Tears of the Kingdom Adventure Log, Entry 14

After my adventures around Lurelin Village, I set my goal on the mysterious set of sky islands shrouded by thunderstorm clouds. This led to a couple of surprises, but also a different journey into the heart of the Lost Woods and to a certain legendary sword that you may have heard about. Spoilers ahead!

 

Into the Thunderhead

Last time I was headed right into the giant thunderstorm above the Faron region, where this is one of two persisting storms in the skies, the other above the Hebra Mountains, which I have been successfully avoiding for all this time now, probably to my disadvantage. But I can't help but follow my own curiosity, which led me right onto "Dragonhead Island".

And I didn't know what to expect there. I first thought that the whole place might be home to a Thunder Gleeok, but there is one already on the plateau behind Malanya Spring, which I could see in the distance while flying up there. And two of them so close to each other might be a bit much, so it had to be something else...

You can see quite a lot when you first approach the thunderhead, but this luxury goes away once you've stepped on the land, where then it becomes similar to the sandstorm areas, so you won't be able to see far. But I accidentally fell right into the hole that leads to the shrine, where you can also find another door that requires a certain amount of hearts to open it. I don't remember the exact amount, but it was around ten hearts and I had more than enough.

Behind that door you'll find the mask of Mineru, Rauru's older sister and the Sage of Spirit. I already knew her from the memories and saw that she has a Secret Stone of her own, where she obviously was one of the sages, but it wasn't clear what sage exactly. Also, "spirit" wasn't mentioned in the Ring Ruins translations around Kakariko, at least not in the first four.

You can pick up her mask and it will work like one of the green crystals that you need to carry to shrines, where a green beam leads the way. This already brings you back to the surface, but I've returned to this place later to explore it more, where there is an additional group of islands, called the "Thunderhead Isles".

And I really hope that there is something there to dissolve the thunderstorm, like you could do with the sandstorms in Breath of the Wild, because exploring this place isn't much fun with the lack of vision. It's a different experience, for sure, but it's a shame that one of the few larger sets of sky islands is obscured like that. It's also going on my nerves after a while.

On the other hand... the Thunderhead Isles are probably just the ever same boring sky islands without the thunderstorm, where it might be like exploring the Thyphlo Ruins now without the darkness. While it's nice to finally see something, it just doesn't have the same mystery to it any longer and in the end is just some ruins. And I think I've explored all of it already and couldn't find anything to make the storm stop.

Contruct Construction

Already while hiking around the Necluda region I noticed the new Zonai owl statue at the pond in the north end of Tobio's Hollow, but at the time I couldn't make much sense out of it. Well, I got my answer now and it reveals an elevator into the Depths, leading down to a construction site. As the Sage of Spirit, Mineru was able to live on for all these thousands of years, her mind residing in her own creation, where it serves as the head for a slightly larger Construct:

This is another case where trailer expectations hit reality. We have seen this thing in the final trailer and everything about it screamed "boss", something similar to Gohdan, because it came out of a wall. It also looked quite big. But by now I should know better and it's just the case of the Steward Construct all over again, where the trailer made it look to me like some giant Eyegore enemy. The exact same thing has happened here and with trailers for future Zelda games I will have to be very careful with such assumptions about mechanical beings.

You now have to assemble the rest of her body, where four mini-dungeons await you in the proximity for the limbs. The limbs are all put in boxes and for whatever reason it closes the entrance once you've obtained that box, where now you have to get it across various obstacles by attaching Zonai devices. You will transport the thing in all possible ways, making it drive, swim, and fly, where this overall has been fun.

And once you're done with it all, you're rewarded with a Construct companion, where you can mount and steer the thing at any time. You can also fuse things to its arms and the back, where each of these parts have a dedicated button. And that feels a bit like playing ARMS, especially since you can attach different weapons to each arm.

Mineru's Den

Once you've put together Mineru's Construct, your task is to use it to reach the Spirit Temple and obtain her Secret Stone. And I was absolutely ecstatic for a moment here. I didn't have any major expectations when going into the Thunderhead, but I found another sage there, one who is not on your initial radar and who gives you a cool robot mech, where the two of you are now headed to an additional temple...

Before the game came out, I was even hoping that bringing the sages back would lead to more than just four main dungeons, all in the same areas as in Breath of the Wild. I was thinking that Paya could be the Sheikah sage, for example... Well, they definitely did the Sheikah dirty in this game, but getting a Zonai sage with Mineru (since Rauru wasn't technically one of the six sages, he was the king) and your own Construct along with it is pretty sweet nonetheless. So, the whole situation made me very happy and excited.

But my happiness and excitement both didn't last long... First of all, the Construct itself is super weak and leaves you very open to attacks, unless you're blocking all the time. On the way I had to fight multiple black and silver enemies, while Link is just a sitting duck on top of that Construct, especially for Lizalfos spit. So, I often just dismounted and fought the monsters directly myself, because this is where I can properly dodge and do more than just two points of damage per hit.

It still has its use, where you can safely cross gloom on that thing and speed around with a propeller, which gives you a silly Naruto-style running animation, but the overpowered hover bike makes this obsolete anyway. Come to think of it, I could have saved myself the troubles and just flown to the Spirit Temple...

But this would have cut the whole part very short, because this was like the biggest tease in the history of the Zelda series and I cannot possibly in any way or form understate my disappointment with this. The Spirit Temple was the most epic dungeon in Ocarina of Time and here it looked like they are going to mix things a bit with the Shadow Temple, because this is in the dark Depths and there are Poes everywhere. I was thrilled to explore this dungeon... only to find a boxing ring from ARMS:

I'm not even kidding here. I know that I have made several ARMS jokes about the Constructs already, even before the game came out (see here), but this fight is literally just like playing ARMS. If you were to name the boss "Springtron", you wouldn't be able to tell any difference between the two games. Okay, true, there is one big difference: you don't have the stretching arms, which was always the best part...

But this entire fight was just one horrible gimmick experience. The worst part is that the "Seized Construct" gets its own Hyrule Compendium entry and the whole arena is covered in gloom. You can't take a picture from atop your own Construct, so you have to get down and try your luck. While there are some gloom-free spots, the boss will be right in your face, so it doesn't really help. You have to try to get some distance for a good shot and you only get one second, because whenever you take damage it takes you out of the photo mode... Ugh.

I swear, I took more damage trying to take a picture of this thing than in the entire rest of the game combined. Well... it was probably not that much, but it certainly felt like it and was just pure frustrations. Maybe I was doing something wrong here, maybe this is simply a photo you're supposed to get from Robbie (it won't let you make sculptures out of it), but boy was I pissed...

And during all this I had this thought in the back of my head that the game cheated me out of a proper dungeon. Sure, the part where you collect the limbs for a Construct was very much dungeon-like, but that doesn't count. If there's no dungeon map, it's not a real dungeon! Plus, with the Water Temple you also had the Wellspring Island before it, where this was already a dungeon-like area before the actual dungeon.

And the whole setting of the Spirit Temple was just so promising, I would have loved to get a whole dungeon in the Depths, where you explore the darkness with the light of Mineru's Construct. But instead all you get is a gimmicky boss fight. Well, at least you get to fight that specific Construct after all... It was just not the way I expected things to happen.

 

7 vs. 1

You get the full package from the Spirit Temple otherwise, though. There is a Heart Container to collect and there is another memory, which shows you the Imprisoning War in all its glory. Ganondorf has horns at that point, after the became the Demon King, to make him look more like a devil, but I can't take this seriously... On the contrary, if anything, it makes me question the whole thing in all sorts of ways.

Like, what's his relation to the Horned Statue? Can Ganondorf's horns be used as a fusing material if you defeat him? And why did he lose the horns when he became a mummy? Did he lose other things over time as well?

Ganondorf is sadly not the villain I was hoping for. It's simply a new incarnation for this version of Hyrule and he doesn't really know more than the other characters. He knew Princess Zelda, because she traveled back into the past, and Rauru told him about Link. So, he didn't know some other incarnations of Link and Zelda from an even earlier era and he is not aware of the Triforce, just like everyone else.

The fight itself was epic, however, where I love how active Zelda is in her new role as the Sage of Time. It was pretty awesome to see them fight all together, even if it was only briefly and even when most of the sages are sadly faceless (I guess they will keep this for the next Hyrule Warriors game).

In addition, you get Mineru's Vow, where from now on it let's you use her Construct as you please, just like Shadow Sidon. You can even use both at the same time, where I had been wondering if the game lets you do this... But it does.

And this would have been very inconvenient otherwise, because there are no buttons left to swap things quickly. So, if you had to go into the menu to activate whatever sage companion you need for his/her/its ability, then this would have been messy. But it can already get crowded with just the two of them, where I can only imagine right now how the game plays with all sages activated, so that might be a total mess as well.

Bypassing the Lost Woods

Mineru suggests to visit the Great Deku Tree next, because he can probably tell you something about where to find the Master Sword. So, my next goal was set, yet again postponing the actual dungeons, but at least I was going for another big milestone here. 

I've been to the Lost Woods before (see entry 6), but at the time I didn't understand what I had to do there. Now, I had the idea that maybe light can shine the way through, where using Mineru's Construct makes things easier, but this wasn't the case either, so I had to find other approaches...

There is another diving ceremony above the forest, where now I could get up there and complete the wingsuit set, but also try to dive down into the Lost Woods, where you can see a couple of shrines, but to no prevail... But this is when it hit me: maybe you have to go under it!

In hindsight it's even quite obvious, because there is a chasm right on the path into the Lost Woods. I've even been down there already, but I went into the opposite direction to the Lightroot below the Woodland Stable and then called it a day. I loved the idea of the horror forest filled with Evermeans, where it was a nice nod to what's above, but I didn't connect the dots, because at the time I simply didn't know that there are dedicated spots to ascend out of the Depths.

Well, the actual Lost Woods area in the Depths is a bit more horrifying than the Evermean forests, where I probably wouldn't have made it so early in the game anyway. But now I'm a lot healthier, better equipped, and also with a clear goal, so the game can only try to stop me. The best it can do is distract me, where in this case you have lots of Lightroots in a single spot.

The Yiga also lure you into another coliseum, where this time you only have to fight one Black Hinox. And this scored me the handy Korok Mask, where I'm sensing a pattern here and maybe these coliseums all will give you the different headpieces from the Breath of the Wild Expansion Pass, like Zant's Helmet. If this is truly the case, then Majora's Mask really might be well protected, which would be a good change... I also won't be using the Korok Mask for now, because I still enjoy looking for the Korok puzzles without any hints.

In the middle of this area you will spot some giant roots, coming down from the Deku Tree, as well as one of those Zonai towers that let you use Ascend to move back to the surface. So, I've found exactly what I've been looking for!

Inside the Deku Tree

Once you enter Korok Forest from down below, you are presented with a gloomy scene, where the whole place looks much darker and all the little Koroks are paralyzed and don't say anything. Oh, the poor, little Koroks!

The Great Deku Tree complains about stomach troubles, where as a fan of classic Zelda you might expect that he has swallowed a Queen Gohma. But it's actually worse this time, where there is now a chasm inside the tree, which goes all the way down where you've been before, inside the giant roots. The cross section of the Deku Tree must really look ridiculous, but whatever, there is no time to question the design choices, because the root of the evil is a Gloom Spawn.

If you have successfully avoided fighting these things so far, then you will have to face your fears now. Well, my first approach was super skilled and elegant... I've screamed in panic, loaded a save that I had made right before jumping down into this chasm, attached a bunch of rockets to my shields, and then let it rain Bomb Flower Arrows! Well, that was a bit unnecessary, because there is a ledge nearby where you can save yourself via Ascend, but I didn't pay attention to this on my first trip down there.

Well, it matters not, as long as I could help all the poor, little Koroks. And the Deku Tree, of course, whose main role this time is to tell you all about the Master Sword.

It starts with the first memory in your list, where Link and Zelda retrieve the Master Sword after another slumber, where its healing capabilities are highlighted... So, it explains why Link put it back there in the first place, since he still had it at the end of Breath of the Wild.

I was hoping that the first memory is more extensive, because I would love to see more of what has happened between Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, but these memories are always individual scenes and not a collection, so I didn't really expect it. There are still the scenes from the first teaser trailer, where Link and Zelda went spelunking with a Dondon through some giant underground ruins, where I would be quite sad if this didn't make it into the final game at all in any way or form... It feels like something that got cut, like an actual dungeon for the Spirit Temple.

The Dragon with the Sword Piercing

The Deku Tree then let's you know where you can find the Master Sword by marking it on your map. He states that he can sense it, but my theory is that he has a little Korok sitting in his ear, who has Purah Pad with a picture of the Master Sword and the Sensor+ set to it, where this is now linked to your Purah Pad... Not that it matters.

What matters is that I now have a point on my map and one that is moving. I already knew that Zelda became the Light Dragon and that she has the Master Sword, but I didn't know where to look. I think the point was at first even quite close to the Statue of the Eighth Heroine, where some Zelda theorists would lose it, and I simply assumed that it would stay there in the area above the Gerudo Highlands, where I haven't been yet...

But she is doing rounds and the next time I looked at the quest marker it was right above the Master Sword geoglyph. This felt like fate. There is no better location to go for it, so I teleported to the Thyphlo Ruins Tower and really met the Light Dragon, the first time since the tutorial.

I'm curious how the game handles this. Can you randomly run into the Light Dragon at any point and I simply never saw her until now? Or do you need to talk to the Deku Tree in order to make the Light Dragon spawn in the first place? This would be good to know for a second playthrough, but I'm guessing that it's the latter, because otherwise there wouldn't be a major incentive to go for Korok Forest at all, save for some shrines and side quests.

Anyway, the Light Dragon has the Master Sword for her horn and you can safely land on her to grab it. But first things first...

Gotta take that picture for Hyrule Compendium before the Master Sword is stuck in selfie mode! Though, I wonder what happens when you glitch-drop it somehow. In Breath of the Wild it essentially does a Fi, flies skyward, and returns to its pedestal in Korok Forest... Maybe it does something similar here and returns to the Light Dragon? It's details like this that I'm going to safely investigate once I'm done with the game (or feel free to comment – I don't care about spoilers in this case, because I'm not one for glitching and therefore not going to find this out myself).

Now, you have to hold onto the sword and what's easily the most adorable-looking dragon of all time, where this is now a test of stamina, instead of a test of hearts, like it was in Breath of the Wild. You need two full wheels and since I already had maximized all three stamina wheels, I didn't really have to worry.

And this is an awesome scene overall. Getting the Master Sword in Breath of the Wild was very classic and also quite epic, but this is truly something new, where they've outshined every Master Sword scene in the entire series. Pulling it from atop a golden dragon is really the peak, there is no way that they can ever top this. (Unless they make the Master Sword golden again in addition, like in A Link to the Past and A Link Between Worlds.)

It also gives you a new memory, the very last one, where you can see where the artwork for the upcoming amiibo is coming from and I now fully get why they've went with this one, instead of the other(s).

Zeldrana then leaves you at the Temple of Time in the skies, on the platform where the Master Sword time traveled, and hopefully I will see her again very soon. I still need some scales and stuff to upgrade my Champion's Leathers!

Shrine Forest

After obtaining the Master Sword, I had to go back to Korok Forest to talk to the Great Deku Tree again, who hasn't much left to say, and check some things. There is no "Place" interaction at the Master Sword pedestal yet. Good, very good. I couldn't stand another Trial of the Sword...

But Hestu also has returned to the forest, now that it is safe there again. It makes sense, of course, where he only hung out at Lookout Landing, because he couldn't return home. But it was so much more convenient to have him there... If you can meet the Light Dragon before speaking to the Great Deku Tree, I will probably just wait with saving the forest until after I've upgraded all my inventory stashes in the future. But since my weapon stash is already maximized, it's fine, I won't have to return here very often.

By the way, because there is so much open space in the vertically organized inventory now, I actually expected that the game would let you have 25 slots for each category, instead of just 20, but that's not the case, sadly... It's the same as in Breath of the Wild, but in the least you will have more space for bows this time, because there aren't the five other arrow types any longer. More space for all those Forest Dweller's Bows that you will find around here...

You can go and explore the Lost Woods, which brings you back into the areas where the Korok trials took place in Breath of the Wild, without the annoying trials, but with the same amount of Shrine Quests. It's not as interesting, however, where for example the "Test of Wood" path can now be skipped entirely, because you only have to find some golden apples, and you should have plenty by now. So, in the end you just explore the long, winded area around Mido Swamp for some treasure chests with junk. Or you don't explore it all, because the shrine is right there at the beginning and basically a freebie.

I don't blame them for trying something different, but they could have done more here. Why didn't they change the walkable paths through the Lost Woods entirely? There is this big chunk in the north of the woods that you can't access in both games now. Why not make use of this and let the play explore different routes? But this is just another nitpick...

The path from the entrance of the Lost Woods into the Korok Forest also works again now. There are no indicators, like there were in Breath of the Wild with the torches, but the path is the exact same and you can get through there with some trial and error. There is seemingly no real point in doing so, however, because I couldn't find anything along the way. I really just did this to satisfy my own curiosity. I guess, it's nice to have for those who are allergic to teleporting.

Proof of Sage

There were some Koroks still waiting to be transported to their friends near the Thyphlo Ruins, where I haven't been since the early game. The stronger Constructs there were also a good test for my new Master Sword. For some reason, its attack power is not displayed, but it feels about the same when you first get in Breath of the Wild (30). It also can still break, despite sleeping tens of thousands of years on a magic dragon, and then comes with a ten minute cooldown, exactly like in Breath of the Wild...

I never was a fan of that cooldown mechanic, because it gives you an incentive to wait things out, but in the least the powers of the sages don't take as long to recharge, from what I can tell at the moment. You can always use Mineru's Construct and Sidon's water powers don't take very long to recharge.

Speaking of, there is a small side quest around the Thyphlo Ruins, where you have to proof that you're in possession of the water sage's powers. That was a bit iffy, where it only worked for me after slamming a two-handed weapon on the ground to unleash the water attack... I guess you have to hit all six dragon heads with the water wave at once, but the game wasn't exactly clear about this.

Well, there is more to find there once you have obtained the other sages and that was my cue for finally moving on. And they've even added a new "road" at this area, which leads from the Thyphlo Ruins right to Goron City. I wanted to go for the Gorons next anyway (since three weeks ago), so this is perfect. Next time we will see each other on Death Mountain! For real!

Progress:

• Sage's Vows: 2
• Sage's Wills: 8
  
• Memories: 12/18
• Towers: 11/15
  
• Shrines: 88
• Lightroots: 55
• Caves: 57/147
  
• Korok Seeds: 276

Tears of the Kingdom – Min Min Construct

Nintendo of Japan has just released this artwork of a Construct on Twitter, where this seems very reminiscent of another Nintendo character, or game even:

It is wielding two weapons at the same time, a "Zonai Bow" in the left hand and a dragon head in the right hand, which is spitting fire. We've seen the same type of object attached on one of Link's shields in the 2021 teaser trailer. The Construct itself also seems more advanced from the simple soldiers that we saw yesterday, where this one has three eyes instead of just one. Maybe the dual wield is one of its core features.

Generally, it's also interesting that the Constructs can use Fuse to create weapons of their own. It's not clear whether they can do this live or if they simply come pre-equipped, but naturally it would be interesting if your enemies also would make good use of whatever they can find in the environment. That's even something the Bokoblins, Lizalfos, and Moblins were already capable of...

But it also makes you wonder what other abilities the Constructs might have. Master Kohga was able to use Magnesis, for example, where there could be Constructs with the Ultrahand ability to throw objects at you. Some Constructs might even be able to use Ascend and appear out of nowhere from the ground. This would be scary...

Got the Minecraft amiibo

Even more small merchandise this week. Say hello to Steve and Alex. I love how the Smash logo on the packaging looks a bit like the flag of Finland, while Minecraft is actually from Sweden... Would have been an opportunity here, but close enough.

The amiibo themselves are probably the cheapest feeling amiibo I've had yet. It's really just some painted plastic blocks attached to each other and that's it. The source material is to blame here, of course, but I wish they would have done something more interesting with it, e.g. use small wooden blocks instead of plastic or something. I don't know...

As you can see, I've also got the Min Min amiibo earlier this year and it's really awesome, easily one of my favorites thanks to her impressive arms and many details. She does have a small stand under her, but unlike most it doesn't look too cheap, because it's trying to create a small effect.

For me Min Min and the Minecraft characters were the most exciting additions to the roster of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate during the Fighters Passes, not only because they came from games I like, but also because they've added some very unique mechanics to the game. I even ended up maining Min Min, because she was so fun and offered a style that worked out great for me.

Sadly, they also were the cause for lots of controversy. People didn't like their addition in general and the movesets can be troublesome, which resulted in many discussions around banning these characters... Good thing I'm not invested in the competitive community of Smash by any means.

Anyway, as for the upcoming amiibo, I only plan to get Pyra and Mythra, where I hope they will either do one amiibo with both characters or a double pack similar to Steve and Alex. That will be it for my Super Smash Bros. collection, where I only ever got the characters I've liked for whatever reasons, mainly the ones for Zelda and Metroid.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Min Min Released

The first fighter of the second Fighters Pass for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has just been released today: Min Min. And it's certainly my favorite DLC for this game so far.

The Spring Stadium stage is awesome and a lot of fun with its jump pads. At least when you keep stage hazards on, where I can't stress enough how important a hazard toggle on the stage select screen would be. I don't get why Sakurai's team hasn't implemented this yet, it would make things a lot more comfortable and simpler than switching between all those rule sets.

Anyway, if you go to the stage select screen in a rule set, you can see how the whole thing expands by one row. That adds a total of 10 more possible stages and I really hope they are going to use them for more than just the five remaining Challenger Packs. Some more new or returning stages would be awesome.

The music selection for ARMS is also great, as expected. I don't think there ever has been a stage in the game, where I want almost every song to play, like in this case. Great soundtrack, it's good to have this all in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Now, as for the fighter... Min Min certainly takes some getting used to. I actually had to change my controls a bit, so I could make good use of her Multi Smash Attacks when pressing both the Attack and Special button at the same time.

As expected, she can be quite vulnerable at mid range and even close combat, where she doesn't seem to stand a chance against my current main, Zero Suit Samus, who plays similarly with her dive kick and whip (just not with the insane range), but can also get in your face. If you use Min Min from a distance, however, especially during edge guards, she's a beast and a force to be reckoned with. The AI seems to have a lot of trouble to handle her, where you can use her for some easy wins.

Min Min is a very unique character and I can see there being some pros, who make good use of her. And I will definitely keep playing as her, maybe even as a secondary (next to female Corrin, who got some good buffs in the 8.0.0 update), if I can make her work for myself. She's especially fun in group or team fights, where it's easier to keep your distance and snipe people.

Her Classic Mode Route has also some fun references, starting with fights against the Sping Man and Ribbon Girl Mii Boxers. I also like how they've used Min Min's original four skins from ARMS, though the additional alts feel a little bit uninspired, but the black / last one looks certainly very cool.

And I love that Ribbon Girl sings the victory theme. Together with the stage and all the music, this is some good overall ARMS representation, where I'm very happy with this DLC.

ARMS 2 Suggestions

After selling over two million copies and getting into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, there is a good chance that ARMS will eventually get a sequel. Whether this will be happening on the Nintendo Switch or a later Nintendo system is a different question, but when it happens there will be a couple of things that can be improved over the first game.

1) Individualized Grand Prix

The "Grand Prix" in ARMS is a bit of a letdown, where you keep playing the same basic set of fights with every fighter. What ARMS 2 needs are unique ladders for every fighter, preferably also with cinematic cutscenes that tell us more of their stories.

The trailer for Min Min in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate already showed us more about the character than the original game did. And ARMS needs this kind of stuff to make more out of its excellent characters. It would also add to the replay value of the mode, where it should be more interesting to play the Grand Prix with every single fighter.

2) Getting ARMS

One of the things that adds really to the depth of ARMS is the fact that you can use every weapon with every fighter... Given that you have unlocked them. This was done via the "Get ARMS" mini-game in the first game, which resulted in a near endless grind in a Gacha fashion. And this way too random and exhausting.

The sequel can improve tremendously here by letting you pick one of your opponent's Arms when you beat them in a match. This way you would have an incentive to battle against every fighter with every fighter multiple times. And this would allow for a direct way of obtaining Arms.

You are maining Ribbon Girl, but want to use the Megawatt? Well, simply go fight Min Min with Ribbon Girl, then...

3) Guest Star

If the first game is any indicator, every fighter added to the sequel will probably turn out great. It will be a delight to see with what new character designs the developer come up with... And of course the focus should be on increasing the roster.

However, to really get the attention of the masses and modern pop culture, there needs to be something more. Fighting games like Mortal Kombat or SoulCalibur often achieve this with their ambitious guest stars and not just from other video games, but all media. Negan from The Walking Dead made it into Tekken 7 for example...

And when it comes to ARMS, there really is only one super star this game needs: Monkey D. Luffy. The protagonist of One Piece with his stretchy rubber arms was basically made to appear in the ARMS League, where ARMS might as well be called "Gum Gum Pistol, the game" (though, "ARMS" is definitely the better title).

© One Piece Treasure Cruise

He even fought with boxing gloves during the Davy Back Fight, where Luffy would have tons of fun participating in the tournament and could come with his own set of One Piece inspired Arms, like cannon balls.

One Piece is by far the most popular and successful manga and anime out there, where not only Japan would go nuts over this. Many would buy ARMS 2 for Luffy alone. And this is really what could bring the franchise to a much bigger success.

ARMS (Review)

To pass some time until Min Min finally is available in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, it's a good idea to take a(nother) look at ARMS, one of Nintendo's newest IPs and fighting games. The title was released in June 2017, about three years ago, and often gets overlooked in the library of the Nintendo Switch, where it now might get some more attention.

ARMS really is Nintendo doing their own thing in a genre, again. When Nintendo does an open world game, you get something amazing like Breath of the Wild. Or when Nintendo does a multiplayer shooter, you get something crazy like Splatoon. And with ARMS it's Nintendo's take on the 3D fighting genre, while also being a spiritual successor to Punch-Out!!.

Gameplay and Controls

The core idea of ARMS is that you're literally throwing your punches, where the "Arms" of your fighter are extending and let your fists travel through the air. You can steer your punches, you can jump, you can dodge, you can block and you can grab, where a grab goes through a block and so on. This offers some traditional "rock, paper, scissors" in its purest sense, where it's all about anticipating your opponent's next move, while also offering a good amount of spacing to react properly in many situations.

It's all very simple, but that's what makes it so good and fun to play. It's not a fighting game, where you have to study frame data, learn complicated combos and perform pixel perfect moves to get competitive. It more feels like a fighting game mixed with a third person shooter. And to spice things up, there are 42 different weapons, also called "Arms", that offer a variety of different projectiles and effects. For example there are boomerangs, which let you attack from behind, or weapons to temporarily freeze your enemy, when they are charged.

Charging is performed by holding either dodge or block and this unleashes the powerful weapon effects for a short time, which include stunning, blinding, blasting or poisoning your enemies. All of this offers some good variety, where you always have to consider your own options and those of your enemy. You can equip your fighter with three different Arms before the match and change them individually for your left and right arm before each round, so that you can use two different weapons at any given time.

In combination with different fighters, who all have unique abilities, there are many things to consider of how you're going into a battle and it might take a while for you to find the perfect combination of Arms for your fighter and yourself. It also adds a lot of depth to the core gameplay of ARMS.

The game is known for utilizing the motion controls of the Joy-Cons, but it can also be played with a Pro Controller. With the Joy-Cons it's easier to steer your punches individually, while the Pro Controller makes it easier to block. In both cases you can fully customize your control scheme, however, to make the game as comfortable for you as possible.

Fighters, Stages and Music

ARMS offers a total of 15 fighters, which all come with their own home stage and music. This might not seem like the biggest number, but it's perfectly fine for a first installment in a new fighting game series. Five of these fighters and stages were offered after the game's launch in the form of downloadable updates. So, a third of the game is DLC, but it's entirely free and with a game like this it was nice to have regular updates for a little while.

Each new fighter reveal was exciting, simply because the character designs in ARMS are absolutely excellent. Some of them might aim at certain stereotypes, e.g. Min Min is your Asian girl, who has a Ramen shop (the Mintendo Noodle House) and noodles with dragon heads for her Arms. But it's all so likable and well made that you really feel the love that the developers have put into these fighters.

Every fighter in ARMS also comes with different stats and one or two special abilities. For example Master Mummy can heal itself while blocking, while Ribbon Girl can jump multiple times through the air and dodge back quickly to the ground. The only fighter on the roster who could be considered to be a clone is Springtron, who is like a robot version of the game's poster child, Spring Man. But even Springtron has a unique ability with his EMP wave, which disables extended Arms near him.

And with the exception of Springtron, who uses the same Arms as Spring Man, each fighter also comes with a distinct set of three different weapons. You can still unlock every weapon with each fighter, however, for an insane amount of combinations. There are so many possibilities here that you probably will never be able to try them all out.

That being said, there is some repetition to be found in the weapons, where it's just combinations of the different weapon effects and projectile types. So, the total of 42 weapons might feel somewhat artificial, where you might quickly determine what specific weapons you want to use...

Each fighter also comes with a stage, where every stage offers something unique as well. None of it is too crazy, it's usually just some smaller stage hazards or quirks, which keeps things interesting. The Ribbon Ring, for example, has platforms in the middle that can be removed with your punches. Some stages simply offer a different shape or layout, like the Buster Beach, which gets smaller around the center, or the Ninja College, where you fight on a set of stairs.

The best about the stages is the music, though. It's a collection of super catchy tunes that never seem to get old, where it's a blessing that nearly all of it now found its way into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as well. And when you hear the game's title song with its singing, you immediately know what's up. It always makes for a good mood.

 

Game Modes

You have some solid fighting mechanics, outstanding character designs, 15 unique fighters and stages, 42 different weapons, great music... So, what could possibly go wrong?

Well, at its core ARMS has some solid game types. The standard fights can be played with up to four participants at once, but you can also play team battles, where the two teammates are linked to each other for some hilarious moments. Playing with more than just two players can become very confusing and chaotic, however, and isn't always that much fun.

The teams work better in the various mini-games, which include Volleyball and shooting targets, as well as Basketball, though the latter can only be played 1-on-1. Those can be a fun little distraction from the normal fights, but don't feel that engaging overall.

All of this gets utilized in the game's main "Grand Prix" mode, where you can pick any fighter and play a series of 10 to 12 matches, depending on the seven different difficulty modes. The difficulty levels already offer the first problem here, because there is a very steep curve. Playing on "3" still might be easy enough for you, but then on "4" you will suddenly get destroyed by the AI, which blatantly cheats.

For example, when you throw a punch or a grab you will always remain defenseless until your arms come back. This does not apply to the bots, who can immediately shield even when their arms are still extended, putting them at a ridiculous advantage. Playing the singleplayer Grand Prix often feels unfair and therefore isn't much fun.  

And while the fighters and their stages are all very unique, the same can't be said for their singleplayer ladders. It's all the same for everyone with the exception of the two boss characters, Max Brass and Dr. Coyle, who will experience some slight variations. But it's nothing too interesting and there are only few story bits in the form of text, where it all gets boring and repetitive super quickly. And that's a shame, where it's clear that the game's budget primarily went into making the fighters.

Otherwise you can play fights with any rules you want, where this offers some additional modes. One of those is the "Hedlok Scramble", where you fight over a scary power-up, which multiplies your Arms. And there is also a "1-on-100" survival mode, reminiscent of Multi-Man Smash, where you keep fighting "Cells", which are generic clones of the fighter Helix.

In addition there is a party mode, where you keep competing in all of the core game modes, as well as some training modes. The game can also be played online, but its online modes weren't tested for this review. However, it seems to offer some of Nintendo's better online experiences and also has seen many events over the past three years, with the so called "Party Crashes".

ARMS Getter

As already mentioned, there is a combination of 15 fighters and 42 different weapons in the game. But how do you actually unlock all the weapons with each fighter? That's where this additional mode comes into play, called "Get ARMS". To play this mode you will need coins, which you earn from playing all the other modes and unlocking Badges.

But it's basically just another target shooting mode, with prizes moving through background once in a while, which will give you the additional Arms for randomly chosen fighters. At first this is quite fun and feels very rewarding, because you're usually getting a handful of new Arms at once. But you can also get duplicates, where every weapon can be upgraded twice for more damage. So, in total you need to get 123 Arms with every fighter, 1845 in total, if you really want to collect and upgrade everything with everyone.

And this is utterly exhausting. It gets old quickly and turns into a total grind, where it would have been better, if there were a direct way of unlocking specific Arms with every fighter. At least that way you would have a good incentive to play as everyone.

It also makes this game difficult for local tournaments or simply playing it on somebody else's Switch. Since this process takes forever, you have no guarantee that the Arms that you want for a specific fighter will be unlocked and full upgraded. And there's no fast way of getting them, which is a complete disaster, because without the right Arms for your fighter you might end up at a disadvantage.

 

Badges

If collecting all the Arms isn't enough for you, there are also 360 Badges to collect, based on ingame achievements. This goes even hand in hand, because unlocking Badges will score you a good amount of coins for the ARMS Getter. These reach from basic milestones like "play 50 matches" to some trickier challenges.

Some of the Badges are fixed, others are obtained randomly, where there's a pool of achievements to get them, which means you don't have to do absolutely all tasks here. Still, with the fixed badges there is a good number linked to the online Party Crashes, which therefore can't be obtained any longer, because these events have stopped. And this is a no-go for every completionist, who wants to get into the game now.

 

Conclusion

If you want a fighting game with some unique mechanics and great characters, then ARMS is certainly a recommendation. However, with its basic game modes and absolute grind for unlockables, it's not a title that can keep you happily hooked for a longer time. But it offers some good fun for in-between, where its charming design and amazing soundtrack make you come back every once in a while.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Min Min for the Win Win

Best Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC so far!

After my predictions for the "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate x ARMS" Challenger Pack, Min Min already felt like the likeliest candidate and not only because she is one of the most popular fighters in ARMS, but because she is the only fighter in ARMS that uses kicks, which feel like a necessary addition for jabs and other close combat attacks to make such a fighter work in Smash Bros. In addition, her dragon arm felt like something that would showcase the dual Arms mechanic rather well.

It might even be that Sakurai's team had planned this from early on and made Spring Man into an Assist Trophy for this very reason, because they knew that need something more than what the basic ARMS fighter would have to offer. (With that in mind, if they are ever going to do a second ARMS fighter in one of the next Super Smash Bros. games, it's probably going to be Twintelle, simply because she can also fight with her normal arms.)

Overall they've done a remarkable job of translating the combat mechanics of ARMS into Smash. You can control both your arms separately and even steer the punches. You can move around while throwing your punches. You can even switch between three different weapons for your right arm. It's all there, but Min Min also offers the necessary extras to make it a fully functioning Smash fighter.

It's pretty well done within the normal Smash Bros. environment, while Min Min feels like the best choice to translate all of it. I'm personally very happy with the fighter and she will definitely become one of my few secondaries, where she seems like a good choice whenever my beloved Zero Suit Samus doesn't do the trick. If she works well enough, Min Min might even become my second main. In any case I can't wait to play as her.

As for the stage, it really is just Spring Stadium, but it looks like a lot of fun. It's yet another very simple stage with some fun new mechanics, in this case the jump pads combined with the pillars above the stage. Like the King of Fighters Stadium, this might another stage where something simple offers a whole new experience.

Speaking of King of Fighters, the whole trailer for Min Min was done in almost the same fashion, but I enjoyed watching it a lot. Of course you knew the outcome from the second where you saw Captain Falcon and Kirby eating Ramen (bowls), but it was still very fun and Min Min's transformation certainly was something new.

However, this makes it also feel like there won't be any more DLC characters from other fighting games. They've already done this thing twice in the DLC and Heihachi now returns as a Mii costume, which they probably would have saved for later, if they were going to do a Tekken DLC for example. But we'll see.

Finally, all important music tracks from ARMS will be added to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. I was hoping as much, because the music is really awesome and this will be very nice to have!

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate x ARMS – Challenger Pack Predictions

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!