There’s still a small dispute as to when the ability to extend a body part first appeared in the world. Some believe it’s been around for 1,500 years, others 4,000 years. There is an official ARMS League which keeps track of the population of people with this ability. According to the league, about 20% of the population possess the Arms ability. A person’s arms can transform to something closely related (either physically or emotionally) to the person, which would explain why Ribbon Girl’s arms are ribbons, and Min Min’s are noodles. This may also explain why Twintelle’s hair were affected rather than her arms, though no caption confirms this. Other than their springy arms, a person with the ability will also have spiral irises.
There are, of course, a few subjects that differ from the norm. For example, most people wake up one day to find that their arms can now extend. Kid Cobra, however, was born with this ability. Another oddity is Twintelle, who is the only person on record to have the spring ability in her hair.
So far, that’s really all we know about Arms, but there’s so much in these little photo captions that speak to so many other things. Nintendo has created a world that is relatively new. If it’s confusing for us as players, it’s because it is confusing for the people living in the Arms world.
