Tweet
This E3 Nintendo has been making a concerted push towards competitive play that's going hand-in-hand with its Switch system - one of the most multiplayer friendly consoles yet devised. It started off with Splatoon 2's World Inkling Invitational, carried on with the Pokken Tournament DX Invitational and got really interesting with the Arms invitational that took place last night. All eyes are on Arms right now, with Nintendo's fascinating take on fighting games launching tomorrow. It's an alright video game, though whether it can sustain a competitive scene remains to be seen - but having watched last night's Invitational I think it stands a good chance.
It helps, of course, that out of all the competitive video games fighting ones are the easiest to read. There are two characters that take up most of the screen's real estate, and a nice big health bar that means you're always on top of exactly what's going on. Arms muddies the purity of other fighting games such as Street Fighter 5, with its close-quarters camera enforcing that matches are watched in splitscreen (although a spectator camera does pan out and give us a view of both fighters - even if it was a little under-used in last night's tournament).
Read more…
More...