Remember the ARMS graphic novel series that Dark Horse Comics has been working on for a number of years now? Well, it's reportedly been cancelled.
Following on from an update last year, when a Dark Horse representative said the comic book giant was still intending to go ahead with the project, comic writer Ian Flynn has now seemingly confirmed the ARMS graphic novel series has been axed.
This information comes directly from his website Bumbleking:
"ARMS (May 2018) Wrote the introductory Free Comic Book Day 2018 issue for a planned, but unfortunately canceled, graphic novel series based on the popular Nintendo fighting game franchise, ARMS."
As noted, Flynn wrote the free introductory issue back in 2018, so you would expect he knows about the status of the project. He's also currently contributing to IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog comic series.
How do you feel about the possible cancellation of the ARMS graphic novel series? Did you play much of the game on release? Leave a comment down below.
[source bumbleking.com, via reddit.com]
Comments 56
We knew it was a stretch from the get-go. The success was just going to be out of reach.
That’s a shame but really not at all surprising. ARMS has some surprisingly intriguing lore, and I hope it’s built on in the future.
Bummer, I was looking forward to the TPB.
I admit i rarely to play ARMS recently as it didn't get many Online events as Splatoon 2.
I wish the same treatments for ARMS as the only Boxing game that i played on Nintendo Switch.
I loved the demo, but I just can't rationalize a full price for ARMS. Now that Splatoon 3 is on the horizon, I will probably just wait for an ARMS 2.
NO i'm so upset. arms is one of my favorite games of all time and i love comic books. this is such a shame, and it gives me little hope for the franchise's future.
That’s a shame. I would have enjoyed that.
Arms didn't fail because it's not a good game, it's a great game. It failed because Nintendo didn't support it. It's been years and where is Arms 2? Where is a story mode? Where is the lore for these bright and colorful characters? Nintendo dropped the game said have fun, and basically forgot about it from as far as I can tell. So all I can say to that is "Oh well".
Darn, was looking forward to this; the lore and characters are by far my favorite part about ARMS.
WHY?
ARMS has the potential to be so much more.
NO NO NO NO NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
I’d be more interested in what prompted the comic in the first place than any comment about its abandonment.
As for the game, it looks awesome. I just never got enough urge to buy it. The price wasn’t quite right for me
What a shame, the ARMS universe has a lot of potential that a comic could expand on.
@Heavyarms55 I was surprised of the the excess promotion and advertisement Nintendo gave to ARMS, it deservedly failed because it is a dull game with bland name, there is no potential there and everyone can see it from the start. Splatoon on the other hand ...
I never knew they were making an ARMS comic series to begin with so ¯(ツ)/¯
Man, I REALLY adored the world of Arms. It's a shame the game was so panned, so much potential...
thats a shame, it couldve been the world building this game needed
It doesn't come as a surprise. For a new IP, Nintendo didn't try hard enough and the game got buried by many other games, ESPECIALLY Splatoon 2.
They never launched ARMS with the same level of ambition as Splatoon. Ironically, Splatoon was on a failed console, while ARMS was on a console that was facing launch shortages and high demand.
Man, the game was just so bare bones that this would have actually gone a way to build the world. It’s a game that really needs a Street Fighter 2-esque glow up for the sequel.
I thought this game was forgotten not long after launch. It did have some DLC, right? I didn’t know about this, but I remember thinking that it felt like Nintendo was trying to create a new franchise. Maybe what happened with Arms is the reason why we end up getting editorials like the recent one about lack of new ideas.
Arms had and still has potential, but I guess Nintendo just didn't want to support the game after lackluster sales. It's disappointing, but not a surprise, unfortunately.
@outsider83 Yeah, there was actually a lot of free DLC that came after launch (1/3 of the roster wasn’t available at launch). Single player content is a bit lacking regardless, but I can’t help but wonder if the game would’ve gained at least a little more traction if it had launched with all 15 fighters available from the start.
Ian Flynn is a great writer. It's a shame this got cancelled.
I loved ARMS, but I won't lie, it really sucked that they stuck with the Mario grunting noises and one liners instead of having fully voiced lines.
I would have bought this 4 years ago...
@Heavyarms55 - That's like asking for multi-player in Zelda.
ARMS sold 2 million, hardly a failure (but hey, we live in a timeline where if it's not Pokémon levels of success it might as well not exist)
The game couldn't take off cause it was wedged between 2 highly successful franchises, and one of them being a Legacy. By that point most prioritized games they knew and stuck with them. ARMS was basically, well, disarmed of its own momentum.
I was looking around to buy this comic a few months ago, but realized it hadn't been released. It's a shame that this comic had been cancelled as the ARMS lore has so much potential for story telling with the right hands to put it all together. ARMS is my favorite game on Nintendo Switch, and hopefully someday it'll have a sequel that really expands on that universe.
@Ulysses doubt an ARMS 2 will happen. The game seems to be really niche, and I don't know if it really sold all that well.
That’s disappointing. I actually thought they might announce Arms 2 around the time that Min Min was added to Smash, but I guess not.
I’m still keeping hope alive though, the first one was great and I played it a bunch with my kids. I wish there was more merch too, my son loves Spring Man. As it is, we had to get him a bootleg T-shirt because we couldn’t find anything else.
@Paraka 2 million isn't a failure, but it's not great either, the higher selling entries tend to be in the 5+ million range. They might revisit it later, there's been games that have sold less that are getting sequels, but I think it's pretty low on the list of priorities for Nintendo right now. I would guess you would have to wait until the Switch's successor for a sequel.
Nintendo allowed ARMS to die. >
Arms had such interesting and great characters! I still hope for Arms 2 to add a beefier single player campaign and more lore! The characters are all amazing, and really have a sense of story. The little bit of lore found in game is interesting.
The volleyball game is my favorite! Min-min and lollipop are my mains in Arms.
Well that's a shame, I was interested in this since the beginning
ARMS sold ~2.38 million. I don't know if there will be a sequel on the Nintendo Switch, but those numbers should be good enough from a debut to see a sequel through for its potential returns. If Metroid is still seeing attention not having touched 2 million going on 19 years, I have plenty of hope for ARMS to get a sequel as well as any other IP with similar returns.
Shame, but also not surprising at this point. Really missed the boat on this.
Arms was really fun in short bursts, but the generic name and lack of launch content hurt it. Every review under the sun complained about the lack of content, so word of mouth sucks for launch.
The added characters, the frequent regular tournaments, the free demo weekends - all great. But by then the damage was done.
Weirdly, this was the exactly the same as Splatoon. Every initial review complained about lack of content. But the content rolled out, we got regular Splatfests, and it found an audience - probably as much due to the Wii U’s perceived scarcity of AAA games. Whereas Arms (again, still a generic name) was bang in the middle of BotW, Spla2n and Odyssey.
I agree with everyone else - they should have announced Arms 2, or at the very least some new tournaments for #1, alongside Min-Min in Smash.
With Min Min in Smash and the graphic novel series still confirmed to be happening last year I thought there was a good chance of ARMS 2 happening but with the graphic novel series now cancelled and heavy rumours of a significant new Switch revision I think this is the end for ARMS and Mario Kart 9 ends up a launch window title for the new Switch revision.
Not surprising.
It launched as a glorified tech demo and they later added the content to qualify it as a bare bones fighting game. No worthwhile single player content, very repetitive gameplay, lack of support from Nintendo, an absurd price tag for what it was.
I wanted to like it because the roster is colourful and unique, but it's really no surprise there's not enough interest in the franchise for endeavours like this to be worthwhile.
That's too bad. Would have bought the trade.
I loved Arms! It did feel a little barebones at the start though and the rate at which the additional free content came out was a little slow. I don't fully remember but I think the first free DLC was just the final boss was now playable or something, which felt a little weak, then later you had Springtron, who was basically just SpringMan in metallics. But we got the cool mask guy, the clown lady and the scientist so it wasn't all bad.
I'd buy a sequel in a heartbeat though!
I would've loved this! The lore for arms seems just as interesting as splatoon's lore!
That is a shame, my nephew enjoyed ARMs and i was looking forward to this. I hope ARMs gets a sequel. If Nintendo had done a £20 selects range with ARMs in, at this point in time, i bet it's player base would have picked up. Alot of young people have late adopted the Switch and completely missed this game, especially as Nintendo's sale's are awful.
I own that issue being a fan of Legend of Korra and honestly had no idea it wasn't even released, just thought it was just badly promoted or something.
This sucks for fans but the fact this took so long to even get canceled is a joke for the fans who kept waiting.
Shame, I was looking forward to this. Arms has such great characters and so much potential.
On of the best and most underrated Nintendo games ever
@Heavyarms55 It felt like the equivalent of a tech demo. Would of loved some RPG elements like what Splatoon had too with the Gear system
I honestly thought the ARMS series had more legs....
Guess I'll have to stick to Wild Arms then.
I have such an amazing time playing ARMS. This is definitely one of my favorite Switch games. Playing with others makes the game even more enjoyable. I have 6 episodes of ARMS on my Youtube channel. If ARMS gets a sequel, I'd get the game as soon as it's available.
LOL I remember playing the game and thinking it was perfectly suited for a comic book. I had been checking on the comic's status for about two years but stopped checking after I realized ARMS was beginning to die off. Sure enough, here we are
@GamerJJ64
Hey, I think I knocked you out in Arms.
Great Times!
@VoidofLight I don't know, I guess I hoped Nintendo would support the ARMS IP a little more after MinMin was added to Smash.
Plus, it still sold 1-2million copies worldwide. Even though that isn't as explosive of a debut as Splatoon, it's still a respectable number for a new IP.
@Bengals76 Wait, you mean in one of my videos?
Arms is a sad case of unrealized potential. I really liked it, but if felt like it wasn't really a finished game. The game mechanics were great, but it's really light on content. Unlike Splatoon, there really wasn't any attempt to built up the world, lore or characters. As much as I'm looking forward to Splatoon 3, I think Arms is the one that really needs a sequel.
I bought ARMS at launch (as I only had a couple other Switch games at the time) and I liked it but not enough to keep playing after 5-10 hours or so - especially after Splatoon 2 came out, so I sold it. It's a great IP with a ton of potential that I don't think Nintendo knew how to capitalize on.
Going to echo what a bunch of people are saying here but that's a shame. ARMS still has a lot of potential, can't say I was blown away by the first but I respect what they were going for and the world itself could work well in a comic. Hoping they reconsider or they had to pull out because a sequel was going to contradict it, who knows.
@Bolt_Strike - That's entirely dependent on what resources were invested to make ARMS to begin with.
"Higher selling entries," Yeah, higher selling entries. Meaning there needs to be a build to a new community. You don't just up and throw in the towel cause the new IP didn't bring in 5 million the first release. Hell, a large sum of rather known franchises don't hit that for dozens of entries.
In perspective: Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate didn't even hit 5 million. On a handheld widely active at the time.
ARMS, for everything against it, did phenomenally well.
Tap here to load 56 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...