It's been difficult to be a Smash Bros Ultimate fan in recent times, with a pair of disappointing DLC fighters followed by warnings of long delays to the release of the next Fighter Pass.
But that's all changed with the announcement that the next Smash Bros Ultimate DLC fighter will be from the Switch fighting game ARMS – and while we don't know exactly what character we'll get, this information alone is enough to get us excited.
ARMS was one of the best first-party Switch games from the console's launch year, and its presence in the Smash Bros Ultimate DLC is long overdue.
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ARMS' schtick is the elongated arms of its fighters, which enable you to throw your punches across the arena to try and connect with your opposition. It's weird and often unwieldy, but gives a fun Nintendo spin on the classic fighting genre, and was one of the most iconic titles to land on the Nintendo Switch in 2017.
That said, the hype somewhat fell by the wayside in the months after release, as Super Mario Odyssey kept us all busy, and speculation grew over what first-party titles – Pokémon Sword and Shield, Animal Crossing New Horizons, Metroid 4 – would come and when.
Next Super Smash Bros Ultimate Fighter is from ARMS, to be announced this June #NintendoDirect pic.twitter.com/5Sp81xpfg1March 26, 2020
Light at the end of the tunnel
So, what fighter might we get? There are 15 total playable fighters in ARMS with a variety of different designs and skills, from the spring-loaded arms of Spring Man to the ribbon-loaded arms of Ribbon Girl, to the... well, you get the idea.
Our money is on one of the options above, given they're the more recognizable characters from the franchise, though we could see a rogue choice in the form of the gooey-formed Helix – or girl-in-a-robot Mechanica, who could have a moveset in line with Bowser Jr's Smash Bros Ultimate character.
While we still don't know when this fighter will release – especially amid development delays in the time of Covid-19 – the next fighter is sure to add something different to the Smash Bros Ultimate DLC roster.
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