Voted Advanced Wars. 1. Because it's the only one I own, 2. It's the only one I am interested in.
Years ago, I had a look back at the original Famicom wars and I have to say it, things have come to far from that. Famicom Wars felt so backwards as to be unplayable. I have gotten every Advance Wars game since GBA and the evolution, the number or refinements, the missteps, AI tweaks, additional units and the removal of the Neo tank/stealth bomber. It's like going on a dig, tracing the history leading to this game, Battion Wars and for me, the unplayed sequal to that.
Theere are two major additions to this game. The first isn't much of an addition and more of a side step.
In pervious games you destroyed opfor units to fill a meter in order to use your super power. Later the powers are seperated by two power levels. While the more powerful powers required a higher kill count/value, by Dual Strike things had seriouly gotten out of hand. Days of ruin now requires you to place your commander in a unit and in the line of fire to charge now much weaker powers. As the meter fills the aura the commander projects gets larger boosting units within and allowing a bigger catchment area. Lose the unit the commander is in, meter empties.
Secondly, the arrival of a fully functional navy based similar to real world blue water navies. The Carrier turned up in Dual Strike, but that was a glorified airfield with a long range AA missiles. There was a serious time penelty to landing aircraft as you had to "drop" them next the Carrier leaving them useless for an extra turn. Days removes the missiles and now aircraft can take off with full movement allowing you to base a Carrier off shore providing a base of rolling airstrikes to any beach head. Carriers also build a limited number of sea planes, not quite as strong as fighters, nor as powerful as bombers, but has both their strenghts allowing them to attack anything other than subs.
Battleships now move and shoot! Range reduced to the same as rockets. No longer a floating target that scares peeps off a beach head by actually pounding them. To balance these technological terrors is the Missile Boat. A brown water, low tech counter with a single load of damaging torpedos working in pairs, able to attack anything on the water. In fog of war, terrifying. Fast, paper thin, expendable speed boats of death. Countered with massed firepower and good intelligence.
A fantastic game all round.