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We might think that Nintendo's video games are made with a secret formula, but that's not the case for those who study their way of making games at least a little. We know the theory, but the difficult part is the practice. While ARMS is a fighting game, Nintendo doesn't stick to the genre, but to its own way of understanding video games and fun.
Revealed in January 2017, and released in June of the same year, after 1-2 Switch and Breath of the Wild, we could say that ARMS was the first major exclusive designed for the Nintendo Switch. It was a showcase for the new Joy-Con motion sensor, first of all, but behind that was how Nintendo always does to create new franchises: a new idea that no one else would dare to put into video games. As if it were a modern Punch-Out!!, the camera is positioned behind the character, but at a greater distance, and one of the keys to ARMS is the mobility. Dodging and jumping are designed in such a way that we are looking at one of the fighting video games that has taken the most advantage of the three dimensions.
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| Classic press start button menu |
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| The animations are something else |
The 15 characters (10 initially, 5 added for free later) are not only visually insanely unique, but contain enough playstyle differentiation to make them incomparable to one another. They are the body of the game, and shape the complete package that is ARMS, which once opened offers a fighting game both for those interested in having fun with friends and for the most competitive players.
The other key, which is much more obvious from the start, is the arms. There are 42 arms in total, at the start of each match we will have three previously selected ones, and we will combine two of them, whichever we want on each arm, to fight. The real magic of ARMS lies in this, first combining, then learning the ins and outs, and finally mastering the countless combat styles available to us.
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| Every character has its own personality, stats and skills |
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| There is a basketball match in which you will use your opponent as a ball |
It happened that the biggest, and perhaps the only one, issue is that it doesn't have too many single-player game modes.The only single player mode is the Grand Prix, and although this has different minigames, a lot of variety, a small story for each character, and on the higher difficulty levels it is a great challenge, it is not enough to sustain the content of a fighting game nowadays. It is almost an old-fashioned arcade style, and this is a problem for reaching the masses of audience, since in the end the game is seen as an online competitive game.
Beyond this, I would say it is a game to share with friends at home, and if that is being lost it is our fault. It is something that we say we miss, but in practice we have left it aside. ARMS can be played by up to four players in local multiplayer, and we also only need one joycon for each person. It is the most fun you can get out of a title that, on the other hand, has online modes both to compete and to have fun even with minigames.
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| You can unlock tons of artworks like this one |
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| Similar to Splatoon, you unlock also pieces of info about the lore of their world |
The production level is what you would expect from a Nintendo game. It was sometimes compared to Splatoon for being the other recent new franchise that has become one of the company's pillars. Splatoon also started out as a game focused on the online side, but its genre is much more popular, and most of its success is due to Japan. ARMS is no less carefully crafted than the first Splatoon was. The soundtrack is worthy of listening to on vinyl, the details plague the menus and interactions, everything on a graphic and artistic level is flooded with quality and outstanding creativity.
Years later, it's hard to understand the lukewarm reviews, as it received a 7.7 on Metacritic, which isn't bad, but coming out on top of Breath of the Wild is complicated. ARMS sold more than 2 million in its first two years of life, figures that many games would wish for, and it could be enough for the start of a generation, but it pales in comparison to other Nintendo exclusives. The problem with ARMS is a blessed problem for Nintendo: its franchises sell so much that a modest success maybe is not enough.
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| Worthy details are everywhere |
I'm not sure that its current community is strong enough to justify the development of ARMS 2, but I do trust that Nintendo knows how to manage the pace, and it would be necessary to allow this great idea that was so close to perfect execution to grow. I believe in ARMS 2.
