Marco Rodrigues overview & gameplay guide
Character specification
Character Trivia
A Kyokugen karateka whose hefty, hot-blooded nature has earned him a reputation for being a beast in battle. With his dojo sign stolen by forces unknown, he has no choice but to hone his karate skills elsewhere in the interim—namely, at Yuri’s fitness club. Upon learning of a new KOF tournament on the horizon, Marco steels himself for what lies ahead: an opportunity to spread word about his beloved dojo, a chance to get its sign back, and (of course) a turbulent test of his Kyokugen Karate might.
Difficulty
MEDIUM star star
Fighting Style
Kyokugen Karate
Marco Rodrigues Gameplay Trailer
PDF Command List
Gameplay Overview
At first glance, Marco appears to be a basic shoto character, with a great fireball, an amazing invincible DP, and a strong approach tool in his tatsu. He sports a very strong, defensive neutral, good for zoning, conditioning, or punishing misplays.
However, look under the hood and you will find that not only is Marco strong in neutral, but he also has some of the strongest offense in the game. For a shoto, Marco is very mobile, with a fast forward dash and multiple approach tools, some of which are even plus on block. When Marco’s up close and personal, his potent light confirms and combo-starting overhead seamlessly transition into highly damaging juggle combos with great okizeme, with his mobility allowing him to stick to his opponent like glue. It only gets better when Marco has REV Blow or a super at his disposal, giving him hard knockdowns into terrifying high/low or strike/throw mix-ups from any starter.
While he's effective up close and at long range, in between is where Marco struggles, as none of his larger normals cancel to special moves. If he wants to get his offense going from this range, he has to commit either to a REV special, a risky use of Marco's resources (and the only one that’s plus on block locks him out of two of his buttons), or sit back and wait for the opponent’s patience to run out. Because of this, Marco is either all-in or all-out, and in both cases he has a very clear game plan.
Players can mitigate this weakness, however, by using Marco's mobility to stay one step ahead of his opponent. Between this, his amazing fireball and DP, and easy combos, Marco is a very good character not only for beginners, but also for veterans who prefer their shotos to be more on the explosive side.
Pros & Cons
thumb_up PROS
- Fireball: Marco looks the part of a shoto and he has a solid fireball to match; being fast to both startup and recover while also having an enormous hitbox that is difficult to jump over. To complement this, he has Haoh Shoukou Ken (236236P) as an ace up his sleeve in fireball wars that makes opponents think twice about doing much of anything when they're at full-screen against a Marco with 1 bar of super meter.
- Uppercut: Marco's DP Kohou (623P) is a single, strong hit. This means that he is never leaving damage on the table when choosing to brake the C and AC version, giving his juggle combos and anti-airs monstruous damage, even without spending REV.
- Hien Shippuu Kyaku: The REV Art version of 236K is just about the best use of REV gauge in the game. It is highly damaging, has strong corner carry, provides a very useful hard knockdown and combos from nearly everything as it is extremely fast at only 11f startup, which also makes it an effective, if expensive, option for guard cancelling.
- Mobility: While he isn't equipped with a run, Marco can put the mobility of some characters that have one to shame. Many of his specials advance him far forward in a very short amount of time and the brunt of his step dash's forward movement happens in the first few frames, which gives Marco one of the fastest wavedashes in the business.
- Big Normals: Despite their stubby appearance, Marco actually has some very long reaching normals that let him control footsies very effectively.
- Mix: Uncharacteristically for a shoto, Marco's possibly strongest attribute is his high/low mix-up, enabled by his 19f standing overhead (6A) that can be combo'd out of. Combine this with the frequent hard knockdowns of 236BD and you can see where this is going.
thumb_down CONS
- Unrewarding Mid-Range: As great as Marco is at pestering the opponent with his long normals, none of his pokes can be cancelled into specials, which means patient mid-range play is a path of limited potential for him, especially without super meter.
- Button Hold Lockout: Some of Marco's specials require charging them by holding down one of his attack buttons, which locks him out of using that button for the duration of the charge, resulting in a temporary restriction to his capabilities in offense and neutral.