Little Mac vs. Spring Man (Punch-Out! vs. ARMS)
“I just want to do what I do best, and that's fight. I love it.” - Mike Tyson
Little Mac, Punch-Out!!’s young underdog from Bronx, NY, USA with a height of 5'7" and weight of 107 lb.
Spring Man, ARMS’ newest bouncing athlete from Spring Gym with a height of 5'11" and weight of 168 lb.
Some people fight to protect themselves and close ones, some people fight for glory, to prove themselves they are better than what others believe they are. And some people fight to live and live to fight. And even though sometimes the fight becomes more challenging, tricky and bizarre, these 2 young newcomers of their world of fist fighting got courage and desire for a fight to prove their worth in skill and power. But which pair of gloves gets to hold a champion belt on this day and which one will lay on the ring after a deadly knock out?
Before We Start…
Both fighters possess low and simple amounts of media that they have. Mac will be given every Punch Out!! game, including the arcade ones most people aren’t familiar with, and miscellaneous official media relating to him, such as the one off Nintendo Power Magazine comic, while ignoring all his cameo appearances in other game franchises (like Captain Rainbow and the likes); meanwhile Spring Man will get his singular ARMS game and the officially handed preview of the canceled Image ARMS comic, with an equal leeway allowed to both regarding their Smash related feats and abilities, obviously ignoring any sorts of crossover scaling either would get from it (and yes, we will be discussing the gorilla in the room later). On one last note, this debate will be treating the brawl as an actual fight to the death without any sorts of regulations to not set any arbitrary rules for simplicity’s sake.
Background
Little Mac
“Last night we found a small but great champ. His name is ‘Little Mac’.”
The year was 1987, the sport of boxing was at its peak of popularity with many legends standing the test of time even to this day. But at the top of the World Video Boxing Association, was none other than Mr Dream himself, Mike Tyson, with no one else to challenge his throne… or that was until one short boxer from nowhere punched his way.
Hailing from the Bronx, New York, was none other than another young athlete with an interest in boxing, with his name being Little Mac. Despite his underwhelming short stature, thanks to the help of his former champion trainer, Doc Louis, Mac managed to adapt to his larger opponents through constant hard work and training, managing to beat great boxers from all over the globe.
Even with the odds against him, Mac no matter how many times he’d go down would always get back up to the fight through his lightweight, taking advantage of his opponents’ patterns to adapt and overcome the frankly insane weight class differences. And once reaching the top and winning the Dream Fight, Mac and Doc Louis would celebrate their great achievement.
Even though Mac had become famous and had defended his World Champion facing off against all his previous rivals, Mac had grown tired of his fame, and told Doc Louis about his last stand, in which he’d force himself retire after three loses, which to no surprise were inevitable. Despite Mac’s bittersweet retirement, he left a huge impact on the world of boxing, with even an entire exhibit left to his name, as he will be remembered by all as one of the greatest boxers of all time.
Spring Man
ARMS are a mutation that occurs in around 1 in 100,000, causing one's limbs to transform into a pair of extendable limbs. The origin of ARMS are unknown, and a topic of much debate. Research dates the phenomenon to have started around 4,000 years ago, being believed to have been much rarer back then, and the bearers of ARMS being revered for their unique abilities. However, the gift of ARMS seems to be increasing in commonality, with around 20% of the world reporting to have it. While there are reports of certain individuals being born with ARMS, most naturally develop the mutation overnight. With how many people develop ARMS, a sport was made for people to utilize their gifts called…. ARMS!…. Real creative
The ARMS sport is similar to boxing, involving fighters using their ARMS, equipped with… ARMS (fancy weapons, not the mutation) to knock out their opponent. Many compete in the sport, and it’s existed for several generations, its current champion being ARMS commissioner Max Brass. Through the generations of ARMS tournaments, Spring Man has been a title passed down. The most prominent one being the third holder of the title.
Spring Man, real name unknown, got his ARMS mutation when he was young, initially thinking it was weird but eventually coming to realize they were “actually pretty rad” (direct quote). He trains in the Spring Gym and wishes to one day take down Max Brass and become the ARMS champion himself.
Experience & Skill
Little Mac
Don’t look at the city
Little Mac’s boxing journey would’ve never leapt off the ground if it were not for the training and coaching from Doc Louis, a former champion of the WVBA. Mac’s boxing style relies on exploiting his lightweight to avoid and adapt to his opponents fighting patterns to slowly but surely laden enough damage for a KO (or TKO). Mac’s faced off against boxers from all over the globe including dosing Russians, Mexican wrestlers, 70 year old kung fu masters, etc, and even several of the WVBA’s champions like Mike Tyson, Mr Dream, the Bruiser Brothers, and Mr Sandman.
Spring Man
Spring-Man has had his arms mutation since he was young, and has been presumably training with them for a similar amount of time in the Spring Gym. He’s the third inheritor of the Spring-Man title, and had to go through a rigorous training regimen in order to beat out over six hundred other participants for it. He’s also capable of fighting on par with ARMs combatants who’ve been participating in the sport for years, like Max Brass, and the likes of Springtron, a machine created with combat data.
Equipment
Little Mac
Boxing Gloves
The iconic green gloves Mac has worn since the very first entry in Punch Out. Not much else to say about them.
Protective Headgear
Under the circumstances of practice or being a loser losing 100 fights, Doc Louis will give Mac headgear to use during fights reducing any damage dealt to him.
Spring Man
ARMS (Equipment)
Would you believe us if we said the game ARMS had ARMS? The ARMS are the main weapons for Spring Man and the rest of the cast. Each arm extends outward to attack opponents but the weight, elemental attribute, and fighting style vary from ARM to ARM. They are also great for grabbing and pulling foes in. Each ARM has a special element tied to it, each doing unique effects to whoever gets hit by them. While Spring Man comes set with 3 main ARMS he can use, he also has access to every other arm in the game and can switch into them whenever he needs. These include:
Regulator Mask
Every person with the ARMS mutations wears special regulator masks developed to keep their ARMS coiled up, and allows for easier control over them. Without the mask, the ARMS become destabilized and difficult to control, unwrapping themselves involuntarily.
Abilities
Little Mac
Straight Lunge
What Mac basically does is charge his arm to gain more power and upon release, propelling himself forward into a long distance. During the charge Mac also becomes a bit more durable making it harder to cancel with your average punches, however he also is practically predictable while being at it, given he moves only forward.
Jolt Haymaker
This is basically Mac’s version of Superman Punch - the technique which involves bringing the rear leg forward to feign a kick, then snapping the leg back while throwing a cross, resulting in greater power behind the punch. It adds extra power but is fairly easy to anticipate.
Rising Uppercut
Practically Right-handed Corkscrew Punch that is followed by a Left-handed Uppercut, Mac propels himself high into the air while doing a multi-hit combo on opponent, move also useful to just jump for high heights, but after finishing this move, Mac leaves himself open for an attack so he must be careful with it.
Slip Counter
Here Mac takes full crouch stance, which he follows with a slip uppercut once he is hit, the move mostly works for intimidation as if Mac isn’t hit during that stance he wouldn’t really do anything. Meaning the weakness behind it is also mostly just waiting when he’ll come back to his normal stance or keep range.
K.O. Uppercut
Perhaps one of the strongest moves in Mac’s pocket, which costs quite a good amount of build up. Basically he has his own “Power Meter”, which is filled whether Mac inflicts or gets damage, and the moment he gains enough power instead of a Straight Lunge Mac can perform this K.O. Uppercut, capable of almost one-shotting foes if they are damaged well. At least as long as he doesn’t miss, he gets to use it only once until he would need to refill Power Meter again.
Star Punch
The iconic technique invented by Doc Louis. By dealing precise blows to an opponent, Mac is able to gain stars, enabling him to empower his next charged uppercut. At max Mac is able to obtain three of these, with each star empowering his punch even more. As a drawback, Mac will lose all his accumulated stars with any successful strike on him.
Last Stand
When Mac’s pushed to his limit and about to fall from a KO, Mac’s willpower allows him to perform his last stand, granting him one more chance to keep the fight going with a slim of health remaining.
Spring Man
ARMS Mutation
The ARMs mutation causes a part of the affected body to coil up into a spring, most often affecting the arms. With his regulator mask, Spring-Man is able to control his arms and unravel them at will to let out high speed punches. However, if the coil part of the arms are hit three times when stretched, then it can cause the ARMS to go limp for a few minutes, leaving Spring-Man vulnerable.
Parry
By timing a block correctly, Spring Man is solely able to parry an attack giving himself a slight moment to dash or jump, being useful for sudden and unexpected counters.
Charge
All armed fighters possess the ability to charge their variety of ARMS weapons in order to activate their assigned attributes by dashing, jumping or blocking. Uniquely however, after charging, Spring Man gains a blue aura ring for a slight moment protecting him from an incoming blow. Additionally, once Spring Man reaches the last 25% of his remaining health, he’ll gain a red aura with permanently charged ARMS for the rest of the round.
Shockwave Dash
By dashing Spring-Man is capable of making a shockwave to block incoming ARMS
Forms
Little Mac
Giga Mac
When Mac’s Giga Mac meter fills up after repeatedly hitting his opponent in the head, he can transform into… GIGA MAC. (Creative name, we’re aware.) As Giga Mac, Mac’s speed decreases a bit, but in exchange he becomes much, much stronger, with his attacks becoming some of the deadliest in the game and harming characters he had no hope of hurting previously, in addition to becoming a LOT bigger, giving him more range and better AoE on top of that. Fear Giga Mac.
Spring Man
Rush
By filling out his Rush meter by dealing and taking damage, all fighters in ARMS are able to go into Rush, a state where they gain a yellow glow and greatly enhance the capabilities of their equipped ARMS in flurries of attacks. Punches will spring faster, shots will fire barrages of projectiles, swings will cause small tornadoes, and yadda yadda.
Feats
Little Mac
Overall
Champion of the World Video Boxing Association
Beat clowns, kickboxers, staffed fighters, cheaters, legit magicians, a gorilla, and Mike Tyson in the ring.
Power
Can send flying opponents four times his weight
Punched a giant bag of money
Beat a robot at arm wrestling
Speed
Jogs as fast as Doc Louis riding a bike
His entire boxing fighting style relies on dodging attacks
Can arm wrestle faster than a magnetic wave (2.19 - 16.7c) (Read Before the Verdict)
Durability
Survived blows from boxers in every single weight class above him
Can block hits from Aran Ryan’s horseshoe filled boxing gloves
Spring Man
Overall
The third inheritor of the Spring Man title.
Beat out over 600 people for the Spring Man title
Won the ARMS World Grand Prix, defeating it’s raining champion Max Brass
Was the third most popular ARMS fighter (in lore)
Power
Can punch fighters through pillars,
The Boomerang can create small tornadoes
Can throw large fighters like Master Mummy and Mechanica
Speed
Dodged a bunch of punches from various arms fighters (above)
Dodged missiles (Mach 0.91)
During Rush, the Boomerang ARMS are swung so fast they create a tornado (Mach 2 - 4.2)
It also creates barrages of afterimages (Mach 13)
The Slapamander is described to “crack like a whip”, the end of a whip can accelerate up 2-3x the speed of sound
Durability
Can take hits from the Kablammer, which is an arm that was originally used for demolishing buildings
Able to survive large sized bombs brought by drones (1.86 tons of TNT)
Can tank attacks from the Megaton, which presumably weighs 1,000,000 tons (2.8 Tons of TNT) (Debatable)
In rush, it gets even faster and heavier (23.9 tons of TNT)
Scaling
Little Mac
Other Boxers
In Mac’s long journey to championship he had to face dozens of different and unique types of boxers from all around the globe. Since Mac was able to contend and beat all them, he obviously should scale to all their feats, albeit not to their full extent since Mac is still weaker than them physically (that’s the whole point of Punch Out after all).
Disco Kid dances faster than the light reflecting from his disco ball (Read Before the Verdict)
Piston Honda runs as fast as a bullet train (Mach 0.25)
He’s also able to punch so fast he creates afterimages and shockwaves in his title defense fight (Mach 3.54 - 44.8)
Don Flamenco sends a bull flying with one punch
Soda Popinski pulls a truck with his jaw
Mr. Sandman punches a building apart (1 ton of TNT)
Spring Man
The ARMS Cast
The ARMS world is full of wonderful characters from all over the world. From superstars, to ninjas to even mummies, there is no shortage of variety in these armed fighters, of which Spring Man is able to combat, win and lose to. The entire roster has been capable of:
Minmin blows up Twintelle and Ninjara in her Smash reveal trailer
Master Mummy can smash a stone disk (0.27 tons of tnt)
Max Brass floor presses a desk
Hedlok launches itself far off in the sky (Mach 3.54)
Weaknesses
Little Mac
Joe Yabuki is that you
For as smart and quick as Mac is, he is fundamentally Little. He’s not perfect, and his main boxing strategy is done through trial and error to adapt and memorize his opponents’ fighting patterns. And not to mention that he isn’t as strong as any of his opponents due to his low weight class, meaning any punch from a heavier opponent on the weight class deals a tremendous amount of damage.
Spring Man
As with every ARMS fighter, Spring Man's control over his ARMS is dependent on his regulator mask. Without the mask, his ARMS can unravel themselves involuntarily, leaving him unable to attack or defend. Also, hitting his arms three times can temporarily leave them uncoiled for a few moments.
Before the Verdicts…
Donkey Kong scaling
(He got this guys…)
Let’s break this down, since this one seems to be treated either seriously or as a joke, and in debates of Little Mac at this point it is kind of hard to tell. There probably is no need to introduce the source of the topic, as all pretty much know already about Donkey Kong being a secret boss in the Wii version of Punch Out. Mac obviously beats him up even though Kong was probably one of the hardest opponents in his career. This raises a few pros and cons here and there. On one hand, Punch Out itself doesn’t have any specific canon and given Mario already was a referee in one of the fist Punch Out games released (NES one) as well as if going a bit further than that, one of the other Nintendo IPs that was in Mario Movie are pictures which show characters from Punch Out,
Now on the other hand there are some notable problems. For one there is really no correspondence between Mario and Punch Out. Punch Out very often is portrayed as a heavily grounded series, which while has supernaturally strong boxers, still relatively are grounded in terms of their scale. Mario on the other hand is quite supernatural and blatantly unrealistic. Sure there is a city with actual humans in. But this leads to the problem that,,,perhaps actual Mario and Donkey Kong don’t exist in the Punch Out. Unless these are separate, specifically Punch Out versions of Mario & Donkey Kong. Kind of like Tekken’s version of Akuma. Sure Mario and Donkey Kong do exist in Punch Out games, but relatively speaking we cannot say that the Donkey Kong we see in Punch Out is actually the same as the original Kong. And given Punch Out’s Kong is kinda featless, given he even lacks any of the actual story like previous boxers, Mac doesn’t really get far away than “beating up a gorilla”. Practically we just lack the proof of co-existence between Mario and Punch-Out universes, and even still, this is very obvious outlier compared to any other feats that happen in Punch Out, at which point, it’s safe to say scaling just doesn’t works as the crossover doesn’t go any further than a single fight and is more likely to be an average gorilla.
Boxing that fast!?!?
MAGNETS BITCH!!
Now onto the topic, Punch Out isn’t a really big series to look feats into, you really only have a few games with arcade-like principle and the only one where the story actually seemed to be pushed beyond your average beatings until the end is the recent and currently last Wii version. So seeing potential arguments for your average boxers to turn from a bit more faster than speed of sound/eye to speed of light would certainly raise an eyebrow at least. And not without a reason, this isn’t the first time when boxers being faster than light seemed somewhat suspicious (certain people know for sure), and here we have a bit of the same suspicions but for different reasons.
Practically first of all did you know that Little Mac was in a bit more games than the ones that are about boxing? Yeah he seemed to be arm wrestling as well, matching in strength with various foes, some of which even come from his boxing career. In this case, one of Mac’s opponents isn’t any ordinary human, but straight up a robot who is controlled by a little girl. If you are overpowering this monkey looking robot, the girl will decide to cheat and use magnetism against you, as in, it quite literally picks a magnet and uses it to pull the other metallic hand to his side so it’d overpower yours. Now while giving commands, the girl sends out signals to the robot, which in turn are visualized. Same goes to the magnetic waves that are used to pull the hand out. And it just so happens that due to them not being frame 1, Mac’s wrestling does move in-tandem with either of those electronic waves, making him faster than light.
The problem however is the fact that Mac only moved in-tandem with these waves, this factor is very important because it leads to 2 notable issues, that being abuse of the old game and lack of the actual reaction. First one is because developers clearly were just making it look visually appealing and nothing much else, second one is because the reactionary feats, at least the ones people in vs community seem to accept are intended to be about character not only moving as quick as the object, but also being intended to move as quick as the object. Obviously none of the developers are vs debaters, but them, animators and other people who work in whatever media you choose, do spend time when they at least intend to portray certain actions, which includes dodging objects. These 2 issues in turn reach to the one conclusion - developers very clearly had absolutely zero intent in Mac actually being as quick as magnetic waves. They are rather background visuals that are meant to be portrayed only as specific signals, nothing more really.
This also applies to similar in principle feats in Wii games, where boxers can move in-tandem with flashes of camera that we see in the background (and/or Mac and Disco Kid moving in-tandem with light from a disco ball). Practically, it has the same issue as aforementioned feat, there just, no intent whatsoever in making Mac as fast as light and the fact is, these flashes are overall just flashes made for background, not really projectiles/objects Little Mac is dodging.
ARMS attributes
(Maybe not actually…)
In ARMS (the game) many of the ARMS (the weapon) have different attributes. These include electricity and explosives. So wouldn't these allow the ARMS combatants to the speeds of these elements?
Pretty simple, no. Being charged with an element in ARMS does not increase an ARMS speed so charging one up with electricity and explosives wouldn't increase their speed to those levels. Even if charging ARMS increased their speeds, charging something up with electricity or an explosion wouldn't immediately make it move at those speeds. Something like an electric car doesn't move at the speed of electricity does it?
So in conclusion, just because an ARM is charged with electricity or an explosion doesn't mean they move at the same speed as the element.
Hedlok’s ‘feat’
Hedlok is a secret boss character in a few of the ARMS story modes, and has a supposed “storm feat”. During his boss feat, the sky turns a deep red and returns to normal a little bit after he’s defeated…. That’s it.
Obviously, we have a few problems with this argument. First off, it’s not even clear what exactly is happening to the sky. It simply turns red, which isn’t really indicative of it being a storm at all. The sky itself turning red isn’t even acknowledged by any of the characters, so is likely just a visual thing. Lastly, there’s no reason to even believe Hedlock himself affected the sky. Hedlok, nor anything in ARMS, has ever shown that kind of ability and it would be really out there to assume they can. The sky is also still red for a good long while after Hedlok yeets himself off Max Brass. All in all, this feat is just… Not a feat. The way it’s being calced isn’t what is actually happening, and assuming Hedlok is the one actually causing it in the first place would be a huge outlier in terms of everything else we’ve seen in ARMS.
Summary
Little Mac
"Piece of cake!"
Advantages:
Faster
Far better adaptability
Tends to aim for headshots, including his two strongest punch types, which could knock off Spring Man’s regulator mask
Giga Mac would close the strength gap and wouldn’t lower Mac’s speed enough to make Spring Man faster as well as helping him negate the range advantage
More experienced
Punch-Out Wii is peak
Disadvantages:
Weaker
Smaller Range
Sucks ass in Smash
Dead franchise
Spring Man
"Thanks everyone. Time to unwind!"
Advantages:
Stronger
Range (who would've guessed lol)
Has an actual arsenal with lots of variety
Attributes such as blind, stun and wind leave Mac wide open to attacks
Ice attribute lessens the speed gap
Game is massively underrated
Disadvantages:
Slower
Mask is a weak point Mac can exploit
Despite his great amount of ARMS, can only equip two at a time and will need to constantly alternate between them
Giga Mac would be very dangerous for him
Was robbed of getting in Smash twice
Dead franchise
Verdicts
door-kun
So, you all might be wondering what this blog is. And for that in mind, this is my blog - New Horizons! We’ve been working on a few projects (Kevin vs. Gajeel will come out I swear-) and my goal is to cover - well, new horizons! Matchups people don’t care about a ton that I wanna spotlight or series that haven’t been looked into that well, or both! And that’s where this one comes in.
I’ve personally never been a fan of most Mac matchups - most of them feel too jokey or like they don’t play into Punch-Out very well and how generally the appeal is adapting to goofy boxers, especially since that’s imo the best way to get the most appeal out of Mac in a fight due to him being a pretty standard boxer otherwise, which makes a lot of his standard boxer fights kinda boring since compared to them, Mac’s comparatively way more straight-forward unless you use stuff like, Giga Mac which just kinda breaks the dynamic, lol. Spring Man plays into this PERFECTLY, and the two games have a pretty obvious appeal for each other in terms of a crossover, you can use Mac’s goofy shit like Giga Mac without it being totally dynamic breaking, it’s got some fun visual flair, and the match is also very close - probably the closest for both, being real. So, now, let’s get into the verdict!
In terms of stats, they should be pretty close. Spring Man is about two times stronger than Mac, being 1 ton for Mach from scaling to Sandman vs. 1.87 tons for Spring Man from tanking those explosions, so a point for Springy boi over here, albeit not by that much. Meanwhile, Mac is a good amount faster, due to scaling to Piston Honda’s punches since… he can dodge them, while Spring Man scales to the Rush mode punches.
However, it’s worth noting Spring Man only downscales the Rush mode attacks, while in terms of speed, Mac should probably be upscaling Honda since he’s gotten faster and dealt with quicker attacks since his Title Defense bout with Piston Honda, meaning Mac should solidly be a good amount faster - definitely more noteworthy then the gap in strength and durability.
You might have noticed I haven’t mentioned the Megaton yet, and that’s cuz I think the KE calcs for it are bunk, personally. Just because something is named something doesn’t mean it’s exactly a megaton of weight, for instance, and if it was so heavy, it feels very out of place with everything else in game weight wise to jump this high and to bump Spring Man from Building to City Block. I get the argument, but I don’t really buy it, personally.
So, Mac is weaker, but faster, and Spring Man is stronger, but slower. So, who should win from there?
Well, in terms of experience, Mac definitely has way more in his court, and dealing with boxers who are stronger and have more reach than him is something he usually does, not to mention the fact that Spring Man has some noteworthy weaknesses going against him. First of all, his arms take some time to get back, and combined with Mac’s noteworthy advantage in speed, he can easily dodge them, or use his counter to parry them and give him time to get in range.
Not to mention, the springs themselves are dangerous to be punched. Now, some of my fellow bloggers will argue Mac wouldn’t aim for them immediately, and I agree - but at the same time, it’s not like he wouldn’t see parts of the arm extended and not think to try to hit them at least once, since it’s pretty obvious he could deal some damage and take advantage of an opening, which could hurt Spring Man’s timing even more. While yeah, Mac’s strategy is generally to go for the head/body, he’s not gonna see a giant spring uncoiled for a bit while returning and just, sit there and not doing anything lol. He’s not stupid. And getting any hits on the arms would give Mac a huge advantage.
On top of that, Mac’s signature strategy is to aim for the head - and Spring Man’s mask is what’s keeping his arms in check. Combined with Mac’s punches, and Spring Man could have his mask knocked off, rendering him worthless. Albeit, this isn’t the most likely scenario, but it could happen, and that combined with the ARMS being able to be disabled by Mac’s punches as well as Mac’s skill in adapting to his opponents make it so this entire fight, Spring Man’s going to be out-done eventually. Not to mention, Mac could also get into place for one of his most dangerous options - Giga Mac via aiming for the head.
Giga Mac would boost Mac’s strength significantly, to the point I doubt Spring Man would be stronger, and while it does make Mac slower, I doubt without Rush Spring Man would be faster than him at that point, even giving Mac the least benefits of the doubt. This would also get rid of Mac’s range disadvantage and would make it so he could punch Spring Man to a pulp.
Now, Spring Man definitely has a lot more versatility, but I don’t think variety necessarily makes it viable - for one, Spring Man mostly just has different varieties of hitting Mac, which Mac could adapt to and react to seeing the speed gap, and his attributes, while helpful, would require him to hit Mac to be notable, which isn’t the most likely scenario to begin with outside of Rush. While some of Spring Man’s arms could hit him, admittedly, one hit wouldn’t take Mac out of the fight and he’d also have to hit Mac with an attribute to really get an edge here, and this is assuming Mac doesn’t adapt - this is how Mac fights all the time, after all, so I have no doubts he could adapt and overcome this fighting style in time to get Giga Mac, and at that point I’d argue it’s pretty much curtains for Spring Man
Speaking of, I don’t think Rush is that helpful here, at least in comparison to Giga Mac. Spring Man is still 3 times slower then Mac in Rush, and he was already stronger to begin with - he’s still not the likeliest to hit Mac, and that’s kind of bad for Spring Man.
You may have figured this out by now, but yeah, I think Little Mac has this one in the bag. Spring Man has a lot of advantages, and I certainly think he could win if given the chance - but more often than not, I’d think Mac takes this. His speed advantage is a lot more notable then Spring Man’s power advantage, he has options to get in with his jumping haymakers and counters, and his fighting style is designed to play off of people who’re stronger and have better range then him, and Spring Man has too many notable weaknesses in my opinion for Mac to not play off of eventually.
Unfortunately, Spring Man would hit the mat, as the boxer from the Bronx would emerge victorious again!
RedHeadedElf
(Self Proclaimed #1 ARMS Glazer)
So I think it's safe to say this match's debate is so much more interesting than anyone ever thought it'd be. We certainly have had several WTF reactions working on it. I have several opinions on how I think this matchup should go, so let's dive right in.
Stats
The stat discussion here is interesting, but pretty thematic for the characters.
Tackling attack potency and durability first, Spring Man takes a pretty clear edge. At the very least, he's scaling to 0.27 tons via breaking a concrete disk. Mac, on the other ARM, is scaling to feats such as moving a truck or punching a bull. Certainly impressive, but definitely not hitting the small building ranges Spring Man gets
Going into their higher ends, Spring Man is still taking a good advantage. He can tank explosions worth 1.86 tons of TNT. This is backed up with the Kablammer, an ARM that's stated to have been previously used to demolish buildings. As for Mac, the highest you can get him is exactly 1 ton from Me. Sandman punching a building apart. While the strength difference isn't insignificant, it is still less than a 2x gap, so it's not like Spring Man is stonewalling…. Unless you argue for the Megaton.
The Megaton is an ARM known for its extreme weight, implied to be 1,000,000 tons going by the name. Using that weight, and the speed we see the Megaton being thrown, it can get a kinetic energy of 2.8 tons of TNT in base. Now the strength gap is almost 3x, more impressive but nothing mind-blowing. That is, until we factor in Rush. In Rush, the speed of the fighter's punches increases drastically, and that new speed creates a kinetic energy of 23.9 tons of TNT. Now Spring Man is stonewalling. Spring Man is capable of tanking Rush attacks in base without dying, so the scaling should be just fine. There is one arguable problem with the megaton, and that is that its weight is never explicitly said. The only evidence for it weighing a million tons is its name, and the emphasis put on its weight. It's also notable that the name of the Megaton in japanese is simply “big punch”. Although english isn't the only language calling it the megaton. However, in defense of it, the names of most ARMS do seem to be literal descriptions, such as the Boomerang and the Nade acting like their namesakes. Personally, I am indifferent to the Megatons viability. It's not something I'd argue if I don't need too, but I'm also not entirely opposed to using it. Thankfully for my verdict, the Megaton isn't necessary.
Speed has always been Little Mac's bread and butter, so how does he do here? Well, that depends on which end you go for. At the low - mid ends, Mac is boxing low mach speeds, ranging from 0.25 - 3.54 times the speed of sound. Spring Man is bouncing at similar ranges, from Mach 0.91 - 3.54. Technically this would give Spring Man a slight advantage at the lowest, but they are literally dead even at the mid ends. However, then we factor in the higher ends (not counting goofy lights) and Mac can get up all the way to Mach 44. Spring-Man would be downscaling from Rush speeds, which can get around Mach 13. That makes for around a 3x difference. Certainly a nice gap for Mac, but nothing completely game changing
The safest stat difference you can argue without going into wonky feats or scaling is 2x AP/Durability for Spring Man and 3x speed for Little Mac. A stat difference like that means that neither character can rely on just brute force, which means we have to go into the nitty gritty
Arsenal & Abilities
In terms of arsenal, the winner should be a no-brainer. Little Mac's gear consists of standard boxing gloves and headgear. Spring Man's arsenal consists of over 40 different attachments, each with their own special gimmicks and effects. Spring Man’s ARMS fuck over Mac quite a bit; Spring Man can stun Mac and leave him open to attacks, paralyze Mac to slow him down and prevent him from or freeze him to severely limit his precious movement options, using wind to knock Mac off-balance or explosions to deal extra damage, add fire to strengthen his hits, even fucking blinding or poisoning Little Mac. The strength of the poison stacks with every hit btw. That is a lot for Little Mac to deal with. The small caveat with the ARMS Attributes is that Mac can only wield two different types of ARMS at a time, and swap between three at the beginning of a match. That certainly doesn’t help Spring Man, but considering how busted any one of the ARMS effects are, it doesn’t hinder him that much either. Spring Man may not be able to paralyze or blind Mac, but he could still freeze or poison him. Every single individual ARMS effect severely limits what Mac can do to varying degrees, and even helps widen the strength gap or close the speed.
The other important part of Spring Man's equipment is his regulator mask. The regulator mask is what allows Spring Man to use his ARMS mutation in combat, for if it were to be knocked off, his ARMS would unravel and be completely useless, leaving Spring Man a sitting duck. Now, at first glance, this would seem like a pretty solid advantage or even win-con for Mac to exploit. Little Mac would be aiming for headshots in order to go Giga, and has experience knocking off headgear. Plus, Spring Man isn’t used to close ranged brawls like what Mac specializes in, so combining that with his speed advantage, Mac knocking off the headgear seems like a pretty solid plan…. That is, until you realize the types of fights Spring Man gets into. In ARMS, you are constantly being tossed around the stage, knocking into giant pillars, being hit in the head by missiles and lasers, and yet Spring Mask stays on. Spring Man has taken beatings far beyond what Mac can dish out without so much as the mask peeling. So while knocking off the regulator mask seems like a good idea in theory, it just doesn’t seem feasible in practice.
Now, ability wise Mac does fair quite a bit better. The ARMS mutation gives Spring Man an obvious and incredibly important range advantage. If he plays his cards right, Spring Man can completely avoid Little Mac hitting him at all. Little Mac does have a slight speed advantage, but that’s in reaction speeds. This is one of the few matchups where the different types of speed are important. Little Mac has faster reaction speeds, but in order to get close to Spring Man, he has to rely on movement speed. Meanwhile, in order to prevent Mac from charging him, Spring Man has to rely on his own attack speed. So how do those compare? Well, Mac fairs pretty well. The best feat for movement speed in Punch Out gets to 85 m/s, while Spring Man's faster ARMS reach around 43 m/s. So Mac certainly can get up close, which would give him a good advantage. Although, the ARMS attributes constantly hampering Macs movement, and Spring Man simply being able to throw Mac across the ring makes it a bit harder. Spring Man also can block and parry attacks at a close range.
Another important thing to note is a weakness in the ARMS mutation, being that if Mac hits Spring Man's arms 3 times, it can temporarily deactivate them. Yet another way for Little Mac to get up close… but also still with its fair share of caveats. Little Mac wouldn’t know to hit the ARMS to deactivate them, and it’s unlikely he’d exactly focus on punching them as opposed to dodging or blocking.
Overall, Mac's best strategy is to try and get in close, and he certainly has ways of doing so thanks to his movement speed and ability to uncurl Spring Mans arms in a couple different ways, but I find it a bit hard to believe he can pull any of that off when Springs range and absurd amount of status effects hard counter this strategy and Macs overall fighting style.
Tertiary Factors
So this is kinda where I wanna talk about what is probably going to be a fair discussion; Giga Mac vs Rush Mode. This is certainly an interesting comparison, so let’s break it down
Firstly, Rush Mode is going to be much easier for Spring Man to access. The bar fills up both when giving and receiving hits, meaning that bar is being filled throughout most of the fight. Meanwhile, Little Mac needs to land several headshots in order to go Giga. As we’ve already discussed, him getting in close enough to land those headshots, while possible, are very difficult and unlikely.
Secondly is how they affect stats. Rush Mode pretty explicitly is a massive speed buff, relying on doing more hits rather than stronger hits. Any AP increase would come simply from kinetic energy. For Giga Mac, this is the opposite. He loses speed, but gets much stronger and more durable. Essentially, the stat gap flips. I do think, in a vacuum, Giga Mac is better. The durability increase allows him to stonewall a lot of Macs hits, even in Rush. However, due to Giga Mac simply being more difficult for Mac to get out than it would be for Spring Man to go into a Rush, I do think Rush ends up being more useful. It should also be fairly obvious that if Spring Man can go into Rush while Little Mac is still in base, it’s over for Mac.
There isn’t much else in terms of tertiary stuff I haven’t already gone over; experience and skill seems about even. Both have been boxing since they were young, trained by some of the best fighters in their verse, fought equally absurd combatants, etc.
Conclusion
So, all in all, this is a rather close matchup. Both fighters have various advantages and wincons, from higher stats to specific strategies. It really could go either way, but there is a most likely victor in my eyes. Stat wise, it’s a classic speed vs strength debate, but neither fighter having an advantage enough to really on them (without the weird arguments we’ve already shown our disagreements with). Arsenal wise, Spring Man takes a clear edge with his variety of different ARMS hard countering Little Macs entire fighting style. In terms of abilities, neither of them have much but Spring Mans range gives him more than he needs, and Rush Mode is simply a more practical super form with way easier access. Little Mac using his speed to get in close and taking the fight close range, out of Spring Mans element, is a viable strategy and one that could make for a clean dub but it’s not one I see him pulling off with everything that Spring Man can throw at Mac
Sorry Mac, but it’s back to the gym for you, as the referee holds up Spring Man's arm in victory.
Ultra27
Hi!!! As of last month, I found myself infatuated with this match as it perfectly encapsulates what I’d want out of a Mac match, a quirky opponent far different from him which allows to show off his adaptability while letting both characters shine. And not to mention my affinity for both franchises (Nintendo WILL bring them back trust…). But glazing aside, the fact that this is weirdly close is quite the comical circumstance, so let’s go over my thoughts.
For starters, while you might expect Spring Man to dominate in all regards via… y’know, ARMS being way more wacky than Punch Out, Mac is able to actually keep up quite well stat wise. Strength wise, downscaling Mr Sandman’s 1 Ton of TNT punch from destroying a building against Spring Man surviving a 1.82 Ton of TNT explosion would roughly mean a gap of two times. Of course Mac shouldn’t scale to the full punch since he’s still weaker than all his opponents but he’s still capable of contending and causing damage to them, so he’d only be downscaling. Also as a side note, we have zero proof that the Megaton arm actually weighs a megaton. It’s never once confirmed to be a megaton in weight besides assumptions and in the original Japanese translation of the game the arm is simply called a “Big Punch”, so no, Spring Man should not be City Block.
Although for speed, it’s a complete shocker, as Mac quite frankly takes it by quite the margin. Piston Honda is able to generate afterimages in his title defense match with his punches, so much so that calculations range from Mach 3 to Mach 44. Meanwhile, Spring Man is fairly easily able to match Mach 3 speeds with Hedlok’s launch and scaling to whipping, but at his highest, Rush only lets him reach a rough third Mac’s best with Mach 13. And it should be of note, I don’t believe Spring Man regularly scales to Rush, at best, he should be downscaling it in his regular state and only be of those speeds during it. It would be weird if all characters in ARMS scaled to Rush in their base states as that would sort of ignore the fact that it boosts their speed. Meaning that Mac should have a solid 3x speed lead (likely far higher when accounting for downscaling) while Spring Man is 2x as strong.
Ability wise, it’s as the smash announcer would say, a no contest. As Spring Man actually possessing a wide arsenal of ARMS thanks to his mutation and status effects is better than Mac’s several ways of punching you differently and his boxing gear. I will say however, while I don’t agree with Mac having access to his Smash moveset, since they were allowed for this, it does mean that he has several solid mobility options to dodge and close the distance on Spring Man. And not to mention that Mac runs really fast.
As for their forms, both of their power-ups require them to fill their meters, Mac by landing headshots and Spring Man by simply dealing and receiving damage. While Giga Mac boosts strength and lowers speed, Rush is a short boost which heavily boosts the speed at which ARMS fighters can swing their arms. While both are certainly good forms for both, Giga Mac is more important as it’s duration is far longer than Rush and allows to lower the strength gap in exchange of some speed loss; while Rush in comparison is an overwhelming barrage that could prove to be fatal against Mac but falters a bit with its duration. And by how they’re obtained, Rush is easier to obtain by fighting while Mac needs to close the distance and aim for headshots. Both could be used to solidify their advantages and cover their weaknesses.
I will also say that Spring Man’s status effects definitely harm Mac’s chances of winning a lot, like for example freezing completely stops him from jumping and dashing, poison is a big problem as it gets stronger the more hits land, stun and blind leave Mac wide open for attacks, and electricity just stops him from being able to punch. These could all severely screw up Mac if they were to land.
Before we get to my conclusion, I believe skill is likely comparable, as both are capable of facing off against world champions and fighters who have trained their entire lives. But Mac does at the very least have more blatant showings of it and uses a lot of strategy in his fights when compared to Spring Man.
By now I assume you’ve already figured out my take, and I believe that in a very close punch out, the boxer from the Bronx has the arms to win this fight. First and foremost, I’ll explain some points against Mac. Being twice as weak as Spring Man means any direct hit from him would hurt Mac a lot more than the other way around, and not to mention that with his long range and plethora of ARMS with unique status effects, if Spring Man were to land them charged consecutively, Mac would be toast by toasters; and let’s not forget, Rush could take down Mac for good in one swift barrage of he’s not careful.
While I certainly believe Spring Man would beat Mac a lot of times with his frankly absurd amount of arsenal, Mac’s fighting style and speed edge allows for a more concrete and reliable argument to win. To explain my point, while Mac would certainly encounter more problems battling against our armed fighter than the other way around, it does not mean that Mac would be fully out of his element. He’s dealt with opponents stronger than him in every fight of his and knows to keep up his evasion and guard up against his opponent and look for their weaknesses, and I’d be lying if I said Spring Man didn’t have two massive weaknesses attached to his shoulders.
While the ARMS mutation is a heavy advantage over Mac, it falters in two areas, as the recoil time if a hit fails is long enough to allow Mac to get closer to his foe and the fact that punching them temporarily disabled them. Sure, while Mac doesn’t know about the latter’s weaknesses, the ARMS are large and obvious targets which someone as smart as Mac could at the very least assume affect Spring Man in some way. And for the record, I don’t believe Mac could knock down the regulator mask. If they can stay taped to someone’s face after an explosion and a Megaton to the face, a weaker opponent isn’t punching that thing off.
I will note that Giga Mac makes my argument of Little Mac winning slightly better, as while sure he trades some speed for strength and becomes a larger target, Mac’s speed edge is still large enough for him to be fast enough to avoid Spring Man’s attacks and let him deal and take far stronger blows.
In short, Little Mac has enough to go the distance by doing what he does best and constantly avoid his opponent’s attacks until the opportunity arises to capitalize on their weaknesses, which I believe is more plausible thanks to his speed edge, smarter tactics, and mobility. Spring Man better prepare to pass the ARMS belt, as the WVBA’s short champion Little Mac takes the crown once more!
Tru
(“Why I oughta” ahhh pose)
As the creator of the Rocky Balboa VS Daniel LaRusso blog I am the law and have supreme authority on this blog. So let's start with…
Don’t listen to him ^
ELF GET AWAY I HAVE LITERALLY SAVED THE SPRING SOCIETY
THOSE FEATS WOULD MEAN NOTHING WITHOUT ME TRU
AND WHO BROUGHT THOSE FEATS TO YOUR ATTENTION? IT WAS ME ELF! WE WOULD BE AT WALL LEVEL AND PROBABLY BARELY INTO MACH ARMS
Okay Thawne
Stats
As one would expect the stats here are quite close. For strength and durability Little Mac is hitting exactly 1 Ton of TNT by scaling to Sandman causing massive damage to a building (Not including any monkey business… literally). This is pretty impressive for a little guy like Little Mac but Spring-Man takes the edge (goon?). Spring-Man can tank large explosions worth 1.86 Tons of TNT. This is backed up by the Kablammer having a statement that it was used to demolish buildings before becoming an ARM. This is also not including the Megatons KE.
People on this blog likely have conflicting opinions on the Megaton. Almost everything about this ARM specifically calls attention to its weight as it is a huge part of the identity for this ARM. This includes its weight as a heavy ARam (super heavy during rush) and the description of the ARM and its counterpart the Megawatt calling out the weight of the ARM. ARM names also usually match the actual applicabilities of the ARM (I.E. The Nade and Kablammer make explosions, The Toaster, Roaster and Retorcher use fire, Seekie seeks Etc). Results Megaton KE get around 2.8 Tons of TNT until rush kicks in and it skyrockets to 23.9 Tons. However, all of this does come into question due to the original translation for this ARM being “Big Punch” while only a handful of international versions use Megaton so it could very easily be written off in that way. Regardless of if you buy the Megaton having this insane weight for KE in such a small package Spring-Man still takes strength/durability if barely.
Speed is where Little Mac manages to find his footing. Being able to scale to Piston Hondo creating a shockwave and in the time of its travel, create 3 after images. This gets a whopping Mach 44.8. This speed is faster than Spring-Man can hit even while in rush, who caps out at Mach 13 during Rush which he downscales in base. Do note that these calculations are both for reaction speeds only and this will be important during the conclusion.
Outside of Megaton KE, neither of the two have enough of a stat edge to blitz or one shot the other though Little Mac's speed edge is larger and likely more notable than Spring-Man's edge in strength/durability. This means we need to look at…
Arsenal/Abilities
Yeah I'm not going to sugarcoat it… Spring-Man dominates this category. Mac having protective headgear, extreme willpower and a few powerful punches doesn't exactly match up to Springman’s 42 ARMS. Not that Mac's will and punches are anything to scoff at, he's just majorly outclassed against Spring-Man in this regard. Spring-Man’s effects are just stuff Little Mac rarely if ever has to deal with. Attacks that curve around Little Mac, wind to keep Mac at bay, ice to slow Mac down, beams from to hit Little Mac from afar, shields to block Macs onslaught and blindness that makes it incredibly hard for Little Mac to function.
And even though Spring-Man can only choose between two ARMS at a time he can change them on the fly meaning Mac will always be playing catch up to adapt.
But what about their forms? Both Giga Mac and Rush are terrifying for their opponent. Giga Mac allows Mac to close the strength gap and wallop on Spring-Man while Rush allows Spring-Man to catch Mac off guard with a barrage of blows that could be fatal. Giga Mac is much more impactful to the fight but Rush is also a lot easier to obtain. With the arsenal section settled it's time for the…
Tertiary Factors
Let's get the elephant out of the room. Spring-Man has a MASSIVE range advantage over the guy who's name is literally “Little”. And despite both fighters' similar experience, this is a range advantage Mac has never had to deal with. The same could be said for Mac never having to deal with someone who has 42 weapons on hand meaning he is going to be out of his comfort zone the whole time. However, if Mac gets in, Spring-Man will be the one out of his comfort zone. Despite this, Spider-Man’s Parry and ability to throw Mac an insane distance kind mitigate this problem.
But what about their more in-verse type weaknesses? Immediately you may think Spring-Man has weaknesses that are way more exploitable in the form of his Regulator Mask and ARMs. And while you wouldn't be wrong in thinking this seeing as Mac is very used to connecting punches capable of exploiting weakness, he's never fought someone on the level of Spring-Man. See Mac trying to knock off Spring-Man’s mask is much harder than it is to exploit his usual opponents weaknesses. Not only has Spring-Man taken hits from stronger weapons than Mac's punches and his Regulator Mask stayed on, the mask also stays on through wind and tornados being thrown right at his face and his mask is completely fine. Mac would also have to figure out the mask is what controls Spring-Man's ARMS which seems pretty unrealistic. And while Mac might be able to disable an ARM for a short while even with the fact the ARMS can take stronger hits, the ARMS will come back online given enough time. Mac will also be aiming for headshots to get Giga Mac up so it's quite hard to say Mac would even attempt to disable the ARMS in the first place.
Meanwhile, if Mac gets hit enough he can easily tire out into his purple state which would not be doing him any favors unless his reaction speeds being higher than Spring-Man's combat speed heavily mitigated this weakness.
Now while I have been talking about all the ways Little Mac is out of his comfort zone I would be lying if I said this wasn't a fight he was used to. Spring Man's range is way beyond anything Mac has fought but Mac is very familiar with a dodge first before closing the distance style of fighting as most of his opponents out-range him. However Spring-Man’s more malleable style can allow him to adapt to Mac’s dodge heavy style much easier. Not only does he have Arms that counter this style of fighting but Spring-Man has plenty of ways to hunker down and keep Mac at bay.
So overall. This section is a pretty big toss up. Both are similarly skilled and experienced and while Little Mac is more used to Spring-Man's style, Spring-Man has counters to Mac’s style and has more ways to keep Mac on his toes so I can't say someone really takes this category.
Conclusion
This match is really close. The stats are close but lean in Little Mac's favor, Spring-Man dominates the arsenal category but with the stats and tertiary it still becomes very close to call. However if it wasn't obvious based on the opening bit with me and Elf I side Spring-Man. Him having specific counters to Mac's style of fighting, unique ways to work around his weaknesses that Mac doesn't have, better strength making him slightly harder to put down and arsenal that screws with Little Mac and his strategy. Sure Mac is faster in reactions but his travel speed is lower than Spring-Man's reactions meaning Spring-Man can still feasibly keep Mac at a range he is more comfortable with using his much wider variety of tools. Sure if Little Mac gets in Spring-Man could be put down quickly (especially if Mac gets to Giga Mac) but Rush and his arsenal can slow Mac down and let Spring-Man get the few blows he needs to win the match. Little Mac has a ton of tenacity that could keep him in the fight but it just wouldn't be enough. Spring-Man can maneuver around his close range weakness with wind, Parry and throws that Mac just can't handle.
Little Mac tried to Punch the toothpaste head Out. But he didn't have the ARMS for it. The winner is Spring-Man.
Oleggonger
(Wait a minute there…)
Why hello there, boys and girls! It seems our match here reached quite unexpected results, in whatever side you look we have a back to back tie between our 2 fist fighting contestants. Yet another boxing match, where I shall serve as a tiebreaker, or else people would get mad to get ties way too often as it comes with a few of the recent blogs. But that’s a bit off topic, let’s get to this match specifically. Honestly it is probably on a better side of Little Mac’s Matches, ARMS as a verse isn’t completely grounded series, but neither it is average, Springman here has as much of a fighting spirit as Mac while being as a supernatural foe as Punch Out boxers, making this fight feel as if it is an actual Punch Out boss fight, and the debate, well if you’ve read all other 4 you should realize how much it reflects that dynamic.
They are quick, strong, agile, mobile and flexible in the arena capable of adapting to new fighting styles in seemingly no turn, but who shall come out of this brawl alive. Let’s see from step to step. Starting from the obvious - stats are aaaaaalmost equal here, Springman is a bit stronger while Mac is a bit faster, the ratio here is in favor of Mac however it is worth mentioning that strongest feats in Punch Out performed by Sandman, who while Mac did defeat, is still one of the most rather toughest opponents for him, would Mac not be careful, Sandman would’ve finished up his career in rather few punches at most. So they should overall even out here, but before getting to any other stuff I probably also would want to quickly talk about “Megaton” here, obv Kinetic Energy while moving an object that actually weighs a Megaton at speeds as high in ARMS’ example is hella impressive, but it’s debatable in context of this blog for a reason, for one we technically cannot really justify weight of an object by a name alone, though while with that in mind it could pass vibe check, the real problem rises when we get to its actual japanese name, which instead of Megaton just says “Biggu Panchi” aka Big Punch:
Realistically, this kinda ruins the feat in question at its core, I guess it seems Nintendo English translators hype up not only their plumber series when it comes to vs debating…That interesting topic aside however, I probably wanna take a look at another statistical factor here other than strength of a punch and speed of a punch, that being lifting strength! In vs it often is glossed over, but in a situation like that one, superior LS helps us to choose who will take the lead in certain abilities or techniques interactions. And in that case, Springman is more known for grabbing both heavy hitters and some heavy metallic enemies in his game, while Mac’s best showings are perhaps his punches moving massive boxers up, and while these boxers are much more bigger than Mac, which gives him bonus points, they are not realistically as heavy as, say, metallic mech, which is something I can tell really by looking. So essentially Spring-Man takes quite a minor but an advantage, as Mac won’t be able to heavily countermeasure Spring-Man grabbing him, which is one of his moves aside from throwing punches.
Now when it comes to stuff like how said abilities do interact with each other, it’s important to take notes. There is obviously a point at which Mac has a big disadvantage if he stays too long from Spring-Man, and vice versa, if Mac will get closer to Spring-Man, however, this does not mean they are completely hopeless in these angles. Spring-man for what it’s worth still obviously can throw punches, or at least guard and block Mac’s in close range, plus he is agile enough to make several athletic jumps back to return his distance, which while may be surprisingly is not something Mac has seen yet, aside from obvious spring fists that are flying right into face, as well as considering Spring-Man is slightly more stronger than Mac’s strongest foe, it’ll be pretty hard to capitalize on that advantage even if not impossible. To an extent Mac, while not really mobile at all in his classic games, still has some more value of mobility in Smash, even though he isn’t much of an aerial fighter. Some techniques like Straight Lunge, Jolt Haymaker, Rising Uppercut make for a good way to close the distance, and given Mac is quicker one here, he can close the distance in a good enough manner. Now the tricky part comes in with various ARMS Spring-Man can use, a lot of them are basically “projectiles” of sorts given the range, so say even some basic spring arm can already counter Mac’s Slip Counter that relies on intimidation of the opponent getting close. A lot of the tricks in Spring-Man’s arms can do a bit minor but inflictions on Mac affecting his overall performance. But obviously he can’t use all of them at once, and he still needs to switch them up all around, which in turn Mac could take some advantage of.
This essentially means, that the whole dynamic here is what a Punch Out boss is as been pointed out in the beginning - Mac is weaker and more average, but faster and more adaptive, and given small ratio between the 2 it is pretty hard to pinpoint the winner here given both’s strategies play off perfectly against each other.
Which is why perhaps as a matter of countermeasure, I’m left with no choice, but to look at their weaknesses and perhaps importantly, their forms. Starting from Spring-Man, his ARMS have 2 exploitable weaknesses - regulator masks which upon being punched out, will leave him without a proper control of his mutative hands, same goes for targeting coils specifically. While coils are probably not something Little Mac could exploit, a regulator mask however might be his unintentional way to win, because he already targets the face most of the time. With that said, Mac’s weakness is also the fact that he must outlast Spring-Man without getting too many errors in a fight, and given how much Spring-Mann packs in his guns it is rather challenging.
And now there are forms that both achieve, Giga Mac and Rush. Giga Mac is probably the overall superior form here, given it lasts longer and closes necessary gaps that hold him from taking W so much, even though he probably becomes dumber in that form.
Ok that is a messy picture we have here, they ratio each other well enough in terms of stats though Spring-Man can immobilize Mac with his grabs, their techniques have a great countermeasures to keep their advantages, their weaknesses are both notably exploitable on both ends, and only forms are probably more or less in favor of Mac. It frankly is really hard to make a choice here, given both sides present a fair arguments, and both Mac and Spring boy just oh so happen to counter measure each other several times over.
(Verdict process:)
But alright, we’ve went through almost everything that both can afford, with so many, yet so little stuff around it is not easy choice whatsoever, but perhaps, this final factor should be the decisive one, that being…
Alright Yabuki fans, we’re back in business, with both having fair share of versatility, skill and power, perhaps the last part that is worth covering is the will to keep going forward during the fight. Not just outsmarting your foe, but being able to keep going even at your lowest. This leads me to an overall conclusion - this fight is really rather 51/49 here, it’s close and as a matter of fact interesting to look at. And while Mac and Spring can fight and fight, while using all advantages and disadvantages in a short time frame of a few minutes, which under normal circumstances, I may even count as closest to tie…Little Mac has more than enough guts to last longer.
Now, let me be clear again, both have fair share of weaknesses, and both have a good equivalents of what they could exploit, or what they could countermeasure with, Little Mac however has shown a bit more consistently to keep fighting at his lowest, compared to Spring Man. In a matter like this, Spring Man exploiting Mac’s weakness is a bit similar to how his other bosses go, from which Mac is shown to still recover despite such clear disadvantages, and something like Last Stand certainly portray Mac as more tenacious of the 2. With that and his strongest punches aiming for the face, Mac exploiting the weak point is not only more likelier, but is also a more deciding factor out of the 2, and some fair share of will he gained in his game, only makes it sure for him to eventually lead on top.
This, as I mentioned, is in fact, a close match, a fight that would last for quite a long time, perhaps even longer than just 3 rounds, but despite Spring Man’s strength, range and versatility, Little Mac got speed, adaptability and bigger will to Punch Out these ARMS and reach the top.
Weak pun? True, but on the other hand it’s 3AM, so I might need to get a better sleep schedule…oh well, see y’all next time!
Final Tally
Little Mac (3) - door-kun, Ultra27, Oleggator
Spring Man (2) - RedHeadedElf, Tru
Joe Yabuki (1) - Oleggator 🐊 (he is so badass that he gets votes even when he isn’t in the MU…)
(Thanks Cabbage for this btw)
Next time…
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