Guides

How to change colors in Arms

How to access all four character colors

By Jeff Ramos Jun 9, 2017, 11:20am EDT

If you’ve navigated the Help menu in Arms, you might have run across a screen that explains that “there’s a secret way to change your fighter’s color.”

And while Nintendo is great at designing games that have hidden secrets like this to help players discuss and trade tips, some players just want to get into the game and see their favorite character decked out in special colors.

The process of doing it is simple, however it’s not even immediately clear that you’re picking a new color at first. You’ll only know once you’ve selected your character. In time, you’ll eventually know how to access your favorite color every time.

HOW TO CHANGE COLORS IN ARMS

In any mode where you select your character:

Start off by highlighting your character.
Click the left analog stick in.
While still holding the left analog stick in, move it either left, down or right.
While still holding the left analog stick in, press the button to select your character.

Depending on the direction you hold, you’ll get one of four colors. If you want the original color, you can do nothing or hold up. You can also change your (computer) opponent’s color, as you can see in the image below.

Arms guide table of contents

Arms is a fighting game, so we’re going to break it down like we have broken down fighting games in our guides for Injustice 2 and Street Fighter 5. The first question is “What am I trying to do?”

We’ve organized our Arms guide based on related topics, each of which we’ve corralled below. You’re free to tackle them in our order or hop between them at your leisure.

Learning to fight

What am I trying to do in Arms?: Defense, not offense, is the key, and most of your damage is going to come from counterattacks.
Controls: Breaking all of the options down into motion controls and non-motion controls.
Movement, blocking and charging: It’s is important to know how to move around in Arms before throwing any punches. Remember: Punches don’t mean anything if you can’t land them.
Punching, throws and blocking: The basis of so many games — including Arms — is the time-honored playground classic rock, paper, scissors.
Rush attacks: The Rush move is every character’s “special” attack — and the most valuable resource you have in Arms.
Staying safe and when to strike: The whole game is about reacting to the other player’s actions, not so much rushing in boldly yourself.
Four things you need to know to win: Understanding how Arms wants you to play.

Characters

Which character should you choose? Rather than looking for the strongest Arms character, think about the way you want to play the game and try and match a character (and weapon) to that.

Elements and weapons

Elements: Every element type in action.
Arms attributes explained: Nearly every Arm has one of seven attributes — fire, electric, wind, ice, stun, explosion and blind — that augment their play style.
Weapons: Every weapon type, explained.
Choosing weapons and building sets: In Arms, you have your choice of weapons on either arm at the beginning of the fight. Deciding which of those you’re going to use each round is a major decision with a big impact on how you’re going to play.

Modes

Solo training: If you’re interested in getting better at Arms as a beginner, you should make your first major goal getting into Ranked Match. Here are some steps to take along the way.
Online modes: Party and Ranked matches, explained.
Extra modes: Overviews of V-Ball, Hoops, Skillshot and 1-on-100.
How to beat 1-on-100 mode in Arms: Some basic strategies to survive all 100 rounds.
Stages: What kind of characters, weapons and general play styles each stage favors.
Earning Arms coins: This depends on how good you are at Arms.
How to get every unlockable in Arms as quickly as possible: Your guide to maximum coins, not maximum fun.
How to change colors in Arms: Learning the “secret way to change your fighter’s color.”

Putting it all together

Conclusions, studying and moving on: Beyond the basics.