Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

‘Arms’: Meet the cast and weapons of the upcoming Switch fighter

Add as a preferred source on Google

When Buy Now  first appeared at the Nintendo Switch press event in January, it was easy to draw comparisons to both Punch-Out! and Rock ’em Sock ’em Robots. Arms, however, may have a bit more depth. Nintendo released two new overview trailers that show off the various styles of brawling featured in its upcoming fighter.

The character trailer detailed the game’s five announced fighters.

  • Spring Man: A well-balanced fighter perfect for beginners. When sprinting, Spring Man has the ability to create a shockwave which parries incoming attacks.
  • Ribbon Girl: A nimble fighter whose arms are literally made of ribbons. She can jump repeatedly in mid-air, but also has a quick-drop skill to help catch opponents off guard.
  • Ninjara: With arms made of metal chains, and frisbee-like discs attached at the ends, Ninjara differentiates himself from Spring Man and Ribbon Girl. His dash ability makes him disappear for a moment via a smokescreen. In guard mode, he can warp up close to opponents to hit them with a haymaker.
  • Master Mummy: One of the two tank characters of the lot, Master Mummy moves slower than other characters but inflicts heavy damage. In guard mode, he replenishes health.
  • Mechanica: A tank based on the fact that she wears a giant mech suit, Mechanica can hover in mid-air thanks to her jetpack. She has a resistance to stun attacks.
Recommended Videos

From the weapons trailer, while the fighters have default weapons, it seems that each character can equip multiple sets of gloves. Fighters can also mix and match sets, as you aren’t tied down to using the same type for both arms.

Arms Weapon Showcase - Nintendo Switch
  • Toaster: Default Spring Man/Ribbon Girl arms. The toasters are a pair of spring loaded gloves that catch fire when charged.
  • Megaton: Default Master Mummy arms. These wrecking ball-type arms grow in size when charged.
  • Sparky: When charged, Sparkies are infused with electric currents that shock opponents.
  • Boomerang: The Boomerangs travel in an arc that can be guided around structures to weed out opponents from cover. When charged, they have the power to send opposing characters backward.
  • Revolver: Default Mechanica arms. The revolvers shoot a trio of tethered rockets from each arm
  • Slapamander: These elongated arms extend in an arc like the Boomerang, but hit like a whip. When charged, the Slapamanders ignite.

Interestingly, Ninjara’s coiled arms don’t appear in the weapons trailer, but the clip briefly showed two additional unnamed weapons: a torpedo-esque arm on Master Mummy, and a spiked glove on Spring Man. Additionally, the fighter handling the Sparkies was not named in the character trailer. Bottom line: While these two trailers gave us names to faces and weapons, they aren’t all encompassing. It seems as if we can expect at least six characters and nine sets of weapons, but probably more of the latter.

The game does not have a firm launch date, but it’s still slated for spring, Buy Now .

Steven Petite
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Steven is a writer from Northeast Ohio currently based in Louisiana. He writes about video games and books, and consumes…
Phantom Blade Zero hands-on: An extraordinary game with unbelievable combat that I can’t get enough of
Every fight feels like a beautifully choreographed martial arts movie, except I'm the one controlling every move.
Phantom Blade Zero poster

We have had a considerable number of high-profile game releases this year, but none so far have had as much hype behind them as Phantom Blade Zero. The source of all that hype was a 2023 trailer highlighting its fluid kung-fu-derived sword combat. Considering that, at the time of writing this piece, there are over 700,000 concurrent players on Steam alone, on a weekday no less, I think it's safe to say that the hype has converted into gamers actually showing up for the game. I have sunk around 10 hours into this game today, and so far, it has been nothing short of an absolute masterclass in action combat.

A world that pulls you in from the start

Read more
Claude helped bring a PS2 emulator to the browser, and it can run GTA San Andreas
TabStationToo adapts PCSX2 for browser play, with the developers reporting near-full-speed performance in some games
TabStationToo on laptop

Two friends have used Claude to help bring the open-source PS2 emulator PCSX2 to a browser. Their project, TabStationToo, has been tested with games including GTA San Andreas and Final Fantasy XII.

The developers say Claude did most of the programming while they directed the work and tested the results. It’s still experimental, but games run locally without installing a desktop emulator.

Read more
Phantom Blade Zero joins GeForce NOW, and your old PC can join the party
No gaming PC? Nvidia has a way to play Phantom Blade Zero anyway
Phantom Blade Zero Featured Image

Phantom Blade Zero is finally here, bringing its slick martial arts combat and striking kungfupunk world to PC. If you're worried that your PC can't run it, Nvidia has a cloud solution. The game is joining GeForce NOW at launch, allowing players to experience S-GAME's ambitious action RPG without investing in expensive new hardware.

The announcement is part of Nvidia's latest GFN Thursday update, which brings nine games to its cloud gaming service this week, alongside modding support for two popular RPGs and new subscription options for players in India.

Read more