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The last few times we played ARMS we came away impressed, but cautious. We’ve had the final build of the game for the last week, and while we can’t talk about everything Nintendo isn’t holding much back; having experienced all of what ARMS has to offer we’re excited to play it even more. We’ll be saving our final verdict for next week but, for now, we can talk about how Nintendo’s latest IP has gradually won us over.
The feeling that strikes us about ARMS is that it shouldn’t be as good as it is. Nintendo has made a habit of creating a new IP in an established genre that it has little or no experience in and making a stellar first impression. In terms of shooters Nintendo did this with Splatoon, then again with open-world games with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and now we’re seeing a hardcore 1v1 fighter in ARMS. While we don’t know Nintendo’s plans, it isn’t hard to imagine ARMS making an appearance at EVO or other large-scale fighting game tournaments.
How it Works
ARMS is both a traditional fighting game and something completely new. It’s like Super Smash Bros. in that it’s definitely a fighter, but still feels like something completely fresh in the genre. That’s where the similarities end, however. ARMS feels more geared to the competitive crowd, while still being accessible to those who don’t necessarily love fighting games. In this respect it seems Nintendo has succeeded where Capcom failed with Street Fighter V.
As its name implies, ARMS is all about using your - ahem - arms to do battle. Your main attacks are all punches using extendable limbs to hit your opponents from a distance. Each character has three arms (they're better described as fists, to be honest) they can select from in battle, and you can change that loadout from the character select screen of any mode, but once you’re in a battle whichever three arms you’ve selected are with you for the duration - even in Grand Prix mode, which is 10 fights back-to-back, arcade style.
In a fight the camera is zoomed in close on your fighter in a third-person, over-the-shoulder perspective. There are two main control types: motion and traditional. Nintendo has been keen to promote the motion control option, which makes sense: it’s intuitive, accurate and easy to understand. Nintendo has kept silent on how well ARMS works if you’re not inclined to throw real punches, with ARMS’ load screen even prominently displaying the "thumbs-up" grip (as Nintendo has dubbed it for using motion-controlled Joy-Con), but we’re pleased to report that there's support for every control configuration, and they all work well.
Motion control is very straightforward; you tilt your two Joy-Con in the direction you’d like to move, while pushing the R or L button with your thumb causes you dash or jump respectively. When your rush meter is full, which is denoted by the triangle next to your fighter’s name becoming yellow on the HUD, you can push the ZL or ZR button on either joycon to enter rush mode, then proceed to flail away in the hopes of crushing your opponent.
Traditional controls move jumping and dashing to the face buttons of your controller of choice, with X controlling jumping and Y in charge of dashing. Punches are executed with the B and A buttons, with each one controlling a single arm. Instead of just twisting your arm as you punch, curvature of punches is handled with the left analogue stick, which also controls movement.
While we preferred using traditional controls for extended play sessions, we found others within the gaming journalism community who greatly preferred the motion controls. Either way, Nintendo has given players an excellent set of tools with which to control their combatants.
New Solutions to Old Problems
If you’ve been playing fighting games for the last couple of decades, you know about how tricky it can be to get a fighting game just right. Even seasoned veterans like Capcom get this wrong all the time, but we have a feeling Nintendo is onto something with its approach to creating balance in ARMS. Rather than give each character a unique moveset, each has interchangeable arms they can equip. These arms deal fixed amounts of damage to every character across the board, and any character can equip any arm - provided they’ve earned it from the Arm Getter, which we’ll talk more about later. In theory, giving every character equal defense and damage output capabilities means that no single character is overpowered. As more fighting games move to models that include annual passes and seasons with constant rebalancing being done to each character, Nintendo’s more measured approach feels like a breath of fresh air.
One of our favourite features of ARMS is the party mode lobby, which players of the Global Testpunch will be familiar with. For years fighting games have put players into lobbies and had them spectate ongoing matches with very few exceptions. Fortunately ARMS keeps all players in lobbies engaged in some form of match at all times, rather than having them sit idly by while others have all the fun. Players in lobbies are automatically split up into groups to participate in any of the game’s modes, from V-Ball and Hoops to 2v2 and one-on-one fights. The result is that nobody ever feels left out of the action, and something is always happening. Two players can join per console, taking a page from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s playbook. When two players are on one console, one player may be randomly chosen for a one-on-one battle with another player in the lobby, but in our experience the lobby favoured putting those that were doubled up in activities that would involve both players. We initially bristled at the idea that we couldn’t choose our own modes, but ultimately came to like it as it opened us up to a number of modes we might not think to take online.
The Characters
Of course, the main draw of ARMS is its gorgeous art and characters, and now that we’ve had a chance to play with all of them, we can’t choose a favourite. Each character has their own gimmick to help them get a leg up on the competition, so to speak. Some are more straightforward, like Master Mummy’s ability to regenerate health while guarding, while some require more finesse, like Helix’s ability to distort his body to dodge oncoming attacks and throws.
That said, there are definitely some characters that are more friendly to beginners while others are designed more for pros. Spring Man’s ability to knock away enemy attacks after a dash is forgiving in its timing and Ribbon Girl’s multiple jumps and ability to drop quickly are sure to be a hit with newcomers. Twintelle’s time-slowing ability and Helix’s aforementioned dodging are sure to hit it big with the core fighting game crowd. We’ll go more in-depth with the characters at a later date, but we truly couldn’t find a bad egg among the bunch; traditionally clunkier archetypes like Master Mummy and Mechanica still feel fresh and exciting to play. Each character feels unique and interesting, and most importantly, fun.
The Other Stuff
Nintendo has already given us glimpses of ARMS' other modes, but we haven't been able to talk much about them - until now. We talked at length about Hoops and Skillshot in our last preview, but we weren't able to discuss V-Ball, 1 v 100 or the Arm Getter. Now there are no such restrictions holding us back, so let's get stuck in.
V-Ball is essentially volleyball. You can play it either one-on-one or two-on-two, and the point is to bat a massive ball across the net and make it touch the ground on the other team's side. The trick is that the ball is a bomb, and if you take too long to score a point the ball will eventually pop, plummeting to the ground and scoring a point for one of the two teams. You can set the ball by attempting to throw it, and you can follow that set up with a spike if you punch the ball as it hangs in the air after being set.
1 v 100 is a different beast entirely. In it, you'll fight 100 Helix-like creatures back to back at your character's stage. Once you've trudged your way through 100 opponents that character's stage becomes available for others to use in this mode.
Finally, there's the Arm Getter; it's the main method of getting new arms for your character to use. It plays like a single-player version of Skillshot. Targets will pop up and your job is to knock them down. You can select a character but you'll be saddled with default arms. Every now and then a drone will fly in with a clock or a gift box; the boxes contain arms for any of the game's 10 characters, while the clock adds some more time to your timer. The length of your timer depends on how much dosh you're willing to spend. 30 credits will net you a paltry 25 seconds, where 200 will get you about 90 seconds of time. If you get a duplicate arm it will increase the power of that arm for that character. It's an interesting system, but one that seems like it may require a bit of an investment from the player to unlock all there is to offer.
It's Almost time
It’s been a long five months since we first played ARMS. Back then we had doubts. A couple of months later we had a second opportunity to play a near-final version of the game and came back cautiously optimistic about its prospects. Now, after having played the full game and having seen all it has to offer, we are very excited for its future. That’s not to say all our concerns have been allayed. Fighting games in general have issues with longevity, and while we’re enjoying what we’re playing, only time will tell if we’ll be singing the same tune in a week’s time.
We’ll take a more critical look at ARMS next week, but to say we’re looking forward to playing more is a massive understatement. What do you think? Does ARMS have legs? Let us know in the comments.
Comments 66
All good stuff, hope everyone at Nintendolife is enjoying their copy (I say with a little bit of jealousy)!
The characters are designed so well, the gameplay is fun, theres a ranked mode, and has free dlc. Its honestly such a good combination and will hopefully continue being regarded as a game that blew expectations.
ARMS is the new "Splatoon". I have nothing but praise for it, but will need to sink my teeth in properly.
My body is ready.
@Shiryu I wouldn't go that far, I don't think it has the same reach as an arcade shooter. But it's a really good game, and should sell extremely well.
@Nintenerdguy And this is where I would put my Switch. IF I HAD ONE!!!
I didn't enjoy the testpunch as much as I thought I would. There's a lack of depth to the game. Maybe with more Arms to choose from it could be more fun. Either way, I'm very happy to see a lot of people actually enjoying it - great for Nintendo
Meanwhile I'll wait for the full game reviews.
Wasn't very impressed with it tbh. Even my kids weren't to keen on it. Definitely gonna give it another shot this weekend though
@Nintendoforlife It hides hidden depths, masked by utterly brilliant design I should really not be surprised by Nintendo. Free DLC ensure that we might still be coming back for this in a years time but I can assure that long after we are done with the game, we will be mumbling and whistling the game's soundtrack in our day to day life.
@redd214 Give up on motion controls, use Pro Controller.
@BensonUii Sadly, no. That's one thing I've heard from the people I've showed it to, but the default controls work well.
@Nintendoforlife "same reach" this game has so many unintentional puns haha
Longevity is padded by free dlc, but can also possibly be completely destroyed by paid online. We will have to wait and see, but i have a feeling it will be the Halo 2 of the switch
One thing that needs to be mentioned is that you can also punch with L2 and R2 (or whatever they're called on Switch) when using the traditional controls. Feels much better to me.
One question: is it possible to reconfigure the button mapping? I'd like to have jumping on B.
Preordered and hyped. Hopefully that feeling will survive E3.
@Shiryu did that very early on after like 3 or 4 matches. Still didn't click
Maybe when it's $20 5 years from now.
"Fighting games in general have issues with longevity, and while we’re enjoying what we’re playing, only time will tell if we’ll be singing the same tune in a week’s time."
I assume this was some sort of typo; is there a real threat that in one week from now you'll no longer be enjoying the game? Before it even releases? It seems like saying "in a month's time" or "in a year's time" would make a lot more sense, no?
@redd214 I did all 3 rounds on Saturday, massive results with Pro Controller. Once the basics settled in my head, it was all trying to figure out how to best fool my opponents. Here is the 3rd round where I played with only the ladies.
@BensonUii Those character designs! So much personality!
Glad to hear about the multiple control options.
ARMS will be my purchase on early July 2017.
I pre-ordered my copy after playing the test punch last weekend. I've been craving to play every day since and I'm glad they posted the method of changing proxy settings to allow me to practice for a couple of minutes each day.
@Shiryu what do you use to record your session?
There's something I like and don't like about this game.
I think I'll need to play it more. I'll buy it because it is really different and has potential to live quite long.
So my doubts are easily squatted when I think of how nintendo usually creates great gameplay, and the content that will be richer and richer as time and discovery goes on.
@BensonUii We are all under NDA until the 7th. Them we shall see just how much "hidden depths" this title still has up its sleeves.
@SuBLiMe83 Avermedia Game Capture HD.
@Shiryu yeah we weren't doing bad with the pro controller won a few matches using it. Hated the volleyball bit but the fighting was decent
@BensonUii So far what I've played is exactly what you said about Splatoon, it adds fun new twists. Sure the actual battling is fairly standard on buttons but it feels so different in motion.
The idea of combination of Arms allows the game to have more depth and multiple game modes keep the pace going. This is similar to splatoon while the other gamemodes are fun in ranked while the enjoyability of Turf war cant be beaten.
In general I still think its too early to say, but as a person who believed in this game since the very beginning I see something grand to add to the switch's library.
Slightly off-topic, but the 1-2-punch of MK8D and ARMS - both developed by the same team - deals a pretty hefty blow to the argument that "souped up ports are a bad thing because they stop us getting new games".
It's precisely because the team wasn't forced to make an obligatory Mario Kart 9 that they had the time and resources to make something like ARMS in the first place.
You'd have to be under the impression that ARMS doesn't count as truly 'new', but Mario Kart 9 (NINE!) does in order to stick with that line of reasoning.
Not that I want the Switch to become swamped with old games, but I've seen a few grumblings claiming that ports 'replace' new games, when it's clear in this case that a port has actually helped facilitate it.
"ARMS feels more geared to the competitive crowd, while still being accessible to those who don’t necessarily love fighting games. In this respect it seems Nintendo has succeeded where Capcom failed with Street Fighter V."
Um, no. SFV was received poorly because of the lack of content, poor matchmaking/network reliability, and almost no punishments for rage quitters in the first few months. It was very much accessible in terms of playability, the characters and gameplay were excellent. By no means am I defending SFV or Capcom, but if you're going to burn them at the stake to make another game or company look better, get it right.
This is one where I'd rather wait to let some other people get their HANDS on it first and find out what its supposed hidden depths are for me, because I'm not seeing it yet from the advertising and trailers. I'm not saying they aren't there, but I'm not saying that I'm convinced that they are there either. It could be a lot of fun.
Day 1 - `nuff said.
Pre-ordered like weeks ago. This should say enough about how much i'm waiting this game!
@Shiryu Dang bro you should write a book haha.
@ieatdragonz I don't really think paid online will be a big deal. It's standard everywhere but Nintendo. I'm sure a lot of people already have experienced this sort of thing before.
I enjoyed playing it a couple of times during the test punch but I probably won't pick it up. At least not right away. I thought that if my kids were interested then maybe I would get it but I showed them Sunday and they were just not interested. My seven year old son didn't even want to try it and when I talked to him about it he said that it looked boring. I asked him what he thought of the characters and he said the only one he liked was Helix. I kind of thought that any seven year old boy who liked video games and super heroes would have just naturally gravitated to something like this but I guess I was wrong.
I saw this on facebook today and immediately thought of ARMS! https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/news/this-spring-loaded-boxing-glove-gets-kids-off-the-couch/vi-BBBHmPZ
edit: the difference is ARMS is actually fun and this looks lame
@Nintendoforlife Yeah but I meant in long term. Nintendo has abandoned it's ds wifi service and while it's understandable the effects made certain games (like metroid prime hunters) dead and irretrievable. Microsoft did the same thing with halo 1 and 2 on the original xbox but at least over there it was easier to get around.
Nintendo could succeed in online services but I can also see a timeline where everything goes wrong.
Day 1.
@Nintendoforlife I might, I just might... write a guide for it if I find the time.
I don't think it's on the same level as Splatoon, but it's definitely a great game from what I've seen in the testpunch. I don't know if I'll buy it in the immediate future, but it's definitely going to be one I'll consider.
I only played it on on period during the test punch, but I greatly enjoyed it. The motion option worked well for me, and despite the fact that I could never get the guard to work, I still won a fair number of matches.
Honestly, if I could get guarding to work, I would have no reservations at all.
@MarioPhD No, not a typo. I'm mainly referring to the fact that our reviewer may feel differently, and our review may not necessarily reflect the positive outlook I currently have on the game. We'll have had the game for quite some time at that point, but we're certainly still in the honeymoon phase with it. For many, fighting games don't last even that long, so it's important to note that what's fun now might not have staying power.
@gokev13 my sons (7 and 8)were the same way. Not at all interested really. They want tekken 7 more than Arms
I really wanted to be all in on this game, but after participating in a few of the Testpunches I'm not sure it's for me. The first one went well for me (mostly because nobody knew what they were doing yet), and I won maybe 6 out of 7 matches I played. And while it was pretty novel and cool, there was honestly nothing driving me to play out the rest of the session so I just stopped. The second time I lost all 4 or so matches that I played (players had caught on quickly) and while I have no doubt I would improve with practice I am an admittedly sore loser so that sucked. In summary, losing sucked, and winning was just OK. Not my cup of tea I guess, same has been the case for me with SSB, which objectively is an incredible series! Just not for everyone.
@RedMageLanakyn As someone who has a deep appreciation for both Street Fighter and fighting games in general, I agree with many of your points, but my point stands. Capcom failed to bring new players to the Street Fighter franchise with SF5. ARMS seems to be aiming for the same thing and is poised to do so much more effectively through the inclusion of additional modes and co-op match types.
Loved it! I was furious fast with the motion controls and actually felt like a workout. Hated the volleyball though. It'd be okay once in awhile but I hated being thrown into it.
From what I understand, Street Fighter 5 was a great fighting game that fundamentally lacked compelling single-player content, a complaint that could also possibly be directed at ARMS.
With that said, I do agree that ARMS is another great example of Nintendo taking the basics of a fighting game and fashioning an entirely new kind of experience out of them, much like Smash.
I don't think this will catch on fire quite like Splatoon did, though.
"Fighting games in general have issues with longevity"
A strange comment: I continued to play and enjoy Street Fighter 2 Turbo for years after its release, pulling it out for a match anytime a gaming buddy visited, and never got board of it. I still play it occasionally today. And I know many fighting games are played in professional tournaments year after year.
Sure, the single player can be completed in short time, and you're likely to only visit the story mode a handful of times in your life, maybe to complete each individual character's stories, but the multiplayer can basically last forever if the game is fun enough.
Even today I still enjoy a game of Street Fighter 2. And Capcom is obviously very aware of this with its recent recent of Ultra Street Fighter 2 for Switch. So the comment above does seem rather strange to me: This isn't like The Last of Us (or whatever), where once you've completed the game--if you even manage that one time--you're likely never touch it again.
My main concern with Arms is the single player mode, I still don't feel like I know anything about it.
@Morph that was a big fear with splatoon but the single player turned out to be surprisingly fun
I hope in the final build, Nintendo adds some customization to the traditional controls. I don't like how Grab is holding down the A & B buttons. It's very uncomfortable and my hand started cramping up during the TestPunch. They should map (or give the option to map) the Grab button to ZL/ZR. It would feel better and makes more sense. Ideally I'd like Grab on ZR and put Block on ZL rather than push in on the Control Stick.
I didn't care for Motion Controls. I found them very unresponsive. When I curved the Joy-Con inward to block, all I got was movement. Often times my arms wouldn't curve at all even though I was punching like the demo told me to. I definitely preferred traditional controls but again, as I said above, I hope Nintendo gives the option for some tweaking by the players to make the traditional controls more comfortable.
@Steve_Bowling I guess from my personal experiences I'd have to disagree. I skipped SF4 and it's dozen or so iterations, but hopped into SFV at launch and had a blast both online and with friends. Granted it didn't last very long, but they're still improving it, we go back occasionally, and was the first SF game I got involved in since third strike.
The impression I've gotten from two of my friends that played the test of arms was that it was an ok game, but not something they'd be buying. In fact, one of them said "I'd rather go back to SFV before buying this", which i thought was a weird comment at the time, but apparently has some context to it.
I'm just sittin here, waiting for my game+Yellow joycon
Excited for it's release and glad we have more test-punches to hold us off until then!
@DarthFoxMcCloud For the record, you can punch and grab with the triggers. Much more comfortable than using the face buttons, imo.
Arms is an okay game. It has a small spurt of fun, then burns out pretty quickly for me. I'll buy this when it drops in price or I see a used copy. Just not worth full game price for a few mins of fun a week to me. Hope everyone else has a blast though!
Pre-ordering on Amazon really paid off. Got $9 off before the pre-order's 20% for having Prime is applied. Crazy. Makes it easy to keep the pre-order that's for sure.
Had a blast. Kids had a blast. It's a blast for us. Surprising because I haven't typically been into fighting games since I was a teen, I think.
@redd214 Kids these days. Though my kids our notorious for not trying anything new. There are so many games I thought they would be excited for and they just are not. I asked my 7 year old if he would be more into Splatoon and he said that looked boring too. At least they like Zelda.
It looks so cool. Nintendo always amaze me by doing everything perfect. Music, game modes, everything is just in place. I love so much the minigames too, remind me of the Super Smash Bros I played with my GC. It's just 'big'. Obviously it's fun to play too.
P.S.: Nintendo music composers are the best in the industry.
@gokev13 my kids are usually pretty open and they love most Nintendo franchises but they weren't fans of arms which is surprising since the fight and punch one another all the time lol
I love an accessible fighter, and a new IP from Nintendo with great character designs is fantastic too. So I'm really excited for this game.
Arms is crazy fun. They nailed it, and the motion control scheme is fantastic and adds tons of fun- nice to finally have a current gen game, with motion, and that actually gets it right. Most of Nintendo's games now use motion to enhance and offer more than normal controls ever could- Zelda with aiming the bow, Arms with curving punches and Splatoon 2 with aiming also. I'm sure Pikmin 4 will keep the trend running...
Btw, single player content looks great. Grand Prix is 10 fights, and you get a star next to each character that you beat it with. You can also team up with a friend and play the Grand Prix together! There are 7 difficulty modes, and anything past 4 is tough. There is also 100 vs 1, Local Play (with split screen and local wireless), versus mode, Arms Test, Training, Ranked Online, Party Mode Online, and the Volleyball, Hoops and Target Practice. Tons of content.
And it's fully customizable. You can set the time limit, toggle items, choose enemy behavior (like evasive to help you with dodgy opponents), and tons more.
Not feeling it. It was fun for the first hour or so, but after the novelty wore off the attempts at keeping things fresh only served to frustrate. And while I'm convinced that there's hidden depth, the game's state of perpetual Z-targeting (especially outside the one-on-one duels and with Switch Target being mapped wrong) and rather limited punch trajectory fine-tuning don't exactly motivate me to dig deeper at full price.
@redd214 That's funny. I just remember being a kid and if it was a new video game I pretty much wanted to try it. My seven year old self could only dream of the games they are coming up with today.
@gokev13 My kid is loving it. She was up for every round of the Testpunch and really got into it. I was on the fence myself - I enjoyed it but it's not my highest priority - but I will buy it for her.
@Ralizah I'll have to try that this weekend. Nowhere in the TestPunch menus could I find anything other than the face button info.
@DarthFoxMcCloud Yeah. It's how I've been playing since I found out. No idea why they don't tell you in the menu.
@JasmineDragon I was on the fence as well, but if I am the only one in my family that would play it I am not going to bother. I like it enough to want it, but not enough to actually buy it. If my kids were really into it I probably would buy it but I guess I won't. I think it's fun though.
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