Nexus Heroes / Marco

Marco (マルコ, Marco ) is a playable character in Nexus Heroes, hailing from the Metal Slug series. His appearance is based on Metal Slug : Code J, as he keeps the added details on his outfit from that game, while his moveset takes from a wide variety of Metal Slug games.
==Who is Marco?==
===THE INTELLIGENT SOLDIER===
Marco Rossi, along with his teammates Tarma, Fio and Eri make up the Peregrine Falcons squad, a special team within the Regular Army, a military division forever at war with the Rebel Army, lead by the ruthless General Donald Morden, responsible for the deaths of many of Marco's comrades. An expert marksman with all firearms, a renowned pilot of the special military vehicles known as Metal Slugs, and a skilled hacker, no threat is big enough for Marco, be it the Rebel Soldiers or invading aliens!
==Gameplay==
===Overview===
Marco is a very unique character, and perhaps a little off-putting at first, within the context of Project Nexus : as a way to mirror the Run and Gun playstyle of Metal Slug, nearly all of Marco's Normal Attacks consist of shots from his handgun. His jab will have him shoot while standing still, his Side Tilt will have him shoot while moving, Down Tilt while crouching and Up Tilt has him shoot above himself. However, when up close with an opponent, all of these attacks will change into pretty slow but powerful swings of his knife, or other melee attacks. This, paired with a pretty projectile-heavy arsenal of Special Moves make Marco a prime example of a character who should keep away from his foes and damage them from afar, also considering his low durability : Marco is very light, and can be KOed quite easily. 
Getting used to move around and shoot with Marco could be tricky at first, and it's certainly not a playstyle that is suited for every player, but those who'll learn how to fight with Marco are sure to give some troubles to their opponents. 
*Marco is able to crawl.
  	Name  	Description
Neutral Attack 	Combat Knife 	Far : When distant from his opponents, Marco's Neutral Attack will have him shoot forward in place. He fires three consecutive shots before a brief reload animation plays, after which Marco can fire again. The bullets travel a medium distance and will make opponents flinch. More importantly, they do not count as projectiles, but as an extended hitbox of Marco, and thus cannot be reflected.
Close : When up close with an opponent, Marco swings his Combat Knife in front of himself. It's a single, powerful hit, but is pretty slow, and has noticeable end-lag.
Dash AttackDash, 	Slide Kick 	Slides along the ground with a kick for a short distance. The only grounded Normal Attack of Marco that doesn't have him shoot his gun. It's quick and reliable, though it doesn't have much power.
Side Tilt 	Double Slash 	Far : Moves forward while firing his handgun. The bullets have the same properties as his Neutral Attack.
Close : Similar to his Close Neutral Attack, but has Marco slash twice, gaining more power but being even slower.
Up Tilt 	Upward Slash 	Far : Aims above himself and fire his handgun. The bullets have the same properties as his Neutral Attack.
Close : Swings his Combat Knife upward, lifting opponents who are hit by it.
Down Tilt 	Low Stab 	Far : Crouches and fire his handgun. The bullets have the same properties as his Neutral Attack.
Close : Stabs forward with his Combat Knife. Has more range than the other knife moves, and is slightly faster.
Forward Strong+ 	Heavy Machine Gun! 	Pulls out his Heavy Machine Gun and fires a barrage of bullets in front of himself. The projectiles cover a medium distance, and will trap foes into the rest of the attack until the last hit, which causes high damage and knockback.
Up Strong+ 	Shotgun! 	Pulls out a large Shotgun and fires it above himself, covering a wide area. It deals great damage, but the knockback is just average.
Down Strong+ 	Flame Shot! 	Pulls out the Flame Shot gun and points it downward, then shoots out a large fireball onto the ground which propagates at both sides, badly damaging whoever comes in contact with them.
Neutral AerialAirborne	Aerial Knife Swing 	Far : Fire his handgun while in the air. The bullets have the same properties as his Neutral Attack.
Close : A circular swing of his Combat Knife, which damages foes all around Marco.
Forward AerialAirborne	Front Kick 	Far : Fairly identical to his Neutral Aerial, though it allows Marco to maintain his forward momentum while firing in the air. The bullets have the same properties as his Neutral Attack.
Close : A simple front kick, with good power, but lackluster range and speed.
Back AerialAirborne 	Backstab! 	Far : Turns and quickly fires behind himself. The bullets have the same properties as his Neutral Attack.
Close : A powerful stab of his Combat Knife, dealt while turning backward.
Up AerialAirborne 	Up Kick 	Far : Aims above himself and fire his handgun while in the air, similarly to his Up Tilt. The bullets have the same properties as his Neutral Attack.
Close : A clumsy but strong upward kick, which sends foes up into the air.
Down AerialAirborne 	Arc Slash 	Far : Fire his handgun directly below himself. The bullets have the same properties as his Neutral Attack.
Close : Slashes below himself with his Combat Knife, covering a good area at his feet.
Grab 	Grab 	Grabs the opponent with one hand.
Pummel, 	Crush Kick 	Kicks the opponent while holding them.
Forward Throw, 	Argentine Backbreaker 	Uses a Super Argentine Backbreaker on the opponent, then tosses them forward.
Back Throw, 	Argentine Backbreaker 	Similar to his Forward Throw, but Marco will toss the opponent behind himself.
Up Throw, 	Argentine Backbreaker Toss	Tosses the opponent upward with both hands, like when performing a Backbreaker, but without the second part.
Down Throw, 	Military Takedown 	Slams the opponent into the ground with a judo-like throw.
Floor AttackGrounded >	Getup Fire! 	Shoots forward and then behind himself as he gets up.
Edge AttackLedge > 	Sweep Kick 	Climbs up and performs a sweep kick, then gets up.
NEUTRAL SPECIAL 	Bomb 	Throws a Bomb in front of himself which bounces off the ground twice before detonating, unless it comes in contact with an opponent first, in which case it will explode immediately. Only one bomb can be out at a time.
SIDE SPECIAL 	Rocket Launcher! 	Pulls out a large Rocket Launcher and fires a slow but powerful missile which slowly tracks the nearest opponent before detonating.
UP SPECIAL 	Jetpack Charge! 	Charges up with a jetpack on his back, then flies off in whichever direction the control stick was tilted in during the charge, damaging opponents with a powerful charge attack.
DOWN SPECIAL 	Iron Lizard 	Fires an Iron Lizard, a small robot with wheels which travels forward at good speed and explodes after a while. Takes a few seconds to recharge.
FINISHER 	SV-001 METAL SLUG 	Marco whistles, and an SV-001 is deployed from above at his current location. During this, he says "Deploy!". He'll then enter the tank and take control, being able to use the vehicle for a few seconds, during which he has access to the following moves :
Move : The Metal Slug can be moved forward or backward, like all playable characters.
Jump : Like all playable characters, the Metal Slug can jump, though it is a single, short jump.
Fire! : With the Neutral Attack, the Metal Slug will fire a barrage of bullets in front of itself, badly damaging anyone hit by the stream.
Vulcan Cannon : With Neutral Special, the Metal Slug will fire a powerful bomb in a low arch in front of itself, which causes an highly damaging explosion upon landing.
The Metal Slug cannot sustain damage, nor can be destroyed by falling out of the arena, for if that happens, it'll just respawn onto the stage.
===Intro Animation===
Marco lands in from above with a Parachute, then gets ready to fight.
===Taunt===
Pulls out a large roasted chicken and swallows it whole, becoming obese immediately. He then burps, returning to his normal shape.
===Idle Poses=== 
*Takes out a canteen and starts drinking from it, before putting it back away.
*Takes out his Radio and shouts into it, then puts it back away.
===Quotes ===
====Selection Lines====
*" Let's go! "
*" Starting mission! "
*" Ready! "
==== Successful KO ====
*" Woohoo! "
*" Ha! See that? "
*" Yeah! "
*" Alright! "
*" Haha! "
*" That was great! "
*" Got them! "
* " Don't mess with the Falcons! "
==== Respawning====
*" Ow, man. "
* " Huh!? "
*" Back in the mission! "
*" Reporting for duty! "
*" Let's try again! "
* " Bring it! "
===Victory Poses === 
*UP : The Metal Slug vehicle arrives into view, then Marco jumps out of it and starts laughing, one hand on one side and the Heavy Machine Gun laid on the ground.
*SIDE : Marco runs into view, then twirls on one foot and point his handgun to the camera as it zooms onto him, then fires a few bullets after the camera pans out again.
*DOWN : Marco is reloading his Heavy Machine-Gun, then lifts it up and places it on his shoulder and does a military salute to the camera, smirking.
==Arcade Mode==
Marco's Arcade Route involves battles against opponents who use guns to fight, referencing the Run n' Gun nature and military theme of Metal Slug. The stages in which he fights on, additionally, references the various stages of the first Metal Slug, with the penultimate encounter referencing the final mission on space in Metal Slug 3.
He first fights Jacket, who uses many firearms in both Hotline Miami games, then Leon, who also uses them as his primary source of attack.
After a Bonus Stage, Marco starts facing pairs of opponents, first going up against Ash and Lifeline (while Ash doesn't use guns in Nexus Heroes, she does use them in Apex Legends), and then Dante and Lara, two characters who use two guns at the same time.
The second to last encounter is against three opponents ; Master Chief, Ratchet & Clank and Gordon. Like Marco, these are all gun-users who have been to space to fight aliens. Finally, before the final boss, Marco fights his Rival, Snake, in a battle titled "Slugs Vs Gears". As the battle's name suggests, the connection between them is partially in the name of the series, who are both named after large war vehicles, respectively called Metal Slugs and Metal Gears. As well as that, Snake and Marco are both skilled soldiers, though while Snake favors stealth and gadgets, Marco runs guns blazing into the battlefield.
Round 	Opponent 	Stage 	Music 	
1 	Jacket 	Mission 1 	MAIN THEME FROM
METAL SLUG 	
2 	Leon 	Piltover 	Caitlyn, The Sheriff Of Piltover	
Bonus Stage 1	Bonus Stage 1	Bonus Stage 1 	Bonus Stage 1 	Bonus Stage 1
3 	Ash
 Lifeline	Magic Crafters 	Metalhead 	
4 	Dante
Lara Croft	Sacred Lands 	Colossal 	
Bonus Stage 2	Bonus Stage 2	Bonus Stage 2 	Bonus Stage 2 	Bonus Stage 2
5 	Master Chief
 Ratchet & Clank
 Gordon	Black Mesa 	Hard Technology Rock 	
6 	Snake
(Rival Battle)	Big Shell 	Encounter 	
7 	Kerrigan 	Kerrigan's Leviathan	Conscience 	
==Alternates==
===Alternate Colors===
*RED : Default appearance, based on his design from Metal Slug : Code J.
*BLUE : Based on 'Special Marco', a unit variant of Marco from Metal Slug Attack.
*YELLOW : Based on Tarma Roving, the Player 2 of Metal Slug and recurring selectable character.
*DARK GRAY: Based on Ralf Jones, a character from the Ikari Warriors, King of Fighters and Metal Slug series.
===Alternate Costumes===
File:PN MARCO RENDER.png|"Default" Costume
File:PN MARCO ALT.png|"Mummy" Costume
*Default : Based on his appearance in the promotional art of Metal Slug : Code J.
*Mummy : Based on his Mummy transformation from Metal Slug 2 and subsequent titles.
==Trivia==
*Scott Whyte is one of two actors to be originally cast to voice a character in Nexus Heroes, as he has never voiced Marco before. The other actor is Matthew Mercer, who voices the Terror Mask.
*Most of Marco's animations are 3D renditions of his sprites from the original Metal Slug titles, such as his exaggerated teetering animation or his idle animations.
*Marco's throws are based on the Super Argentine Backbreaker move of Clark Still, a character from the Ikari Warriors and King of Fighters series who then also debuted in some Metal Slug games.
Category:Project Nexus
Category:Project Nexus / Movesets
Category:Movesets