13 hours ago when I woke up with my son, I bought Arms on a whim, maybe to celebrate his first day of summer. We have paused to eat, and rearrange the way we sat so we could play and charge. This is the most fun I've had with a game in a long time. The party match mode is absolutely perfect. the ability to locally pair up for the online matchmaking is great.

The way the matchmaking works, with the lobby showing everyones game, and keeping a constant rotation between players and modes, time just melts away. Between volleyball, B-ball, one-on-one, free for alls, team battles, co op against a super-armed AI monster, and little variables being thrown your way the longer you play, this is the perfect matchmaking. I'm not particularly competitive, and can't make my way through the Grand Prix on a high enough level to even unlock ranked mode, but this game i had no interest in before today now has my ringing endorsement. Hope people take to this, I'd love to see some new fighters and maps over time.

I'm shocked at how much fun I had. I debated returning it before I even opened it because I was so unsure about it but I'm glad I took a chance. I spent the last 5 hours playing with my fiancée and I had a blast.

As difficult as I found the motion controls to get used to, I really don't like the game with a regular controller. It was clearly designed with motion controls in mind.

probably picking it up tonight. crazy month and 1/2 for fighting(esque) games

I'm super glad to hear this! I haven't stayed in touch with Arms, and to hear it can pack a surprise blast is encouraging. I'll definitely be getting it tomorrow

i cant see any real benefit to motion controls, pro controller all the way! not to discount those enjoying motion, but i've hated it with a passion since the wii, and this game plays absolutely fine with regular controls. even the single joycon works fine for some local shenanigans.

Nice to hear. Seemed like people were down on it before it even came out. Looks like a fun thing to pick up when I eventually get a switch.

I was going to wait until Mario: Odyssey came out to buy a Switch, but I may end up buying one sooner rather than later because of Arms and Splatoon 2.

Assuming I can find one of course.

That's nice to hear! I hope it sells well; it's unique among the current marketplace and it's nice to have variety.

I was definitely staunchly anti-motion controls when I played the test punch. Hell I was staunchly anti-this game when I played the test punch. Then last night in a drowzy stupor I bought it, and then played some this afternoon. Damn if I wasn't wrong on both counts. I am loving the hell out of Arms so far, and loving the motion controls so much I don't want to play any other way. It takes a bit of getting used to, but landing a curved punch is so satisfying!

@johncallahan: Did anything actually change, or did you just warm up to it? I also didn't like the test punch very much, but I keep hearing good things about the game. The amount of content seemed more like a $20 game than a $60 game. I know there's a bit more in the full game, but it didn't sound like all that much to me.

@cameron: the gameplay is the same from the test punch so if you didn't like the feel of the game, it hasn't changed.

As far as content goes, I beat the Grand Prix (single player) in like 20 minutes or so with 1 character on the easiest difficulty. There are 10 characters and 7 levels of difficulty but the game is the game. There are other modes like 1 vs 100 which takes about 5-10 minutes, volleyball, some slam dunk mode, and hit the target mode but it's all the same gameplay wise, just different window dressing around it.

I think your enjoyment and value proposition of this game all comes down to how much you enjoy the basic gameplay (jump, dash, grab and punch).

If your already questioning the value proposition, I would say wait till it's $20/$30 or so however, Nintendo games rarely go on sale and when they do, it's not a huge discount so you may have to wait a while for it to drop in price

That's good to hear. I was kind of unsure about this game when Nintendo first revealed it, I've been thinking about picking this up after hearing so much good feedback.

Thanks for the help. It's probably just not for me. I doubt it will ever get cheap enough to be worth the risk. I thought Splatoon looked interesting, but light on content, and that's still never been cheap enough for me to take the plunge.

technically thin on content but it feels like 90% of fighting game single player content for me anyway. either endless practice away at CPUs or go online and get destroyed.

this game feels so fucking GOOD to control, though. been playing primarily mechanica, love her dodge move. nowhere near that level and playing mostly non motion controls, but i can feel the finesse you can potentially achieve with controlling your fighter underneath the surface. even on a pro controller i love guiding punches where you want them to go. curse that L3 block, though. i barely use it as a result, am trying to force myself to.

i'm really digging this and looking forward to what nintendo bolts onto it in the near future.

I just hit that point where I was doing really well just flailing and now that I learned the mechanics I'm over thinking everything and losing every match.

I've been playing solely with a pro controller though and is there any way to charge punches other than just blocking? Pushing in the left stick just takes a little too much time in such a fast paced game that I am always trying to just dodge instead of blocking or throwing punches to block incoming attacks. I think I'll have to give motion controls a shot later tonight.

Man I really want to git gud at this game but I don't feel like there really is a proper tutorial, just an increasingly difficult practice mode. If anyone has any pointers to get them past the point of feeling like a beginner, I'll gladly hear them.

@noboners: punches will charge after jumping and landing as well

i think i love this game too. the core gameplay loop is nigh perfect to the point that i don't even mind a somewhat lack of content, and it feels soooo right in gameplay. i don't feel frustrated with it yet; dare i say i think i might even be able to get good at it? i think ninjara may beat mechanica just for being so fucking fast and dem chakrams (but mechanica is adorable as hell so she gets that; the style in general is just lovable though). even as simple as it seems on the outside i feel i could lose hours to it. i only hope as is that they tweak 1v1v1 so it's more like 2v1 and the 1 gets some sort of perk or boost; then i think it could work. also maybe more coop gametypes. for once i can't wait to get into ranked; just hope i'm up to beating gran prix level 4.

Nintendo games never go down in price

If 60 dollars is too much, it's about $48 for physical version on amazon if you have prime. Will remain that way for 2 weeks after release according to them.

@partyofnone: I really wish amazon offered this discount on digital releases. Arms especially seems like the kind of game I'd always want sitting on my SD card.

Get back to us in a week.

And holding the dodge button after dodging charges too. It works way too well with Helix. You hold dodge to flatten out and then when you unflatten you're charged up ready to go. Same with Twintelle's hover.

On topic: I'm having quite a bit of fun so far and I haven't even played online yet since release. I played the test stuff and found that fun so I bought the game and have continued to find it fun. It's quite interesting how different all of the different characters play. In terms of favorite fighters, as a character, Helix (because of how ridiculous Helix is as a character) is my favorite but for actual fighting it's a toss-up between Twintelle and Ninjara for me so far. I love Ninjara's teleport dodge but Twintelle's hover leads to some neat combos.

@ben_h: @holycrapitsadam Ohhh ok thanks. That helps a ton!

I'm really liking it... even though the CPU feels tough as nails even on just level 3. I *did* manage to finish it with Mechanica, though, so apparently I'm a level 3 ARMS hero?

This one is going to be a long time favorite I think, duders. Are y'all maining someone? I'm really liking Barq & Byte...

@drm2thej: Ninjara and Mechanica so far. I'm guessing there are others as quick as Ninjara but haven't had much chance to try others out. Mechanica's dodge felt really good but I guess she's slow/tank-y overall. Want to unlock more of Ninjara's arms but it's probably going to be a long grind.

Hope this post wasn't too low effort. ;)

@ripelivejam Default arms Mechanica seems very good, and so do Ninjara and Kid Cobra. I hit a wall with Min Min and Ribbon Girl default arms (of course, that could be because I'm bad?). I'm doing okay with Barq & Byte default arms. The major problem with them is that it's much harder to use their special ability on particular stages (nearly impossible when going uphill on Ninjara's stage for example). Haven't really tried the rest yet.

One issue I've seen raised on the ARMS subreddit is whether tourny/pro play will involve default arms restrictions or allow use of any loadout. Just based on my experience, it seems like the default arms vary in utility in such a way that it infuses too much imbalance between characters. Also, allowing any loadout will enable a greater variety, though of course the "meta" (if there ever is one) will likely end up settling on particular sets.

Min Min, for example, has a good ability in her kick-dash, but it doesn't seem to me to make up for her default arms.

I suppose in casual play it doesn't really matter, but then again... I sure do see a lot of Kid Cobras already...

@pyrodactyl: Well, sometimes they make it into the Nintendo Selects series after a few years. But, of course, they don't often put anything that is still selling well into that series. I can't blame them, but it does mean I don't play a lot of Nintendo's second tier games.

@ripelivejam: Mechanica is definitely not the quickest character in ARMS (that’s reserved for Ninjara and charged Kid Cobra) but her enhanced mobility is what makes her a playable to the only other tank in the game, Master Mummy who is an even bigger (and faaaar slower moving) heavy hitter with a decent ability. Mechanica probably has the best jumps in the game next to Ribbon Girl and her mobility is definitely above average which is what makes her my main- having a tank character that isn’t constrained by slow movement is actually killer, especially in a game where dodging is an incredibly important mechanic.

@drm2thej: I think Min Min just has difficult default ARMS to master particularly in her Dragon arms. The Dragon arms are pretty powerful due to their range but because the laser takes time to charge in what’s a really fast paced game they’re really difficult to utilize well.

My son still plays daily, but ive sort of seen all there is to see. as far as solo play goes. This is a great go-to multiplayer game if mario kart isnt your thing. break off a joycon and play anywhere, i was actually playing at the hospital waiting room earlier today. Your own friends and family are the feature set for this amazing but somewhat bare game id say.