This month's issue of EDGE magazine features my favorite game on its cover, and talks a bit about control schemes, so I thought I'd mention that here.
You can, in fact, play ARMS with a single Joy Con, as well as a Pro Controller. However, while single Joy Con play does have all the commands mapped (you click the control stick to shield, a particularly odd choice), the article states that a player cannot stagger punches until the first punch has fully extended, which has to do with how punch curving works. When punching, the control stick becomes the method of curving rather than movement, which means you can't move one way and punch in the other, but it also means that two punches can't occur simultaneously. Of course, some of this might be mitigated with a Pro Controller, but I can see the same sort of issues popping up.
EDGE plainly states that ARMS is not as satisfying without motion controls.
EDIT: While I'm at it, I might as well mention the uploaded footage from the second day of the Sugo Ude Tournament, and discuss the Charging mechanic in a bit more detail. For those who aren't fighting game fans, please ignore this text. However, I'd like to focus in on what makes this game such a fascinating example of fighting mechanics, as well as highlight some of the depth that has not yet been explored. If you don't care about that, you can find part one and two of the Sugo Ude tournament (about an hour of pure fighting footage, no in-between commentary) here:
Part One:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_nqZHtJz5wPart Two:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWkm6Jly4dcSome interesting notes, a lot of people started applying the Master Mummy strategy of double revolvers to Mechanica in this tournament, which did result in some wins. Mechanica's aerial movement is helpful for this strategy, and there were some great examples of aerial cancels into combos. However, the overall winner of the tournament was Ribbon girl, with a ditto match occurring in the finals that was pretty disappointing. You can clearly see the skill difference between the two players which is another example of how this game is NOT a glorified Wii Boxing.
An integral part of ARMS gameplay is the charging mechanic, which is something that many players were able to use to their advantage in the Sugo Ude tournament. I've mentioned it in this thread before, but I wanted to go into a bit more detail here, because the more matches you watch, the more you'll see why players are focusing in on the current "sets" of ARMS that come with certain characters, and why symmetry between ARMS can be a good or a bad thing.
Charging takes place one of two ways: when a player holds a specific input for a prolonged period of time, such as the shield, dodge, or jump buttons, or when a player performs two of the same input twice in a row, such as dodges or air dodges. The reason this is important is that, in order to charge your ARMS, you need to either put yourself in a vulnerable state (air dodging leaves the player open to an attack upon landing, shielding leaves a player open to a grab, charging an input leaves a player open to almost anything), or change the established rhythm of the game. Then, of course, there are the additional features of charged ARMS that greatly factor into being able to counter and surmount enemies.
One of the most exploited characters for the charge mechanic out of all of the more recent gameplay has been Min Min for very obvious reasons: her grab automatically powers up her left "dragon" arm, which then leads to extended charges on the equipped left ARM. When charged, Min Min's left ARM deals roughly
three times as much damage, although this may change depending on the ARM equipped- most Min Min players have opted to use the Chakram on the left ARM because of its excellent mobility, but other examples, such as Ribbon Girl's Slapamander, possess the same triple-damage property. On the other hand, there are some ARMS with extremely high damage output that don't get a damage boost when charged- for example, the electric-attribute Revolver used by Mechanica remains at a substantial 70-35 per first and second hit (if you miss the first of the three revolver shots but connect the second, it will still deal 70 damage. If you hit with all three, the first deals 70, second 35, and third 35), but it does gain the elemental electric damage, which causes both of the opponents' ARMS to enter a damaged state. Master Mummy's "Giant" ARMS deal 110 damage per hit, but gain super armor of their own upon being charged as well as 20 additional points of damage. However, all ARMS extend at a faster rate when charged, which can result in the game looking rather hectic.
With all this talk of the benefits of charging, you might think the only way to properly use your ARMS is to charge them, but this isn't the case. As seen in the Sugo Ude tournament, there are traditional fighting game archetypes that depend heavily on the choice of ARMS- however, what is absolutely
awesome is that a character's traditional role can be subverted with these choices. Having a Master Mummy with revolvers doesn't allow him to take advantage of his healing ability or the charging properties as much, but it does essentially transform him into a "rushdown" type character- without the need to charge his ARMS in order to power through enemy attacks, he can cover a huge amount of the stage space and consistently hound the opposing player with roughly six attacks per two staggered punches. This doesn't even factor in stage choice, in which Master Mummy can take advantage of both his healing and rushdown properties thanks to stage obstacles, and maybe even gain more aerial mobility thanks to stage elevation.
But if there's one thing that players haven't been able to take advantage of in a multitude of characters, its their defensive properties. Helix players have rarely used his shrinking ability to dodge attacks, but his elongating abilities have been used even less so. Spring Man remains extremely underused in general, but rarely have players been able to execute his "shockwave" gimmick that repels incoming attacks, partially because charging in general has rarely been utilized, (because, unlike Min Min, Spring Man's shockwave only executes after his ARMS have been charged), but also because players haven't had the chance to really experiment with the design of the characters. Min Min's kicks, another huge part of her arsenal, have not been utilized in a single match I've seen, because they rely on leaving yourself vulnerable in order to execute.
In other words, while the Sugo Ude tournament has allowed players the chance to experiment a great deal, ARMS depth is still a bit elusive, and many matches appear to be heavily reliant on aggressive play rather than defensive options. Like many of you, I'm interested in getting a demo, if only so I can experiment with these options so that, in competitive play, I can execute them consistently. And that's where I'm really going with this: ARMS is not a fighting game light on mechanics or depth. If you are looking for a game where one player can ruthlessly exploit the other for not understanding the mechanics, ARMS is that game, but also with motion controls that are gimmicky and fun.
You have been warned.
Topic: ARMS (Read 24796 times)
