From R.O.B. the Robot, to Wii Music, to ARMS, Nintendo is no stranger to all things weird. Back in 2003, their most unusual contribution to gaming was WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! In a time when mini games were still hot, Wario and his new friends starred in a Gameboy Advance game would push the genre to ridiculously short lengths.
Nintendo’s oddball fighter proved to be a heavyweight at retailers worldwide. First, it debuted at #2 on the U.K. charts, only behind an on promotion Horizon Zero Dawn. Then, its debut in Japan almost outsold the debuts of Tekken 7 and Street Fighter V combined. Most recently, NPD data shows that ARMS performed extremely well in the US, reaching #5 with 256,000 units sold physically and digitally. For a game that left many of us scratching our heads when upon its reveal in January, ARMS has become a hit.
Years after shocking the world with a spectacular debut on the Wii U, the Inklings are back with Splatoon 2 on the Nintendo Switch! This one seems to feature more of everything you love, with a few big new additions, such as a horde mode and a beefier single player campaign.
I enjoyed the original a great deal, but for some reason it fell out of my rotation fairly quickly. This time around, I hope to play a lot more of it. My copy is in the mail and hopefully it will arrive later today. Are you picking this one up today as well?
Movement is key in ARMS. Having the ability to simultaneously weave between your opponents punches while being able to move into the perfect position to land a shot of your own is pivotal to one’s success. In particular, dashing sideways has become a popular technique for evading punches, as it becomes increasingly difficult for the attacker to land a clean punch as you weave in and out of view. Spring Man players tend to use this maneuver a lot in tandem with their parry, as they get the benefit of parrying your punches while moving into the perfect position to counter.
Strafing is a very powerful tool in the arsenal. Players who don’t know any better can easily get frustrated as their punches continually whiff against dashes. Thankfully, there’s a way to blow this tactic up, especially against players who abuse it. The trick is exploit the fixed trajectory of their dash.
The biggest name in fighting game tournaments is heading to Japan in 2018 and they’re taking Nintendo’s latest fighter with them. Alongside of the likes of Tekken 7, Street Fighter V, and King of Fighters XIV, EVO will be hosting an ARMS tournament as part of its lineup.
Over the past month or so, I’ve been batting around a post about the eSports viability of ARMS. In short, as much as I love the game, I think it has an uphill battle to cultivate a scene around it. However, a presence at EVO Japan is a great step forward. Maybe this is the perfect excuse to finally take my wife to Japan for our dream vacation!
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Besides being the battleground for the biggest fighting game tournament in the world, EVO has become a hotbed for fighting game news. Below are just a few of the big news stories to come out of this year’s event!
Saber Interactive and Nintendo left NBA Playgrounds players in the cold as their squabbles over patching policies caused a major update to be left hanging for months. With the NBA season having wrapped up weeks ago and with other Nintendo Switch games available to keep players occupied, I would imagine that any interest in this game died long ago. While it’s great that Saber Interactive finally did right by Nintendo Switch gamers, is this a case of too little, too late?
The biggest open fighting game tournament in the world begins today!
From July 14-16th, the Evolution Championship Series brings thousands of fighting game players from around the world to compete in nine of the biggest games. This year’s lineup includes:
If you’re not in Vegas to watch the action, fret not! You can watch on the following Twitch channels:
I’ll be glued to the computer all weekend watching as much of the action I can. Get hype!
The latest update for ARMS is a doozy. Featuring the inclusion of a new playable character, a new stage, and balance changes, this is the biggest shake-up to the game to-date. If you want to see the full patch notes, head over to Nintendo for those. Otherwise, come with me for my breakdown of what’s new!
NBA Playgrounds launched in a rough state. Featuring blurry visuals in handheld mode and a confusing shooting system while lacking online play, the game fell short of rekindling the NBA Jam fire. Not all hope was lost when developer Saber Interactive promised a patch that would magically fix everything. Unfortunately for Switch owners, the patch just arrived, months after the fact.
The wait has been terrible. I’m guessing by this point, everyone who bought the game has moved on. But maybe this patch will at least give those players incentive to try it again. The game now looks a bit better in handheld mode, sports online play, and now has a shot meter to make it clear when you need to release the button in order to make the basket. Furthermore, accuracy has been tuned in order to make layups easier and 3-pointers harder.
At some point, I’ll stream this game again to show off the new updates. I might write some sort of impressions piece as well as a means of closing out my review. Not sure if I can recommend prospective buyers from jumping in now, but at the very least, fans who felt burned by NBA Playgrounds the first time around may finally get the game we were hoping for.
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