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[GwyndolinCinder]

My lobby was really good this session ( I guess that's what you get when you join the second it opens early) .

Unfortunately this kinda just highlighted how boring arms might become to play. Since arm attacks block incoming arms attack , it mostly just turns into a waiting and zoning game, where the best offence is reacting to your opponent.

Hopefully this will be fixed in the full game with arms customisation which will allow for more safe combo openers.

 

[StreetsAhead]

I really don't see the problem with 1 v. 1 v. 1, tbh. I was winning pretty consistently by switching between targets.

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

Min Min with Dragon arm.

Dragon arms are easy to dodge. They're mostly meant for zoning and distraction.

Slaps arguably take skill to use. A sparky and a slap can go a long way. If I don't hit from the front I hit from the side. Not to mention electrocution disables arms while the fire throws them away.

You can spam the shit out of Slapamanders and maintain a safe distance and no matter how curve or straight you punch they always arc upward and catch you off guard. Combine that with double jumps and you become unpredictable, which for beginners is fine. Slapamanders are also ridiculous counters.

 

[Milly Osworth]

I played with the pro controller this time, now its actually fun! Volleyball suckszzzz though.

 

[Incitemaybe]

Played most of the fifth session before my connection started to crap out (my end, not Nintendo's; the game itself was very stable this time). Maybe it's that I got into a room with all the other obsessives who knew by now to log in five minutes early, but the average skill level has shot through the roof since yesterday.

I'm still playing with motion controls, as I have been all along. While it's anyone's prerogative to abandon them early on for non-motion controls, I think it's important to remember that most motion games, all the way back to Wii Sports, have a certain learning curve where you figure out what exactly is being recognized as your input so you can reproduce it reliably. I get the impression that those of us familiar with the process and the pace of learning, be it through Skyward Sword or Splatoon or the criminally underrated Star Fox Zero, have a lot more patience for getting over the hump because we know well enough to expect a hump, and also know how rewarding it is to surmount it.

I'm consistently having a blast with 1v1 V-Ball now that both I and my opponents understand it. It's all about knowing how the camera tracks the ball, positioning yourself advantageously, keeping an arm ready to capitalize on a timing window or rescue yourself if you miss, and using the jump to fine-tune a good angle to strike.

Great insight, this reflects my experience as well. I had my *click moment at the last testfire using motion and it feels great to me. Playing with buttons feels pretty good too but I'm the kind of player that reacts with my entire body and the motion in this game feels great dodging and punching.

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

he's the worst, especially when comes close range. man difficulty has ranked up, people are starting to know how to play now. I was all motion control beforehand, but blocking or grabbing is so spotty that it mess me up on a lot of matches. I am starting to feel more precise with buttons now, but i need to get the game and do some offline training with level 9 CPU's to see which method is better.

Yup, ninjaras can go and fuck off. Like good min mins are tough, but you now they are really good players, but ninjara ones?
Both ninjaras with most points in my lobby were just fucking waiting for me to throw a punch so they could do the smoke trick. I won both of them but it was obnoxius, I had always to trick them with my hover dodges.

 

[Biske]

Feels good to break into 100


Was a super good Mechanica and Minmin duo in my lobby at the top with me

 

[The Omega Man]

B or A should be guard. It boggles my mind that they are also punches. ZL/Zr are so much better.

Yeah for some I always find myself trying to curve my right punch with the right stick, the control mapping could have been better.

 

[Tusk]

Ended up in a room full of JP people, expected to get stomped, but that didn't happen. Got disconnected from the room at some point though, which was a first.
At one point, forgot which room, I went against a Ninjara who just throw spammed me, and I lost but I ended up in a 3-way with another Ribbon Girl and this same Ninjara and it took a little setting up but me and the other Ribbon Girl set up on each side of that DNA room and kept throwing him back and forth to each other. Day just started and it's already been made. He instantly left the room after the match though.

Also, I did my first 4-way free for all, which was kinda fun. Didn't know that was a thing in this since I never got it till then, didn't get another one after either.

 

[twothunder]

I forgot to join last hour. sucks.
guess i'll make sure to join next time in around 5 hours

 

[Hattori]

RIP if your the only American in a 3-4 player free for all.

First thing Japanese players did before match start was select me as the target.

lol I love shenanigans like this

 

[Jodast]

RIP if your the only American in a 3-4 player free for all.

First thing Japanese players did before match start was select me as the target.

I noticed that quite a bit on the Australian servers, only the Japanese players were the ones being targeted lol.

 

[TheGoreMagala]

I haven't had that much problem dodging them so far. They're also easier to see compared to ramrams and chakrams which you might miss if you weren't paying attention.

Perhaps I'm landing so many hits because I usually go with the sparky first, which usually results in a left or right jump and a subsequent slap to the face for the enemy.

 

[Luigi87]

I really don't see the problem with 1 v. 1 v. 1, tbh. I was winning pretty consistently by switching between targets.

Main issue I find is if someone tries to sideline the fight and the third person either doesn't know how to switch targets, or opts to ignore them, so then when the two engaged fighters wear each other out, the player holding back can come in and clean house, even via time out.
The other issue is the coin reward for coming in second should be higher.

 

[Totakeke]

My lobby was really good this session ( I guess that's what you get when you join the second it opens early) .

Unfortunately this kinda just highlighted how boring arms might become to play. Since arm attacks block incoming arms attack , it mostly just turns into a waiting and zoning game, where the best offence is reacting to your opponent.

Hopefully this will be fixed in the full game with arms customisation which will allow for more safe combo openers.

Well reacting to opponents are what a lot of fighting games boil down to be. Also if you just not throw punches all round you have fewer supers which are pretty darn powerful right now.

 

[Seik]

I played handheld the whole time this time around and wow, it's surprisingly better than I thought.

Will try Pro Controller next round!

 

[Takat]

I would like them to add some way to say nice match, and also see where the player is from like MK8D.

 

[Okada]

This was my first session and I had a lot of fun with it. I can see it getting boring quite quickly though, especially if you're not playing with motion controls.

I'm surprised how much I managed to win, it must have been a good 90% of the fights after my first couple.

Luckily I managed to get my preorder for £25. I think if it was any more than that then I'm not sure I'd have kept it.

The lobby system is fantastic.

 

[Derpot]

Holy shit, I didn't win a single 1v1. My punches kept missing my opponent over and over, it was frustrating as fuck. I really tried to understand what I was doing wrong, but didn't have the time for that.

I won some 1v1v1, 1v1v1v1 and 2v2, but that's all.
And I suck at the Volley Ball mini-game.

 

[Busaiku]

The Japanese lobbies I was in didn't have the best players.
They were probably worse than the American and European lobbies

 

[Deku89]

The silliest one I played against was a Helix with two shields. I had a curved arm and went around them before he could attack.

Fun game. I'll probably try motion controls again once the game comes out, but I'm having a lot more fun without.

 

[StreetsAhead]

Main issue I find is if someone tries to sideline the fight and the third person either doesn't know how to switch targets, or opts to ignore them, so then when the two engaged fighters wear each other out, the player holding back can come in and clean house, even via time out.
The other issue is the coin reward for coming in second should be higher.

But that's when you change targets and bring them into the fight, no? At least that's what I've been doing. As for not knowing how to switch targets being the reason, yeah that sucks and they absolutely should have included that in the tutorial but that seems like a temporary problem for the demo only, not necessarily one that's a problem with the mode itself.

Agree on the last part, though.

I did get a draw in one round of 1 v 1 v 1, though.

 

[Oregano]

Well reacting to opponents are what a lot of fighting games boil down to be. Also if you just not throw punches all round you have fewer supers which are pretty darn powerful right now.

I had a fight with another Min Min with the exact same Arms equipped and it was like some DBZ shit where neither of us could hit each other. Was fun though.

 

[TheGoreMagala]

You can spam the shit out of Slapamanders and maintain a safe distance and no matter how curve or straight you punch they always arc upward and catch you off guard. Combine that with double jumps and you become unpredictable, which for beginners is fine. Slapamanders are also ridiculous counters.

I don't think it's that they curve upward so much as it's simply that they're very long vertically. A pro with slaps are nightmarish, man

 

[jon_dojah]

Had my best run so far. I stayed on one server the whole hour and reached exactly 100 points just as I got kicked for server maintenance. I lost maybe 3 out of 20-25 matches. I kept geting bonuses for going on several streaks.

The difference is I played in handheld mode the whole time. It works a bit better than motion controls but not as fun. I would play either way depending on my mood. I cannot wait for full game. But until then I'm ready to play next weekend during more testpunches.

 

[BasedKiliK]

Holy shit, I didn't win a single 1v1. My punches kept missing my opponent over and over, it was frustrating as fuck. I really tried to understand what I was doing wrong, but didn't have the time for that.

I won some 1v1v1, 1v1v1v1 and 2v2, but that's all.
And I suck at the Volley Ball mini-game.

If using motion controls, you wanna keep your joycons upright to punch straight, and turn it to curve in a certain direction.

 

[Kudo]

2v2 against 2 Ribbon Girls equipped with 2 Slapamanders, yeah..

 

[Busaiku]

2v2 against 2 Ribbon Girls equipped with 2 Slapamanders, yeah..

With a Master Mummy on your team.

 

[jon bones]

ranked 1v1 is going to be amazing - i am 100% day 1 sold on this game now

 

[TheGoreMagala]

With a Master Mummy on your team.

Master Mummy can beat Ribbon Girl relatively easily with practice, though.

 

[Kudo]

With a Master Mummy on your team.

That was me actually, needless to say, I got slapped the shit out of me.

 

[Totakeke]

I haven't played Mechanica much, does she only take less damage (half?) when she hovers?

 

[jts]

The thing with the controls and this testpunch is that you're thrown straight into action without time to practice and without a control scheme filter, so there's no incentive to use the control scheme with a longer learning curve (that you couldn't possible have been through yet). You'll just get rekt by those on traditional controls.

On the final game you'll have plenty time and modes to practice and master motion controls before you go competitive. So there's still hope.

Regardless I also hope for dedicated motion control lobbies. I honestly think there will be.

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

This was my health in a 1v1v1:

After one of my opponents KO'ed my other opponent's health bar was at half and I clutched that shit.

Edit: I just realized the second pic wasn't from the match in the first pic.

 

[ahoyhoy]

Will probably lay off the motion controls until the full game lets me practice them more.

Standard controls just feel more reliable.

 

[Moondrop]

First impression: Nintendo has done it again. What a beautiful, well-crafted game. My favorite part are the ARMS themselves. The way the blorb arm bounces, the "weight" of that heavy arm, the variety of multi-shots- so, so great.

Controls: I played the the first twenty minutes with motion controls and got bodied. I was totally spazzing- if I focused on movement, I couldn't punch properly, and vice-versa. Switched to pro controller plus trigger punching and found my groove. Movement felt great and is truly the key to winning.

Waifus: Brunette Ribbon Girl is, uh, relevant to my interests. I love the tankiness of Mechanica, plus the camo and blue color schemes are dope. I never pulled off a Min Min kick- maybe next hour. I was pretty terrible with her dragon and chakra arms, but then went on a tear with her yellow/black ensemble plus double yellow crushers. Of course in the full game we'll have to separate the ARM from the waifu.

 

[TheGoreMagala]

I haven't played Mechanica much, does she only take less damage (half?) when she hovers?

She always takes half damage, same with Mummy. So long as they don't flinch.

 

[Derpot]

If using motion controls, you wanna keep your joycons upright to punch straight, and turn it to curve in a certain direction.

I wasn't using motion controls. I was playing with the classic ones, so I suppose I had to move the joystick towards a certain direction as I punched.

 

[PapaJustify]

It's a fun game for sure. I just can't see it keeping me interested for long. It really is a party game like Mario Kart. But for that it is a blast.

 

[Antiwhippy]

Yeah I don't see motion controls beating out standard.

 

[Doorman]

Got a little bit of time in with this latest session since I unintentionally woke up early enough, basically the last half-hour of it. This was also my first time trying it out with the pro controller!

...I still wish dash and jump were on the triggers.

That aside, the game's still a blast and there's still a lot to unpack I feel even just from these few characters using their defaults. I jumped around characters for a bit before settling in with Ribbon Girl using a Popper/Slapamander combo and that started working out really well. I was in the middle of finally showing up the flowchart Ninjara that had taken me down while I was playing Master Mummy earlier, but the lobby died when I had him down to about 80hp left. Slapamander was really good at catching his airdash garbage.

edit:

It's a fun game for sure. I just can't see it keeping me interested for long. It really is a party game like Mario Kart. But for that it is a blast.

In fairness, in this demo you are playing the game's foremost "party" mode and it's literally called that, so it feeling like a party game shouldn't be a surprise. The Ranked match ruleset will definitely be the standard for people who're playing the more serious side of it (1v1, no items, Final Destina--)

 

[JetSetRadio]

Easy pass for me, it's pretty fun for half an hour but not something I would consider throwing in my multiplayer rotation.
Any chance they 'll do another splatoon testfire, grabbed a switch when mk8 launched so I missed the first one?

 

[hao chi]

I was winning a lot more this session. I switched to the Pro Controller and Min Min, and also rethought how I approach neutral.

I'm not a fan of four player fights, especially FFA, but I think they'd be much better if the made it so you're invincible during the throw animation.

 

[NotLiquid]

I haven't played Mechanica much, does she only take less damage (half?) when she hovers?

She takes half damage when she's jumping, hovering or punching, and it also negates hitstun.

 

[Mistouze]

As someone who loves fighting games but never managed to have much skills execution-wise I love what Arms brings to the table.

Been wrecking fools on 1 vs 1 with Ninjara, feels good man.

 

[That Damn Kid]

I'm curious to see if ARMS characters are in the next Smash Bros. The length of their arms would probably be reduced quite a bit.

 

[Forkball]

Second hour. I enjoyed it a lot more than the first time. I tried a bit of the motion controls, and while it was easier to curve punches and guard, I found the overall mobility to be more difficult, along with myself being prone to flailing. The controls in general take some getting used to, but I I'm starting to get accustomed to them.

I also figured out the flow of a match, when to throw punches, which combos go together etc. I am still having a bit trouble doing anything fancy with the punch curving, but there is some homing so you don't need to completely dedicate yourself to steering you arms. I won many more matches than the first time around and saw some interesting arm combos.

I had a great run as Min Min. Charging up the big naval mine fist allows you to completely hinder your opponent. Along with the chakram, you can completely catch enemies off guard. Helix's Guardian fist is a lot of fun too once I figured out how it worked. I'm curious to see what characters are picked once everyone is able to equip other arms. I had fun playing Min Min, but I didn't really use her kicks. I wonder if the big fist/chakram combo would be better on a different fighter.

 

[Biske]

The slapamander is so good.

You can slap the hell out of some people over and over with the same combo. Jump, dodge slap.

When you are timing and angling the punches just right, its pretty insane. Specially in stages like the DNA place where you can curve around columns

 

[Xater]

Yeah I don't see motion controls beating out standard.

Same.

Still wish I could remap block to A and B.

 

[Forkball]

Pic dump.