map. It is still turn-based like the PSP game, but instead of battles being timed and all armies moving at once, each force has its own turn, making Advance even more like a board game.

Advance features 13 playable characters and 11 battles from the Three Kingdoms. Characters have some similar attacks to their counterparts in the other Dynasty Warriors games, but there is no jumping, arrows, or mounts. Characters still level up and can acquire weapons hidden around the map. There is a new mechanic, a Gradius-style power meter that cycles through a number of powerups as you defeat enemies; you lose powerups as you take damage, and you start every battle with no power.

Characters
Advance has the following characters. Characters with a * must be unlocked.

Wei
 * Xiahou Dun
 * Xu Zhu
 * Zhen Ji
 * Cao Cao*

Shu
 * Zhao Yun
 * Guan Yu
 * Zhang Fei
 * Liu Bei*

Wu
 * Sun Ce
 * Sun Shang Xiang
 * Zhou Yu
 * Sun Jian*

"Lu"
 * Lu Bu*

Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Jian are each unlocked by completing their country's Musou Mode with any character. Lu Bu is unlocked by completing Musou Mode with Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Jian.

Sima Yi, Zhuge Liang, and Sun Quan appear as ally or enemy officers in the appropriate battles, but cannot be unlocked. Zhang Jiao, Dong Zhuo, and Yuan Shao appear as ally or enemy officers in their battles, but can't be unlocked either.

Reception
Dynasty Warriors Advance received very mixed reviews upon release. IGN disliked the game, grading it 4 out of 10, criticizing the low number of on-screen enemies at any time, and the "button-mashing" gameplay. Nintendo Power, however, gave the game a 7 (out of 10), praising its replay value that "ranks among the best" on the Game Boy Advance system. The game currently has a score of 56 out of 100 at Metacritic, and 55% at GameRankings.