Hey Hive!
If you didn't catch the last couple of posts, this is a new series where I write about games that I've played; what they're about and my experience playing them! I'll try my best to keep these posts short and sweet, hence the name; it's a reference to Games Done Quick (GDQ) - a charity speedrunning event!
I know this is a little late, but since Min Min from ARMS was recently released as the newest DLC fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, I thought I'd share a quick review of ARMS!
If you've never heard of this game before, ARMS is a fighting game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. The game differentiates itself from standard fighting games with its unconventional fighting system where every playable character fights with long range attacks, and up to four players can choose a fighter and battle using a variety of extendable, customizable arms to knock out opponents in a 3D arena.
Here's the trailer:
STORY
There's not really much of a story or main plot to ARMS tbh. Like most fighting games, ARMS is mainly just about getting into the arena and duking it out to see who comes out victorious. But I believe there is some background lore to ARMS that an official Nintendo account shared on Twitter (in Japanese) a few months after the game's release in 2017. The shared lore included some history of the ARMS trait; that it first appeared over 1,500 years ago and is not limited to humans, for example.
There are also various reports from the ARMS Lab, which created the “mask” that enables people with the ARMS trait to stabilize their fist while elongating their arms. This was the key to creating physical competition between people with the ARMS trait.
Apparently the scientists at the ARMS Lab were working on some sketchy experiments, as per usual for all science fiction labs.
This is actually some surprisingly deep lore for a fighting game about people with spring arms. Here's the full translated guide to the ARMS lore if you're interested.
GAMEPLAY
ARMS is a 3D fighting game where the player is able to perform basic fighting actions using extendable arms such as punching, throwing, blocking, and dodging. There are fifteen playable fighters in total, with five of them being released as DLC.
Each fighter starts with three unique Arms that can be selected in battle (aka your loadout), but the use of all other fighters' Arms can be unlocked in a minigame mode called Get Arms. You can then tailor your loadout in the character select screen.
There are 42 arms for each character, so as you can imagine, it will take quite a while to unlock every single arm for all 15 characters. It also takes coins to even play the minigame which means you have to play the game a lot and grind coins if you wanna unlock everything.
All fighters also have their own unique attributes in combat. For example, Ninjara can teleport when he dodges, making him invincible to attacks, while Ribbon Girl can jump up to 4 times in succession, giving her 3 extra jumps.
As with all fighting games, there is an attack meter which when fully charged, enables players to unleash a high-damage "rush attack" against their opponents. Players can also charge their attacks to temporarily increase damage and utilize the elemental effects of their specific ARMS (which include fire, ice, wind, electric, explosive, stun and blind).
With so many different ARMS and unique characters, there's actually quite a bit of strategy that you can employ when playing ARMS.
Besides the standard fighting mode, ARMS features a multiple other modes: Versus, Grand Prix, and a variety of Battle modes. In Grand Prix, players take on a set of 10 matches against computer-controlled fighters to win the championship belt.
Battle mode consists of volleyball and basketball modes, a target breaking mode, and a survival mode. Players can also play online in a party match lobby with up to 20 players, or in one-on-one ranked matches.
GRAPHICS
Visually, ARMS definitely has that Nintendo polish down, with smooth, clean textures and the various lighting effects in the different arenas to really set the atmosphere.
Even the effects of the various ARMS are excellently done. From the huge heavy ARMS that really make you feel the weight to the elemental effects, and the final killing blow.
ARMS definitely has the visual aesthetic down for sure, even though you probably won't be noticing much of the background details while you're busy fighting.
RELEASE AND RECEPTION
ARMS was released on June 16, 2017 and by July 2018, the game had sold over two million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling games on the Switch at the time. Of course it has since been surpassed by other Switch titles from classic Nintendo franchises (i.e. Mario and Legend of Zelda) but for a brand new game on a new console it did pretty well.
The game received "generally favorable" reviews, and was nominated for a few Best Fighting Game awards, but some critics did note the game's lack of content at launch. I think the DLC and added modes made up for this tho.
I had ARMS come bundled together with my Switch but I didn't actually play it until early 2018. We did play it a lot while we were in Finland for student exchange and it was a hecc of fun! That was before Smash was out of course, and it was definitely the best fighting game on the Switch at the time. Trying out the different modes, including co-op, and learning to strategise with the different ARMS as you unlock them is definitely part of the fun.
So if you're a fan of 3D fighting games, I'd definitely recommend ARMS! They did have a demo/free weekend a while back (possibly eluding to the release of Min Min in SSBU before June); I'm not sure if the demo is still available but definitely give it a shot!
Thanks for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
