Honestly, Min Min is kind of a weird case. She’s the character everyone loves to draw but half the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate community hates to fight. You’ve seen the art. It’s everywhere. That iconic ramen-bowl beanie, the neon orange aesthetic, and those spiraling noodle arms that defy every law of human anatomy.
But there is a massive disconnect between the "Ramen Bomber" we see in high-effort illustrations and the actual fighter on the screen.
When ARMS first dropped in 2017, the fan art was all about the gimmick. Artists were obsessed with how to make hair and limbs look like actual edible noodles without it being, well, gross. Then Smash happened. Suddenly, Min Min fan art exploded. It wasn't just about her home game anymore; she became a staple of the "waifu" art scene, often appearing alongside heavyweights like Pyra or Mythra.
But if you look closely at the most popular pieces on Pixiv or Twitter (now X), you’ll notice that artists often ignore her most important canon trait: she’s actually kind of a grump.
Why the "Happy Noodle Girl" Trope is Basically Non-Canon
If you scroll through FanArts, you’ll see a lot of Min Min smiling, winking, or looking generally bubbly. It makes sense. She’s associated with ramen! Ramen is comfort food!
But if you look at the official art by the ARMS team—specifically the stuff from the Japanese Twitter account—she almost never smiles. She has this legendary "bitchy resting face" that fans have debated for years. Some think she’s just hyper-focused because the success of the Mintendo Noodle House is on her shoulders. Others, like the folks over on the ARMS subreddit, joke that she’s just perpetually annoyed because she can't actually eat with those arms.
Artists like blueaurorius or marikyuunn have done a great job of capturing her personality without making her a generic cheerful anime girl. Marikyuunn’s chibi versions of her are iconic because they keep that slightly "done with your nonsense" expression.
When you’re looking for high-quality Min Min fan art, the pieces that stand out are the ones that lean into her "Spicy" personality rather than just the "Sweet."
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The Technical Nightmare of Drawing Noodle Arms
Let’s talk about the actual art process. Drawing Min Min is a literal headache.
Most characters have a skeleton. You have an elbow; it bends one way. With Min Min, the "elbow" is a suggestion. Her arms are coils. If you draw them too stiff, she looks like she’s holding garden hoses. If you draw them too loose, she looks like a wet spaghetti disaster.
- The Coil Tension: Professional illustrators often use a "slinky" logic. The coils need to be tighter near the shoulders and loosen up toward the hands to show momentum.
- The Dragon Arm: This is the peak of Min Min fan art. When her left arm transforms into a dragon, the texture changes from "noodle" to "scaled ceramic." It’s a huge contrast.
- The Beanie Physics: That bowl on her head? It’s not just a hat. It’s part of her silhouette. If the angle of the bowl is off, the whole head looks lopsided.
A lot of people don’t realize that her design was actually requested by ARMS director Kosuke Yabuki specifically because he loved ramen. It wasn't some deep marketing ploy; the dude just liked noodles. That simplicity is why her design works so well in 2D, but it’s also why amateur artists struggle to make her look "right" in 3D-style renders.
The Twintelle vs. Min Min Controversy in Art Circles
You can't really talk about the history of this character's fan art without mentioning the 2020 drama. When she was announced for Smash, a vocal part of the community was actually drawing Twintelle instead.
There was this huge debate about representation. Some fans felt Twintelle—a Black character with "hair-arms"—was a more unique pick. This led to a brief period where Min Min fan art was actually used as a bit of a battleground. You’d see "spite art" or "comparison pieces" everywhere.
The reality? Sakurai revealed that the ARMS team themselves picked Min Min. They felt she was the true protagonist of the game's competitive spirit. Once that news settled, the "waifu wars" cooled down, and the art shifted toward her friendship (or rivalry) with characters like Captain Falcon—mostly because of that legendary reveal trailer where they’re both just housing ramen bowls.
How to Find the Good Stuff (And Avoid the Junk)
If you're looking to commission or find the best pieces, don't just search generic terms. You want to look for specific "Alternate Costumes."
Min Min’s black-and-yellow "Bruce Lee" style alt is a massive favorite for serious martial arts-themed fan art. The white-and-red "Maiden" alt is another one that gets a lot of play in more stylized, traditional Japanese-influenced pieces.
Also, check out the Everyone is Here mural project. Artists like ElevenZM have done incredible work isolating her from the official Smash mural and "patching" the art to make it work as standalone pieces. It’s probably the cleanest version of her design you’ll find outside of Nintendo’s internal servers.
Tips for Artists Wanting to Level Up
If you’re actually trying to draw her, stop treating the arms as a single unit. Think of them as a series of interlocking circles.
- Vary the thickness: The "noodles" shouldn't be a perfect cylinder.
- Use the Narutomaki: Those little fish-cake swirls on her shoulders aren't just decor; they are anchor points. They help the viewer’s eye understand where the arm starts.
- The Mask: It’s an orange mask, but it’s often drawn too flat. It has a slight curve to it that follows the bridge of her nose.
Where to Go From Here
If you're looking to dive deeper into the world of Min Min fan art, your best bet is to move away from the big aggregators and follow the dedicated ARMS community artists who have been drawing her since the Switch launch.
Search for the hashtag #MinMin on specialized art sites, but filter for "Oldest" to see how her design evolved from a weird experimental fighter to a Smash icon. You can also look for "Mintendo Noodle House" themed art, which usually features more "slice of life" scenes of her actually working the shop—these are often way more charming than the standard battle poses.
The best way to support these creators is to look for their print shops on platforms like Redbubble or Teepublic. A lot of the iconic "ramen bowl" logo designs you see on t-shirts at conventions actually started as fan-made vector art. Just make sure you’re buying from the original creator and not a bot-account stealing the design for a quick buck.