Explore the rise, challenges, and lingering potential of ARMS, The Nintendo Switch's distinctive fighting game, as it stands overlooked in 2024. Written By: DakotaIRL and TJTLee Edited By: DakotaIRL
CORRECTION: 6:53 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate did not feature any ARMS music until Min Min joined the roster. Also, Sakurai has confirmed that an ARMS rep was supposed to join smash at launch but did not make the launch window.
Lemme add onto that, the Ninjara Mii costume was released alongside Min Min's DLC, we only had Spring Man and Ribbon Girl Mii costumes at the start. we had ARMS Spirits tho, a good chunk too, Spring Man, Ribbon Girl, Ninjara, Min Min and Twintelle
@@ItsToadTime_Wiiu ARMS potentially had nearly everything it needed to become the next Splatoon. It has the charm, the art style, a different take on the arena fighter (Virtual On crossed with Punch Out!!), and the music. Then, before it could get a true foothold and establish a fan base, Splatoon 2, sequel to the wunderfranchise Splatoon, swooped in and stole away the player base. If ARMS gets another shot, hopefully it's not in the same window as Splatoon 4.
this video reminds me that even the smaller games that most people don't care about still have loyal fanbases who feels joy when new content about the games drops.
@@TheSwitchClicks btw, are you using premiere? If so, how do you get that floating effect? Do you do it all by hand or do you have something doing it for you?
I'll be willing to give ARMS another chance if it comes back roaring, with plenty of interesting single player content, much deeper battle mechanics and allowing us to get to know the ARMS-Fighter, and explore their world.
It's never too late for a new IP, even a fighting game, to surge in popularity with a sequel. Street Fighter II is probably the most notable example out there for giving the franchise its name. Here's hoping Nintendo follows up with that!
This was a pretty good video! I still hope to this day this franchise gets its much deserved round 2. Also, for the Smash part, interviews mentioned that ARMS would've made it to the base roster if it hadn't been for time constrains, since the project began back in 2015. Mr. Yabuki has mentioned that they are down for a sequel before, so if we ever see it, my guess would be after the next mario kart is out on the switch 2.
@@Diamoondust I always thought ARMS Round 2 would be such a cool name not only because its a boxing game, but because "it got back up for round 2 and its not giving up". I love hearing ARMS concepts so go ahead!
Few people feel the same. The controls were horrible one of the few 1st/2nd party games that was a failure. How can a company develop something as intuitive as punch out but screw the pooch on this?
@@mkendall8393 I agree on the motion controls being horrible, they should retire them in general inmediately, but this game was by no metrics a failure. It's no splatoon but it sold extremely well
I absolutely adore ARMS! It has so much stylistic charm. The lively music, the artwork, the creative premise, the diverse cast of characters, the lore, etc. They have a solid framework here with so much potential. It would be a huge waste not to make a sequel that fixes the issues people had with the first. Add more content and give players more reason to want to play it. Make it happen, Nintendo!
@@TheSwitchClicks If it was a "launch title" with Wii Motion Plus. Iirc, the Wii rapidly lost popularity around 2009, so I still think that a 2007/2008 release would've made this a 10 million+ seller.
The appeal was that it was a new fighting game with a different approach that's much more focused on reading your opponents instead of pressure. The MARKETING, on the other hand, was focused on motion controls. - Nathan
I got the impression that arms did poorly in this video, but the truth of the matter the sales for arms were rather good. The game sold 2.72 million units putting it as one of the best selling fighting game of all time and one of the better selling nintendo series with it selling in line with, metroid, pikmin and fire emblem
Don't worry, I had that same impression too when I played ARMS. I only realized too late that it had a lot of potential, but at that point, the game really wasn't hyped up anymore. - Nathan
The button controls in this game are... fair at best. They definitely provide better options than two Joy Cons, but for a fighting game, they are some of the weirdest controls I have ever touched. - Nathan
Gotta remember that when ARMS came out it was one of the few games actually available to switch. So it's likely that most people bought it due to it being the one of few interesting things nintendo had out
The free DLC in ARMS introduced some new characters, like Springtron and Dr. Coyle. Dr. Coyle was said to be the villain of the ARMS franchise, having created the same metal face that corrupted Max Brass, Hedlok. After Dr. Coyle, that's when the game fell on its knees.
I loved Arms since release. loved the volleyball minigame, loved how diverse the world and characters are, character designs are awesome, and game was fun to pick up and play on controller or motion controll... but man did it lack extra content. I was excited to see Min Min in Smash (as a Min Min/ LolaPop main). My hope is if they do revist the franchise, to add story mode (at least something with more story for single player), more game modes, mission mode would help a lot with getting used to what arms do and even learn how use characters.
If ARMS was released today, it would be praised for it's originally, but because it was released then, it was seen as an gimmick game and it was down played as an actual game. Pray it gets a sequel 🙏
Well tbh no I think it would’ve done worse it’s very underrated and while I love the game it did lack content kind of like 1 2 switch I think having it close to launch helped it sell better cause even for me at the time I didn’t have much better to play besides Splatoon 2, Mario Kart, botw etc. now we have way more options and it sucks that they stopped printing copies of ARMS so soon but it makes sense they weren’t selling copies due to lack of demand sadly and I want them to be more ambitious with the sequel we never got the comic etc. this franchise has massive potential original awesome characters like overwatch but somehow I love the mystery of the ARMS world so much more
I play pretty much every Nintendo game per franchise, including niche ones like Punch Out Wii, Pikmin 1-4. Metroid 2D games, Fire Emblem and Xenoblade. I wanted to try out Arms but it just isn't a priority to me since it only has 1.5 hours of main solo player time. You can argue Splatoon does it as well, but Splatoon has a pretty decent online server (not perfect but works 80% of the time), frequent online and local events, and awesome music + bosses and single player campaign mode. In an Arms sequel, I hope to see more frequent events or at least a big story/single player campagin mode.
you know this game's failure may be why mario kart 8's booster course pass was so low quality. (apparently the dev team that worked on base mk8 also worked on arms, and it was their last project)
Booster Course Pass feels more like Nintendo wanting to min-max their resources rather than having a bad development team. I think the DLC was put on a time constraint and there was a limited budget compared to the original Mario Kart 8 DLC. - Nathan
As someone who has made Advanced Tutorial videos for years and over 2,000 Hours logged into the game th-cam.com/play/PLgfEq3MlFcxJl56oNmKO7dQsjGit3eY12.html&si=ZbxKY0kYkKtuOgC2 I understand it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. Though I feel in some ways it’s misunderstood. In that people hear “fighting game” and automatically picture something in their head, when ARMS really isn’t that. It’s more in line with a Sports game, like Tennis. Mr. Yabuki even said that was the design intention. Like a strategic back-and-forth. It’s not about all the different “stuff” you can do, but mastering the core rhythm and nuances that go into each match. Some people seem to call it slow, but as someone with experience, I don’t see that at all. I don’t want to get all into it here, but there’s definitely a reason for the speed everything goes at. Not to mention that the speed is Fighter and Arm dependent (different Characters and Arm Weapons naturally move faster or slower, so the speed can change per match). A word I’ve mentioned before was “rhythm”, and that’s honestly the best word I can describe it with. There’s a certain rhythm to playing the game to its fullest potential, that being making the fastest it can be, the most intense it can be, and the most rewarding it can be. Some people sadly never found that rhythm, and like I said, it’s not for everyone, but as someone who knows this game in-and-out, it certainly has more depth than people give it credit for. The “depth” just doesn’t appear in the same way it does in traditional fighting games, so people discredit it. That’s my two-cents at least. Good video!
Since this video was more of an objective look at the business of ARMS, I didn’t really get to give my opinion on the matter but you described it perfectly! There is definitely a unique rhythm to the game that some just couldn’t catch! I love ARMS a lot but it’s hard to find friends that are willing to play it over other fighting games. Thanks for the amazing insight! - Dakota
I hope arm getting a sequel it’s has so much potential I hope they give it a real story mode so we can see the characters interactions, goals, and motivations, see some non/maybe future dlc fights in the story mode and also learn more about the arms phenomenon also I think they need to limit the choice in the game because out of all the fights games I’ve played it’s a lot of people who use the best arms and characters and with the smallest roster makes it so you faced the same 3 characters with the same 3 arms it’s a big reason why I quit it was boring going against the same thing over and over again and the game can be punished with the Motion controls if they polish the word and give the combat more depth it could be a great franchise
Crazy that such a high quality video that probably took a while to make only gets 500 views but a low effort mind numbing channel like moist critical gets millions of views in a day
Thanks for the support, regardless of the view count. It's being able to share our passion with y'all that makes us want to keep making videos! - Nathan
the biggest problem is it lack of a good story mode if they make a good story mode i think the game will do better. i also think they should change the gameplay in my opinion it feels a bit to slow and way to punishing for a little mistake (probably just massive skill issue). the character ideas are nice however i do think they should change stuff whit ninjara and bite and bark, these feel so bad to fight against.
Arms was designed as a beginner friendly game but it was so far away from it, If you are not good at a game its hard to understand why you are loosing sometimes wich made arms for me at least super frustrating even though I only played in the Testfire. Thats my conclusion at least. Arms could be cool but its ironicly to hard for beginners to get into.
This is how I also felt when I played the game. It really did sit in this awkward position where it just didn't feel like it could cater to any of the audiences. - Nathan
This is because you don't understand the difference between difficult and simple. A simple game can be difficult. I have a 50% loss rate in Rock Paper Scisssors. In simple games, it's often hard to tell why you lose or win that is because there is no reason. If you lose in Arms it's mostly because the opponent guessed better which way you were moving and when you were blocking. There's no movement techs or combos to learn, it's just hard reads.
I've already unlock all weapons and skins in all of characters at least the game can do is 1 add more weapons 2 add more skins 3 add more characters it gets a bit boring to play the same characters so many times
Part of the thing with Pokkén was that its tournaments lasted much longer than ARMS (I think up until last year?). You are right with how it wasn't much of a success - it sold 1 million less than ARMS. However, the number of players who stuck around might not be reflective from those sales numbers. Speaking from personal experience, when Dakota and I were playing through the Switch demos together before either of the games released, he and I always gravitated towards Pokkén Tournament after having a... lukewarm experience with ARMS. The same thing happened when the games were released. Dakota got both games, but it was ultimately Pokkén Tournament where we sunk more hours in, because it felt easier to pick up. - Nathan
4:43 people said this about splatoon 1 lol but the devs said it only had turf war for a week because they wanted people to level up to 10 first so they had ranked unlocked first and nintendo is shit at marketing all splatoon ads back then looked like kid only game ads lol and only showing one of many modes turf war not the 4 ranked modes or (later on) salmon run not to mention splatfests, eggstra works, bigruns, challenges, gold rotations and many more events too just sad at this point arms is a great game
6:52 actually not to be mean but your kinda wrong in one department arms didn't get music in base game only dlc and two the image you use for the music is a mod for more sonic songs in smash so that image is not official sorry for bothering you I just noticed while I was watching good video though
Out of all the music images I could've chosen, I pick a modded one. Just my luck, lol. And yes! You are right about the music only being added since the DLC update. Luckily the point still stands, or is it even stronger? Thanks for the feedback! - Dakota
The issue with arms is that it only had a couple game modes & it was probably one of the simplest fighting games i had ever played. I think the game shouldve cooked in the oven for a couple more years bc other than flash it didnt have any substance.
I suppose many fighting games start out like that. Here's hoping ARMS 2, if it exists, can follow up the same way Smash, Street Fighter, and other major fighting game franchises did. - Nathan
I personally think that the main reason that Arms failed was due to Smash Ultimate. If you wanted to play a casual fighting game with the signature Nintendo charm, then why the HELL would you take a gamble with some new weird IP when you could get more content, from a established franchise, for basically the same price? And even if you wanted that before Smash was announced for Switch, you could probably assume that a new Smash Bros would be released later... As Sakurai himself has said, "Nobody wants to play a fighting game where no one has ever seen the characters before."
5:23 wait you're actually endorsing the comparison to wii sports boxing?? because that's complete bullshit ARM's innovation was long range boxing with extending arms
It would be ridiculous not to make such a comparison. Did you miss the part where Dakota talks how the game needed to evolve from simple boxing? - Nathan
@@TheSwitchClicks A comparison between them should be made to hylight the differences rather than similarites, and no I don't recall anyone named dakota being mentioned
Dakota is the one who's speaking in this video (please see closed captions at the beginning of the video). The comparison I referred to was not meant to be an in-depth comparison between the two, because ARMS is meant to be the next iteration of Wii Sports Boxing, not a competitor. Thus, we only have to mention what was added or changed. - Nathan
Hi there! Dakota here, Writer and Editor of the video; I wouldn’t say I “endorsed” the comparison, in that ARMS is simple. I just pointed out that the comparison is common among internet discussions, because yes, both games are boxing games. It’s a an important thing to point out common thoughts when discussing the success or failure of something. - the Dakota in question
As much as I dislike ARMS, it definitely deserves a Second Chance. Fix up the Gameplay Issues and make the Game actually feel good, increase the Lore Possibilities, and fully embrace the World of ARMS as a Concept, allowing the 15 to reach their fullest potential. It would be epic.
Yeah, Nintendo played things way too safe when they marketed the game. They were pretty aggressive with the Splatoon marketing, so I wonder why they didn't bother doing the same here. - Nathan
Without some massive gameplay overhauls and far more content I don't see Arms making a comeback. beyond stiff competition and an absolutely stacked release year for the Switch IMHO i think the biggest mistake it made was being a fighting game that went hard into incorporating motion controls into the design elements. Time would have been better spent focusing on one control scheme, and putting a greater emphasis on simply controls and speed similar to many other fighting games.
It's never too late to overhaul a game. Most fighting game franchises iron out their issues with the second installment. Street Fighter II revolutionized fighting games with the accidental introduction of combos and Super Smash Bros. Melee shaped the modern platform fighting genre. Here's hoping the same could apply here. - Nathan
Fun fact, I was very into Nintendo around the time ARMS came out, I had a very keen eye for new exclusives and I hadn’t even known about ARMS until I randomly got it for Christmas. I genuinely thought it was a third party game and didn’t bother playing or researching it until about a few months later when I finished most of the games I had and that’s when I found out I absolutely adored the game. It’s just a game that in order to do good, everyone has to actually try out.
It hurts me to say because I really like the character design, soundtrack, and Nintendo as a whole. I... don't think it deserves a second chance. A fighting game that caps combos at 2 hits is a guaranteed flop. Making a movement based game where the movement ability is neither analog or momentum based is also a mistake. I don't see the untapped potential you see.
arms would've been fine, it just cost way too damn much. 60 USD when there were other titles with more content available for the same price? Breath of the wild, Super Mario Odyssey, and Splatoon 2 meant a pass for me.
well sure but also I didn't have a second pair of joycons and from what I understood, most of the fun was in co-op as the central gameplay was simple@@madnessarcade7447
Arms was a bad game. It was so shallow and lacked any depth a 3d fighter needs to have. When sonic the fighters has more combos then your game you know you failed
No it did not, enough with this revisionist history on anything that failed on some level. It was a neat little game with not enough content and devolved into frustration more often then not. The world of arms is not interesting, the core gameplay was not good enough, it got MORE then it deserved if anything with how much they pushed this release. This rightfully died and they made the right choice to not waste time/talent on another one. What untapped potential? The amount they would have to add or change would be a different game at that point.
The gameplay is indeed slow and relies a lot on predictability. Slow fighting games aren't necessarily bad (see: Virtua Fighter 5), and the way ARMS implemented it isn't the most frustrating, but it certainly is pretty slow. - Nathan
arms is just boring though. because it doesn’t commit to being a fighter or a party fighter, it’s a weird in between. not enough moves and too simplistic to be a serious fighter, and not enough gimmicks and unique stuff to make it a fun party option. you literally have a two punches, curls, grabs, and a special move. that’s it. the types of arms only provide so much. couple that with the minimal amount of content at launch (10 characters and 10 stages for $60) and it’s clear why this game wasn’t too popular.
I remember arms announcement it look interesting especially the character designs and it's fighting gimmick. I was actually excited for the title and when a Japanese splatoon player I used to watch played it at a high level it fun but heavily repetitive. Then the globel test punched released I played it and I was disappointed in it and it was what everyone said it was, it was trying to be splatoon one point zero but that could had succeeded if you know, splatoon two was not a month away, ha ha and let me tell you that splatoon two launch was just awful. I had pokken on wii u and it was a fun title until I had actually learn the title and dedicate myself to master the title, so I had given up on pokken and focus my attention on a title I know Splatoon / Splatoon two. My problem with arms is it is heavily simplistic, repetitive, every character is same with a unique gimmick and you do the same thing on every stage and character and best thing that player do is become grab the game, once you learn how to avoid the grab Spam and counter with a fallow up players will just leave the match and you receive no points for it. Prime example is why as someone as big and slow as master mummy have to share the same health bar as ribbon girl whole should be fragile and quick "glass canon" the basic fighter trope balance is non-existent which made playing the heavier characters awful unless he had amror or some bust ability such as max brass or female doctor Corel. The game play was just awful and repetitive, I understood and see his vision but it just hold up to what many players expected from a fighting title, especially as the channel host mentioned the switch had ultimate smash brothers and the Wii U / Arcade port of Pokken Tournament, so why bother purchasing a new lackluster fighting game title where many know what pokemon / tekken is and especially Smash Brothers. Arm could not stand a chance in the ring.
CORRECTION: 6:53
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate did not feature any ARMS music until Min Min joined the roster.
Also, Sakurai has confirmed that an ARMS rep was supposed to join smash at launch but did not make the launch window.
Lemme add onto that, the Ninjara Mii costume was released alongside Min Min's DLC, we only had Spring Man and Ribbon Girl Mii costumes at the start. we had ARMS Spirits tho, a good chunk too, Spring Man, Ribbon Girl, Ninjara, Min Min and Twintelle
The biggest thing against ARMS? Coming out three weeks before Splatoon 2.
What
@@ItsToadTime_Wiiu ARMS potentially had nearly everything it needed to become the next Splatoon. It has the charm, the art style, a different take on the arena fighter (Virtual On crossed with Punch Out!!), and the music. Then, before it could get a true foothold and establish a fan base, Splatoon 2, sequel to the wunderfranchise Splatoon, swooped in and stole away the player base. If ARMS gets another shot, hopefully it's not in the same window as Splatoon 4.
Oh yeah OK lol I wish arms just got more updates even its a gud game
@@ItsToadTime_WiiuSame.
this video reminds me that even the smaller games that most people don't care about still have loyal fanbases who feels joy when new content about the games drops.
That's the magic of video games! There's always going to be some kind of "cult following" for those small games.
- Nathan
@@TheSwitchClicks btw, are you using premiere? If so, how do you get that floating effect? Do you do it all by hand or do you have something doing it for you?
Like when someone mentions them they go crazy lol
Underrated. One day this game might become a “hidden gem”
6:53
Fun Fact:
ARMS actually didn't have ANY music in the game until Min Min joined the roster.
should have mentioned smash in your comment
I hope ARMS 2 will be announced this year 🤞🏿🤞🏿🤞🏿
It deserves a second chance 🙏🏿
Maaaan i do hope
Imagen a arms 2
With a subspace
Emissary
Story mode
I'll be willing to give ARMS another chance if it comes back roaring, with plenty of interesting single player content, much deeper battle mechanics and allowing us to get to know the ARMS-Fighter, and explore their world.
It's never too late for a new IP, even a fighting game, to surge in popularity with a sequel. Street Fighter II is probably the most notable example out there for giving the franchise its name. Here's hoping Nintendo follows up with that!
This was a pretty good video! I still hope to this day this franchise gets its much deserved round 2. Also, for the Smash part, interviews mentioned that ARMS would've made it to the base roster if it hadn't been for time constrains, since the project began back in 2015. Mr. Yabuki has mentioned that they are down for a sequel before, so if we ever see it, my guess would be after the next mario kart is out on the switch 2.
THIS SHOULD BE THE SEQUEL'S NAME! ARMS ROUND 2! can i pls make a concept of that eventually? (i dont have time rn sadly lol)
@@Diamoondust I always thought ARMS Round 2 would be such a cool name not only because its a boxing game, but because "it got back up for round 2 and its not giving up". I love hearing ARMS concepts so go ahead!
Few people feel the same. The controls were horrible one of the few 1st/2nd party games that was a failure. How can a company develop something as intuitive as punch out but screw the pooch on this?
@@mkendall8393 I agree on the motion controls being horrible, they should retire them in general inmediately, but this game was by no metrics a failure. It's no splatoon but it sold extremely well
I absolutely adore ARMS! It has so much stylistic charm. The lively music, the artwork, the creative premise, the diverse cast of characters, the lore, etc. They have a solid framework here with so much potential. It would be a huge waste not to make a sequel that fixes the issues people had with the first. Add more content and give players more reason to want to play it. Make it happen, Nintendo!
Had this game launched for Wii, when motion was still new and exciting, it may have been a smash hit.
Or at the very least, when they introduced the Wii Motion Plus.
- Nathan
@@TheSwitchClicks If it was a "launch title" with Wii Motion Plus.
Iirc, the Wii rapidly lost popularity around 2009, so I still think that a 2007/2008 release would've made this a 10 million+ seller.
Motion controls aren't really part of the game's appeal
The appeal was that it was a new fighting game with a different approach that's much more focused on reading your opponents instead of pressure.
The MARKETING, on the other hand, was focused on motion controls.
- Nathan
I got the impression that arms did poorly in this video, but the truth of the matter the sales for arms were rather good. The game sold 2.72 million units putting it as one of the best selling fighting game of all time and one of the better selling nintendo series with it selling in line with, metroid, pikmin and fire emblem
I feel a little bad, because yeah, my first impression of ARMS is that it was just a gimmick game meant to show off the Joy-Con's capabilities... :(
Don't worry, I had that same impression too when I played ARMS. I only realized too late that it had a lot of potential, but at that point, the game really wasn't hyped up anymore.
- Nathan
It's actually best played with buttons
The button controls in this game are... fair at best. They definitely provide better options than two Joy Cons, but for a fighting game, they are some of the weirdest controls I have ever touched.
- Nathan
@@TheSwitchClicks How so, I don't remember having any issue with them
Very well formulated and presented video, sir.
Thanks! - Dakota
wtf is this man.. how is this channel so high quality but only has 1.5k subs????? im actually confused bro😭
It was made a game trial recently so they do still try
And it sold almost 3 million copies
Gotta remember that when ARMS came out it was one of the few games actually available to switch. So it's likely that most people bought it due to it being the one of few interesting things nintendo had out
Arms sold decently well
Arms director said he wants to do a sequel
Yay 🙂
The free DLC in ARMS introduced some new characters, like Springtron and Dr. Coyle. Dr. Coyle was said to be the villain of the ARMS franchise, having created the same metal face that corrupted Max Brass, Hedlok. After Dr. Coyle, that's when the game fell on its knees.
The progression of the DLC almost made the game feel like it was going to be truly live-service.
- Nathan
Arms actually sold more than pokken
Arms should have launched at a cheaper price point…
ARMS was not in Smash at launch because it came out too late after the roster is already finalized. Sakurai talked about this already.
I don’t think it’s dead I think it’ll be a one game per system thing
Poor Arms. I thought it was kinda cool.
But of course, Splatoon is a shooter, and everybody only wants the shooters.
Even Splatoon falls victim of being wrongfully considered a "casual" game.
- Nathan
I started playing arms until this year I still find quite a good amount of people online. It's quite fun.
I loved Arms since release. loved the volleyball minigame, loved how diverse the world and characters are, character designs are awesome, and game was fun to pick up and play on controller or motion controll... but man did it lack extra content.
I was excited to see Min Min in Smash (as a Min Min/ LolaPop main).
My hope is if they do revist the franchise, to add story mode (at least something with more story for single player), more game modes, mission mode would help a lot with getting used to what arms do and even learn how use characters.
If ARMS was released today, it would be praised for it's originally, but because it was released then, it was seen as an gimmick game and it was down played as an actual game. Pray it gets a sequel 🙏
Well tbh no I think it would’ve done worse it’s very underrated and while I love the game it did lack content kind of like 1 2 switch I think having it close to launch helped it sell better cause even for me at the time I didn’t have much better to play besides Splatoon 2, Mario Kart, botw etc. now we have way more options and it sucks that they stopped printing copies of ARMS so soon but it makes sense they weren’t selling copies due to lack of demand sadly and I want them to be more ambitious with the sequel we never got the comic etc. this franchise has massive potential original awesome characters like overwatch but somehow I love the mystery of the ARMS world so much more
I got arms and splatton at the same time and I didn’t know why it wasn’t as famous
I play pretty much every Nintendo game per franchise, including niche ones like Punch Out Wii, Pikmin 1-4. Metroid 2D games, Fire Emblem and Xenoblade. I wanted to try out Arms but it just isn't a priority to me since it only has 1.5 hours of main solo player time.
You can argue Splatoon does it as well, but Splatoon has a pretty decent online server (not perfect but works 80% of the time), frequent online and local events, and awesome music + bosses and single player campaign mode. In an Arms sequel, I hope to see more frequent events or at least a big story/single player campagin mode.
you know this game's failure may be why mario kart 8's booster course pass was so low quality. (apparently the dev team that worked on base mk8 also worked on arms, and it was their last project)
Booster Course Pass feels more like Nintendo wanting to min-max their resources rather than having a bad development team. I think the DLC was put on a time constraint and there was a limited budget compared to the original Mario Kart 8 DLC.
- Nathan
@@TheSwitchClicks i actually agree. good thing MOST of the music didnt suffer.
As someone who has made Advanced Tutorial videos for years and over 2,000 Hours logged into the game
th-cam.com/play/PLgfEq3MlFcxJl56oNmKO7dQsjGit3eY12.html&si=ZbxKY0kYkKtuOgC2
I understand it’s not everyone’s cup of tea.
Though I feel in some ways it’s misunderstood. In that people hear “fighting game” and automatically picture something in their head, when ARMS really isn’t that.
It’s more in line with a Sports game, like Tennis. Mr. Yabuki even said that was the design intention. Like a strategic back-and-forth.
It’s not about all the different “stuff” you can do, but mastering the core rhythm and nuances that go into each match.
Some people seem to call it slow, but as someone with experience, I don’t see that at all. I don’t want to get all into it here, but there’s definitely a reason for the speed everything goes at. Not to mention that the speed is Fighter and Arm dependent (different Characters and Arm Weapons naturally move faster or slower, so the speed can change per match).
A word I’ve mentioned before was “rhythm”, and that’s honestly the best word I can describe it with. There’s a certain rhythm to playing the game to its fullest potential, that being making the fastest it can be, the most intense it can be, and the most rewarding it can be.
Some people sadly never found that rhythm, and like I said, it’s not for everyone, but as someone who knows this game in-and-out, it certainly has more depth than people give it credit for. The “depth” just doesn’t appear in the same way it does in traditional fighting games, so people discredit it.
That’s my two-cents at least.
Good video!
Since this video was more of an objective look at the business of ARMS, I didn’t really get to give my opinion on the matter but you described it perfectly!
There is definitely a unique rhythm to the game that some just couldn’t catch! I love ARMS a lot but it’s hard to find friends that are willing to play it over other fighting games. Thanks for the amazing insight! - Dakota
I hope arm getting a sequel it’s has so much potential I hope they give it a real story mode so we can see the characters interactions, goals, and motivations, see some non/maybe future dlc fights in the story mode and also learn more about the arms phenomenon also I think they need to limit the choice in the game because out of all the fights games I’ve played it’s a lot of people who use the best arms and characters and with the smallest roster makes it so you faced the same 3 characters with the same 3 arms it’s a big reason why I quit it was boring going against the same thing over and over again and the game can be punished with the Motion controls if they polish the word and give the combat more depth it could be a great franchise
Was just thinking about this the other day, forgot this game even existed. Think I might just buy me a copy of Arms to finally try it out.
Hopefully you find it on discount! The game... is a tad pricey.
- Nathan
At first I read the title as ASMR 😅
I wonder if there is an ARMS ASMR video out there... 🤔
- Nathan
praying for ARMS2 :)
Crazy that such a high quality video that probably took a while to make only gets 500 views but a low effort mind numbing channel like moist critical gets millions of views in a day
Thanks for the support, regardless of the view count. It's being able to share our passion with y'all that makes us want to keep making videos!
- Nathan
the biggest problem is it lack of a good story mode if they make a good story mode i think the game will do better.
i also think they should change the gameplay in my opinion it feels a bit to slow and way to punishing for a little mistake (probably just massive skill issue).
the character ideas are nice however i do think they should change stuff whit ninjara and bite and bark, these feel so bad to fight against.
Arms was designed as a beginner friendly game but it was so far away from it, If you are not good at a game its hard to understand why you are loosing sometimes wich made arms for me at least super frustrating even though I only played in the Testfire. Thats my conclusion at least. Arms could be cool but its ironicly to hard for beginners to get into.
This is how I also felt when I played the game. It really did sit in this awkward position where it just didn't feel like it could cater to any of the audiences.
- Nathan
This is because you don't understand the difference between difficult and simple. A simple game can be difficult. I have a 50% loss rate in Rock Paper Scisssors. In simple games, it's often hard to tell why you lose or win that is because there is no reason. If you lose in Arms it's mostly because the opponent guessed better which way you were moving and when you were blocking. There's no movement techs or combos to learn, it's just hard reads.
I've already unlock all weapons and skins in all of characters
at least the game can do is
1 add more weapons
2 add more skins
3 add more characters
it gets a bit boring to play the same characters so many times
Maybe some day
I loved ARMS! Great video!
I’ve played arms recently and it still gets quick matches so people still play it
I agree with everything that you said except for the fact that you portrayed pokken as if it was a heavy hitter release like Oddessy and BOTW
Part of the thing with Pokkén was that its tournaments lasted much longer than ARMS (I think up until last year?). You are right with how it wasn't much of a success - it sold 1 million less than ARMS. However, the number of players who stuck around might not be reflective from those sales numbers.
Speaking from personal experience, when Dakota and I were playing through the Switch demos together before either of the games released, he and I always gravitated towards Pokkén Tournament after having a... lukewarm experience with ARMS.
The same thing happened when the games were released. Dakota got both games, but it was ultimately Pokkén Tournament where we sunk more hours in, because it felt easier to pick up.
- Nathan
4:43 people said this about splatoon 1 lol but the devs said it only had turf war for a week because they wanted people to level up to 10 first so they had ranked unlocked first and nintendo is shit at marketing all splatoon ads back then looked like kid only game ads lol and only showing one of many modes turf war not the 4 ranked modes or (later on) salmon run not to mention splatfests, eggstra works, bigruns, challenges, gold rotations and many more events too just sad at this point arms is a great game
6:52 actually not to be mean but your kinda wrong in one department arms didn't get music in base game only dlc and two the image you use for the music is a mod for more sonic songs in smash so that image is not official sorry for bothering you I just noticed while I was watching good video though
Out of all the music images I could've chosen, I pick a modded one. Just my luck, lol.
And yes! You are right about the music only being added since the DLC update. Luckily the point still stands, or is it even stronger? Thanks for the feedback! - Dakota
The issue with arms is that it only had a couple game modes & it was probably one of the simplest fighting games i had ever played. I think the game shouldve cooked in the oven for a couple more years bc other than flash it didnt have any substance.
I suppose many fighting games start out like that. Here's hoping ARMS 2, if it exists, can follow up the same way Smash, Street Fighter, and other major fighting game franchises did.
- Nathan
Don't care. Still buying it
I personally think that the main reason that Arms failed was due to Smash Ultimate. If you wanted to play a casual fighting game with the signature Nintendo charm, then why the HELL would you take a gamble with some new weird IP when you could get more content, from a established franchise, for basically the same price?
And even if you wanted that before Smash was announced for Switch, you could probably assume that a new Smash Bros would be released later...
As Sakurai himself has said, "Nobody wants to play a fighting game where no one has ever seen the characters before."
arms was fun but dult a bad hand
5:23 wait you're actually endorsing the comparison to wii sports boxing?? because that's complete bullshit ARM's innovation was long range boxing with extending arms
It would be ridiculous not to make such a comparison. Did you miss the part where Dakota talks how the game needed to evolve from simple boxing?
- Nathan
@@TheSwitchClicks A comparison between them should be made to hylight the differences rather than similarites, and no I don't recall anyone named dakota being mentioned
Dakota is the one who's speaking in this video (please see closed captions at the beginning of the video).
The comparison I referred to was not meant to be an in-depth comparison between the two, because ARMS is meant to be the next iteration of Wii Sports Boxing, not a competitor. Thus, we only have to mention what was added or changed.
- Nathan
Hi there! Dakota here, Writer and Editor of the video; I wouldn’t say I “endorsed” the comparison, in that ARMS is simple. I just pointed out that the comparison is common among internet discussions, because yes, both games are boxing games. It’s a an important thing to point out common thoughts when discussing the success or failure of something.
- the Dakota in question
Good video 👍
As much as I dislike ARMS, it definitely deserves a Second Chance. Fix up the Gameplay Issues and make the Game actually feel good, increase the Lore Possibilities, and fully embrace the World of ARMS as a Concept, allowing the 15 to reach their fullest potential. It would be epic.
Arms did deserve better. However, nintendo completely dropped the ball with the release date and advertising. Nintendo killed it themselves.
Yeah, Nintendo played things way too safe when they marketed the game. They were pretty aggressive with the Splatoon marketing, so I wonder why they didn't bother doing the same here.
- Nathan
@@TheSwitchClicks exactly. Maybe were they as aggressive with arms it would have actually gotten somewhere
Without some massive gameplay overhauls and far more content I don't see Arms making a comeback. beyond stiff competition and an absolutely stacked release year for the Switch IMHO i think the biggest mistake it made was being a fighting game that went hard into incorporating motion controls into the design elements. Time would have been better spent focusing on one control scheme, and putting a greater emphasis on simply controls and speed similar to many other fighting games.
It's never too late to overhaul a game. Most fighting game franchises iron out their issues with the second installment. Street Fighter II revolutionized fighting games with the accidental introduction of combos and Super Smash Bros. Melee shaped the modern platform fighting genre. Here's hoping the same could apply here.
- Nathan
Fun fact, I was very into Nintendo around the time ARMS came out, I had a very keen eye for new exclusives and I hadn’t even known about ARMS until I randomly got it for Christmas. I genuinely thought it was a third party game and didn’t bother playing or researching it until about a few months later when I finished most of the games I had and that’s when I found out I absolutely adored the game. It’s just a game that in order to do good, everyone has to actually try out.
Arms biggest problem is that it didn’t have legs 😂
It hurts me to say because I really like the character design, soundtrack, and Nintendo as a whole. I... don't think it deserves a second chance. A fighting game that caps combos at 2 hits is a guaranteed flop. Making a movement based game where the movement ability is neither analog or momentum based is also a mistake. I don't see the untapped potential you see.
nothing makes me more upset than how awful nintendo has treated the ARMS franchise.
I absolutely love the designs of the characters…the music…everything has a feel good vibe to it that reminds me of the Wii days
arms would've been fine, it just cost way too damn much. 60 USD when there were other titles with more content available for the same price? Breath of the wild, Super Mario Odyssey, and Splatoon 2 meant a pass for me.
It had a good amount of content and very creative
Could have just bought it with those u don’t have to pick and choose
well sure but also I didn't have a second pair of joycons and from what I understood, most of the fun was in co-op as the central gameplay was simple@@madnessarcade7447
Arms was a bad game. It was so shallow and lacked any depth a 3d fighter needs to have. When sonic the fighters has more combos then your game you know you failed
Arms dosent need combos thats not what its about. Its about aiming your punches
It was a good game u just didn’t understand what it was going for
No it did not, enough with this revisionist history on anything that failed on some level. It was a neat little game with not enough content and devolved into frustration more often then not. The world of arms is not interesting, the core gameplay was not good enough, it got MORE then it deserved if anything with how much they pushed this release. This rightfully died and they made the right choice to not waste time/talent on another one. What untapped potential? The amount they would have to add or change would be a different game at that point.
Sushi Striker deserved better too…
NGL the gameplay seems very slow for arms at least from a spectator stsandpoint
The gameplay is indeed slow and relies a lot on predictability. Slow fighting games aren't necessarily bad (see: Virtua Fighter 5), and the way ARMS implemented it isn't the most frustrating, but it certainly is pretty slow.
- Nathan
arms is just boring though. because it doesn’t commit to being a fighter or a party fighter, it’s a weird in between. not enough moves and too simplistic to be a serious fighter, and not enough gimmicks and unique stuff to make it a fun party option. you literally have a two punches, curls, grabs, and a special move. that’s it. the types of arms only provide so much.
couple that with the minimal amount of content at launch (10 characters and 10 stages for $60) and it’s clear why this game wasn’t too popular.
FEET might have done better
Nah, LEGS is what it's all about!
- Nathan
arms was just tooo slow for me, hopefully they improve on it in the sequel and make it more complex
Maybe they'll pull a Melee!
- Nathan
I remember arms announcement it look interesting especially the character designs and it's fighting gimmick. I was actually excited for the title and when a Japanese splatoon player I used to watch played it at a high level it fun but heavily repetitive.
Then the globel test punched released I played it and I was disappointed in it and it was what everyone said it was, it was trying to be splatoon one point zero but that could had succeeded if you know, splatoon two was not a month away, ha ha and let me tell you that splatoon two launch was just awful.
I had pokken on wii u and it was a fun title until I had actually learn the title and dedicate myself to master the title, so I had given up on pokken and focus my attention on a title I know Splatoon / Splatoon two.
My problem with arms is it is heavily simplistic, repetitive, every character is same with a unique gimmick and you do the same thing on every stage and character and best thing that player do is become grab the game, once you learn how to avoid the grab Spam and counter with a fallow up players will just leave the match and you receive no points for it.
Prime example is why as someone as big and slow as master mummy have to share the same health bar as ribbon girl whole should be fragile and quick "glass canon" the basic fighter trope balance is non-existent which made playing the heavier characters awful unless he had amror or some bust ability such as max brass or female doctor Corel.
The game play was just awful and repetitive, I understood and see his vision but it just hold up to what many players expected from a fighting title, especially as the channel host mentioned the switch had ultimate smash brothers and the Wii U / Arcade port of Pokken Tournament, so why bother purchasing a new lackluster fighting game title where many know what pokemon / tekken is and especially Smash Brothers. Arm could not stand a chance in the ring.
Ehh, I always hated it.
Understandable. I admit that I just never liked it to begin with, other than the concept of it.
- Nathan
No, it didn’t.
Wait.....Min Min had a game?
Lmao anyway I prob won't ever play arms tbh. It's kinda not interesting to me
It's one of those games that you'd only want to buy if it goes on some crazy discount. There's really not a low waiting for you there.
- Nathan
@@TheSwitchClicks facts