One of the things that makes ARMS so compelling is that it almost feels more like a very fast-paced strategy game than a straight-up combo memorization fighter. You really have to have thought about how to handle certain conditions and react to them in realtime, rather than rehearsing elaborate movesets.

I have a pretty reliable 50/50 win rate right now, and I play a little bit each day. It's interesting that sometimes you encounter someone who you just can't manage to hit, which is obnoxious, but other times you have a pretty good duel even with an apparently more skilled opponent, until one of the two of you…

You kind of wonder whether it's better for designers to embrace this aspect of the games or avoid it. On the one hand, it can make entry into the games prohibitive, as developers cater increasingly to a diminishing but dedicated group of fans. On the other hand, avoiding it can sometimes lead to exploits making it…

Admittedly, I remember Primal Rage being significantly less accessible than Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat - though I was never able to pull off a finishing move in Mortal Kombat either.

Argh, I wish Teti still wrote articles for Gameological. His delightful bon mots were one of the things that drew me to the site (not to knock his successors, of course, who are excellent as well).

Awesome article!

This sounds like something that would be rather compelling fodder for a Holism article by our very own @wolfmanjew:disqus, doesn't it?

Surprisingly, I did all of that with arrows! Hm… I might have fought a few with melee weapons, actually - I was much more confidant going toe-to-toe with the immobile ones.

The leaf mechanic is Minish Cap was so good! They really nailed the physicality of that gust bellows thing.

You're back!

I'm reaaaaally thinking about What Remains of Edith Finch and Subnautica, but it's hard to justify with recently having bought ARMS and Ever Oasis (admittedly at a discount - THANKS BEST BUY!). Uggggghhhhh, but WRoEF looks so cool and innovative.

I'm very intrigued to get to MGS4, having so far only played through 1 and 2. It has a seriously checkered reputation, and it seems that at least part of the problem is having no editor for Kojima's increasingly ambitious storytelling goals.

I'm so happy that they actually felt the need to clarify this point on Twitter.

Yeah, I didn't ever manage to learn deflecting their beams (until I needed to in the Ganon fight), and I don't think I even successfully dismantled any of them. My reliable strategy was the guardian arrow or running away.

Agreed - Samus Returns really does appear to be an interesting change to the Metroid formula, featuring radically altered aiming and close-range combat mechanics, though I suppose we'll know more closer to release.

Isn't it kind of surprising that one of the most malleable gaming characters, Mario, offers such limited experiences in 2D games while offering such varied experiences in 3D games? It's rather intriguing to me that Nintendo is such an innovative, experimental game company, and is arguably the creator of platforming…

I think NSMB was the right game for the right time, but that it's an inherently limiting concept. Admittedly, NSMB U and the accompanying Luigi spinoff were probably the best entries in that series, but it must be hard to really create an excellent NSMB game. I've been happy to see Nintendo branch out with that branch…

Wow, your dad is the ultimate Breath of the Wild player. Between this and his take on exploring it as a unique world from a few weeks ago, his journey sounds like a fascinating one. Uh… also I don't think I killed a Guardian until the back half of the game, haha.

Oy, what a jerk! Keep the boycott alive.

Spring Man on Level 4 is crazy hard. I didn't spend as much time on him as you, but it probably still took a solid hour. Also Hedlok is mad hard too, eh?