Virtual On Marz retains the Twin Stick control layout of the series, mapping the two stick to the analogue sticks on the DualShock controller, and the turbo and weapon buttons to the four L and R buttons. A new Auto controller layout was provided, as well as several variants, for players who did not like the twin stick format. The match rules follow that of Virtual On: Force, that is, two-on-two matches with a leader on each team. Fallen teammates can be given half the other's life gauge through the "rescue tag" maneuver, and the first pair to fall loses the round. The "Challenge Mode" is a single match setup that is akin to a stage in Virtual On: Force, with the player tagged with a NPC partner against two other NPC opponents or bosses. New to the PlayStation 2 Marz is the "Dramatic Mode", which is a story mode with a linear sequence of missions with various objectives such as exploration, target destruction, beat 'em up and boss battles. When certain requirements are met, such as passing certain stages, or destroying a number of certain Virtuaroids in beat 'em up missions, new Virtuaroids are open for selection and play in the other modes. A split-screen 2-player mode is available, with the choice of playing on the same team or against each other. The game does not feature any means to play with 4-players, and thus, falls short of making full use of the design behind the Virtual On: Force game system and rules. In Japanese version, the Database mode is available, and the databases in this mode can be collected throughout the Dramatic Mode. These databases include stories, characters, and items associated with them. Some of the databases include a description of the particular subjects. This mode is not available in the English localization of the game.
Characters
The following characters are non-playable characters that appear in the single player Dramatic Mode and Challenge mode in the game, controlled by the computer. Most of the non-playable characters were created for use in the game, although some of them come from previous games with some tweaks in the Virtual-On franchises. The pilots of the Special Virtuaroids are taken from novelizations of the Virtual On franchise such as One Man Rescue and Fragmentary Passage. These Special Virtuaroids can be unlocked if a player meets certain requirements.
