Tiny Metal: "We didn't want to clone" Advance Wars

Tiny Metal is a real-time strategy game set for release late November. The game looks similar to Advance Wars, and game director Hiroaki Yura gave us the reasons why when we spoke at Tokyo Game Show.

"This game is a real-time strategy game, in a spiritual successor kind of way to Advance Wars." Expressing his love for the classic franchise, Yura added: "We all loved Advance Wars, let's face it. It's been like nine years since the last one came out, right? We were just waiting, and waiting, and it never comes out, so we took it into our own hands really."

Despite the similarities, Yura clarified that it wouldn't be a carbon copy of the beloved franchise. "We didn't want to make a clone, that's it. We respected Advance Wars a lot. We wanted to make it a little different and address some of the issues to the previous games of this genre."

The story revolves around the assassination of a King, and countries blaming a Japan-esque country, where the main conflict arises from the shared borders.

Tiny Metal's distinct manga-like art style originates from there being "enough games out there depicting real war." Yura discussed the benefit of working with Japanese artists, as "we have great artists who depict serious or grotesque stuff in a lighter way."

Tiny Metal is planned for release on November 21 on PS4, Switch, and PC. Interestingly, it's being published by Sony Music Entertainment, making it a rare crossover title between Sony and Nintendo.