Switch_ARMS_SCRN_Chara_MinMin02.bmp

Product provided by Nintendo.

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

NintendoSwitch_ARMS_Presentation2017_scrn01.bmp

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

Switch_ARMS_Testpunch_screen_04_PartyMatchLobby.bmp

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

Switch_ARMS_illustration_02.jpg

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.