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The Nintendo Switch has been very relevant since it came out, and despite the fact that I always hear about Super Mario Odyssey, Splatoon 2, Breath of the Wild, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in sales figures, ARMS never gets mentioned ever, despite that it was a major release. It's actually been so long that I've heard anything about ARMS that I honestly forgot it even existed until I randomly remembered it just now. I know I've been a critic of this game ever since its initial trailer, but seemingly everyone else forgot about ARMS as well; a balance update was released for it a couple of days ago, but I only found this information being reported by one website. Type in ARMS in YouTube, and the whole first page is of videos at least 5 months old. I typed in "ARMS version 5.51", and only one video had over 1,000 views, and there were probably only 5 videos total. It's actually bizarre; I can't imagine Splatoon 1 having been in the same position less than a year after release.

It has a reputation for being highly repetitive.

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Here come the fortune cookies! Here come the fortune cookies! They're wearing paper hats!

That's what I predicted from watching gameplay, and then what I heard from others, but I'm surprised by the severity of how repetitive it is for literally everyone (including Nintendo) to have had abandoned it in just this short time. I think I heard that sales for it were great at first, I guess from the advertising and especially the novelty, but then sank fast. It's funny that ARMS is really the Switch's only original game other than Super Mario Odyssey, unless I'm mistaken, even though the Switch beat the Wii U's lifetime sales in less than a year. ARMS passed a million, but I don't think it got / isn't going to get much beyond that. Don't count me as surprised if we never see ARMS 2, (while Splatoon is already up there with Mario and Zelda) although I don't think anyone cares at this point.

From Nintendo's point of view nobody bought the Wii U, so any games the Switch borrows from that library are still unique to the switch. ;P

Their view is not that off.

Even as a Wii U owner though, I haven't been too upset. I only got a Wii U when Splatoon came out, which at that point, it had long been established as a failure. Sure, Nintendo made Splatoon 2 for the Switch, but a sequel was to be expected (although I had expected it not to copy from the original so much) and I still think the original Splatoon is superior (and probably more competitive despite Nintendo's half-hearted attempt to promote Splatoon 2 as an esport) anyway due to how many poor changes Nintendo made with Splatoon 2.
(Run speed up only half as effective despite your run speed already being slow as tar, maps with 100 flanking positions that greatly increase the frequency of luck-based bullshit, no damage up that nerfs chargers to the point of irrelevancy, garbage music that actually pisses me off, that "ouch" command that becomes very annoying, The one-way elevator ranked system that does nothing to weed out bad players, Callie and Marie being pushed aside by two storebrand replacements, etc...)

In addition, while Nintendo keeps porting Wii U games over, they're improved so little that I don't feel any need to buy them for the Switch.

Yeah, I've asked people why I should buy a switch and they usual answer was "Breath of the Wild is a must-have"... but I have it on Wii U.

I wanna play Odyssey but that's not enough by itself for me.

I think the Labo thing is an amazing idea, but it's not really something I want for myself.

Otherwise the Switch looks mostly like a "game of the year edition" Wii U to me so far.


I'll probably get one eventually just because I am a game developer and I try to stay somewhat informed about popular platforms, but as a regular consumer I wouldn't see myself wanting one.

...And it's not even a "must-have". (Come at me! )


I got mine for Splatoon 2, as I got a Wii U for Splatoon. This time however (as indicated by my other post), I'm not sure it was worth it.


I don't know; that rod and reel looks like it'll break within five minutes.


Basically. Who knows though; they can't recycle Wii U games forever.

I finally broke down and got the switch over the holidays. The pressure from wife and kids was too great...

I was in a similar situation having already owned zelda BOTW for the wiiU. My biggest disapointment with BOTW is how it completely abandoned any usefulness from the console's signature tablet. Sure would have been nice to be able to use the tablet for map functions and more easily cooking food and such. It's pretty obvious the tablet is supposed to be the sheka slate, but clearly isn't as nothing is displayed on the tablet. I'm sure they wanted the switch and WiiU version to align as much as possible which I get, it just kinda felt like a last final slap for having supported the WiiU and Zelda being so late they effectively just pushed it to the next console gen.

Mario Odyssey was the only game motivating my purchase for the console. I knew I would end up with it at some point, so wasn't much value in waiting to buy as it's unlikely to drop in cost. Thankfully they made improvements since the launch version and the little tether click strips are interchangeable from right to left joycon now. No longer concern of accidentally locking it to the wrong joycon and being extremely difficult to remove again.

Aside from Mario, the only games we have so far are Stardew valley, steam world dig 2, and Skyrim. The wife and kids enjoy stardew, and I enjoyed dig 2. We already have skyrim for PS3, but I never played it and my wife didn't get far. In the end the real appeal of the console is how convenient it is to toggle between mobile and TV play. Because of that I've enjoyed the console much more than I expected. There's been a number of indie games I've held out on buying, but it's rather clear to me now that the switch is the platform I'll make the purchase on whenever they go on sale. I'm thinking of games like thimbleweed park, celeste, which I could by on any number of platforms. But I'm so much more likely to play them on the switch because of the flexibility of both TV/mobile play. I may even go back and purchase axiom verge & shovel knight for the switch despite owning for the PS4/WiiU already.

I didn't realize how much I would appreciate that flexibility prior to experiencing it. I'm sure it's not a big deal for a lot of people especially if you aren't often fighting for the TV/console with family members. For me it makes the difference of actually finding time to play video games which I haven't been able to do for a couple years now.

Sorry not too related to the topic of ARMS, but the discussion seems to have diverged a little as to what games are worth buying the switch for. For me it's not about the specific games as I can play them elsewhere. If the switch hadn't of been so successful I'm sure we wouldn't see so many indie games getting ported over, and for that I'm thankful as I probably wouldn't have ever played many of them with out the switch's flexibility.

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If you're gonna play the Game Boy, you gotta learn to play it right. -Kenny Rogers

If you like RPGs, Xenoblade 2 is a must-have Switch exclusive.

I bought it for zelda, but snipperclips is the game that has gotten the most attention in the living room. That and mario kart deluxe. Haven't bought arms, but i could actually imagine it picking up some attention in the living room too if i did. Just like snipperclips, i guess it requires more than one person in the same room.

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http://www.frankengraphics.com - personal NES blog

That hasn't changed, they've always been interchangeable. The problem isn't putting them on the wrong Joy-Con, it's putting them on upside-down, with the strap coming out of the top instead of the bottom.

I need to get back into this. I was just getting into it then Splatoon 2 came out and I haven't touched it since. I basically done what I said I wouldn't do.
It should have launched at the end of April instead of MK8D.
Even after playing Splatoon 2 though, I'd still say ARMS is Switch's best exclusive.

The only time I ever find it useful is for when I want to play online but don't want to drag around my TV; the Switch is the only device with Wi-Fi I have (including the Wii U) that doesn't work from my room.

I don't care the slightest bit about indie games, so this had nothing to do with my decision to purchase a Switch.


They really didn't even give ARMS a chance releasing Splatoon 2 less than two months later. Of course, if people thought that ARMS was that great of a game, they would have gone back to it at least partially. (You can be involved with more than one game at a time.) I think it would have died early anyway, but Splatoon 2 quickly sped its demise.

Yeah