Arms

The most surprising fighting game of the year launches this spring

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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.