Arms

The most surprising fighting game of the year launches this spring

Ten years since Wii’s arrival, Nintendo has proved that motion controls and depth needn’t be mutually exclusive. It turns out the answer was staring – OK, smacking – us in the face all along: the fighting game is where austerity means strategy, where a sparse selection of inputs is able, in the right hands, to give rise to spectacular, deeply tactical action. So it is with Arms, Nintendo’s first new IP since Splatoon, and a game that puts a similarly silly, and effective, spin on established genre conventions.

The game is played with a Joy-Con in each hand, and puts two characters in a succession of enclosed 3D arenas. As is tradition, each fighter has a health bar, and a super meter that fills as they deal and take damage. You move by tilting the controllers; the left shoulder button performs a quick dash, and the right one a jump. Push a hand forwards and your character throws a punch with the appropriate arm; push both hands at the same time and you’ll attempt a grab; bring both hands together, as if offering up two fist bumps, and you’ll block incoming attacks. When your meter’s full, a tap of either trigger launches your super, which gives you a few seconds to unleash a frantic flurry of punches.