MARCO ROSSI PARACHUTES IN!
Character Image:
Description: Marchrius Dennis Rossi is an Italian-American, who went on to study at the military academy's special technologies college after attending a public technical high school. After graduation, he became a member of the Peregrine Falcons Special Forces Squad. He's one of the squad's expert agents and an intellectual whose hobby is computer science. He even made an AI, MS-Alice, in his spare time. After beating General Morden for the first time, he rose to the rank of major. He is also an expert with the handgun.
Why this character?: Metal Slug is one of SNK’s most iconic series, with them noting how well the series is in the west, with The King Of Fighters beating it in popularity. As such, Marco would be a great candidate for a SNK rep alongside Kyo or Terry.
Series Symbol: The Morden Army symbol
The Basics
Marco’s animations for walking, jumping, crouching and idle are based off how he moved in the Metal Slug games, he can also crawl. His double jump is the flip used when demounting from a vehicle and his dash is running forward with his head low, like he’s dodging bullets.
Normal Moves
Jab/Combo: Pistol Shots: Marco shoots once, then shoots 2 times in quick succession before a delay, then repeats.
Side Tilt: Knife Slashes: Marco stabs forward, then quickly slashes upwards. Can chain into itself.
Up Tilt: Upwards Shots: Marco crouches down on one knee, looking upward, as he fires a volley of shots upwards.
Down Tilt: Hatchet: Marco swipes down with Fio’s hatchet.
Dash Attack: Towned Down Galactic Phantom: Marco stops in place before trying to copy Ralf’s Galactic Phantom, minus the explosion and has less distance than the real thing.
Ledge Attack: Punching Glove: As Marco pulls himself up, he crouches as a punching glove emerges from his backpack.
Get Up Attack: Does a spin kick with the heel of his boot, which uses Trevor’s hidden blade.
Aerials
Neutral Air: Zantetsu Sword: Marco slashes in front of him, creating a large wave of energy to be emitted in front of him.
Forward Air: Sniper Rifle: Marco fires a bullet from the sniper rifle, which travels far.
Back Air: Shotgun: Marco pulls out his gun and aims backwards, creating a large, powerful shot behind him, which propels him forward.
Up Air: Tazer: Marco uses Nadia’s tazer, thrusting it upwards.
Down Air: Downwards Shots: Marco aims below him as he fires his pistol.
Specials
Neutral Special: Select Weapon: Marco cycles through a select group of weapons, each with an alt fire.
- Weapon Choices:
Grenade Lob (Stone): Marco throws a grenade that bounces once and explodes on contact. Holding the button will determine the distance the grenade will go. Smashing gives you the Stone, a strong projectile that has high knockback due to its weight and high density, which allows it to travel farther.
Heavy Machine Gun (Rocket Launcher): Marco draws his HMG (which resembles Allen's, a recurring enemy in Metal Slug) and shoots at the foe with a high firing rate, but chews up ammo quickly. Smashing shoots the RWACKET LAWNCHAIR, which shoots out rockets that lowkey aim for the nearest foes (Only if they’re in front of Marco), then explode on contact. [HMG uses 1 ammo, while the Rocket Launcher uses 10]
Flame Shot (Thunder Shot): Marco pulls out a flamethrower, shooting a stream of fire that covers a low range. Smashing causes Marco to shoot out the Thunder Shot, a strong pulse of electricity that auto targets on any possible enemy. [Flame Shot uses 20 ammo, Thunder Shot uses 50]
Drop Shot (Iron Lizard): Marco shoots a small, round, bouncing landmine. The landmines will bounce and explode on contact, but they don't travel too far. Smashing causes Marco to pull out the Iron Lizard (Using the same gun from Neo Geo Battle Coliseum), launching a remote-controlled unmanned vehicle, with a special warhead filled with a combustible chemical. The car-like "bullet" runs through the floor until it finds a target and explodes in a blue smoke. It's very effective against ground targets, but poor against air targets. [Drop shot uses 10 ammo, Iron Lizard uses 20]
Super Grenade (Enemy Chaser): Marco holds a grenade launcher, shooting round, bullet shaped grenades that explode on contact. Smashing makes Marco use the Enemy Chaser, shooting small rockets that sacrifice firepower for agility and an advanced guidance system. The homing capability is way better than the normal Rocket Launcher. The rockets fire upward before changing to homing mode, randomly targeting enemies. The homing mechanism is independent for every missile. [Super Grenade uses 10 ammo, Enemy Chaser uses 30]
Side Special: Weapon Use: Marco uses the weapons selected by the Neutral Special, however, they have limited ammo (Shown over Marco’s character damage), each weapon consuming different amounts of ammo. Ammo only recovers when it runs out, requiring you to wait 100 seconds (1 second per ammo). You also can’t change weapon until all the ammo runs out as well, so clever planning must be used. Smashing the input uses alternative fire, at the cost of more ammo. The Grenade/Stone doesn’t cost ammo, but has a delay before you can throw another.
Up Special: Jetpack + Parachute: Marco’s backpack transforms into a rocket pack, blasting him upwards before it turns back into a bag and deploys a parachute, like Game & Watch.
Down Special: Metal Slug Summon: The big one. Once per life Marco can summon the Super Vehicle Type 001, the Metal Slug. He can enter it and change how he attacks. The Metal Slug can only turn around when dashing, and pressing attack shoots the two Vulcan Cannons that follow the directions the players input, like in the original games. Pressing Special, neutral or side, shoots the Low-pressure rifled main cannon, firing large, high explosive shells that detonate on impact, but with poor range. Up Special causes Marco to eject, making him perform his double jump flip, rendering him in a helpless state. Down Special performs the suicide attack, Marco jumps out as the Metal Slug flies forward and explodes soon after. The downside of being in the Metal Slug is it’s weight, poor jump and speed, and taking 30 damage causes it to blow up, but not before warning the player to eject (Up B). High risk, high reward.
Final Smash: Zombie Bomb (Energy Emission): Marco gets struck by blue lightning, and as he rises back up, he’s transformed into a zombie! He then ejects a deadly, bloody, vomit attack which unleashes a giant wave of blood from his mouth in an upward curve. It can’t pass through walls though. After that, Marco pulls out a cure kit and eats the antidote, returning to normal.
Smash Attacks
Forward Smash: Lazer Gun: Marco holds a futuristic version of his normal gun, before it shoots out a lazer, that can pierce enemies, even his hair is blown back from it! The more you charge this, the wider the beam becomes.
Up Smash: Monolith: Marco throws a brick in front of him as a beam of light appears, targeting it’s location, then a monolith from the 2nd stage boss of Metal Slug 3, The Ten Commandments of Moses, crashes down, ignoring walls, before it crumbles away. Highly damaging, but slow to activate.
Down Smash: Thunder Cloud: Marco holds a bottle which shoots out a cloud of nanobots, that shoot artificial thunder around Marco.
Grabs
Grab: Marco reaches out with his hand.
Pummel: Nightstick: Using Fio’s nightstick, Marco hits the opponent with it while kneeing them.
Forward Throw: Weak Vulcan Punch: Trying to copy Ralf’s iconic move, Marco tries to oraoraora them, but can’t create the explosions Ralf can.
Back Throw: Argentine Backbreaker: Marco, imitating Clark’s signature move, tosses the opponent into the air to land on his waiting shoulders, then performs an elbow drop, albeit not as well as the muscular Clark can.
Up Throw: Moon Slasher (Done with a knife): Mimicking Lenora’s move, Marco uses his knife to create a circular slice around him, lifting the opponent upwards.
Down Throw: Two Machine Guns: Marco slams the character to the ground, before firing the 2 machine guns power up at them.
Extras
Entrance: Parachutes in.
Win Animation: Points to himself, laughing (Neo-Geo Battle Coliseum win pose).
Lose Animation: Claps with a disheartened look.
Taunt: Takes a drink from his canteen.
Shield: Uses the shield from the soldiers of the Morden Army.
Dodge: Performs a combat roll.
Extra Attributes: When Marco eats a food item, he becomes fat for a second before returning to normal.
Alternative Colours: Marco Red, Tarma Yellow, Fio Brown, Morden Gray, Soldier Green, Trevor White, Walter Blue, Ralf Black
Gallery (For reference)
- There's a lot of images in this!:
Final Notes
Thanks for reading! I’ve been on a cruise for the holidays, and there wasn’t much for me to do on it, so I was playing Metal Slug 1 and 3 on my Switch (They had MS3 in the arcade there, funnily enough), and I got super into it. Out of 4 movesets that were in my Google Docs, I got this one done super quickly. I wanted to include references to the other playable characters, because I doubt Metal Slug would get 2 reps. I would love criticism on the moveset, because it does need some fine tuning, and hopefully you guys can refine it more!
Supporters: Naughty Ottsel, OmegaSteve, SnivyKawaii
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