Marlin

Marlin
Pronouns	he/him
Occupation	Ranked Coach (former) Shopkeeper

Marlin is the coach of the Rutile All-stars, the former Ranked Team of Rutile.

Personality

Marlin is sarcastic and pessimistic, doubtful of the player's ability to save the Preserve by playing along with the Sports King's wishes. Still, he thinks the player is "a great kid," and trusts them to take over as Rutile's head coach. At some point between the past and present scenes during the tutorial portion of the game, Marlin made up an "Assistant Coach" position so that the player could live in the storage room above the Beastieball Center. He also took the time to teach them how to win no-touch points during their "match," and regularly appears in phone calls with Riley to give his own advice.

Story

Marlin was once the Champion of the Beastieball League and filled the town of Rutile with pride, back when the player and Riley were children. At the start of the game, they go back to Riley's house to watch footage from Marlin's Championship match.

In the present day, Marlin and his team have fallen out of the rankings. Although the people of Rutile recognize that they were once great, they know their team is not what it used to be.

When the player and Riley realize that someone is starting construction in the Rutile Nature Preserve, they rush to ask Marlin what is going on. Upon being asked, he says, "OH, that must be... Somethin' I have NO IDEA about!" However, he quickly caves and explains that the League is building a stadium there. He did not think it would have started so soon, and his low rank means he has little influence on League operations.

In order to protect the Preserve, Riley suggests that the player take over as Rutile's coach, climb up the rankings, and convince the League to cease construction. Without argument, Marlin gives the player two jerseys and explains that they might manage to find some friendly Beasties to give them to. Upon interacting with him further before leaving, he will tell them that he knows he's not as great as he used to be, but even though they're "a great kid," he does not think they are ready to be a coach yet.

After returning the Beastieball Center with their new Beasties, the player meets Marlin outside, where he says, "So you actually pulled a team together... Guess there's no turning back now." He then schedules a match with the player, and says, "Bein' the coach for this town was my dream come true. If you really want to take that from me, well... Guess I'll see you in there."

Before the match, all Marlin says is, "May the best coach win." However, instead of using his team of level 40+ Beasties to demolish the player's brand new team, Marlin whispers to them between plays, teaching them that they can earn no-touch points by targeting empty lanes, winning the match without worrying about levels at all. After losing, Marlin says sarcastically, "Ohhh noooo... I can't believe I lost... Guess this means I gotta give up bein' the head coach...!" He then leaves the player with a simple, "Good luck!"

The player meets Marlin again in the lobby, where he says, "Well! If it ain't the new head coach!" He then talks about how Beastieball has changed, and it has turned into something that is not fun for him anymore. He then poses the question, "You ever watch sports anime?" and tells the player they're in one. He says that the League is full of skilled coaches, and, "Some are legends... some are corrupt... others are just straight up weird." He ends the conversation saying, "Good luck out there. You'll need it."

For the rest of the game, Marlin can be found working the shop inside the Rutile Beastieball Center. If the player talks to him, he will start by saying, "Don't listen to me. I'm just a sad old man..." but then advises them to "remember to have fun." He also expresses that his misses his Shooga, Noir(#10), who the player met north of Rutile, and then talks about the "big, stupid circle" that the money is going in between the player's sponsorship with Rutile and the money they are spending at the Center. His final remark here is to tell the player, "I've said enough. Go get 'em!"

Throughout the game, Marlin will appear in phone calls the player has with Riley, where he acts generally negative and skeptical.

Trivia

• In the original version of the demo, Marlin’s name was Redd.
• All of Marlin’s known Beasties are named in reference to a Pokémon game, and their numbers represent the year in which that game came out.
  • In release order, these are Bluey(#96) the Yamyth, Goldie(#99) the Servace, Ruby(#02) the Cherrily, and Pearl(#06) the Diggum, who are on his team, as well as Noir(#10) the Shooga and, presumably, X(#13) the Platenna, Sunny(#16) the Sefren, and Blade(#19) the Sprecko, who are encountered as Guardians in the area around Rutile.
  • Marlin’s own outfit and former name are in reference to Red, the player character in Pokémon Red and Blue, who also becomes champion of his respective league.