When Nintendo showed everyone an in-depth preview of the Nintendo Switch back in January, it also showed quite a few new IP — in gaming, this is jargon for original first-party fronts — alongside the usual suspects: a new thrilling Mario entry, a Xenoblade sequel, and an epic trailer for Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Arms, while not a wild standout of the presentation by any measure, still looked promising. It was accompanied by a very attractive trailer for what looked like, at least initially, a what-you-see-is-what-you-get sort of game.
Arms, a 3D combat title featuring, well, arms — or more accurately, a pair of springy arms that extend, retract, bend, and perform other stunts, so as to punch and beat the opponent on the other side, was looked at as a fairly simple game. Then came the handful of Nintendo Switch previews and demos across the country, where people admitted to being unexpectedly thrilled by the game, praising it for its complex controls for combat, character design, among other elements.
Arms's Roster Of Announced Fighters
Now, Nintendo has released a bunch of new information for the boxing-esque title, featuring the five characters in the game and the available weapons. Here are the five announced fighters you can play as in Arms:
• Ribbon Girl - A fighter whose arms are literally ribbons. She has the ability to jump repeatedly in mid-air, but she also has a quick drop skill to strike opponents off-guard.
• Spring Man - A fighter that's tailor-made and perfect for Arms novices. He has the ability to create a shockwave when sprinting to ward off the opponent's incoming attacks.
• Master Mummy - One of the two tank characters of the roster, Master Mummy treads slower and more heavily than the others, but inflicts heavy damage. He can even replenish health when in guard mode.
• Ninjara - If Ribbon Girl's arms is made of ribbons, Ninjara's is made of metallic chains, with frisbee-shaped discs latched onto the ends. He has a dash ability that can make him disappear for a brief moment through a smokescreen, and in guard mode, he can warp up to opponents and strike them with a powerful punch.
• Mechanica - The other one of the two tank fighters, Mechanica can hover in mid-air thanks to her backside boosters, and she can even resist an opponent's stun attacks.
Weapons In 'Arms'
As shown in a different trailer featuring the weapons, it appears that each fighter can equip multiple sets of gloves, and they can even mix and match sets, which greatly bumps up the complexity of the game in terms of pairing effective gloves together.
Here are the weapons in Arms:
• Toaster - These gloves can be charged up and catch fire — literally. When up in flames, the Toaster inflicts heavy damage.
• Megaton - The big, slow, and heavy Megaton can be charged up and get bigger when sprung, knocking down enemy punches. Though menacing in theory, the Megaton looks a little cute — like pink globes with short protruding cylinders.
• Sparky - The standard glove-looking weapon can be charged with an electric current, which can stun opponents.
• Boomerang - Like a real-life boomerang, this weapon can be sprung and follow an arc-like trajectory, which can target opponents even when they're off-center.
• Revolver - Mechanica's default arms. They can shoot three shots with one punch. The weapon can also be charged and stun opponents. One caveat, however: the Revolver can be easily deflected.
• Slapamander - This weapon can spring in an arc-like direction like the Boomerang, but it hits like a whip. Charge it and the Salamander lights up in flames.
Arms comes out sometime this Spring for the Nintendo Switch.
