YMMV / Arcade Spirits

• Anvilicious: Some players view the dialogue in Arcade Spirits: The New Challengers as pandering too heavily to the more liberal crowd, viewing it as a case of preaching to the choir as Arcade Spirits is targeted towards LGBT+ players. Characters have a tendency to espouse their own viewpoints on hot button social justice issues to the player, which can be jarring in context. It is especially blatant in Locksley’s route because being passionate about social justice is a core part of his character.
• Captain Obvious Reveal: Sue being Deco Nami's daughter can easily be figured out before The Reveal if the player notices the Punny Name.
• Contested Sequel: While the first Arcade Spirits has been praised heavily, the sequel The New Challengers has drummed up a lot more complaints regarding its anvilicious political messages, less realistic character designs, and shorter length compared to the original.
• Franchise Original Sin: The original Arcade Spirits referenced modern day politics in some character’s backstories, such as Gavin’s family’s struggles with being black in America. However, the sequel increases the amount of times characters bring up modern day politics and social justice issues to the point many players felt the game was being overly preachy.
• Genius Bonus: There are a lot of little nods and clever references to arcade culture. As an example, the techie of the crew Naomi is named for the Sega NAOMI arcade system board.
• LGBT Fanbase: Unsurprisingly, as both games contain a diverse cast with many body types, pronouns, races and appearances who can be romanced regardless of gender.