AstroNinja

AstroNinja (often shortened to just Astro) is an player from the United States who is considered to be the best Dr. Coyle main in North America. Due to his high amount of recent tournament wins such as Bamboo Battles: Hibernation Arc and ARMS NA Online Open, he's also considered to be the best currently active player in North America, being ranked 1st on Season 3 of the ARMS North America Online Power Rankings. AstroNinja is currently sponsored by IlluZion Gaming.

AstroNinja first saw ARMS when it was shown off during a Nintendo Switch Presentation on January 12th, 2017, though he didn't gain a heightened interest in the game until he played it at a demo event later in the year. This exposure, combined with the hype that the late YouTuber Etika surrounded the game with, intrigued Astro enough to pick up ARMS. In the early days of ARMS, he mainly played Min Min, but later switched to Dr. Coyle once she released with Version 5.0.0. During this early stage of the community, he was also a member of the team Neopunch. Despite not being very publicly recognized, Astro managed to get 5th in the Customs bracket at Smash'N'Splash 4, defeating many notable players including, Para, HESS, and Kholdstare.

Somewhat later in his ARMS career, AstroNinja was a part a short lived team Nightmare Enterprises (NMe) which was essentially made for ironic purposes. He also joined Kanji Krew, a more serious crew, some time after leaving NMe with this partnership lasting a good while. In February of 2019, Astro attended Heart of Battle and placed 1st which many see as a premonition to his transformation from good player, to the best player. This was definitively showcased with another win, this time at SwitchFest 2019, in late Summer of 2019. Soon after this victory, on September 19, 2019, AstroNinja was signed on to Illuzion Gaming for ARMS. The two aforementioned wins were to many's surprise as prior to this Astro was not a very prominent name to most of the community, but after these wins his name has since become nearly synonymous with competitive ARMS especially with his performances in 2020.

In early 2020, AstroNinja's wins became incredibly noticeable and dominant, with victories at large online events such as Quarantined Rapport, Bamboo Battles: Hibernation Arc, and the ARMS NA Online Open, which is the largest ARMS tournament ever held. Within each of these events, Astro lost very few games and no sets which was something that essentially hadn't been seen before in ARMS. This streak of not dropping a set in 2020 ended in The Steel Trap #2, when Para won Winners Finals 3-2 against him, although Astro still won the event after winning the Losers Bracket and defeating Para in Grand Finals. Many accredit these wins with the prevalent advantages and abilities that Dr. Coyle has, but he has shown that he is able to succeed without her in events such as Champions of the Era 61 where he only played Max Brass. AstroNinja managed to win the event over numerous top players, including Mileve and the current best Max Brass in the world, Steelhead. Despite this, Astro has still acknowledged Dr. Coyle's notable advantages over most of the other fighters, although he does believe other fighters still have things that can be abused as well (Kid Cobra's jumps for example).

Throughout his career, AstroNinja has showcased that he is one of the best players ARMS players in North America, taking set wins against almost every active player within the scene. He has also managed to win at least one event of almost every major weekly/biweekly ARMS tournaments alongside winning numerous major online events ran by community members and eSports organizations alike. Although not starting off as strong as other players, AstroNinja has cemented his spot as one of the best ARMS players of all time with his performance a few years into his ARMS experience.

Playstyle
AstroNinja is often known for his usage of taunting, or "dancing", against his opponents with one of the most notable examples being at 2GG: Heart of Battle. In terms of ARMS, AstroNinja often utilizes ones that are useful in the given match up. He mainly sticks with Glove ARMS, Triblast, and Funchuk though with most other ARMS being specific per circumstances. Astro makes use of Dr. Coyle's evasiveness to dodge the majority of his opponent's attacks while applying heavy pressure with attacks of his own. This play style has been shown to be difficult to counter as he has gained numerous perfect or near perfect rounds on other high level players in the past. The effectiveness of his play is also seen through his exemplary tournament results throughout 2020.

Trivia

 * AstroNinja often creates ARMS related memes, many of which include Biff, such as a play on the popular Looney Tunes meme Big Chungus; Biff Chungus. Astro also runs a No Context ARMS Twitter account.
 * The Swag Grab was named so by AstroNinja, but was actually discovered by Japanese ARMS player Usagi to Ude.

Social Media
Twitter account YouTube channel

Gameplay Videos
Smash n Splash 4 ARMS: Astronina0 (Dr Coyle) vs. MWe | Twinedfive0 (Lola Pop) Defaults Pools Smash n Splash 4 ARMS: TCM | Kholdstare (Kid Cobra) vs. Astroninja0 (Dr. Coyle) Customs Top 16 Smash n Splash 4 ARMS: StDx | GoreMagala (Helix) vs Astroninja0 (Dr Coyle) Customs Winners Semis Smash n Splash 4 ARMS: Abu (Twintelle) vs Astroninja0 (Dr Coyle) Customs Losers Quarters CotE #30 - Asqew (Min Min) vs. Astroninja (Coyle) - Grand Finals - ARMS Heart of Battle - AstroNinja0 (Dr. Coyle) VS IluZ | Twinedfive0 (Lola Pop) - ARMS - Grand Finals IluZ | AstroNinja vs IluZ | Twinedfive0 | Polaris Punchout Grand Finals: IluZ | AstroNinja vs Gore Magala | Polaris Punchout