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ARMS is Confirmed to Appear as a Tournament Game at EVO Japan 2018

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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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Thoughts on NBA Playgrounds Ver. 1.1.3 Patch on the Nintendo Switch

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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?

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Breaking Down the ARMS 2.0 Patch

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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!

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NBA Playgrounds FINALLY Gets Patched on the Nintendo Switch

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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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Magical Drop II Review

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While we continue to anxiously await for Nintendo to reveal their full plans for the Virtual Console on the Nintendo Switch, Neo Geo continues to release their extended catalogue on the eShop. One such game is Magical Drop II. This puzzle game from the 90s is akin to a mash-up of Bust-a-Move and Puyo Puyo. In a world where Puyo Puyo Tetris is available, is there merit in grabbing this retro puzzler?

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Ninjara throw spam in ARMS is easily countered. Here’s how you do it!

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As a perfect continuation about the miseducation of fighting game players post from a few days ago, a post from Kotaku perfectly highlighted my point about how misinformed opinions can take life and spread. In it, author Cecilia D’Anastasio highlights a common tactic that Ninjara players use in ARMS to score grabs. She even provides an example in the above gif.

Let’s use this as teachable moment to break down how to counter this particular tactic while breaking down the notion that throws are not cheap in ARMS.

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Mighty Gunvolt: Burst Review

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Mighty Gunvolt: Burst is the amalgamation of two indie franchises that were heavily influenced by the Blue Bomber. Despite being conceived by Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune and backed by a multi-million dollar Kickstarter campaign, Mighty No. 9 will go down in history as one of the largest flops in gaming history. As for the Gunvolt half, Azure Striker: Gunvolt has been a more successful IP in terms of critical reception, though I’d never heard of the franchise until this mash-up.

Wouldn’t blame you for feeling skeptical about any game featuring the now-toxic Mighty No. 9 brand, even if it looks like the 8-bit platformer backers of the original Kickstarter wanted in the first place. While I can’t speak for the quality of that game, I can say that Mighty Gunvolt: Burst is actually a pretty decent game.

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The ARMS Struggle is Real

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During the Global Testpunch, I thought ARMS was going to be a walk in the park. I was throwing hands like Kimbo Slice, dropping almost every opponent in sight while collecting 100+ coins during each hourly interval. Figured that I would waltz my way to the top of the rankings in no time.

It didn’t take long for reality to smack me in the face with fists powered by springy arms. Everything past rank 6 has been a struggle. I touched rank 10, only to be beat down dozens of times in a row and fall back down to Earth. Just like every other fighting game out there, I’m gonna have to earn it just like everyone else.

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ARMS and the Continued Miseducation of Fighting Game Players

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I am currently smitten with ARMS. Nintendo’s newest title is a novel take on the fighting game that is one of the most accessible fighters in quite some time. For a brief moment, I thought that maybe this would be the game that magically conquers the genre’s accessibility problem. After browsing online to see the response from players on message boards, Reddit, and Twitter, it was clear that this was not the case.

Just like with any other fighting game, there were complaints about throws being too cheap. About certain characters (coughcoughNinjaracoughcough) being too overpowered. Some were calling the game a mindless waggle-fest or button-masher.  You don’t have to look far to find opinions rooted in conjecture. The reality is that getting a wider audience to understand and enjoy fighting games at a satisfying level far more complicated than just creating a simplified game.

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Tips to Take Your Arms Skills to the Next Level

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Nintendo’s latest fighting game is far from a waggle fest. Players who master the ins-and-outs of ARMS will dominate, while button mashing and arm flailing will almost certainly guarantee defeat. These tips may not make you the Daigo of ARMS, but they should get you on the right track to success!

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