sozraster's First Workshop

[Iocus]

Well, it depends on how fluid you want your cycle to be. A lot RPGs go with the simplistic 3-frame walk, though others do 4-,5-, 6- and even 8- frame cycles.

I went ahead and fished out some references that might be useful. Mario's walking is supposed to look kind of silly, so I wouldn't go by the arm positioning in that one....
http://www.spriters-resource.com/game_bo...eet/29005/
http://www.spriters-resource.com/game_bo...heet/6168/
http://www.spriters-resource.com/game_bo...eet/13709/
http://www.spriters-resource.com/ds/lock...eet/29760/
http://www.spriters-resource.com/ds/mari...eet/25827/

Keep at it!