is a 3D Mecha action-adventure game developed by Hitmaker and published by Sega. The game was first released on the PlayStation 2 in North America and Japan, and is the fourth game in the Virtual On franchise. MARZ expands upon the basic gameplay rules of Virtual-On Force, and reuses most of the game's assets; from the stages down to models of the Virtuaroids, the game's enemies. MARZ was not well received, receiving many negative responses from reviewers and players alike. Some stores in North America, expecting poor sales, only sold the game to those who reserved it. The game was re-released on the PlayStation 3 in Japan on March 21, 2013, to commemorate the game's ten-year anniversary. Plot Mars, once a peaceful society, has deteriorated into a planet of war. Shady corporations have deployed giant robots called Virtuaroids to cause chaos around the planet for their own nefarious gain. As part of the Marz Special Investigation Unit, the player must take control of their own robots (armed with a variety of explosive weaponry) and lay waste to the Virtuaroid enemy in battle. Battling their way through hordes of Virtuaroid armies, the Marz Special Investigation Unit must find out who this shady corporation is and end the chaos on Mars, once and for all. Gameplay 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 an 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