The ARMS Fighter will be overall average in terms of movement, which is done to better balance out their insane combat capabilities. Their walk will be below average, with their run being on par with Link's. Their air speed will be a bit lackluster as well, though not to Little Mac levels. In terms of size, they'd be somewhat comparable to most other human characters such Captain Falcon or Snake.
As you'd most likely have guessed, their fighting style would naturally involve a lot of keeping enemies at a range and striking them with powerful blows from their lengthy ARMS. As a trade off for this range, they aren't nearly as effective at close-quarters combat. Aside from their range, they would also have the Rush gimmick from their home series. Both giving and receiving damage will fill up a meter shown near their HUD icon, and upon fully charging will allow the use of their signature Rush Attack.
Now before I go any further with this, I should probably explain something rather important. As I make this, I'm imagining the ARMS Fighter as an amalgam of four characters from the game: Spring Man, Ribbon Girl, Ninjara, and Min-Min. They all share the same moveset and most if not all animations, which are envisioned to be as general as possible so as to not look weird for any of them. That said, a lot of this moveset would work well for just about any ARMS character on the roster.
-= Standard Attacks =-
Jab - A basic 1-2-3, nothing special. No rapid jab.
Side Tilt - A quick mid-range hook with their right arm.
Up Tilt - An overhead swipe with their right arm. It has little horizontal range.
Down Tilt - A quick, right handed swipe with the Slapamander, one of Ribbon Girl's signature ARMS. This can pop up grounded opponents to lead into combos.
Dash Attack - A slow ramming with the Guardian, one of Helix's signature ARMS. Does electric damage.
-= Aerial Attacks =-
Neutral Aerial - A quick horizontal spin, akin to Donkey Kong's Neutral Aerial.
Forward Aerial - A multi-hit from the Boomerang, one of Spring Man's signature ARMS.
Backward Aerial - A wide, long-ranged backwards strike with the Megawatt, one of Min-Min's signature ARMS. Quite a bit of endlag to compensate for it's range and power.
Upward Aerial - An overhead kick, taken from Min-Min. Think Mario's Up Air.
Downward Aerial - A mid-ranged downwards shot from the Triblast, one of Ninjara's signature ARMS.
-= Grab Attacks =-
Grab - The ARMS Fighter extends both of their arms together, with both of them connect by a green beam. Has good range and has an active hitbox throughout the extension period, but said extension period is slow and leaves the fighter vunerable at a distance. Thankfully, the retraction time is much shorter.
Pummel - A right-handed jab with decent speed.
Forward Throw - Two quick kicks followed by a solid strike from their left arm. Taken from Min-Min's grab.
Backward Throw - A swinging toss. Taken from Ribbon Girl's grab.
Upward Throw - A left hook followed by an uppercut. Taken from Spring Man's grab.
Downward Throw - A flipkick, followed by a downwards cross chop. Taken from Ninjara's grab.
-= Smash Attacks =-
Side Smash - The ARMS Fighter rears back and readies their left arm. When released, they deliver a strong, long-ranged punch. Plenty of endlag on this one.
Up Smash - The ARMS Fighter crouches down into a squat, readying their right arm. When released, they perform a mighty uppercut with the Parasol, one of Twintelle's signature ARMS.
Down Smash - The ARMS Fighter faces the screen and rears back with both arms crossed. When released, they bring down two Whammers, one of the signature ARMS of Mechanica, at both sides to deal massive damage. This launches opponents on the ground and spikes aerial opponents.
-= Special Attacks =-
Neutral Special: Charge/ARMS Punch/Rush Attack - When the special button is held down, the ARMS Fighter stands in place and charges up for a brief moment. Once this is accomplished, their next attack will be buffed, dealing more damage and knockback. This also replaces charge with ARMS Punch. Pressing the special button will extend their left arm for a long-ranged punch, which can also be done in mid-air. Once an attack is landed, whether it's ARMS Punch or any of their other moves, this charge buff goes away and ARMS Punch reverts back into Charge. This is similar to Incineroar's Revenge mechanic only it doesn't necessitate a counter and cannot be stacked.
As mentioned before, the ARMS Fighter has a Rush mechanic. Both giving and receiving damage will fill up a meter shown near their HUD icon. When it's fully charged, pressing the special button will activate their signature Rush Attack, a volley of fast-paced punches. Upon use, or if the Rush Attack is not used within 15 seconds of attaining a rull Rush meter, the Rush meter will be lost.
Side Special: Chakram - The ARMS Fighter will toss out a Chakram, one of Ninjara's signature ARMS, as a mid-ranged boomerang attack. Like Link's boomerang, it can be angled up or down, and only one Chakram can be used at one time.
Downward Special: Dragon Blast - One of the signature ARMS of Min-Min. A mid-to-long-ranged beam is fired low to the ground, dealing more damage the closer the opponent is to the ARMS Fighter. When performed in the air, it is fired at an angle. When used in the air, the beam is fired at a diagonal angle that, when hit up close, launches grounded opponents and spikes aerial opponents.
Upward Special: Funchuk Flight - The ARMS Fighter utilizes the Funchuk, one of the signature ARMS of Lola Pop, to elevate themselves a fair distance into the air like a helicopter. Any opponents caught in the attack are dragged along with it. Unlike a lot of other recovery moves, this move does not put the ARMS Fighter into freefall, allowing them to attack on the way down. This is similar in function to King K. Rool's Propellerpack. When performed on the ground, the ARMS Fighter will stay put on the ground and swing their Funchuk above themselves, creating a windbox. Holding the special button after imputting the move will allow them to maintain this indefinitely.
Final Smash: Hedlok Hammer - Upon activating their Final Smash, Hedlok appears and latches on to the ARMS Fighter's head, bestowing upon them 2 extra sets of ARMS. The opponent is then hit with an intense volley of punches dealing massive damage before launching them away. Once the attack concludes, Hedlok is released from the fighter and flies away. Despite not using it, the Rush Meter is fully depleted upon use.
-= Character-Specific Gimmicks =-
One thing that the ARMS Fighter has access to by virtue of being four characters in one is a wide variety of character-specific gimmicks. In ARMS, these gimmicks are used to give each character their own distinct flavor. In order to keep their moveset from looking weird for the other characters, some changes would have to be made to these gimmicks in order to represent them in Smash.
Spring Man's gimmicks are as follows:
- When he interrupts his charge before it fully completes, he will release a small shockwave that can deflect projectiles. Since charging your ARMS is a mechanic that this fighter posessed, this can easily be incorporated into the fighter.
- When his health is at or lower than 25%, his ARMS permanently remain at full charge. This would be easy to incorporate into Smash since we already have a similar mechanic that is universal among all fighters, that being the Rage mechanic.
Ribbon Girl's gimmicks are as follows:
- She can jump up to four times. In Smash, it is series standard for characters to be able to jump at least two times, not counting Up-Specials. Also taking into account that the other three ARMS characters can only jump twice natively, the ARMS Fighter would be able to jump up to three times total. In other words, twice in mid-air.
- When airborn, she can dash horizontally in the air up to two times. Since directional air-dodging is a universal mechanic in Smash already, this would already technically be incorporated.
- When airborn, she can quickly drop to the ground. Since fast-falling is a universal mechanic in Smash already, this would already technically be incorporated.
Ninjara's gimmicks are as follows:
- When shielding, Ninjara can dodge out of the way of incoming attacks in a puff of smoke, avoiding chip damage entirely.
- When airborn, he can perform a mid-air dash by disappearing in a puff of smoke.
Both of these gimmicks are all technically a part of Smash by default. Being able to dodge out of shield is universal among all fighters, as is air dodging. In order to imcorporate this into Smash, the smoke puff effect would have to be limited to a visual flair exclusive to Ninjara. When he dodges, his model disappears for a brief moment, and reappears in a puff of smoke.
Min-Min's gimmicks are as follows:
- If she charges her ARMS slightly longer than usual, her let arm with transform from a noodle into a dragon. Any ARM attached to her left arm will remain permanently charged until she is knocked down. Due to Smash being a 2D fighter rather than a 3D fighter akin to ARMS, as well as her being part of a single fighter, her dragon arm gimmick would not be mechanically viable and have to be limited to a visual flair exclusive to Min-Min. When her ARMS are charged, as well as during her Rush Attack and Final Smash, her dragon arm is visible.
- When dodging, Min-Min will perform kung-fu kicks that can deflect attacks. This is incorporated as the ARMS Fighter's Upward-Aerial.
-= Misc. Details =-
Up Taunt - The ARMS Fighter fiddles with their ARMS akin to a fighter tightening their gloves.
Side Taunt - The ARMS Fighter lowers their guard slightly and makes a "Come at me" motion with their left hand.
Down Taunt - The ARMS Fighter performs the victory animation they do when they win a round, which varies depending on whether you're using Spring Man, Ribbon Girl, Ninjara, or Min-Min.
Idle Animation 1 - The ARMS Fighter punches their gloves together twice, then flexes.
Idle Animation 2 - The ARMS Fighter jumps in place a bit.
Victory Music - A slightly faster version of the "OOH-OOH-OOH-OH, OH-OH-OH-OH-OHHH" part of the Spring Stadium track, followed by the standard ARMS victory theme.
Victory Pose 1 - The ARMS Fighter performs the first victory animation they do when they win a match, which varies depending on whether you're using Spring Man, Ribbon Girl, Ninjara, or Min-Min.
Victory Pose 2 - The ARMS Fighter performs the second victory animation they do when they win a match, which varies depending on whether you're using Spring Man, Ribbon Girl, Ninjara, or Min-Min.
Victory Pose 3 - The ARMS Fighter performs some punches, ending in them punching towards the camera.
-= Alternate Colors =-
Alt 1 - Spring Man, default colors.
Alt 2 - Spring Man, Down Alt.
Alt 3 - Ribbon Girl, default colors.
Alt 4 - Ribbon Girl, Down Alt.
Alt 5 - Ninjara, default colors.
Alt 6 - Ninjara, Left Alt.
Alt 7 - Min-Min, default colors.
Alt 8 - Min-Min, Down Alt.