[dropcap]N[/dropcap]intendo told us we’d be seeing continued balance support for ARMS in the future. Yesterday, they delivered, granting us another balance patch and some notes to go with it! So with that, we have our second big ARMS Update. This time, however, we didn’t get a new character or new arms to fight with. The focus was more on balancing characters and arms that already existed and adding a few extra features to boot.

So, let’s get right to it. Below are the full patch notes for the ARMS Update, Version 2.1.0:

• Moved “Training” to the top menu.
• Added five exercises to “Training”, and added difficulty level indications.
• Adjusted the way the rush gauge fills, decreasing the amount gained for punches that do not connect with the opponent.
• When 3-4 players start a battle, instructions on how to switch targets will now be displayed. A cursor will also be displayed above the current target for a set time.
• Adjusted hitbox sizes for fighters, improving issues where hits were not registered despite looking like hits.
• Changed the pause, results, and replay menus in “Training” to be more convenient.
• For “Best Stage” in Stats, made it harder for less frequently played stages to be selected, even if you have a high win ration on them.
• Corrected issue that caused the game to hang-up when the ending was skipped at a particular time.
• We have made the following adjustments for some fighters and arms:
  

  Fighters / Arms	Adjustments
  Master Mummy	Increased dash speed. Increased movement speed when jumping.
  Mechanica	Increased movement speed when jumping.
  Kid Cobra	Adjusted floatation when performing a jump attack.
  Byte & Barq	Trained Barq to get up quicker.
  Boomerang	Increased speed when throwing in a wide curve. Increased extension speed. Increased homing.
  Coolerang	Increased extension speed. Increased homing.
  Revolver	Increased extension speed. Improved curving performance. Increased retraction speed. Shortened the time needed from starting a rush to firing the first shot.
  Retorcher	Improved curving performance. Increased retraction speed. Increased expansion rate when extending.
  Parasol	Increased expansion rate when extending. Increased retraction speed. Decreased expansion rate for charge attacks.
  Megawatt	Improved curving performance. Increased retraction speed.
  Slamamander	Increased homing
  Tribolt	Increased extension speed. Decreased rush damage.
  Triblast	Increased speed of charge attacks.
  Homie	Increased rush damage.
  Guardian	Made it so the electric shock when a charge attack connects lasts longer. Corrected odd behavior that occurred when a rush attack connected with a wall or platform.
  Blorb	Corrected odd behavior that occurred when a rush attack connected with an opponent that was not targeted.
  Seekie	Increased retraction speed. Made it so the electric shock when a charge attack connects doesn’t last as long.
  Ramram	Increased retraction speed. Decreased expansion rate for charge attacks. Decreased speed of charge attacks.
  Cracker, Popper, Hydra	Increased retraction speed.
  Bubb, Buff	Decreased extension speed. Decreased expansion rate when extending.

 

It’s a lot to take in, so we’ll sum it up below.

ARMS Update Version 2.1.0 Summary

So Nintendo seems to really want players to remember that Training exists, first off. They brought it to the front menu instead of hiding it in Versus and added new modes. In fact, the whole training menu has been streamlined to give you a better idea of what each training mode is for. It even gives you a level indicator to let you know how difficult the CPU is going to be during the training.

Aside from that, Nintendo also decreased Rush build up from missed punches to incentivize you to be more accurate. They also fixed some hit boxes in order to make the game appear more accurate to the models. They rebalanced the calculations to make your best stage more likely to be one you actually play on often.

Then there are the actual balance changes that affect characters and arms in the game. Again, we’ll try to keep this quick. First off, Mechanica and Master Mummy are a little bit faster in the air, with the latter also having a slightly quicker dash. Byte is now less vulnerable when Barq gets knocked out as Barq gets up quicker. Kid Cobra’s jump attack leaves him more vulnerable than before.

Then we have the arms. Bubb and Buff got the only significant nerf out of the lot, which causes them to move and expand slower. The Seekie doesn’t keep opponents shocked for as long, but it also retracts faster. Everything else listed in the patch notes got a buff, usually moving faster, expanding more, retracting sooner, becoming more consistent, curving better, or homing in on the opponent more accurately.

So with all that said, feel free to look through the patch notes, yourself, if you have any other questions. We do know that the next update will be coming with a new fighter, according to the Arms Japanese Twitter Account. Other than that

You can check out our ARMS review right here.

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