That the next Challenger Pack for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will feature ARMS has been very exciting news for me, because it's one of my favorite games for Nintendo Switch, despite its shortcomings. But it's super stylish, has great music and excellent character design.
And in general I'm an advocate for more 1st party titles in the DLC for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. They should at least try to represent the era of Nintendo Switch and the late era of Wii U and Nintendo 3DS somewhat, where so far we only got Splatoon, Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey in the base game. Fire Emblem: Three Houses was a start for the DLC, but ARMS is even better. And I bet we will also be getting another Pokémon from Sword & Shield, while ideally Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze will finally get the representation it deserves...
Anyway, as for ARMS, they did a clever announcement here, where they didn't reveal the exact fighter, only the game, so people will be speculating about their favorite candidate from ARMS for the next two months.
It's theoretically possible that they might go with a collection of characters here, like with the Koopalings or Hero. But in this case only the physically similar fighters like Spring Man, Ribbon Girl, Min Min or Ninjara could be considered and they would all loose their unique personality and special traits with that, which would be a shame. Multiple characters via alts only work well, if they really are the same thing, may it be because of the Clown Kart or because of their silent protagonist status. But with ARMS it would be a waste, where getting one character with his full personality in place would be the better deal. So, let's focus on this.
Spring Man?
If we were talking about a newcomer in the next Super Smash Bros. game, then pretty much everyone would expect Spring Man to be the first ARMS representative. But he's already in the game as an Assist Trophy and the nature of this reveal makes him quite questionable overall. Why make it a secret, if they are just going with the main dude anyway? Why tease the possibility of getting any fighter from ARMS, if they are just going with the poster child?
Well, maybe it's to avoid questions about his Assist Trophy or even the expectation that they will upgrade more Assist Trophies afterwards. In this special case it's theoretically possible to turn Spring Man's Assist Trophy into Springtron whenever a Spring Man player is present, but such a trick wouldn't work for most Assist Trophies.
However, getting an upgraded Assist Trophy would feel cheap in any case, because then you are paying for something that's already half in the game. Spring Man's model and some of his animations and sound effects are already there, all they need to do is finish the job, while all other DLC fighters so far were completely new.
As a compensation they could go for yet another exception and include an Echo Fighter in the pack, two for one. In this case the Echo Fighter would almost certainly become Ribbon Girl, the game's second poster child, which was even a suggestion that I've made when Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was still in development in 2018. And this would be an ideal outcome.
But all of this would make this Challenger Pack quite extraordinary, where Sakurai would have lots of explaining to do, why these are exceptions and we shouldn't be expecting anything like this for any of the other Challenger Packs...
Who else?
With all of this in mind, the "Ryu" of ARMS is probably out of the picture, but there are more than a dozen other possibilities to go with, which are all more interesting anyway and where I'm personally hoping for one of the ladies, because other than female Byleth the DLC really only offered male fighters so far. And ARMS has some very cool girls to offer.
So, let's talk about the three most popular ones:
- Ribbon Girl would be my pick. She's the second poster child of the game, where she's on the cover of the game punching Spring Man in the face, and therefore would represent the game as well as Spring Man – she even sings in the title song. Her singing could also be used to give her lots of personality via taunts and idle animations. And for what it's worth, her default Arms have the same color scheme as the ARMS logo. She would also be the most suitable to receive colored alt skins based on the other fighters. And her multi-jump and fast fall abilities would fit Super Smash Bros. very well, while she's overall not too obscure with her mechanics, like some of the others. However, with that she would probably end up as another boring reveal, much like Spring Man. She's simply the most obvious choice next to him and these two characters would probably be received best as Echo Fighters of each other in a nice bundle.
- Twintelle is overall super popular and arguably the sexiest character in the game, which is part of the reason why she has so many fans. It's "dat ass". But her main gimmick is that she doesn't have extendable "Arms" and instead fights with her hair, which might not be the best representation for ARMS overall, a game that is all about extendable arms. The Direct even directly stated that "this fighter's arms can exteeeend", which wouldn't be true for Twintelle (though this doesn't necessarily have to mean anything, because the fighter was probably even a secret to the people making the Direct announcement). Using her hair could give her additional options for grabs, however, since she can use her arms normally. In ARMS she is also able to slow down enemy attacks, which would make her feel very similar to Bayonetta overall – Bayonetta even acts as Twintelle in her Spirit Battle. But because Bayonetta experienced some glitches after the last update, people speculated that she might be the base for the next DLC fighter, so this could actually speak for Twintelle...
- Min Min is a another fan favorite and even won last year's "Party Crash Bash", which was essentially a popularity content tournament, where it's possible that this has influenced the choice for a fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. She also offers some more interesting weapons and abilities like the dragon arm, which could be utilized for Special Moves and showcasing the use of two different Arms, or the ability to kick, which would be perfect for aerial attacks and even jabs, while overall staying quite close to the concept of extendable arms. So, she's special enough to make her more interesting and even work better in Smash, but not too crazy to make her more complicated than necessary.
However, there is one small issue here: all of these ladies are already present in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in the form of Spirits, together with Spring Man and Ninjara. Of course they could simply change the existing Spirits somehow, since it would be silly to exclude the most popular choices upfront because of some PNGs. They could even replace the fighters in the existing Spirit Battles with the DLC characters, if you have purchased them.
In case of Ribbon Girl and Ninjara things would even be less complicated, because they don't actually have a Spirit Battle. You can only summon them via cores. That's actually another point in favor of Ribbon Girl, while Ninjara overall doesn't feel as likely as the others, because we already have two Ninja characters in Smash Bros. already.
But you never know how Sakurai's team has planned things and it's even of note how there are Spirits and an Assist Trophy from ARMS in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate already, but no music at all, leaving this for a potential stage later on. So, maybe an ARMS fighter was on the list that Sakurai has received when planning the DLC early on, even before the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
And if Spirits from the base game really still disconfirm and it's not going to be any of them (which would be a shame), then we would be dealing with the following 10 fighters:
- Master Mummy
- Mechanica
- Byte & Barq
- Kid Cobra
- Helix
- Max Brass
- Lola Pop
- Misango
- Springtron
- Dr. Coyle
Mechanica would be an odd choice for similar reasons as Twintelle, because she doesn't really have extendable arms herself and instead uses a mecha suit. Byte & Barq were designed around a partner mechanic, much like Rosalina & Luma, where this might be too much for a new fighter in Smash, because the extendable arms are already more than enough for a fighter gimmick. Add different types of Arms on top and there's no need for another major mechanic, really.
Master Mummy and Kid Cobra would be cool, but would also feel like rather random choices. There's nothing that makes them really stand out, where they should be picked over any of the others. So, in the end Helix probably sticks out the most with his gooey existence and would also offer the ability to shrink and grow... maybe even as a recovery move. But then again, he would give the impression that ARMS is all about stretching your entire body, which isn't exactly the case. And he would end up being needlessly complicated for a first ARMS fighter.
The other five were all DLC characters, where Lola Pop, Misango and Dr. Coyle seem a little off and are probably not as recognizable and known as the earlier fighters. Dr. Coyle's levitation also makes her feel like the wrong pick for Smash, though it's not exactly something that has stopped other characters. And Misango is in a similar situation to Byte & Barq, where his main gimmick with the different perk masks is another major mechanic on top of what we already have.
As for the rest, it would be funny, if they were going with Springtron, simply because Spring Man is an Assist Trophy already and he's the next best thing to him. But as already said, Springtron could act as the Assist Trophy in case they are going for Spring Man. And out of the DLC list Max Brass is probably the strongest contender, because he's the greatest champion of the ARMS universe and could add another good heavy fighter to Smash.
The Stage?
Speaking of Max Brass, I've always listed the Sky Arena as a "perfect" stage for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, if ARMS ever were to be represented, simply because you could fall off this place. And this still holds, no matter which fighter they are going with. It's used as the stage for the grand finale in the game and could even feature Max Brass (and the Hedlok) as a stage boss. In the very least its awesome music is a must.
Otherwise they could go with whatever stage the new fighters has in ARMS, but stuff like Spring Stadium, the Sparring Ring or the Sky Arena seem like the best fit for some general ARMS representation. Especially the Spring Stadium feels iconic to the game and would probably come with the most fun mechanics, something very unique like the King of Fighters Stadium, but with bounce pads.
Ribbon Ring might also be okay, but if they are really going for both Ribbon Girl and the Ribbon Ring, it would more feel like a "Ribbon Girl Challenger Pack" and not one for ARMS in general... Stages like the Ramen Bowl or the DNA lab also feel too "special" already, where they are too focused around the respective fighters. So, it's probably going to be Spring Stadium in any case, where it would create a good mix, if Spring Man himself isn't the fighter.
Alternatively, they could also go for "Buster Beach", which is used for many of the game's mini games like "Hoops" and "V-Ball". It's also the home stage of Byte & Barq, but this shouldn't really matter and they could even use the two as an obstacle.
As long as the stage comes with all the best songs from ARMS, it will be a win anyway. Similar to Fire Emblem: Three Houses there will be some really good music coming with this Challenger Pack. It's just all so catchy and now all we need is more from Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze.
In any case I can't wait to see the next fighter in action in June!
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