Nintendo Arms Skill Shot mode.
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Nintendo reaches for a brand new hit on the Switch with Arms

Nintendo has proven it can hook its fans with games based on its familiar Zelda and Mario Kart franchises. But the new brawling title Arms for the Switch will be a major test about whether Nintendo can attract new fans to its game console with a brand new idea.

From what I’ve seen in a hands-on preview, Arms is surprisingly fun for such a simple idea. In the third-person fighting game, you get into a punchfest with another player using extendable arms. At a preview event in San Francisco, Nintendo showed off some new game modes and characters that show that Arms has gameplay depth. The final game debuts on the Switch on June 16, and I think it will be a hit.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.