Twintelle was first revealed during a May 17, 2017 Nintendo Direct. Twintelle features dark brown skin and large, white/pink pigtails that she uses to fight due to her hair being affected by the ARMS Ability. She is the only character in the ARMS universe whose hair is affected in this way. She wears a blue mask, a sleeveless white top, black pants, and black heels. Twintelle was a more worrisome character to design than others by ARMS producer Kosuke Yabuki. The initial concept of Twintelle was just a character who fought with their hair. The design team wanted to do something different and wanted to represent different countries and different backgrounds. The staff reached out to people at Nintendo of America and Nintendo of Europe to get ideas for a character from a different background. Designers sent sketches to these divisions of the character to get their opinions on them. The design of Twintelle took more time and had designers working harder than they did on others. Yabuki designed her to have a muscular build. Yabuki enjoyed the character, commenting that she was a rare character type for Nintendo to create. He was particularly happy to have made what he considers to be a strong female character.
Appearances
Twintelle first appears in ARMS as a playable character. She participates in ARMS competitions due to her not feeling enthused about just her acting career. She also appears in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in a cameo role as a "Spirit."
Reception
Since her appearance in ARMS, Twintelle has received generally positive reception. She is regarded as the most popular ARMS character by fans. The positive response to Twintelle left Yabuki feeling happy and energized. He added that he was not expecting the popularity to be as strong as it was. Critics including Allegra Frank and Gita Jackson suggested that her popularity was derived in part from her hair, outfit, sexual characteristics, and her "calm, collected" personality. Writer Xavier Harding suggested that the amount of fanart that Twintelle has received suggested that Nintendo "has a hit on their hands." Twintelle's high degree of popularity lead to Nintendo including her in ARMS "Global Testpunch," a free temporary online video game demo. US Gamer's Matt Kim called her the "star of ARMS" and said he has "fallen in love" with her. She has been a suggestion for inclusion in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate by critics such as Xavier Harding, Paul Tassi, and Brian Shea. Writer Will Greenwald included her in his list of most-wanted female characters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Her status as a woman of color stood out due to its added variety to the roster. Writer Tanya DePass was unhappy with Twintelle's design, criticizing the fact that she was a "brown, female character with weaponized hair." She compared the idea of "weaponized hair" to real-world discrimination against black people for their natural hairstyles. She suggested that Twintelle's hair issues was a part of a greater issue in video games to do with black people's hair. Writer Shonte Daniels responded to this article, noting that she found her argument "completely valid," playing as Twintelle in ARMS made her feel empowered. She argues that her hair deconstructs the idea, and that Twintelle "isn’t fighting against her hair" but rather "fights alongside it." She compares Twintelle to black female athletes such as tennis player Serena Williams, who touched upon how she used to dislike her masculine body but in time grew to love it due to how it has helped achieve her goals. Daniels suggests that Twintelle is similarly proud of her body and flaunts her hair in spite of criticism. She also suggested that her hair was affected by the "ARMS ability" due to her closeness to her hair. Williams went on to name her as one of the best new video game characters in 2017. Writer Janet Garcia called Twintelle the most unique character designs of the Nintendo Switch generation, praising her design as both "sexualized and empowered." She further discusses that Twintelle's sexuality fits in well with the ARMS world, and her sexuality comes off better because ARMS other female characters are not sexualized. She added that Twintelle's backstory helps justify her sexualization and that it makes her seem "badass." However, she acknowledges that the femme fatale design that Twintelle incorporates is one that is too commonly applied to women of color. In celebrating Reggie Fils-Aime, writer Jordan Minor featured Twintelle on his list of his favorite black characters, calling her the "Queen of ARMS." Writer Alisha Karabinus acknowledged that Twintelle had potential problematic aspects, but noted that if video games did not have black women depicted poorly that gaming would have little left.
