When comparing ARMS vs Mario Tennis Aces, the Slant community recommends Mario Tennis Aces for most people. In the question“What are the best party games for the Nintendo Switch?” Mario Tennis Aces is ranked 21st while ARMS is ranked 33rd. The most important reason people chose Mario Tennis Aces is:
Playing with a friend right beside you makes the game much more enjoyable. Reacting to each other in real-time is just better than playing against a computer opponent. There's no online co-op -- only multiplayer matches against random people -- meaning you'll have to be in the same room together to play.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro A very unique take on the boxing genre
The arms stretch for long-range jabs and punches, meaning you can smack your opponent from across the arena. This adds a whole new depth to boxing and means you will be timing your dodges and ducks much differently than normal fighting games. Your arms also serve as weapons, and can be detached from your body and swapped around for different arms with various effects. You can charge them up for a variety of different attacks to stun, freeze, shoot, shock, push, and blast your opponent. If you're looking for a fighting game with a very unique premise, this will definitely fit the bill.
Pro Interchangeable arms for more strategic play
Each fighter has interchangeable arms that act as weapons and provide a variety of different effects, such as freezing your opponent, stunning, or knocking them over, when charged up. Besides offering a plethora of different effects, arm weapons also allow you to play on the strengths or weaknesses of your fighter. If your fighter is on the slow side, for example, you can use an arm that freezes opponents to help close the gap better. If your fighter moves quick but hits weak, you could use a stun arm to get some extra hits in.
While you can only use 2 arms at any time, you are allowed to choose 3 arms to take with you into the fight. Between rounds, you can swap arms from among your pool giving you an opportunity to switch up your strategy and counter your opponent. This offers some exciting potential for counterplay and it's really nice to be able to change your weapons after every round and try something new.
Pro Everyone can find a fighter they will enjoy
No matter what kind of fighting style you're looking for, the game has enough variety where everyone can find a fighter that they enjoy playing. Each of the 15 fighters has their own set of moves, custom interchangeable arms that act as weapons, and their own stat pool which consists of things like speed, jump height, and size. Based on these stats, the fighters will range from being able to zip quickly around the arena but not hitting with much force, to being slow moving brutes who hit very hard. Some special moves include hovering in midair, slowing down time, warping away from attacks, and healing. With each fighter having his or her own arsenal of moves, there's plenty to experiment and play around with, and a little bit of something for every play style.
Pro Clever multiplayer game modes spice up the action
Arms offers a few clever game modes to add to the brawl action that go above and beyond the typical fights and help to add some spice to the game. Modes are quick to play and easy to learn, so they are very accessible for players. In Skill Shot, you'll try to punch down popup targets as your opponent attempts to do the same. V-Ball is similar to volleyball, except the ball will explode if it hits the ground. Hoops involves you grabbing and dunking your opponent. Other modes include team fights and a multiplayer co-op brawl against a boss.
Pro Great lobby system in Party Match
In Party Match, the game puts you into a lobby with 20 other players, and then randomly shuffles everyone into groups for randomized game modes such a V-ball and Hoops. Even the way it's set up is visually interesting, with different player avatars being shuffled and mixed into various circles. You can actually see the system working with your own two eyes, such as players health bars dropping and the timer around the circle counting down, which is a great touch to let you know how far along in progress other matches are.
In the event there is ever an odd number of players, the lobby will adjust by placing all the players in free-for-alls against monstrous AI bosses until they can be placed in regular matches. Additionally, while you're waiting for to be placed into a match, you can warm up and test out your moves in a practice arena.
Pro Couch co-op with a friend is tons of fun
Playing with a friend right beside you makes the game much more enjoyable. Reacting to each other in real-time is just better than playing against a computer opponent. There's no online co-op -- only multiplayer matches against random people -- meaning you'll have to be in the same room together to play.
Pro Solid roster of Nintendo characters to play as
There's a good variety of characters you can play as. If you're familiar with first party Nintendo games, then you'll see a lot of familiar faces here, like Yoshi, Bowser, Donkey Kong, Luigi, Peach, and of course Mario. Everyone has their own playing styles, with bigger characters like Bowser and Donkey Kong favoring hard-hitting power shots, and others like Yoshi and Mario that have a more balanced approach. You can go with whichever style or character you prefer, practicing with them until you master everything. Getting to see all of these characters together in one game is great for fanservice as well.
Pro You can compete against others online in multiplayer
When you run out of single-player content to enjoy, you can hop online to play against random opponents. The main game mode is the tournaments you can play, which rewards you with special characters if you score well. Online connectivity is good too, especially with the choice to drop out of matches beforehand against players who have bad connections. Playing online is a really great way to test your skills and improve your play, since anyone you get matched with is an actual player who has their own strengths and weaknesses.
Pro Intense and engaging tennis matches
Mario Tennis Aces is incredibly addicting to play. Matches are fast-paced and exciting, with one particular mechanic that keeps things unpredictable. Every time you successfully hit the tennis ball to your opponent's end of the court, you build up a power meter that you can use in a couple of different ways.
When you want to quickly finish off a match, you can slow down time and take aim at a vulnerable corner of your opponent's court for an instant win. Or, if they try to do that to you, you can instead expend some of your power meter to quickly reach the ball and hit it back. Things can get pretty tricky when you both use up your power meters at the same time, leading to some satisfying wins.
Cons
Con Solo play can feel stale and grindy
Things can start to feel stale after a while in the single player grand prix mode. Doing the same few fights over and over against AI opponents loses it's appeal quickly.
Con Matchmaking is entirely random
There is no official ladder, so all matchmaking is completely random.
Con Motion controls can be imperfect at times
If you opt to use the motion controls, there may be a little imprecision in your punches due to the way the punches curve and how you flick your wrists. The analog sticks will almost always be a bit more precise and responsive (although arguably not as fun to some players).
Con Target locking tends to be buggy
Sometimes the game will switch your locked on target without input, and it can get frustrating to have the target of your carefully charged up attack change suddenly.
Con Very wide skill gap between experienced and inexperienced players
Mario Tennis Aces can be unwelcoming to new players. While playing co-op or online, it's tough to catch up with everyone else who knows how to time their power shots with the meter. If you don't pick up on this mechanic fairly quickly, you may feel like you're getting left behind. You don't necessarily have to use the mechanic if you and a friend agree not to, but this sadly makes matches pretty dull. Running against computer opponents is a good way to get your feet wet before moving up to other levels of play.
Con Limited gameplay options for solo players
If you're the type who prefers to game alone, then Mario Tennis Aces might not be for you. There's only one single-player mode, while the rest of the game is mostly dedicated to co-op and online play. The solo mode is also extremely short, clocking in at around four hours. Aside from that, there really isn't much else for you to do.
Con Certain characters are locked behind online tournaments
The primary way to unlock new characters is to win tournaments, but this isn't entirely fair. They're only available for a limited amount of time, with the rewards changing from tournament to tournament. Even though some of these characters are in the actual game as opponents in the single-player adventure mode, you can't get access to them unless you unlock them through these tournaments. If you don't like playing online, or if you don't have the means to pay for Nintendo's online service once it's implemented later on in 2018, then you're basically out of luck.
Con Single-player adventure mode is pretty difficult
The game's adventure mode makes up for its short length with some real difficulty. It's a rough introduction to the gameplay, as some of the matches and bosses are really hard. There's plenty of variety to things, like courts that have certain hazards in your way and uneven terrain such as tall grass, as well as inventive boss designs like a giant squid that shoots out tennis ball-shaped blobs of ink. But all of these things can get quite overwhelming, especially if you're using the single-player mode to get better at the game.