My Thoughts on All 15 Characters from ARMS

[Neoxon]

Following in the footsteps of my SFV character threads, I've decided to tackle my thoughts on the entire cast of ARMS. Something to keep in mind is that I pretty much covered Spring Man, Ribbon Girl, & Twintelle in my previous Spring Man vs. Other Fighting Game Poster Boys thread, so I'm gonna take the easy way out by just quote my thoughts from that thread (though beyond the 3 veterans from the previous thread, the characters I talk about are in no specific order) with my extra thoughts before the quote. Like before, I'll have a ranking at the end of the OP that'll serve as a TL;DR section of sorts. But unlike before, this thread is gonna be a 2-parter since I couldn't fit everything I want to say within the 30,000 word limit (even with a few edits), so that should explain my double-post from the get-go. With that said, here we go...

The Bouncer
SPRING MAN

There's not much else I want to add regarding my Spring Man analysis. He does his job as the poster boy of the series & does it well. Is he my favorite character in the game, no (that honor belongs to Dr. Coyle, my main). But do I hate Spring Man or think he's a bad face for the franchise, also no. I mean, how could anyone hate the guy?

I recognize that he's the entry point for ARMS newbies as the face of the franchise, so I can recognize how well he represents the IP as a whole. If you want the nitty-gritty of my thoughts, here's my detailed analysis from the other thread...

Spring Man is more focused on light primary colors when it comes to his design, which makes his appearance a bit more easy on the eyes. On top of that, the shade of blue used for his arms are a bit darker than the shade of blue used for his hair, with a shade darker than that used for the trim of his jersey. Everything from Spring Man's shorts to his jersey to even his sneakers make it clear that Spring Man is an athlete through & through, not unlike fellow fighting game frontman Ryu being more-or-less focused on fighting. As far as Spring Man's personality is concerned, ARMS shows us that he's upbeat & ready to take on the world, which doesn't betray the way that Spring Man is designed. The preview of the graphic novel does show us that he's a little more on the humble side (which isn't too surprising considering that the title of Spring Man is a legacy that was passed down to 2 people prior to our current Spring Man), but we'll have to wait until early next year to get more context of Spring Man within the world of the graphic novel (which I assume is canon to the games). From what can be seen in both the game & the preview of the graphic novel, Spring Man has a design that does its job & does it well in that it communicates everything you need to know about Spring Man on a surface level. He's quick on his feet & ready to spring into action (no pun intended). What's also good about Spring Man's design is that by looking at him & his gameplay alone, you can understand everything you need to know about ARMS as a series. It's not an easy balancing act to have a character be the base line for all of the other characters in the game, but Spring Man manages to check all of the boxes necessary to pull that off.

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The Airess
RIBBON GIRL

Something to keep in mind with my original analysis on Ribbon Girl is that a good chunk of my criticisms were with respect to Ribbon Girl being a potential face for the franchise. Beyond that, she has a solid design, though I can understand why she didn't grab the attention of as many people as Twintelle did. If nothing else, she grabbed Biff's attention (& Mechanica, but she's already a fangirl of the fighters).

With that said, here's the original analysis from the other thread...

ARMS has the benefit of having great designs for their female fighters, and these two are prime examples of that point. In the case of Ribbon Girl, if Spring Man is ARMS's Ryu, then Ribbon Girl is definitely the series' Chun-Li. She represents everything that the franchise is about almost as well as Spring Man does while doing so with a completely different theme & gimmick. And like Spring Man, Ribbon Girl has a focus on three primary colors to make her design easy on the eyes (magenta, yellow, & white). Though as for how her design portrays her personality, that's a bit of a different discussion. The lore tells us that Ribbon Girl is a 17-year-old pop star, yet her costume looks more like a cheerleader. While I guess those two styles aren't too far off, I feel like they could have done a better job in terms of telling us everything we need to know about Ribbon Girl as a person through her design. Though I will give some credit where it's due on this front, her shoes being a mix of Spring Man & Karin Kanzuki's does kinda help indicate her celebrity status (the showy-ness of Karin's shoes mixed with the flexibility of Spring Man's), but I may be reading too much into her design. With that said, Ribbon Girl's design is still a great one, it just has room for improvement.

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The Silver Screen Queen
TWINTELLE

Something that I didn't point out in my original analysis was the use of heels in her overall look. Normally I'm not a huge fan of heels being used for combat, albeit with a select few exceptions (Bayonetta being one of them). Twintelle's use of heels actually makes sense for her character as well as the heels themselves being more sneaker-like at the bottom to give them better use in combat. The Adder actually put it best regarding Twintelle's heels...

Twintelle is out here rocking Sneaker/Heels.

Stylish 'cause 'cause it her job. Sporty 'cause it's her passion

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It also helps that Twintelle add another person of color to Nintendo's catalogue of characters as well as well-toned woman in terms of muscle. Hell, it's to the point where Twintelle's canonically stronger than Spring Man for both her hair arms and her real arms.

Like Ribbon Girl, most of my criticisms regarding Twintelle's design are in relation to her being a potential face for ARMS. That aside, she has a fantastic design, a unique gimmick that sets her play-style apart from the rest of the cast, & brings more representation to the game's roster. It's no wonder that my little cousins love her. Anyway, since I already quoted my original analyses for Spring Man & Ribbon Girl, here's Twintelle's...

As for Twintelle, she's the 2nd place fan-favorite of......possibly the entire ARMS cast from what I can tell (with her main competition being Min Min). As far as her design is concerned, it's a great one. Being a person a color, Twintelle skin complexion jells perfectly with her white sleeveless shirt, which is styled extravagantly in a way that shows that she takes her fashion very seriously. And even then, she stands by her three primary colors (magenta, black, & white) even better than Spring Man or Ribbon Girl, which may be contributing to how great Twintelle's design is. And said design communicates pretty damn well that she's a movie star, which would justify why Twintelle takes her appearance so seriously. However, Twintelle's fatal flaw as a potential face of the franchise is in how she represents the ARMS franchise. Unlike the rest of the cast, Twintelle fights with her hair rather than her arms. And while that helps Twintelle stand out from the other characters in the roster, it ultimately holds her back from being a proper face of the franchise (who's supposed to represent everything you need to know about the game) like Spring Man is. But like Ribbon Girl, Twintelle is a great design in spite of that flaw, & that was ultimately enough for Twintelle to become a fan-favorite (to the point where people are actively asking for Twintelle instead of Spring Man to be playable in Smash Ultimate).

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The Rad Scientist
DR. COYLE

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The main antagonist of the game....one that wasn't introduced until the tail-end of the ARMS's character DLC run. Anyone who has spoken with me for a while, be it here or on Discord, would likely know by now that I'm a Dr. Coyle main. This is for two main reasons, me enjoying her play-style & me loving her design. The former can be talked about pretty quickly, as she's one of the most unique characters in the entire cast (2nd only to Misango). Between her duplicating ARMS (left or right, I haven't really gotten the hang of which one comes out when), her temporary cloaking ability on wake-up, & her levitation, Dr. Coyle brings a lot to the table mechanically. But what I really love about Dr. Coyle is her design. Like the others mentioned earlier, Dr. Coyle has a focus on three main colors (green, black, & gold), while taking a page out of Twintelle's book with a bonus highlight color for her mask (purple) that fits with the rest of her design. The rest of her look lives up to the title of "The Rad Scientist", selling the whole 80's punk rock look mixed with what you would normally think of for a mad scientist. And while yes, she does have spiky high heels that are also knee-high boots (complete with knee-pads), they don't feel out-of-place due to all the inspiration Dr. Coyle's design already pulls from 80's punk rock. In addition, Dr. Coyle is floating whenever she fights, so she doesn't actually have to run around when fighting, thus allowing her to go crazy with her look without having to worry too much about moving. In case you're curious, here are her heels (since her in-game render doesn't show her full design).

A detail that you don't really see in-game but is present in the art above are Dr. Coyle's gloves, which do a great job of adhering to her overall design motif on top of looking cool as hell. Her stylized short lab coat does a great job of crossing the scientist & punk rock styles that form the foundation of her design, & her hairstyle helps sell the overall design. But what I love the most about her design are the gold arms. It's not just because of the gold that hits you in the face with how prominent they are (yes, they stand out, but I believe that's the point), or the big shoulders that remind me of Samus' Vaira suits. It's the fact that they seem to be made, or at least modified, by Dr. Coyle herself if we go by the branding on her shoulders. It's a nice detail that also has implications for the Blorb & Glusher (used by Helix & Misango respectively), both of which use the brand Dr. Coyle uses for all of her ARMS (the equipment). Overall, her design is a slam dunk in every respect, & I'm surprised that she didn't get the praise that Twintelle & Min Min got. I'm also surprised that she didn't get a Spirit in Smash Ultimate, but you can't win them all.

The Sucker Puncher
LOLA POP

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Lola Pop was the 2nd DLC character introduced to the game & is yet another unsung heroine in terms of how well her design works. Unlike most of the cast, Lola Pop doesn't have a laser-focus on her three primary colors. I mean, she does have 3 main colors, those being red, yellow, & light blue. But you can see Lola Pop go off the rails with various warm colors for both her hair & her taffy arms, bits of white, and purple for her earrings. This isn't really a huge problem for her design, & actually works in her favor thanks to the fact that she's a traveling clown (if the make-up & clown shoes didn't make it obvious enough).

As such, she kinda has an excuse to go all Sylvie Paula Palua on us with her color palette (at least to an extent). And even then, she doesn't go anywhere near as crazy as Sylvie Paula Paula does in terms of colors, as all the deviations from said color trio are within the warm color spectrum (and, as mentioned already, are limited to her arms & hair). Though beyond the hair & arms, the main focal point of Lola Pop's design is also her main gameplay gimmick, her poofy MC Hammer-style pants. On top of being the main source of yellow in her design, they also act as a signifier of Lola Pop's gimmick of being able to blow herself up like a balloon to defend herself, which plays into her more defensive play-style. Unlike the rest of the cast, Lola Pop can block out of basically any movement option (out of dash, jump, jumping dash, you name it). She can even jump or dash out of shield, which gives her some added mobility on top of her defensive-heavy play-style. It's this level of freedom that initially drew me to her......at least until Dr. Coyle came along, but Lola Pop remains my secondary. And even though she (unfortunately) lost to Min Min in the first round for the Party Crash Bash (& also didn't get a Spirit in Smash Ultimate ;_;), Lola Pop remains one of my favorite characters in the cast. Speaking of Min Min...

The Ramen Bomber
MIN MIN

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The only character to best Twintelle in popularity overall & Smash's ARMS rep, Min Min is the favorite of Japan (up there with Kid Cobra for Japanese players)......& my youngest little cousin, and is overall Twintelle's main competition for the top lady in terms of fan reception (to the point where she won the Party Crash Bash). And if I have to be frank, while her design is solid, it doesn't hit me with its greatness like Twintelle, Dr. Coyle, & Lola Pop. Like, leggings aside, Min Min's design mostly sticks with the 3 main colors template (orange, green, & yellow), with different shades of said colors scattered throughout the design. Likewise, the shorts, leggings, & beefier legs do communicate that Min Min actually kicks in-game (unlike the rest of the cast). And her noodle hair & arms give a pretty obvious hint towards her profession as helping with her family's noodle shop.

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I think my issue with Min Min's design is the shade of orange used. It's not an eye-sore, which is a good thing, but I feel like it doesn't jive well with the rest of the design. There's actually a black-&-yellow color variant that I prefer to the original version. But otherwise, Min Min's design is competent & communicates just enough to where you know what she's about. Speaking of, the main focus of her design besides her legs & noddles is the giant dragon arm, which transitions perfectly into her gameplay. Most of Min Min's game-plan is to charge her left arm to Dragon Mode as soon as possible, which can be done by either grabbing your opponent or just holding the Dash button to charge up said arm. But if you get knocked down, you lose your dragon arm charge. This coupled with her kicks (which deflects punches) gives Min Min a more involved game-plan than most other characters in the game, which is something I appreciate. In fact, she's actually one of my pocket characters & is really fun to play. So in a way, her overall fun gameplay kinda makes up for me not being as crazy about certain design choices for Min Min's look. But I completely understand why most of you love her. I'm mainly just cool with her, which is far from a bad thing.

The Scrapyard Scrapper
MECHANICA

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The ARMS fangirl turned mech-piloting competitor. As a character, I feel like a lot of people are sleeping on Mechanica. Her gameplay is relatively normal for some of the heavies in the game, she doesn't flinch much due to her mech's large size & also can dash farther due to her jets. But it's her design that really caught my attention. Simon (Gurren Lagann) & D.Va (Overwatch) comparisons aside, what you notice right away is that Mechanica isn't actually born with the ARMS gene, as you can tell from the lack of spirals in her eyes. How she makes up for it is with the aforementioned mech, which takes up most of the design. With that said, I do feel like this obeys the 3 main color template.....or 2 in Mechanica's case.....a little too well. Mechanica's two main colors are yellow & black (red & white are the caution borders, so I don't really count those, even though it's a nice touch). And while the mech is a pretty unique design in a world filled with mechs in media already, I can kinda understand why people feel like the mech itself doesn't stand out that much. As for Mechanica herself, her zero suit is definitively functional.

Her zero suit adheres to the mech's pre-existing color palette as well as having her branding on it (which can be found on the mech's feet as well as her Revolver ARM)......though I'm not sure if that's actually her brand or the company who sponsors her (the latter would explain where Mechanica got the funding for her mech in the first place). And from what I can tell, the zero suit doesn't have any heels (something that plagued Zero Suit Samus from Other M onwards, Smash included.....even if the Smash ones serve a function). She also has padded gloves, though I'm not sure what function they serve unless she finds herself in a fight & her mech is destroyed (unless the vibrations are to the point where the lack of padding would screw up her precise aiming). Overall, the zero suit isn't anything to write home about, but it does what it needs to. I suppose the same could be said about her mech, even though the design itself is pretty unique relative to other mechs elsewhere. It's really the idea of the two of them working in unison that really sells the character for me, but I suppose I can understand why her design doesn't grab as many people's attention as it did for me.

 

[Neoxon]

The Student of Stealth
NINJARA

If you've played a decent bit of ARMS online, then you've likely come across either Ninjara or Springtron along the way. And for good reason, he's one of the obligatory speedy character who can teleport from Point A to Point B, thus helping with your mix-up game (just please don't constantly do grab out of dash, you'll get exposed sooner or later). He's a pretty easy character to get a grasp of after you get used to the basics, & clearly people have taken a liking to him as far back as the initial Global Testpunch.

Overall, Ninjara is the #2 favorite over in Japan & is Top 5 in general, so he definitely has his fans. As for his design, it's a bit more understated than I expected for a person who's in a college for ninjas. He looks more like a ninja of the modern era (Zeku would be so proud) in terms of how he chooses to dress, which both fits his profession (or soon-to-be profession) as well as him being an ARMS League competitor. In fact, the only three main parts of Ninjara's design that tip you off that he's a ninja (beyond his name) are the shrunken hair knot, his huge collar (which could double as a mouth mask), & the toe-split for his shoes. With that said, I think it's a good thing that the character designers went this route with Ninjara, as going the stereotypical route with his look would make him seem like just another ninja in the sea of ninjas in gaming. Plus the shade of green used for his three main colors (black, dark blue, & neon green) helps certain parts of his look grab your attention without it being too rough on the eyes. The only part about Ninjara's design that I'm a bit iffy on is the decision to use chains for his extending arms, but I guess it makes sense considering that chains are used to keep nunchucks together (which are sometimes used by ninjas as weapons). Either way, like Lola Pop, I feel like Ninjara's design doesn't get enough credit, but I'm glad it turned out as well as it did......even if I don't play him. Of course, I also mentioned Springtron as a commonly-used character online, so let's get to him.

The Mean Machine
SPRINGTRON

As the bonus DLC character that wasn't originally planned, Springtron takes up the "Doppelgänger of the Main Character" archetype & is basically Spring Man's Metal Sonic equivalent. Created by Dr. Coyle, Springtron does most of what Spring Man does if you swap Spring Man's comeback factor (think Lucario's aura in Smash) with an EMP blast that disables the arms of anyone punching when it goes off. While it seems overpowered, it can be countered by not punching when he's charging & go for the punish while Springtron is in his frames of recovery (I'd personally suggest a grab or a rush/super). Because of the EMP, you'll see Springtron everywhere online, even during the Party Crashes that don't involve him. Hell, he even beat Spring Man during their Party Crash Bash Tournament round.

As for the design, much of Spring Man's design choices translate over to Springtron pretty well, with a unique use of metal to replicate Spring Man's iconic spiral hair (or toothpaste hair, as some like to call it). Even Spring Man's rather strict adherence to the three main colors template rings true for Springtron, just swap light blue for dark gray. But while it can make the overall design feel a bit more bland as a result, it kind of helps the red (or whatever alternate color you use for Springtron) stand out more than it would on Spring Man. The mouth mask, while a bit too on-the-nose in terms of letting the player know that Springtron is an evil doppelgänger, does a good job of working with the metal hair & body to help the player tell Springtron & Spring Man apart at a quick glance. Another thing I noticed is the branding on Springtron's shoes. I originally thought it was just a signifier that Dr. Coyle created him (as is the case in-canon). But it turns out to be the same branding found on Spring Man's shoes, which has some pretty interesting implications for Spring Man (though I may be reading too much into it). Overall, most of Spring Man's strengths in terms of design carry over to Springtron, and the changes that exist for Springtron are there to help set him apart from the genuine article. Basically, Springtron does his job & does it well......maybe a little too well.

The Speed Demon
KID COBRA

I'm not gonna lie, I don't really see the appeal of Kid Cobra. Yeah, I get it, he's a streamer who's also a skateboarder. He even shares the speedy character archetype with Ninjara (it's in his title). But at the same time, he has this mystery surrounding him on if he's human or something else entirely that I don't really get. But to Kid Cobra's credit, his design is a solid one that lives up to his namesake as well as his skateboarding profession.

Like the rest of the cast up to this point, Kid Cobra adheres to the three main color template (purple, white, & baby blue) with hints of yellow here-&-there meant to grab your attention. The heterochromia iridium going on with his eyes does lend more credence to the mystery of what exactly Kid Cobra is. And from a gameplay perspective, he can do multiple dashes, which nets him a pretty big following in terms of players online. But at the same time, he doesn't really stand out compared to the rest of the cast. That's not to say that he's outright bad, none of the ARMS characters are. It's just that in a sea of great characters, Kid Cobra's just a okay character with a solid design.

The Spirited Fighter
MISANGO

Heavily inspired by Mayan culture & our 2nd person of color in ARMS, Misango (who looks a lot like Star Platinum) is the second most unique character of the entire cast (behind only Helix). This is thanks to his unnamed mask spirit friend who, upon holding dash long enough, grants you the following stat changes depending on the color...

• Red: Buffs your damage, punch resistance, & ARM girth at the cost of movement speed
• Blue: Buffs your movement speed at the cost of ARM girth & damage
• Yellow: Buffs your rush/super meter charge rate & blocks attacks upon rush/super activation at the cost of grab damage & movement speed

If I had to compare his abilities to anyone, it'd be Shulk's Monado Arts in Smash Wii U/3DS & Ultimate. Anyway, Misango's uniqueness not only comes from his gameplay, but also his design. In fact, Misango's design is more in touch with his cultural roots than pretty much any other character in the game.

Misango mostly adheres to the three main color template (which seems to be a specific strength of the ARMS cast), with the exception of the gold seen on his emblem & mask. His main colors are brown (with different shades of brown being used throughout his design), blue, & black. The blue is used to emphasize the cultural parts of his design, the black empathizes the athletic parts with the fabric used in his outfit, & the gold supplements the blue in emphasizing the cultural parts of Misango design on top of standing out more due to being outside of Misango's trio of main colors. Every part of his design serves a specific purpose, & I absolutely love that. Even his cornrows help him stand out from the rest of the cast. I just wish that I was better at using him.

The Commish
MAX BRASS

The champ himself, Max Brass was the original final boss (before Dr. Coyle up-staged him in a later update) & the first of the five DLC characters. In terms of gameplay, he's honestly closer to Spring Man in play-style than Springtron is. The main differentiating factors are Max Brass' weight class (he's a heavy character) & how his buffing-up is handled. In the case of the latter, Max Brass can actually buff himself up manually by holding down dash for a while & can maintain that buff-up until you throw a punch. Where the Spring Man similarity comes in is when you're at 25% health left, said buff stays for the rest of the match.....unless you heal yourself to above the 25% threshold. While it doesn't make him all that unique, it does serve as an interesting way to give the narrative that he's what Spring Man can one day become by taking his title as the champion. But of course, Max Brass isn't gonna go down without a fight, which is shown by both his beefy physique (especially when buffed-up) & his comeback mechanic.

As far as his design goes, I both like it & find some things about it that are off. Max Brass is a rare exception in that he doesn't exactly adhere to the three main color template. I would say that his main colors are pale blue, gold, & black, but he also has brown on his arms & championship belt. This is really the only thing that I find off, but it could be argued that the brown elements are meant to work with the gold in highlighting his status as the champ. But what I absolutely love about Max Brass' design is how the gold chest plates are used. As mentioned earlier, Max Brass can buff up his body if you hold down the dash button. The function of the chest plates is to highlight how beefed up Max Brass becomes upon charging him up, which is a genius design decision that legitimately helps with gameplay. That plus it reminds me a lot of All Might (which I suppose isn't a far-off comparison given his age & status). Otherwise, his design is a perfectly viable wrestling costume that does its job & helps highlight his charisma, even though I would have personally swapped the brown parts for black. While I don't play Max Brass outside of the occasional Party Crash (if he isn't competing against someone I prefer over him), I do enjoy his presence.

The Grim Creeper
MASTER MUMMY

Of the base roster, Master Mummy serves as the token heavy character of the cast. Like Mechanica, he has quite a bit of super armor, but ie isn't exactly the fastest character in the cast. But Master Mummy has the added bonus of being able to heal himself while blocking, even if it leaves you wide open for grabs. So he generally has a more tank-like play-style, which is fine for those who prefer beefier characters. As for his design, it's just good enough without going a bit deeper. Master Mummy's main three colors are white, purple, & gold (with a bit of baby blue for the shoes). The emphasis is on the former two colors, so I feel like his design doesn't really stand out. Granted, the gold is used well enough to have his symbol stand out, but I feel like they do enough. Though to Master Mummy's credit, the use of purple for the wrestling outfit he wears helps break up all the white. Plus the use of bandages in Master Mummy's design (hence the "Mummy" part of his name) does transition perfectly into his arms, which has them feel like a more cohesive part of his look.

What we know of Master Mummy is that he's trying to reunite with his wife & son. And while that does provide a deeper backstory for the character that goes against what you would normally think for his motivation, I wish they snuck in something like a locket for a family photo somewhere. If anything, it would have added a bit more gold to the design outside of Master Mummy's emblem & whatever helmet thing he has on. But overall, he's alright. Nothing to write home about, but he does what he does reasonably well. If anything, he's the opposite of Kid Cobra in that he's a solid character with an okay design. That's not bad, mind you, but it doesn't help him stand out amongst the sea of stellar characters (at least in my opinion).

The "Man" of Mystery
HELIX (DNA MAN)

The oddball of the cast & a creation of Dr. Coyle's ARMS Laboratory, Helix (or DNA Man if you're from Japan.....you'd think that after the Shadaloo incident Capcom had with Street Fighter that Nintendo would keep the names consistent worldwide) is up there amongst the most unique ARMS characters in both his design and his gameplay. Regarding how he plays, Helix is interesting due to how he can change his shape mid-fight. Helix can squish himself down to dodge hits or bring himself high up to weave past attacks left & right. He's not exactly an easy target to hit, so you'll have to be careful in how you approach him. Likewise, Helix isn't exactly an easy character to get the hang of if you're used to most of the other characters in the cast (even compared to Misango, who generally has a similar game-plan as the other character outside of his mask stances). Likewise, his weird nature made it to where his design didn't need much to have it stand out.

Helix's main colors are green (duh), magenta, & light blue. The former makes up 80% of his actual design, while the latter two colors are mostly found on his arms (hence his Japanese name, DNA Man) & hair(?). The use of yellow as the bases of the DNA strand arms, it's understated enough to where it stands out just enough without overpowering the rest of his look. As for the goggles, they're a great way of giving more personality to the character, & I'm honestly glad that they're there. In short, there isn't a whole lot to talk about because Helix himself does most of the talking. He's a weirdo, but in the best way possible.

The Clockwork Cops
BYTE & BARQ

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The dynamic duo of the game & another unique play-style (I'd say he's 3rd behind Helix & Misango), Byte's gameplay centers around positioning himself relative to where Barq is as well as where the opponent is standing. Barq will throw out a punch every once in a while to help out, & doing Byte's rush/super has Barq dock himself on Byte's head to provide an extra limb for punching. If I had to make a comparison, I'd say that Barq is like a Luma that you don't have direct control over. Basically Byte is less of a puppet character & more of you following it around. In a way, it's a pretty good analogy towards the relationship between a police officer & their canine partners. Said canine partners can be a big help when you need them the most, & the same applies to Barq in relation to Byte.

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Byte & Barq both adhere to the three main color template, with said colors being blue, yellow, & gray. The blue & yellow highlight the officer aspect of their looks, while the red on their heads helps empathize their profession (& why they were built in the first place). Barq is the odd one with the use of white & orange for his mouth & nose, but it helps serve the purpose of making Barq stand out during a fight. If I had to nitpick about Byte's design, I'd say that the gears & wind-up keys on his shoulder blades & shoulders respectively are a bit unnecessary & get in the way of an otherwise-sleek look. But besides that, I do like what was done with the two of them. They may not be my top characters, but they were built for a job that they do pretty damn well.


As promised, here's the TL;DR section that's basically my ranking for the characters. Keep in mind that this is purely my opinion, though feel free to give your two cents on the matter.

1. Twintelle​
2. Dr. Coyle​
3. Min Min​
4. Lola Pop​
5. Spring Man​
6. Mechanica​
7. Misango​
8. Ribbon Girl​
9. Max Brass​
10. Helix​
11. Ninjara​
12. Springtron​
13. Byte & Barq​
14. Kid Cobra​
15. Master Mummy​

Overall, I honestly believe that there isn't a bad design of these 15 character. It's just that I like some of the designs more than others, even though they're all solid in my eyes. That's no easy feat to accomplish, & Yabuki's team at Nintendo EPD Kyoto should be commended for what they were able to accomplish here. My only hope is that we continue to see these characters & their franchise grow (& with how well the game did on its first go, I'm not too worried about the future). Like I said earlier, please feel free to leave your thoughts on the characters' designs, their gameplay, my ranking, or whatever you want to discuss about the cast of ARMS. I'd love to read everyone's though

 

[Derachi]

ARMS is proof to me that Nintendo can still make extremely endearing characters. I hope it sold well enough that we get to see more of this cast.

 

[B00T]

I really, really hope we get a sequel sooner vs later. While the competitive side ended up being very meh to me, sneaking in matches with friends quickly and the overall lobby system of online still makes this really good, casual, easy to play fun. Fuckin' loved Max Brass, Min Min and Helix.

 

[Deleted member 10737]

amazing cast of characters. great designs, each one looks and feels unique, they really did a good job creating the world and characters of this game. i like the designs of kid cobra and dr. coyle the least but even those are pretty good. my favorites are min min, misango, lola pop and of course twintelle.
for the sequel, they need to keep everyone, add 10 more characters, and have some GOOD single player content. then the game has a chance to be something truly amazing. i hope they have it ready for the launch of switch 2 (i don't see it being released on switch).

 

[kennyamr]

For a brief second I read that as ASMR.

 

[Deleted member 10737]

For a brief second I read that as ASMR.

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[Hadok]

yeah Arms is one of my favorite game this gen.
Nintendo did a great job with the characters.
Let's hope Arm 2 will happen.

 

[AcademicSaucer]

The lack of a proper story mode really hurt the game, they were telling us about the backstory via tweets

 

[Ouroboros]

I didn't buy the full game but enjoyed the online demo a good bit. After hearing online was very empty after a few months I decided to pass and wait for smash.

 

[i-Jest]

Did the game sell well enough for a sequel? Was it popular enough to get continuous updates? I knew it was a launch game, but like many launch games before it I completely forgot about it.

 

[Neoxon]

I didn't buy the full game but enjoyed the online demo a good bit. After hearing online was very empty after a few months I decided to pass and wait for smash.

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The game's still decently populated even after Smash (more so during Party Crashes, ARMS's Splatfest equivalent), so I'm not sure where you heard that from.

Did the game sell well enough for a sequel? Was it popular enough to get continuous updates? I knew it was a launch game, but like many launch games before it I completely forgot about it.

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The game sold well over 2 million units, which is pretty damn good for a new fighting game IP. The support it got resulted in one additional character compared to the 4 that were originally planned (that bonus character being Springtron) & us being on our third round of Party Crashes.

 

[Deleted member 10737]

Did the game sell well enough for a sequel? Was it popular enough to get continuous updates? I knew it was a launch game, but like many launch games before it I completely forgot about it.

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it did get a fair amount of content added to it post-launch (the cast and stage count went from 10 to 15)
it sold very well for a new fighting game IP on a new platform. it sold 2.1 million copies, when most of the biggest fighting games on much bigger platforms do like 3.5, 4 million at most.

 

[B00T]

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I laughed way too hard at this, thank you

 

[Deleted member 10737]

I laughed way too hard at this, thank you

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i just searched for arms asmr, not expecting anything, and then boom there it was. that whole channel is insane, he unboxes nintendo stuff while doing asmr.

The lack of a proper story mode really hurt the game, they were telling us about the backstory via tweets

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yeah that was a shame, the word and characters had some great lore behind them but they couldn't be bothered to tell those stories in the game, outside of biff's one line of commentary before each round.

 

[Comic Obsessed]

ARMS 2 needs to happen.

 

[Glio]

Fantastic analysis

 

[Remapped88]

I f'ing love the character designs in ARMS, it reminds me of 90's Capcom in a way especially the drawings. I still want Nintendo to release an art book of ARMS that shows all the art for it since I'm sure they had many cool/neat concept art for the characters/gloves/stages/etc.

Hopefully if they make a ARMS 2, they can can add a story mode that gives them more life since it seems kinda wasted as of now with just the little that they have.

 

[Neoxon]

I f'ing love the character designs in ARMS, it reminds me of 90's Capcom in a way especially the drawings. I still want Nintendo to release an art book of ARMS that shows all the art for it since I'm sure they had many cool/neat concept art for the characters/gloves/stages/etc.

Hopefully if they make a ARMS 2, they can can add a story mode that gives them more life since it seems kinda wasted as of now with just the little that they have.

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I feel like this nails why I love the designs so much. Not all of 90's Capcom's designs were perfect (Sakura, Karin, & Balrog's designs didn't age well, hence their superior SFV redesigns), but damn did they put out effort sprinkled with charm on top.

 

[Remapped88]

I feel like this nails why I love the designs so much. Not all of 90's Capcom's designs were perfect (Sakura, Karin, & Balrog's designs didn't age well, hence their superior SFV redesigns), but damn did they put out effort sprinkled with charm on top.

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Yeap :D! ARMS has that old Edayan and Bengus feel to them that reminds me of the Alpha series, Rival Schools, old VS series, Darkstalkers type of artwork that I admire so much growing up. And agree since I definitely like SFV's updated character designs for those certain characters.

 

[leder]

Cool OP, I own the game and didn't even know about the last three characters. I should really play this game again. My favorites were BB and Min Min, but I also loved Twintelle and mechanica. It's great to see a Nintendo game have so many fantastic female characters for a change.

 

[Neoxon]

Cool OP, I own the game and didn't even know about the last three characters. I should really play this game again. My favorites were BB and Min Min, but I also loved Twintelle and mechanica. It's great to see a Nintendo game have so many fantastic female characters for a change.

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You didn't know about Master Mummy, Helix, or Byte & Barq? Odd, they were in the base game, but I'm glad I brought them to your attention.

 

[leder]

You didn't know about Master Mummy, Helix, or Byte & Barq? Odd, they were in the base game, but I'm glad I brought them to your attention.

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Oh I mean the most recent 3, so the later DLC characters.

 

[Jawmuncher]

I was ready to throw down with Neoxon if he had something mean to say about my girl Lola Pop.
Thankfully we don't have to worry about that now. She's my favorite character in Arms and I like her design so much that I use her as my Nintendo Avatar over the T-rex from Mario Odyssey.

 

[Neoxon]

I was ready to throw down with Neoxon if he had something mean to say about my girl Lola Pop.
Thankfully we don't have to worry about that now. She's my favorite character in Arms and I like her design so much that I use her as my Nintendo Avatar over the T-rex from Mario Odyssey.

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Of course I wasn't gonna bad-mouth my secondary.

 

[Richietto]

I f'ing love the character designs in ARMS, it reminds me of 90's Capcom in a way especially the drawings. I still want Nintendo to release an art book of ARMS that shows all the art for it since I'm sure they had many cool/neat concept art for the characters/gloves/stages/etc.

Hopefully if they make a ARMS 2, they can can add a story mode that gives them more life since it seems kinda wasted as of now with just the little that they have.

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Exactly how I feel. Oozes that Capcom style to a t. Such a fantastic visual style.

 

[Deleted member 42484]

Great OP and great reminder just how on point the artwork and character design is for this game. I think I like the character, world, and visuals more than I did the gameplay, which I found had too steep a learning curve for me to jive with.

 

[RochHoch]

Good to see some Lola Pop love here. She's easily my favorite character in ARMS, both design and gameplay-wise.

 

[Injustice45]

ARMS already has one of my favorite casts in fighting games. They're designed so well. Twintelle's my main, but I feel that Mechanica is being slept on. She has some solid tools, pretty much a more mobile Master Mummy minus the healing. Even characters I rarely use like Helix and Misango have something that makes them stand out, something that catches my eye. I just love these characters. It's a shame that there isn't more lore in the game itself.

 

[Neoxon]

ARMS already has one of my favorite casts in fighting games. They're designed so well. Twintelle's my main, but I feel that Mechanica is being slept on. She has some solid tools, pretty much a more mobile Master Mummy minus the healing. Even characters I rarely use like Helix and Misango have something that makes them stand out, something that catches my eye. I just love these characters. It's a shame that there isn't more lore in the game itself.

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I feel like a solid foundation is already there, it just needs more to be built on top of it. I'd imagine that a sequel would have more in-game lore, as I recall an interview that they had to decide between a story or more characters.

 

[tenderbrew]

Awesome thread - this game is one of my straight-up underappreciated loves of this generation. Spent so much time in those online party lobbies. One of the best implementations of that that I've seen. Wish more Nintendo games (Smash) had an implementation similar.

 

[Neoxon]

Awesome thread - this game is one of my straight-up underappreciated loves of this generation. Spent so much time in those online party lobbies. One of the best implementations of that that I've seen. Wish more Nintendo games (Smash) had an implementation similar.

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To my knowledge, games like Guitly Gear, BlazBlue, DBFZ, & even MvCI use a similar lobby system. It's just that ARMS did it a bit more elegantly. If only Smash Ultimate took more cues from ARMS in terms of how online play was handled.

 

[Neoxon]

Now that an ARMS character was confirmed for Smash, I thought now would be a good time to bring back this thread. I love this game dearly, it's easily one of my favorite Switch games. Hell, it got my little cousins to buy a Switch. And I'm glad that more people will learn to enjoy it as I have.

 

[Deleted member 25799]

Nice, I haven't played much ARMS as I thought it was overpriced at launch and after that I lost interest, but a friend recently got it and I played a bit with him before the whole quarantine thing happened.

I'd definitely love to see Twintelle, Dr. Coyle (probably my favorite design as well), or Ribbon Girl as the Smash rep.

 

[Neoxon]

Nice, I haven't played much ARMS as I thought it was overpriced at launch and after that I lost interest, but a friend recently got it and I played a bit with him before the whole quarantine thing happened.

I'd definitely love to see Twintelle, Dr. Coyle (probably my favorite design as well), or Ribbon Girl as the Smash rep.

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They really hit it out of the park with Dr. Coyle's design. With the whole ARMS resurgence, I could honestly see her standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Nintendo's best antagonists.

 

[Pokémon]

Wow, amazing thread. Arms is not my type of game since I don't like fighting games but I love the characters. The artstyle is amazing and I hope we will see a sequel in the future. Seriously, so many well designed fighters which makes it hard to pick one.

 

[zoodoo]

The character design is pretty dope. Is this game any good? Any single player content?

 

[Deleted member 25799]

They really hit it out of the park with Dr. Coyle's design. With the whole ARMS resurgence, I could honestly see her standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Nintendo's best antagonists.

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Yeah, I've always felt like we needed more women and villains in Smash, so that'd be perfect! That inclusion wouldn't feel forced to me. I still have a feeling it's going to be Twintelle, though.

To be honest, I'd be somewhat disappointed if we ended up getting Spring Man.

 

[Neoxon]

The character design is pretty dope. Is this game any good? Any single player content?

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The game is fun, but there isn't a ton of content. More than launch, for sure. But it could definitely use more.

Yeah, I've always felt like we needed more women and villains in Smash, so that'd be perfect! That inclusion wouldn't feel forced to me. I still have a feeling it's going to be Twintelle, though.

To be honest, I'd be somewhat disappointed if we ended up getting Spring Man.

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I'd still prefer Twintelle or Min Min as the main rep (mostly the former), but I'd be down for Dr. Coyle coming later.

 

[Moksha]

Thanks for reminding me how much I like these characters! I really liked Arms, I haven't played it since the last Party Crash though.
I don't play Smash but I'm glad to hear they're getting some representation. Hopefully a sequel is in the works.
I'd love to see alternate skins, a better way (than I remember) to display badges and a better story.

 

[TheWorthyEdge]

Damn. You should get more praise for this write up. Really nice. Excited to jump back in with the Free Period.

 

[808s & Villainy]

I really love the ARMS character designs and think they capture the spirit of the CPS2 days better than any new Capcom characters since then, but for the life of me i couldn't get into the game. Hopefully a sequel or a spinoff or maybe another new IP with the same character design is released

 

[Neoxon]

I really love the ARMS character designs and think they capture the spirit of the CPS2 days better than any new Capcom characters since then, but for the life of me i couldn't get into the game. Hopefully a sequel or a spinoff or maybe another new IP with the same character design is released

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I've actually seen quite a few comparison to Capcom's classic designs with regards to the ARMS cast, & I honestly agree. They give off a very 90's Capcom vibe in the best way possible.

Damn. You should get more praise for this write up. Really nice. Excited to jump back in with the Free Period.

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Thank you, seriously. A lot of work went into this thread, & now I had the excuse to update it a bit to bring it more in line with my more recent threads.

 

[Arttemis]

I'd love MinMin personally, as she's one of my favorites in the game. Also, being an ambassador for the game ARMS, it's nice that she actually uses her arms.

 

[Neoxon]

Thanks for reminding me how much I like these characters! I really liked Arms, I haven't played it since the last Party Crash though.
I don't play Smash but I'm glad to hear they're getting some representation. Hopefully a sequel is in the works.
I'd love to see alternate skins, a better way (than I remember) to display badges and a better story.

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With the huge push ARMS is getting out of the blue, I have a good feeling that they have something big planned for the franchise.