Finally got this done
The Ultra-Intergalactic-Cybot G, Marina, has joined the Brawl!
Intro
From the N64 game Mischief Makers, Marina Liteyears is a robot maid built by Professor Theo, a self-proclaimed genius in Robotics and a pervert. In the game, Professor Theo is continually captured, which forces Marina to rescue him over and over again. Her main form of attack is her Iron Fists, which can grab literally everything. Enemies? Check. Stuff thrown at her? Check. Bullets? Check. Energy shots? Check. In many cases, she can even reflect projectiles back to her opponent, whether they’re physical or energy-based. She can also slide, using her legs as knives to cut through anyone in her way. Finally, she has jets on her back that allow her to move around quickly and even float momentarily.
*Note* In this moveset, I use abbreviations that should be pretty simple to understand. These are:
SBB: Stage builder block (small one)
BFP: Battlefield platform
FD: Final Destination
Stats
Weight: 7/10
She’s small, but she’s built tough, so she’s about as heavy as Ike.
Jump: 5/10
A pretty average first jump.
Air Jump: 3/10 x3
Marina’s air jump isn’t the best, but she gets three.
Walk Speed: 4/10
She walks a bit on the slow side.
Run Speed: 6/10
Her run is pretty good, as she uses her booster jets to get some decent speed.
Midair Mobility: 8/10
She has surprisingly good midair movement.
Float: 7/10
She’s also pretty floaty.
Size: Medium
Marina is about Wario’s size.
Grabs
Grab
Marina grabs forward with both hands. Average range, and average lag on both ends. Simple, right?
Not really. Whereas most characters stand still while they’re holding an opponent, Marina can move around and carry her foe with her. She can’t dash, but she can jump, and she retains all 3 of her air jumps. To perform the actual throw, you must press A and the direction, as if you were performing a Smash/tilt. Marina’s throws can all be used in midair as well, although she can only use her pummel on the ground. Additionally, grabbing an opponent will NOT take them out of shield-break-stun status. This allows Marina to grab stunned opponents and easily hold them for more than 3 seconds at a time.
Also, this grab can be angled in any direction, so it can actually intercept a foe coming from above if you hold up. Angling this straight down can actually pick up an opponent off the ground, but only while they’re in a knockdown animation, or if they choose to stay on the floor after a knockdown.
Z-Air: Grab
Yes, her Z-Air is simply a midair grab. It has all of the same properties as her regular grab except, y’know, it’s in the air.
Pummel: Shake Shake!
Marina begins to shake the opponent up and down, dealing 1% every shake. She can shake at a rate of about 3 shakes per second. If she shakes the opponent 6 times before they escape, she’ll automatically release them as their face turns red and they enter a shield-break-stun state. If they were already in a shield-break-stun state when they were grabbed, Marina will be able to shake them as much as she wants before they free themselves. If she shakes them 6 times or more, they’ll take an additional 10% and fly upward with great knockback (KO @ 125%) when they free themselves.
Note that if the foe is auto-released because of the first six shakes, they won’t receive the additional 10% bonus from the second six-shakes. That only applies to foes who enter shield-break-stun through an actual shield break.
Forward Throw: Rolling Shoulder Throw
Marina hoists her opponent over her shoulder, as if she were about to do a shoulder-throw, but then jumps forward, rolling in midair before slamming her foe into the ground. On the ground, she’ll jump forward 1 BFP, whereas in midair, she’ll simply fall toward the ground at a 45 degree angle to the ground, rolling the whole way. Contact with the ground will cause 10% with mediocre forward knockback. If she uses this in midair, and comes into contact with a third foe, she’ll deal 5% with minor knockback away from her.
This can be used as a suicide KO, but the opponent can still grab escape during any midair rolling. Doing so will cause Marina to enter freefall, so it's not advisable that you attempt a suicide with this throw.
Backwards Throw: Jet Drag
Marina jumps backwards, spins in midair, and shoots backwards as she drags her opponent against the ground. They both travel 1 BFP at Mario’s run speed, after which Marina stops and gets up, leaving the opponent on the ground. If they hit a ledge, Marina will release the opponent, sending them flying at a fast, downward angle as she grabs the ledge. This throw deals 12%, whether the opponent flies off a ledge or not.
If this is done in midair, you can hold the control stick to direct where Marina goes, although she’ll only move backwards, up and back, or down and back. After traveling a BFP, Marina will stop and release the foe, sending them flying anywhere from half a BFP to 1.5 BFP’s (their damage determines the distance) before they regain control. They take 8% from the throw.
Up Throw: Backflip Slice
Marina does a backflip, bringing her knife leg up through her opponent. This deals 11% and has decent upward knockback, but the main selling point of this throw is the high stun, allowing you to potentially combo from this.
Down Throw: Piledriver
Marina spins the opponent around and slams the opponent head-first into the ground. On the ground, Marina will lift her opponent above her head, then slam them down, whereas in midair, she simply holds them upside-down while gravity pulls both of them down. This deals 14% if the foe hits the ground. If this is used in midair, the foe can still button-mash to try to get free.
If Marina uses this throw in midair, you can press the jump button at any time to make Marina ignite her jets. They will instantly stop her descent as they use up one air jump, but Marina will release her foe, sending them downward pretty quickly. They will either travel a set distance depending on damage (a quarter of a BFP at 0%, up to 1 BFP at 100% or higher), or take the regular 14% if they slam into the ground.
Specials
Neutral B: Iron-Fisted Grab
Marina holds her hand in front of her, ready to grab any attack coming her way. She will suffer about half a second of lag if she doesn’t grab anything, so don’t randomly throw this out there. If Marina uses this to counter a physical move, Marina will grab the limb/weapon that the foe attacked with as a small “!” appears above her opponent’s head. Marina holds on for exactly 1 second before releasing her opponent; any button-mashing by your opponent won’t help them escape quicker. During this brief pause, Marina can throw the opponent in any of the 8 cardinal directions. This throw will deal 12% and sends an opponent about 1 BFP if thrown in an upward/forward/backwards angle. If thrown in one of the two downward-angled directions, Marina will send the foe only half a BFP, but they’ll take 15% instead. Throwing them straight down results in the same 15%, but doesn’t send them away from her. You can also press A during this brief pause, and Marina will pull the foe closer into her regular grab, able to move around with the foe in tow.
This move has one other purpose. This move also allows Marina to counter most projectiles. What she can do with these projectiles depends on the projectile. If it’s a medium to large-sized physical projectile, like Link’s arrows or boomerang, she can throw them in any of the 8 cardinal directions by pressing A and the direction you want to throw it. Projectiles thrown like this move at the same speed that they normally move at, and are still affected by gravity (unless they weren’t affected in the first place, like Snake’s Side B missiles). If they’re a small projectile, like Sheik’s Needles, or if the projectile is energy based, like Mario's Fireballs, Marina will simply parry them, having absolutely no end lag. So if Sheik throws her Needles at Marina, she can parry all of them by mashing B.
Side B: Jet Burst
Marina uses the jets on her back to rocket herself forward, traveling 1 BFP very quickly with little lag on both ends. If left/right is held, the special button can be mashed to make Marina continually dash forward. This makes Marina move quicker than dashing, so this should be used to move around the stage.
If this is inputted in the backwards direction, Marina will boost backwards while still facing forward. If the B button is mashed, though, she’ll turn around after the first boost. This is useful when you want to stay facing a certain direction, but need to move quickly.
Lastly, this move can only be used once in midair as a form of horizontal recovery, and can also be used while holding onto a foe.
Up B: Jet Boost
By holding Up B, Marina will use her jets to lift herself upward at a rate of 2 SBB’s per second. While this input is held, she can only grab, and her left/right movement is drastically reduced, making this only good at vertical recoveries. She can only hover for 5 seconds, but releasing Up B makes the timer stop, so Marina can float up, fall, and then float up some more. If this move is used on the ground, but B is only tapped, not held, Marina will reach a height of 1 Ganondorf almost instantly. This does not affect her 5-second timer.
Like her Side B, this move can be used while holding a foe.
Down B: Slide Kick
Marina uses her jets to skid along the ground, her knife legs out, dealing multihit damage totaling 15% over a distance of one BFP. If she catches an opponent shielding, they get dragged with Marina the whole way. This is helpful, as this move deals great shield damage, taking up to 50% off of a shield. This move has very punishable end lag, but this move is jump-cancelable. If Marina jumps during this attack, the momentum carries her much faster than her regular air movement speed. However, since the final hit deals the majority of the shield damage (25%, to be exact), you’ll miss out on most of the shield damage.
Standards
Jab: Grapple Combo
Marina punches twice, each one coming out quickly and dealing 3% each with no knockback. The third hit is a grab exactly like her regular grab. However, it can be blocked, so if an opponent blocks the punches, they don’t have to worry about dodging the grab. If the grab is blocked, Marina suffers from horrendous end lag. The second punch has almost no end lag, though, so the combo can be stopped there to avoid a counterattack.
Forward Tilt: Knife Kick
Marina kicks forward, dealing 10% with decent knockback akin to Ganon’s Ftilt. The range and both lags are about equal with Mario’s Ftilt. Additionally, if this move is blocked, it takes off 30% of the shield.
So what makes this move special? The fact that it’s quick and can move Marina around the stage. While Marina has her leg out (it lasts for about .25 seconds), you can press Side B in either direction to move Marina one BFP in that direction, with Marian holding her leg out as a constant hitbox for the whole slide. This has a few uses: if you whiffed this move because you were too far away, you can slide forward to attempt to surprise the foe, or back up to put some distance between you and your foe. If this move connects with the enemy, you can actually dash forward quickly to hit them again, although the timing is a little tight, and it will usually stop working at about 65%, as the initial knockback will send them flying too fast. If this move connects with a foe’s shield, Marina’s leg will get stuck in it, allowing you to pull/push the foe with you if you decide to slide forward/backward. Sliding forward will have the additional benefit of removing another 20% from the shield, but sliding backwards will release the foe halfway, putting some distance between you two and making this move safe.
Up Tilt: Knife Flip
Marina does a front flip kick, bringing her leg down in front of her and dealing 9% with so-so knockback. This comes out surprisingly quick and has great anti-air range. If an opponent is struck with this in midair, they’ll immediately shoot to the ground about 1 SBB in front of Marina, entering a knockdown state. Foes hit on the ground will take minor knockback away from Marina. Hitting a shield removes 35% of the shield.
In a manner similar to her Ftilt, you can hold the A button to make Marina move forward with the flip, covering 1 SBB and greatly increasing the range of the kick. Doing so will guarantee that you’ll be right over the foe when they hit the ground, allowing a free grab via a downward-angled grab
Down Tilt: Knife Slice
Marina does a simple sweep with her leg, dealing 8% with poor knockback. This comes out very quickly, and has a little bit of end lag, making it punishable if whiffed. If shielded, however, this move takes off 35% of your opponent’s shield, plus pushes the opponent far enough away to prevent them from shield-grabbing you.
Dash Attack: Lariat
Marina holds her arm out to her side, then holds it that way as long as A is held. This move will hit any opponent in the background, but will ONLY hit someone in the background. When A is released, Marina stops dashing forward (due to an edge/wall), or an opponent is caught (this counts as a grab, so it’s unblockable), she’ll slam her arm downward, which has two potential results: if an opponent was in Marina’s grab, she’ll slam them to the floor, dealing 12% and sliding them a set BFP forward along the ground. Should a sliding opponent hit a ledge, they’ll slide off at a downward angle, although they’ll be able to recover quickly. If Z is pressed before she swings her arm, Marina will grab the foe with her other arm and pull them into her normal grab.
If Marina did NOT have anyone in her grab, she’ll instead do a running punch for 8% with mediocre knockback. Either way, this attack has about the same end lag as Ike’s Dash Attack.
Smashes
Forward Smash: Shoulder Tackle
Marina launches herself forward, ramming into foes in front of her. This does a set 17% with good vertical knockback (137% KO). The distance Marina travels ranges from 1 SBB at Ganon’s walk speed (no charge) to half of FD at Sonic’s run speed (full charge).
The real use of this move, though, is that it can move your opponent around the stage easily. If Marina strikes a shielding foe, the force of the tackle will cause the foe to slide twice the remaining distance, holding their shield the whole time (with it still deteriorating the whole way). This means that if she fully charges this attack, and hits a shielding foe after dashing ¼ of FD, the foe will travel one half of FD, as the remaining distance (another ¼) is doubled. When Marina rams a shielding foe, she takes very, very little end lag, allowing her to pursue her sliding foe.
Up Smash: Rocket Launch
Marian squats slightly, looking up as this move charges. Upon release, Marina rockets upward, dealing 15% to anyone she rams. At no charge, she travels 1 BFP upward at Mario’s run speed; full charge, and she travels 2.5 BFP at Sonic’s run speed. Additionally, the burst on the ground reaches about 1-3 Pikmin widths to Marina’s sides, dealing 10-16% depending on charge.
During the charge period, this move can be angled up to 45 degrees to the left or right, similar to Diddy’s USpecial. Marina will still fly the same distance and do the same damage, regardless of the angle.
Down Smash: Roll
Marina bends her knees slightly and places one hand on the ground, her other arm resting on her leg. Once the charge is released, Marina begins rolling forward, going either 2 SBB’s at Ganon’s run (no charge) to 5 SBB’s at Pikachu’s run (full charge). She becomes a hitbox for the whole duration, dealing a maximum of 14-20% depending on charge and how much of the move connects.
Much like her FSmash, this move allows Marina to move the foe around the stage. To do so, mash A as you come in contact with the foe, and Marina will push them along with her, whether they take the damage or not. In fact, pulling a shielding foe along with you will deal a maximum of 35-50% damage to their shield (charge determines max shield damage). Be careful: this move has horrendous end lag, so you don’t want to pull them the full distance, or they’ll be perfectly setup for a counterattack of their choice. Of course, this won’t matter if their shield breaks.
Lastly, in a manner similar to a running USmash, Marina can press DSmash during a run to start rolling. She'll roll the minimum distance, though, as you'll completely skip the charge period.
Aerials
Neutral Air: Background Grab
Marina reaches out with one hand in an attempt to grab anyone in the background. The range is the same as her regular grab, as is the end lag. Additionally, during the startup of this move, you can make Marina grab in any direction by holding the control stick in that direction. This attack will not grab anyone normally; instead, it grabs people who are in the middle of an air-dodge. As Marina has a midair grab, many opponents will try to air-dodge her. Use this move when they do.
Note: This move can also be used to grab people who spot-dodge on the ground a lot. The easiest way to do this is from a short hop.
Forward Air: Knife Drop
Marina sticks her legs out in front of her, imitating a drop kick. When this is first used, she does 12% with good knockback (KO @ 160%). After that, she remains in the drop kick stance, her whole body a hitbox that deals 8% with poor knockback. This can be canceled by using any special or by jumping, or you can return to normal falling animation by pressing A. This has horrible landing lag, so make sure to press A before you land.
Finally, if this move is sweetspotted on a shielding foe (easily done from a shorthop, unless the foe is tiny), it will take off 40% of their shield and put them in massive shieldstun, allowing you to continue attacking their shield.
Backwards Air: Jet Propel
Marina ignites her jets, launching herself forward as the fiery burst damages anyone within 1 SBB of her jets for 13% with backwards knockback that’s great for horizontal gimping. The force pushes Marina forward a little bit, about half a SBB. This move has a little startup lag and enough end lag to make this unusable as a recovery option.
Up Air: Rocket Boost
With very little startup lag, Marina shoots a burst of flame from her jets, launching her upward one SBB. The flames reach down about a SBB, as well as covering Marina’s body. It deals 12% and straight downward knockback with a good chance of spiking a foe starting around 118%. After the first time this is used in midair, this attack won’t lift her up anymore, meaning this is only useable once as a recovery. However, it does stop her downward descent, so spamming this can allow her to float downward very slowly; she still loses a little bit of height with each use, so no mid-air stalling.
Down Air: Knife Twist
Marina spins rapidly horizontally, like Fox’s Dair. This can deal up to 18% (6 hits of 3%) if the whole attack hits, although that’s not very likely. This deals high hitstun on a grounded opponent, but the knockback on the last hit will usually prevent most follow-ups, as it will pop them into the air. In midair, the final hit can spike opponents starting at about 105%. Lastly, if an opponent shields this, not only will this deal a lot of shield damage (about 5% per hit, so 30% if the whole attack hits), but the final hit does a lot of shieldstun, allowing Marina to continue attacking. This move has no startup lag and very little landing lag, even if you land in the middle of the attack.
Final Smash: Shake Shake Explosion
When activated, Marina grabs forward with both hands. This has the same range as her regular grab, but comes out on frame 1, and hits in both the background and foreground. Plus it’s a grab, so it’s unblockable. If she grabs a foe, Marina will begin to shake them just like in her pummel. However, with the energy of the Smash Ball, Marina shakes them at 5x her normal speed, dealing 50% over about 3 seconds of shaking. Other opponents can be caught in this if they come too close, them taking up to 35% depending on when they got caught in it. After a while, Marina stops shaking, jumps up, and throws the opponent straight down at the ground. This results in
this explosion that whites out the screen, although other players can move around as usual. The grabbed foe will take 30% and be launched upward for a Star KO. If a ceiling blocks them, they’ll hit it and return to the ground, then get up in a shield-break-stun state
Playstyle
General Information
As you should be able to tell, Marina is a close-range fighter, relying primarily on grabs and breaking the foes shield. Her ability to move around while holding her foe, combined with her good throws, would make her seem like an excellent gimper. The only problem is that she can only walk with the foe, and considering her walk speed is terrible, the only time she’ll ever gimp a foe under about 100% is if you’re playing on a walk-off course like Mario Circuit, or your opponent doesn’t understand the concept of button mashing to escape a grab (We’ll ignore both of these cases)
Grab-game
Marina’s grabs and throws allow her to control her opponent nicely, moving her and the foe wherever she wants. Her pummel allows her to potentially stun an opponent, which is best followed by another grab, giving you a few seconds to move around the stage and decide what to do with your stunned captive. However, you usually can’t get the stun effect unless the foe is above 85%, and it’s pretty horrible at damage racking otherwise. Fthrow moves both of you a good distance forward, while Bthrow moves both of you backwards; use whichever one puts the opponent in a worse position (read: closer to the edge). Uthrow puts the opponent in the air, and if you use a jump/USpecial super boost to follow them, you can keep the pressure on and deal more damage. When they start air-dodging, you can either use your Nair to grab them anyway, or wait a second and use one of your aerials. Dthrow is good when you want to keep your opponent with you on the ground, and should be used if you are right where you wanna be. At 125+%, it acts as Marina’s primary gimp tool, especially if she can grab a stunned foe.
Taking the fight to the foe
Of course, knowing the ups and downs of Marina’s throws is worthless if you can’t even grab your foe. This is where Marina’s multiple grab options outside of her normal grab come into play. At point-blank, Grapple Combo (Jab) should be your main offensive tool, as it provides a great mix-up game. Will you stop after the second punch, then do another attack, or will you stop the combo and grab them? Or might you be incredibly gutsy and go ahead with the blockable grab, hoping that the foe will attempt a shield-grab? No matter what, if the opponent doesn’t have some good out-of-shield options, they’ll have to think fast and play as unpredictable as possible.
Outside of close range, Ftilt and FSmash provide great approaching methods. Ftilt’s controllability allows you to quickly decide whether you should continue the assault and slide forward, or play it safe and slide back, away from any counterattack. FSmash is incredibly safe, as long as it’s spaced properly: if you miscalculate the space between you and your foe, you could stop the charge right in front of them in a very vulnerable position. Even if it doesn’t hit, it’ll be safe whether it’s shielded or spotdodged. Shielding it will result in the foe sliding away from you (and hopefully closer to the edge), while spotdodging it will make Marina slide past them, hopefully to safety.
Shield-breaking strategies
Marina’s other main strategy is taking advantage of opponents who get their shield broken. A lot of Marina’s moves deal great shield damage. Slide Kick (Down B) is very quick and can deal a whopping 50% to a shield. However, it’s very unsafe, so only use it as the final blow that breaks the shield. Safer options are Ftilt, Dtilt, and DSmash. Again, Ftilt has some control over it, and it can also deal 50% to a shield. Dtilt is quick and is your safest shield-breaking move. DSmash doesn’t do the best shield damage, and it’s pretty unsafe, but it helps with moving the foe around the stage (discussed later).
Once the shield is broken, you can easily grab them and move them wherever you want them to be. At low damage, you can keep them on stage to continue your ground-based offense, or go into a sort of Wall-of-Pain by using Bthrow to chunk them off course, then using Fair’s constant hitbox to keep an opponent at bay. Of course, as the range on Fair is pretty horrid, most foes will just attack Marina as they’re recovering to get past it, so be careful. Of course, if you want to rack on a lot of easy damage, just pummel them repeatedly. Even at low percentages around 50%, you should easily get enough shakes for the 10% bonus.
Finishing the job
Once the foe is at 100% or more, you’ll be able to finish them off. The first objective should be getting them to the edge. FSmash and DSmash do a fine job of this, and if they happen to hit a shielding foe, that’s just icing on the cake. Ftilt can also “grab” an enemy and slide them forward, while taking 50% off of their shield. Of course, don’t forget that you can just grab the enemy and move them over there the old-fashioned way. Additionally, Fthrow/Bthrow can move both Marina and her enemy closer to the edge while adding on some extra damage, so don’t be afraid to use either of those.
Once you reach the edge, you have two options: Break the foe’s shield, resulting in an easy gimp, or try to grab them and throw them off course. If you were able to use FSmash/DSmash/Ftilt on a shielding foe as you dragged them toward the edge, you should continue your shield assault. Otherwise, you can just grab the foe and attempt to Dthrow/Bthrow them off course. Should they try to recover, Uair and Bair offer good gimp moves, each one dealing great vertical or horizontal knockback respectively. Those moves also move Marina toward the stage, so she’ll have an easier time recovering.
Countering approach
Marina has a pretty solid defensive game, should the opponent take the initiative and attack first. Her Iron-Fisted Grab should be your primary defensive tool, as it allows you to quickly and easily counter an approaching foe and get them in a grab. Using Side B to quickly backstep against a foe’s attack works too, provided you know the range of their attack. USmash is Marina’s “hits-both-sides DSmash” move, as well as a very safe anti-air move. Utilt is also a great anti-air, although it trades a little bit of safety for a greater chance of actually using it as a counter of sorts. Finally, don't forget that you can actually grab upward with Marina, so you can grab a foe who's trying to attack from above, or even just trying to jump over you.
I'll go back to work on a real set now. This thread needed more jokesets anyway...
Overall I find this set a good read and a cool new concept, diffidently worth a vote.
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