ARMS

I didn't like 1v1v1 cause I didn't know how to swap between the two opponents, causing me to get stuck in the middle and beat up by both.

Otherwise I loved ARMS.

I actually learned on Reddit that you can manually switch targets using either the d-buttons or the face buttons.

My best moment was towards the end during a four-man free-for-all where I got all three KOs. Either that or the one time I got a Perfect win on some scrub.

I also learned that the main menu had a Extras menu that contained a bunch of useful information about the fighters and gameplay mechanics, which you can still access during off-server times.

Man, I still really like the lobby system. You're never more than a few moments away from a match. MK 8 takes a while to get going, but this feels a lot snappier.

Not only that but I also love that you can see who is in what type of match and even get a live feed of how the match is going. It's really great.

Whew. Lost a lot, but I'm making less accidental motions.

Mechanica is way more fun than Mummy. Goodbye Master. :)

Hopefully next week they rotate fighters and we get the rest.

edited 27th May '17 6:10:22 AM by Malco

Just played the Testpunch. Long story short, purchase solidified.

• The motion controls are fantastic. Soooo fun blindsiding people with the Phoenix or Boomerang ARMs, especially in the laboratory stage, and in 3P/4P FFA.
• Took me a couple of matches to really get into the swing of things, but after that I had a solid streak of victories. Got lucky with my lobby, I guess? I was almost invincible in 1v1 and V-ball, lost several times in 3P/4P FFA, and lost a bunch in 2v2.
• FFA is probably my favorite mode. Nothing beats the satisfaction of being ganged up on by 2 fighters, then KOing them one by one. In one round of 4P FFA, I almost managed to KO the three other players, except that one Ninjara managed to hold out long enough to be saved by the bell. He only had a couple slivers of health above mine! Dang.
• I also deliberately picked fighters that no one else in the lobby chose, so I was pretty much only alternating between Spring Man and Ribbon Girl (as expected most everyone played Ninjara or Minmin). Preferred Spring Man, because he can really bounce back. Fitting.

Wait, Ribbon Girl was unpicked on your end?

When I played, nearly the entire lobby was Ribbon Girl or Ninjara.

Yeah, Ribbon Girl was unpicked. In order of prevalence:

• Ninjara
• Minmin
• Mechanica
• Master Mummy
• Helix
• Spring Man
• Ribbon Girl

I'd like to hear what the character pick stats are down the line. I had a lot of Ribbon Girls in my lobby.

I get the feeling the least picked would likely be Helix, since he's so tricky to use in comparison to everyone else.

I can feel that Ninjara and Min Min are the most picked. The occasional other fighters would show up, but it's mostly people trying them out rather than them being diehards.

I think people are avoiding picking the characters who are basically billed as "Ryu and Ken"... or because picking Spring Man would make you seem like a masher who doesn't know how to work the character select screen heh heh.

So another wall of text:

• In volleyball I learned to camp the ball after someone scores. Mechanica and Helix and Ribbon are good at this. A cheap tactic is to immediately setup the incoming ball with the throw attack, then punch it immediately to spike it. (If you setup the ball successfully your arms return to you almost immediately if you're close enough... and if you're hovering/jumping near the ball that's gonna happen.)
• There's a brutal Master Mummy-using pair I couldn't beat. Sometimes I'd end up against them and I'm stuck with a character with no heavy arms (Spring Man) so I just auto lose, since I'm tethered to my teammate and have difficulty going around the arena. I almost beat them once by going behind one of them, with my teammate sandwiched between them, though.
• Mechanica is not as predictable as I thought. Although you can hover only towards the direction you're jumping at, you can cancel that into an air dash in any direction. Hover also charges the punches and the anti-flinch.
• I've actually used Spring Man a lot this time and I tried to figure out how ways to discharge him to trigger his parry shield... it depends on how long he charges his punches. In my experience, having a brief charge is the best way to go on offense. With this you can safely charge at the opponent. Also when the comeback mechanic triggers, he can no longer discharge himself, so no more parrying.

When the opponent loses connection it looks like they just had a heart attack.

Opponent Min Min once grabbed me as Master Mummy, disconnected, and fainted when Mummy got next to her.

The controls are more intuitive every play.

Even though I'm not on motion controls I feel myself slowly "getting it"...

I feel like I was comboing the volleyball better, and when I'm playing Ribbon/Mechanica I'm really dancing around the opponents.

Not as big wall of text...

• Helix's shield... has six HP signified by six lights, meaning it takes 6 hits to break. Not sure if heavy arms take off two HP though... but if not then this is a good counter to heavy arms.
• A cheap Helix tactic is to launch the shield and maneuver behind it and shoot lasers. It feels like zoning with the Ice Dragon and the opponent can't do anything about if Helix is far enough. Not when the opponent has special, though.

P.S. All those coins going to waste... T_T

A little food.

More retracted arms.

edited 28th May '17 6:37:01 AM by edvedd

Basically eating her hair?

Cannibalism in video games. Sad!

How long does the Testpunch last? I just ordered a Switch bundle from my Gamestop and won't get it until later in the week... The ARMS Direct pushed my decision to buy one forward by about a month, but even if I miss the Testpunch, I still plan to get ARMS when it releases.

RE: Min Min animation: One of these days, I need to try an actual bowl of real, non-instant ramen...

I'm not sure if it's cannibalism unless Min Min happens to be a sentient, anthropomorphic noodle girl (which, as far as I know, she isn't—it's just that her hair and ARMS are ramen-themed^note Which has me wondering if the fighters customized their ARMS to fit a theme or they just happened to appear that way based on weird Cutie Mark-esque shenanigans that occurred when they gained their ARMS). If anything, I'd say it'd be similar to a human eating a bowl full of hair (though, admittedly, I don't know if that is considered as cannibalism as well).

the next (and last) series of test-punches are from june 2nd-4th at various hour-long intervals each day

i caught the last ten minutes of today's test punch

I'm so bad ;~;

Just did the recent testpunch. Here are my thoughts:

• Controls have a learning curve to overcome. The way the motion controls work can feel like the whole 'pat your head and rub your belly' mind game. That is, it's hard at first to keep moving and do punches. Eventually, I got the hang of the controls and had some good final matches.
  • The controls are a bit sensitive at times. There were times where I seemed to input the grab punch when I just wanted to do a single punch.

• I'm not sure of 3 vs matches. I can already see salty people complaining of being ganged up in the inevitable 2 v 1 fights.
  • I am glad that the game retargets another player if the other has fallen down.

• I like the volley ball game mode. It's a great pace breaker from the normal fights.

• I'm not sure what the meta will be in the future, but I think movement will be a key factor here. Once I got the hang of the controls, I kept jump dashing to throw people off and I had good success (though I don't want to get ahead of myself. This may be an instance of me learning the Aerospray meta).

Overall, I had fun. I enjoyed playing as Ribbon Girl with the slapamanders.

Something I noticed, if you and your opponent are both in the radius of health/rush juice, and you grab them, you will still heal/build super, but your opponent won't.

@Orion: The trickiest part is trying to move forwards and back without throwing a punch or guarding, respectively.

Once you get used to the basics though, you can start focusing on the intricacies and work out strategies.