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One of the Switch's best, and arguably most underrated first party games, is ARMS. Created by Kouske Yabuki (of Mario Kart 8), this 3D Arena Fighter, launched a few months after the Switch itself as one of the very first games revealed for the system. It's a new character-driven, competitive multiplayer IP in the vein of Splatoon, meant to demonstrate the Joy-Con's improved motion controls for a more core-focused gameplay style. While it wasn't the breakout hit that Splatoon was, it still did very well, at 2.1 million copies worldwide.

But according to people on the internet, that's apparently not good enough. The thinking is that because this is a new character-driven multiplayer game like Splatoon, it needed to do as well as, if not better than Splatoon on the first try. Otherwise, it's a disappointment. I really don't get this logic. Nintendo never said or implied that they wanted this to be the next Splatoon. It's a fighting game on a new system, it's obviously not going to reach the heights of Splatoon in its first game. Nintendo rarely goes into new ideas like ARMS thinking they're going to be the next big phenomenon. They just focus on trying to make a game sell well, and if it happens to blow up past their expectations in the first game, then that's great. But ARMS is one of those games that while not a breakout hit, provides a good enough foundation to build on with future games.

Do you think Nintendo just sits there green-lighting games thinking they're going to be instant megahits? Of course not, because that's a terrible way to run a business. Nintendo simply just wants games that sell well, not games that are the next big phenomenon. ARMS sold well, so it's a success. Don't be surprised to see it again in the future.

Last edited by TheMisterManGuy - on 02 November 2019