With the release date of the Switch 2 now so close I can barely sit still on the toilet, I’ve been having a little wonder to myself about what stuff, besides that new console smell and a brand new Mario Kart game, has got me most excited for my latest child’s arrival. That’s right, my consoles are my children. Stay off my property.
Perusing some of the finer pre-release details, and getting stuck into the list of Switch games getting a “free update” of some sort on Switch 2, I was busy being slightly excited, when all of a sudden my excitement meter, which I carry in a bum-bag around my waist, began to pulse and make loud noises. Which it isn’t meant to do during the day.
What’s gone and got me so excited in the fanny pack? Well, it’s quite rude of you to ask, but as we’re here I may as well go ahead and tell you that it’s ARMS. ARMS is back! Well, it should be. It could be. It better be.
The official Nintendo page dedicated to upgraded Switch games (of which there are only 11, which must mean something!) has been updated with more info telling us the game is getting optimised for Switch 2 by way of improved image quality and a frame-rate boost. They are keen to point out that it works “even when playing with 3 or more players”, so it’s either gonna be related to those more demanding modes specifically or we could be looking at 120fps. Or both. If we allow ourselves to dream, you understand.
Ok, not exactly a ground-up remake for a new console generation, but there is good news here, actually. A visual upgrade, even if it’s just a resolution boost, is more than welcome, but it’s the optimised frame rate that’s got me most excited. The idea of a super-smooth experience, performing flawlessly and maybe even at 120fps (cross everything) has me excited that people could get into this game like they should have eight long years ago.
It may have had a reasonably successful launch given it was a new IP on a new console for Nintendo (and sold well over two-and-a-half million copies), but it did feel, to me at the time at least, as though ARMS was a game that should have been lighting up the multiplayer world with its slapstick 1v1/2v2 battles, but wasn’t being pushed in the right way, leading to the impression it was too fussy and difficult.
For me, there is a whole lot of Punch Out’s timeless vibe, but it’s the Splatoon energy that’s the nicest surprise.
I mean, there is a learning curve (that’s life, baby), but the general consensus on the ground at the time, seemed to be that it was a confusing thing, rather than the absolute blast of arcade magic that it actually is.
Indeed, we have now reached the part of the article where I must explain why I’m harping on about an eight-year-old game featuring a bunch of folk with spaghetti arms that nobody much really played after 2017. Well, it’s not that hard to figure out. We did award the game a rather excellent 9/10 at the time, with our review — rather fittingly for this article, I might add — saying that it “establishes a solid platform to create a popular and long-running series.”
Exactly! Yes. That is exactly my point, Mr. McFerran. This should have been a base for Nintendo to build on for the long haul, we should still be unlocking all sorts of new arms and characters in the latest drop of hot ARMS DLC 2025, for crying out loud. Where’s my battle pass?
Approaching ARMS for the first time back in ye olden days of 2017, there’s no doubt it was…well…a different, more time-consuming endeavour to get involved with. It’s got a whole new — and rather physical — set of rules to get au fait with. It makes you use motion controls, and you have to actually ‘think’ and ‘react’ sometimes or you’ll get bopped a whole bunch. Right in the mug, too. Oooft.
However, and please feel free to download the game on Switch and verify this for yourself right now (we gotta send these guys a message, capiche?), any newcomer stress is quickly laid to rest once you settle into play.
For me, there is a whole lot of Punch Out’s timeless vibe here, obviously, but it’s the Splatoon energy that’s the nicest surprise. Nintendo once again took a very popular genre of versus action and given it a colourful, family-friendly makeover.
Working around a simple core concept of rock-paper-scissors-styled clashes, ARMS is essentially a 3D arena fighter at heart. The basics are easy to grasp and have fun with. Each of the 10-strong roster of combatants (now up to 15 through DLC) has the same core moveset; a left and right punch, block, dash, and jump (as well as air dashes, a special charged move and parry/ripostes as added wrinkles when you’re ready).
This core, rather than being reset or reframed for each character within a different fighting style, is then given to you to use as you see fit, in essence. From a first-person perspective, and utilising the motion controls, you step into the arena and employ strategies that you think of on the fly, with your own mind, to get the opponent you are facing on the deck. It’s liberating in how it lets you approach the problem of, well, not getting knocked out in pretty much any way you want within the confines of its moveset. Simple and deep.
In combat, you then have that classic rock-paper-scissors aspect to consider and deploy to bring the required amount of hurt to your foes. Punches beat grabs, blocks beat punches, grabs beat blocks. So this is your attack triangle, essentially. Slap a grab down with a single punch, block incoming punches, and deal with attempted turtling and defensive s**thousery with grabs. That’s right.
There are no fancy hadoukens or any of that stuff, no memorising more than what I’ve already noted, in terms of movement and basic flow of things, at least. But, of course, it’s the titular ARMS that add the real spice. Rather than being stood at any sort of regular distance, or throwing punches in any sort of regular manner, what you’re actually doing is using your motion controls to bend and aim long-ranged, looping ribbons that buck and swirl and deliver explosive shots from their tips, before recoiling right back to you.
As a result, everything that you and your opponent do comes fairly well sign-posted. Reading the next attack, making an opening for yourself and knowing when to dodge, air dash, or otherwise shift your position therefore becomes essential. It’s a remarkably pure sort of pugilism, for how eccentric it appears.
There are loads of arm types to mess around with, so you’ve got real depth in how you choose to enhance your basic tactics with stuff like bigger fists (easier to hit with), firing fist projectiles out in spirals, lots of defensive boosts, and even elemental considerations, which lean nicely into the game’s slapstick violence.
Add to this the fact that each character also brings a little uniqueness, varying from the ability to hover in the air whilst slowing down projectiles as Twintelle, to having a canine partner as Byte, and there’s a lot to work with. Then, throw in the final twist of stages with interactive elements, and we’ve got an easy-to-learn, quick-to-knock-fun-from game, that’s also got a ton of depth. Hence why it’s a crying shame it hasn’t gone the distance in the public’s hearts. It took ages for a boxing reference, but I got there in the end.
Of course, this isn’t a review, so let’s leave it at that; it’s a fun game that I want to see given a second chance. And it feels as though the Switch 2 could be it? Please be it. Even if this upgrade only gives us the cleaned-up visuals, the GameChat aspects (will anyone actually use them?), and a higher/more stable frame rate, I’ll take it.
I’m excited, too, by the prospect of my only niggle with the game — the occasional mis-reading of my motion-controlled intentions — being rectified by the console’s fancy new hardware. Also, and as one final note of intrigue, members of the ARMS team have been working on Mario Kart World, presumably flat out, since they wrapped on their fighter.
So…you get where I’m going. ARMS 2 all but confirmed. We did it, gang! (Here’s to hoping).
Would you like to see ARMS have a resurgence in popularity on Switch 2? Does the idea of a sequel float your boat? Let us know!
