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Discussion they should make ARMS 2

should they make ARMS 2?


  • Total voters
    68
It sold more than Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and that's getting a sequel. Sorry, I don't think "it didn't sell well" is a valid argument here.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was also a much cheaper game that also had a sizable audience pay for DLC, and was practically made by a skeleton crew. ARMS was probably much more expensive due to the online infrastructure alone. Xenoblade 2 isn't costing Nintendo money right now to upkeep. Right now, Nintendo is paying for server maintenance and upkeep for the very miniscule community that is still playing the game. In this sense, ARMS is likely a complete failure. Retention is the #1 most important thing for an online game, and ARMS just doesn't have it.

That's not to say that they can't try again, and make it more appealing. But this is likely the thought process behind Nintendo.
 
I don’t know what Ape Escape has to do with ARMS? But Ape Escape has cool monkeys but kinda terrible gameplay lmao
Oh no ape escape's great, I was just trying to demonstrate how dumb it sounds to give an absolute opinion like "Arms is worthless"
 
Oh no ape escape's great, I was just trying to demonstrate how dumb it sounds to give an absolute opinion like "Arms is worthless"
I think the core gameplay of ARMS is great!

But it needs a story mode or something. It’s just an arcade mode series of fights or multiplayer. There’s nothing to the game after you’ve played around with it for a few hours.
 
Not everyone feels this way with sales and all. Most people don’t think it did well enough a la splatoon to get a sequel. I guess we will see.
That's an unnecessarily high bar. Splatoon is about Nintendo's 5th best selling on a per-game basis right now, yet they make sequels to a lot more than 5 IPs.
 
ARMS really does have potential if Nintendo keeps at it, and it carries a vibe and aesthetic that just fits in with what many would expect from the company. It does seem to lack some meaningful single-player and local multi, though, which I find unfortunate.

Our resident raccoon touched upon some of this in what looks to be some largely pretty good ideas. There are definitely possibilities here.

One thing that might be advisable to lean into, as well, is the characters. They have really good designs, and people could become attached to the franchise directly through them, especially as a proposed story provides opportunity for character development and endearing /terrifying/heart-rending moments (And, really, focus on the characters seems like a good idea for Star Fox as well)

On the note of characters, their presence in Smash isn't guaranteed to transfer to interest in their series, but it probably doesn't hurt. Let's have Twintelle give Min Min some company.

Little Mac can be a secret unlockable character, compensating for his lack of ARMS through speed and agility, as he needs to close the distance.

Really, though, the game shows great promise, and I do expect it'll get further chances. I hope it gets the effort and success it deserves. The franchise could really have some serious legs if Nintendo plays its cards right.

I'd argue that after 8, 8 Deluxe, Tour, and the Booster Pass, Mario Kart is the dead end
The age of Kart is ended.
The time of F-Zero is come.
 
I think the core gameplay of ARMS is great!

But it needs a story mode or something. It’s just an arcade mode series of fights or multiplayer. There’s nothing to the game after you’ve played around with it for a few hours.
Unless you enjoy the gameplay and had dozens of hours of fun playing online with people
 
0
I think the core gameplay of ARMS is great!

But it needs a story mode or something. It’s just an arcade mode series of fights or multiplayer. There’s nothing to the game after you’ve played around with it for a few hours.
did you play through the training mode? I thought I understood everything there was to understand until I dipped my toes in there
 
I just watched a 2021 Korean slice-of-life Drama and at some point the main heroin is invited by her love interest to play some videogames and they play ARMS.
And the guy says "it is pretty successfull".
My immediate reaction was "yeah it is so make a sequel godamnit !!!" ;-)
 
I wonder if EPD 9 would make a spin-off title with one of the ARMS characters? I had envisioned an action game staring Twintelle where you play her on the set of her movies. Instead of a health bar that depletes each time she got hit resulting in her dying when it is fully depleted and having to attempt the level again, she would instead have a "Director's Leniency" bar that would deplete each time she deviated from the script (got hit) and resulting in the director yelling "CUT!" when fully depleted and she would have to complete the scene again from the start. There would be all sorts of themed sets with actiony scenes.
 
I think they should make it so that instead of the arms being stretchy it’s each of the fingers and you play it with ten joy-cons >:}
 
Since Nintendo likes to explore different genres with their franchises, I think it would be cool if ARMS were used as the base for a wacky beat 'em up. But I know that's just a pipe dream.
 
I think they should make it so that instead of the arms being stretchy it’s each of the fingers and you play it with ten joy-cons >:}
Did you also just see Everything Everywhere All at Once? Lol

EEAAO_04975_R-1c.jpg
 
I love ARMS and all the creativity behind it… More than ARMS 2 I want more new IPS like ARMS or Splatoon, let the big EPDs make new stuff!
 
I very much want ARMS 2! Loved what they created with the first game! If they filled out the game with additional content and made it so each character has unique ARMS (aka you cannot unlock every arm for every character), it would go a long way to helping the game, I think. I'd also argue that refining the movement and making the game a bit faster would also be nice. Really want to see more of the awesome world they started to build in the first game, and I'd love to see a Story Mode or several smaller, replayable modes that are fun to tackle with each character!
 
If they make ARMS 2 I don't want to see them follow the iterative approach of Splatoon. In the sense that I think they need to go back to the drawing board here on the game's core design rather than a "more of ARMS 1" approach.

ARMS is a very fun pick up and play game but after playing around 20 hours I felt like I saw everything the game had to offer. The characters just feel too basic with usually only a single unique ability to call their own (Ribbon Girl has an extra jump, Ninjara can teleport, etc.) and the equippable gloves being available for the entire cast made things worse.

I certainly wouldn't expect ARMS to have a ton of content like a Smash here, but I do want more combat depth to make mastery more satisfying and learning the ins and outs of each character. More features and modes would be welcome though. If Nintendo nailed one aspect of ARMS it was in the art department as the characters and world of ARMS are appealing and something I'd love to return to. I just want the "game" part of ARMS to be more compelling.
 
I think an ARMS 2 has a lot of potential, but it's going to need some shaking up to catch on with a mainstream audience. Here's some ideas I had to help with that:

  • A story mode is a must! One of ARMS' biggest problems was its lack of a story mode. It doesn't have to be super deep, just a basic story. Maybe something about competing in tournaments, with some world-ending stakes near the end. The usual!
  • Increase the focus on customization! Being able to select different ARMS is fine, but how about legs, heads, and even torsos? Go all in on customizing your ARMS fighter!
  • Go with a more consistent theme for the arenas. Maybe have it be some kind of virtual reality theme, or some kind of solid-light hologram? Future tech is the big thing now, and ARMS seems terribly out of date in that regard.
  • Go for a sort of "metagame" angle, where you are not the ARMS fighter themselves, but a person controlling some sort of artificial, or maybe even a miniature ARMS fighter. This could even be the star of the story mode!
  • Scrap the playable cast entirely. Rather than the ARMS characters we know didn't catch on the first time, have there be no true "characters", only uniquely customized fighters made out of different combinations of parts. Maybe they could all be small robots?
  • Change the name to something more appealing than "ARMS 2". Something along the lines of "Custom Robo 6" has a nice ring to it.
 
Honestly by this point an ARMS 2 is my most wanted announcement from Nintendo. I still stand by it being the best online multiplayer game Nintendo has on Switch. I poured over 200 hours in this game. The only reason I haven’t done more is because the playerbase isn’t there. Anytime I go online I’m either fighting Little Timmy who plays Springtron or Ninjara and only throws grabs, or I’m fighting someone with 2,300 hours in the game and they decimate me in like 10 seconds. I need more people on my skill level.

In terms of improvements they could make, a story mode is an obvious one, though I struggle to think as to how that would work. I also thing earning more ARMS should be done with a shop rather than a minigame that gives you a random chance at getting the ARMS you want for the character you want. And maybe one or two more multiplayer modes. Let me play ARMS Test online please!

Other than that just give me more characters and stages and I’m golden. By then you’d honestly have one of the best games on Switch.
 
I was a huge fan of ARMS, 100%ed, thought the game mechanics were very solid, still today one of the best looking Switch game and online was acceptable. But in the end i was disappointed and here's why:

1) 6 months of post launch support. ARMS was advertised in a similar way to Splatoon: similar summer launch release, big emphasis on motion control while also being competitive, pre-launch network test, etc.

Except ARMS didn't even get a year of support with even datamined scrapped updates, while Splatoon got updates for 2-3 years. I suspect they didn't want it to compete with Smash, so as soon Smash was announced, ARMS reached the end of its (incredibly short) lifecycle.

2) Lack of contents. This was a problem from the start, it got acceptable with some of the free updates but in the end for a fighting game the roster is really small, and there isn't a whole lot to do so you'll quickly end up with way too many coins and no place to spend them.

3) Lack of a real story mode. The devs literally said they considered making a story mode but in the end decided to go with the social media posts for some fun facts / lore bits. They were nice but nowhere near as meaningful and interesting as a full story mode could have been.

I feel this is maybe a problem we could extend to several Nintendo multiplayer games, looking at Switch Sports barebone launch.
 
1) 6 months of post launch support. ARMS was advertised in a similar way to Splatoon: similar summer launch release, big emphasis on motion control while also being competitive, pre-launch network test, etc.
Yeah this was something I was not a fan of. I’m gonna be hopeful and say they ended post launch content rather short so the team could get on Mario Kart Tour as fast as possible, and not the gloomy alternative that the game didn’t perform as well as they wanted so they cut support early. There were codenames for a bunch of characters that never saw the light of day, and dataminers have even found data for ARMS that were never completed and modes that were never added.
 
They were going to have more modes? Well shucks.

Honestly I feel we’d be seeing ARMS 2 by now if it weren’t for EPD 9 being so weird all these years.
 
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I think an ARMS 2 has a lot of potential, but it's going to need some shaking up to catch on with a mainstream audience. Here's some ideas I had to help with that:

  • A story mode is a must! One of ARMS' biggest problems was its lack of a story mode. It doesn't have to be super deep, just a basic story. Maybe something about competing in tournaments, with some world-ending stakes near the end. The usual!
  • Increase the focus on customization! Being able to select different ARMS is fine, but how about legs, heads, and even torsos? Go all in on customizing your ARMS fighter!
  • Go with a more consistent theme for the arenas. Maybe have it be some kind of virtual reality theme, or some kind of solid-light hologram? Future tech is the big thing now, and ARMS seems terribly out of date in that regard.
  • Go for a sort of "metagame" angle, where you are not the ARMS fighter themselves, but a person controlling some sort of artificial, or maybe even a miniature ARMS fighter. This could even be the star of the story mode!
  • Scrap the playable cast entirely. Rather than the ARMS characters we know didn't catch on the first time, have there be no true "characters", only uniquely customized fighters made out of different combinations of parts. Maybe they could all be small robots?
  • Change the name to something more appealing than "ARMS 2". Something along the lines of "Custom Robo 6" has a nice ring to it.
Custom Robo would actually be the flop that people on the internet consistently categorize Arms in.
Yeah this was something I was not a fan of. I’m gonna be hopeful and say they ended post launch content rather short so the team could get on Mario Kart Tour as fast as possible, and not the gloomy alternative that the game didn’t perform as well as they wanted so they cut support early. There were codenames for a bunch of characters that never saw the light of day, and dataminers have even found data for ARMS that were never completed and modes that were never added.
Just because you have references in the code for such things doesn’t always mean they will see the light of day. Arms had decent content on par with other fighting games at the time. Perhaps they can push it further in a sequel.

As for story mode since games are taking longer to make I think those resources are better spent elsewhere on release. I feel the same way about the Camelot sports titles as well. Maybe they add it in later or they go through with the comics that were planned.
 
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was also a much cheaper game that also had a sizable audience pay for DLC, and was practically made by a skeleton crew. ARMS was probably much more expensive due to the online infrastructure alone. Xenoblade 2 isn't costing Nintendo money right now to upkeep. Right now, Nintendo is paying for server maintenance and upkeep for the very miniscule community that is still playing the game. In this sense, ARMS is likely a complete failure. Retention is the #1 most important thing for an online game, and ARMS just doesn't have it.

That's not to say that they can't try again, and make it more appealing. But this is likely the thought process behind Nintendo.
Xenoblade 2 was made by a team of 1054 developers, has a orchestral sountrack and hours of cutscenes and voice acting in multiple languages,ARMS had a team of 220
 
Well the last time this thread happened, I did the same thing but with Joy Mech Fight, and I couldn't get away with that twice
You could definitely get away with it twice! Just like how Joy Mech Fight gets away with repeating the same character but stronger to have a bigger roster!
 
You could definitely get away with it twice! Just like how Joy Mech Fight gets away with repeating the same character but stronger to have a bigger roster!

Sukapokon is a character I would describe as being medically and legally distinct from Sukapon
 
Xenoblade 2 was made by a team of 1054 developers, has a orchestral sountrack and hours of cutscenes and voice acting in multiple languages,ARMS had a team of 220
I think if team size worked like that, xeno 2 would have costed more than botw lol
 
0
The source is literally the game credits
If I recall the game director said himself they had a skeleton crew in regards to their staff.

They had to hire a lot of contract freelancers as they went along for certain tasks.

Edit:

Here is the interview.

Source
 
If I recall the game director said himself they had a skeleton crew in regards to their staff.

They had to hire a lot of contract freelancers as they went along for certain tasks.

Edit:

Here is the interview.

Source
its true,the team at monolith was around 45,smaller than x, but takahashi talked about the outsourcing but didnt especify it massive size, involving 47 different companies, the overall project ended with a larger team than botw,x and actually every other nintendo game in history besides smash bros,people missinterpreted the info thinking it was a small game
 
its true,the team at monolith was around 45,smaller than x, but takahashi talked about the outsourcing but didnt especify it massive size, involving 47 different companies, the overall project ended with a larger team than botw,x and actually every other nintendo game in history besides smash bros,people missinterpreted the info thinking it was a small game
The scope was big, but all that outsourcing was done on a need to need basis, so you would have I imagine multiple contractors working on one aspect, and they would be done, someone else takes over. So it was a build up. They didn’t have 1000 working concurrently.
 
0
its true,the team at monolith was around 45,smaller than x, but takahashi talked about the outsourcing but didnt especify it massive size, involving 47 different companies, the overall project ended with a larger team than botw,x and actually every other nintendo game in history besides smash bros,people missinterpreted the info thinking it was a small game
The scope was big, but all that outsourcing was done on a need to need basis, so you would have I imagine multiple contractors working on one aspect, and they would be done, someone else takes over. So it was a build up. They didn’t have 1000 working concurrently.
 


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