ARMS is officially five years old this week, and sadly no one really talks about it

Well, we got a Smash Ultimate DLC out of it

Welp. ARMS is officially five years old as of June 16, 2022, and sadly, it’s kind of been forgotten outside of a few references here and there. But you know what? I’m going to briefly talk about it and bring it back into the collective consciousness, even for one day.

I remember the very first time I played ARMS: it was in a warehouse for a Nintendo press tour, right before it was set to release. I felt the same about it as I did at the time of my review, and how I feel now: it’s fun, but it never really reaches its full potential. I would have loved to have played it more, but my local scene was pretty rough, as a lot of folks didn’t take to it; or understandably want to take the plunge for $60 (note: this game is still $60 digitally).

I’m a sucker for these types of arena fighters too! Anything where you can load up four players and go crazy, I’m there. I even played hours of The Bouncer multiplayer! At one point in time I’m pretty sure that was considered a felony.

Five years on, arguably, the biggest impact the ARMS IP made was as a DLC fighter (Min Min) in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate two years ago. Other than that, outside of a few sticker/logo references, it’s faded into a distant memory.

But you know what? The memory of ARMS might be faded, but it’s not lost…yet. It’s still on Switch: a platform that’s still going strong and fully supported. And if you own it: maybe boot up one more battle, for old spring’s sake.

Chris Carter

Reviews Director, Co-EIC – Chris has been enjoying Destructoid avidly since 2008. He finally decided to take the next step, make an account, and start blogging in January of 2009. Now, he’s staff!