Internet Reacts to Arms, Nintendo's New Fighting Game

Will Nintendo's all-new multiplayer fighting game Arms live up to the decades-long legacy of the Super Smash Bros franchise?

During yesterday's Nintendo Treehouse livestream event, the Japanese video game maker unveiled a lengthy gameplay trailer for its latest Switch fighting game Arms, in which up to four players must try to knock each other out using a variety of "extendable arms" in a three-dimensional arena. In the trailer, Nintendo staff members can be seen demonstrating the basics of combat techniques--throws, punches and blocks--using the Switch Joy-Con controllers, as well as a lineup of playable characters and their special weapons.

Since its initial reveal at the Nintendo Switch presentation in mid-January, the game has been met with an overwhelmingly positive feedback from the Nintendo Switch community, particularly among the fans of the Super Smash Bros series, as well as an optimistic outlook from the critics, many of whom likened its concept to the boxing minigame from Wii Sports.

Like many other announcements of new video game franchises in recent years, the showcase event has already inspired an impressive collection of visual parodies and other works of fan art centered around the playable characters, most notably Twintelle, a tall and formidable femme fatale who uses her curly side tails as her primary weapon.

If you want to take the game for a test run, a multiplayer version of the game known as the "Arms Global Testpunch" will be made available on the Nintendo eShop between late May and early June, before the worldwide release of the game on June 16th, 2017.