Exposing ARMS design secret!

ARMS, the new fresh tittle straight out of Nintendo only for the famous Switch just came out some weeks ago and it is already winning the hearts of everyone that buys the game (Or played the Golbal Testpunch before), but how? How these characters with so little information are so effective design-wise? The answer lies in how simple but charismatic these fighters are!

So for that, we will be briefly analyzing each character in order, starting with the man, the only, the bouncer; Spring man!

SPRING MAN

(That hair makes me want to brush my teeth)

The first, and most likely; protagonist of the game about to pack a punchline to toast you (literally), here we can admire the main characteristic in their designs, simplicity but thematic; so if we have a colorful innovative fighting game about people stretching their arms what can we do for the face of the franchise? Exactly that, reflect the idea of the game in his character, simple shorts and shirt to emphasize his head and arms, and show the wackiness of the game in his head by having a wacky hairstyle and a face that screams “Auto-motive guy” for the spirit of sports, but do not forget to give him the proper protection tools to, again, reflect the idea of ARMS being a sport.

And just like Spring man himself would say, his design “Is actually pretty rad”.

RIBBON GIRL

(Wait, IS SHE BARELY 17?)

The pop singer about to pop notes out of your mouth from her punches, easy design; as colorful and cartoony as it can get thanks to the combination of pink and yellow; it really displays the spirit of a stereotyped pop singer, and the fact that she is 17 years old makes the idea of wearing a skirt great, showing how naïve and “cute” she can be. Also do not forget the iconic ribbon on her head, thus why her names is Ribbon Girl. Not really too much to say about her, but man; those multiples jumps are a pain to fight against.

NINJARA

(What if Naruto and the Inkling boy fused?)

Ninjara the Ninja student… Well, we are praising his design, not his name. But do not get me wrong; his neon colors combines with the metallic color of his chains decorating his whole body and arms really outstands for himself, plus the same colors in his torso gives the sensational feeling of Ninjara being more aerodynamic, which can make players feel faster while playing the game, his pants are no exception; in general this fighter really shows what speed is through his design but keeping ninja-culture elements.

But before continuing, take a moment to appreciate how great the idea of making glasses-like cosmetics made out of chains is!

MASTER MUMMY 

(Brendan Fraser will not be happy after this)

Who says that mummies are weaklings? Amumu? Who is him? Moving on, this character is quite the special case; in a world full of “normal” fighters, a mummy seems to be jumping the shark design-wise but Nintendo proves us wrong, with a grim character that both, gives an intimidating vibe thanls to his expressions, height and purple color (That means death in japan culture), and keeps the cartoon idea thanks to the concept and body anatomy. Plus his clothes makes him look like a WWE fighter, again; reinforcing the “Giant tough brawler” idea.

MECHANICA

(Many will say D.Va, I would say Tron Bonne)

The obligatory Mecha character, with only 15 years old this little fan of ARMS created a whole mecha suit that replicates the ARMS “biology” to be a heavy-weight champion. Which is definitively present in his design, showing off a nice yellow color combined with black and minor colors like green or red creates a home-made vibe to it, plus how the mecha by itself seems to be designed to fight and not to be right in human biology terms, since it is a big tin can to take any hit without flinching. Another idea to mention, giving her 15 years old really appeal to the whole “Fangirl” concept!

MIN MIN

(Always stay loyal, Min Min for the Win Win)

Unlike EtikaWorldNetwork, we stay loyal instead of going THOT; here we see a clear example of cultural characteristics implemented in designs. The dragon arms really fits with thw whole “Ramen” atmosphere plus being an original concept, the color orange and “yellow” really fits together but the green in here chest and shoes not only standsout but also makes the Dragon transformation outstand even more thanks to the color combination. Plus I would love to mention the bowl of ramen-like form that her cute hat has.

HELIX 

(Praise for our savior, Lord Helix)

Do not fear my boy, since this is not any slime you will slay for free experience, and I may be a little bit biased for how much I love this character, a joke-like character was needed in this game and as a slime love myself, his design is amazing combined with his story, the fact that he is an experiment opens the idea of DNA ARMS greatly, creating a neon experience to watch while he is fighting.

KID COBRA

(If you hear his voice, you will not be calling him “Kid” afterwards)

The new Kid on the block, no other than the fresh internet sensation, Kid Cobra! I have to be honest, I am a sucker for purple scheme colors, showing off a creative combination of both simplicity and well-thought out designing thanks to his helmet that gives the impression of an actual cobra; furthermore this idea is reinforced by his torso, in which the black color alongside the white stripes makes it look aerodynamic and flexible, just like a cobra; again.

BYTE AND BARQ

(The long arm of the law… A whole character dedicated to a pun)

No enough byte for your barq, or would it be backwards ingame? Either way, here we have one of the weirdest concepts alongside Master Mummy and Helix, and fricking robot joins the ARMS championship, and they are cops by the way. Notice how they are three completely different concepts all tie together, a clockwork machine, a robot and a cop pair; all of them smashed together but with a certain appealing; since the details are so little it feels like a complete character, not a cluster of notorious ideas all shining at the same time, if you want to learn how to design characters, I would advise you to study this character in particular alongside Springman.

TWINTALLE

(Overused Ass joke)

The one, the girl; the only reason why you are buying this, TWINTALLE. For such a popular character must come a great design, and the developers indeed served well; while most of the fandom likes her because of her obvious attractive reasons, I would like you to take a look at her clothing; this character was made to be attractive to the masses, her naked arms and tight pants reflect on this, while keeping a simple scheme color based on dark tones.

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Finally, there will be a second part of this article once there are enough DLC characters such as Max Brass, now you know the secret of these amazing designs that took after Overwatch marketing project of creating entire characters for competitive games based completely on the simplicity but complexity of one concept.