It was no surprise that the Nintendo Switch[1] got first-party titles from popular franchises such as Mario[2] and Zelda[3], but few would have predicted Arms, a new fighting game revealed at the Switch launch[4]. Arms pits fighters with extendable arms (hence the name) against each other in an arena. In the run up to Arms’ June 16 release date, Nintendo held an Arms Global Testpunch[5] event this weekend, similar to Splatoon 2’s Global Testfire[6], for Nintendo Switch owners to check out the game pre-release. Over several sessions lasting an hour each, we checked out Arms and found it to be quite entertaining.
Visually, Arms is a colourful game. Much like Splatoon 2, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, there’s a vibrant burst of colours, which, combined with its unique character designs, makes it stand out. From monstrous-looking mummies to spry ninjas, fighters in Arms are pixel perfect.
The Arms Global Testpunch let us play as Spring Man, Ribbon Girl, Ninjara, Master Mummy, Min Min, Mechanica, and DNA Man. It isn’t the complete roster, and the full game has three more playable characters. Nevertheless, there's enough to get a good sense of the game. Each of the characters has their own abilities and gloves that can be kitted out to suit different play styles.
Can Arms Be the Overwatch of Fighting Games?[7]
Before the start of a match, you can choose from three different gloves per character. These range from propellers to lasers, and there’s one that splits into smaller fists too. There are character-specific abilities, such as Master Mummy being able to heal when guarding, or being to jump multiple times mid-air as Ribbon Girl. With...