All 11 fighters in Martin: No Filter Fighters
A match is two characters, not one: your fighter plus a sidekick, and no character can appear twice in the same match. That rule is why the roster matters more than it looks — choosing Martin locks Sheneneh out of your sidekick slot.
This page covers what each fighter is built around, the signature super that defines them, and how to pair them. Everything below matches the current version 13.2 roster.
How the roster is built
The design logic is consistent across the cast: each character's moves reference a specific bit from the show rather than a generic fighting-game archetype. Martin's super is a mic drop. Varnell's is the Catfish Cannon. Dragonfly Jones calls in his assistant with "KG, ATTACK!". Bruh-Man sends people up through the ceiling.
Practically, that means nobody is a pure clone of anybody else. The cast splits roughly into close-range pressure characters, mid-range poking characters, and a couple of wildcards that want you to play around a gimmick.
Who plays who on the show
Most of this roster traces back to one actor. Martin Lawrence played Martin Payne and also played the show's best-known alter egos — Sheneneh, Jerome and Dragonfly Jones are all him in costume — which is why a single performer covers so much of the cast. The rest come from the supporting cast: Gina is Tisha Campbell, Pam is Tichina Arnold, Cole is Carl Anthony Payne II, Tommy is Thomas Mikal Ford, and Bruh-Man is Reginald Ballard, playing the show's Brother Man from the Fifth Floor.
None of them are involved in this game. Martin: No Filter Fighters is an unofficial fan project by Trey2k23 with no licence and no cast participation, so anyone searching for a "Martin Lawrence video game" is looking for something that does not officially exist. This fan build is the only Martin fighting game there is.
The full cast
Martin Payne
The default pick and the one with the most complete toolkit. His super is the Mic Drop, and his story chapter is "No Filter: The Tournament". If you have never played a 2D fighter, start here — his normals are forgiving and he does not depend on a single trick.
Gina
Quick, compact, and happiest at touching distance. She rewards short, tight pressure rather than big commitments. Pair her with a sidekick that can reach across the screen so you are not helpless when the opponent backs off.
Pam
Heavier hits and a stronger presence than Gina, at the cost of speed. Her game is about making the opponent respect the space in front of her. A mobile sidekick offsets her slower recovery.
Cole
Cole is the character you graduate to. He opens big damage windows, but the openings have to be created rather than thrown out. Weak as a first pick, strong once you understand spacing.
Tommy
Clean, readable fundamentals with no gimmick attached. In a roster full of joke characters, Tommy is the one that plays closest to a traditional fighting game — which makes him a good second main.
Sheneneh
The scene-stealer of the cast. Her offense leans on angles and momentum rather than raw damage, and she owns some of the most quoted lines in the game. Popular as a main and as a sidekick.
Varnell Hill
Built to control space. The Catfish Cannon is his identity — it punishes people who jump or dash in predictably. Keep opponents at arm's length and let them make the mistake.
Dragonfly Jones
The only fighter who brings a second body to the fight. "KG, ATTACK!" summons his assistant, which changes how the opponent has to approach. He also has his own stage, Dragonfly's Dojo, and his own story chapter, "The Way of the Dragonfly".
Jerome
The Playa from the Himalayas. Ice-themed offense with freeze combos — land the right sequence and you steal a turn. Own stage: The Playa's Ball. Aggressive players gravitate to him fast.
Bruh-Man
Added alongside the vertical stage transitions, and built for them. "From the Fifth Flo'" launches opponents through the ceiling into the floor above. If you like the idea of the stage being part of your combo, this is your character.
Bob from Marketing
The newest addition in 13.2 and the strangest kit in the game: pizza-box projectiles, a dance that builds Hype, and a super where he answers the phone and the party goes out of control. Comes with his own stage, The Corporate Party.
How to pick a sidekick
The sidekick is not cosmetic. It is one button, it is usable once per match, and it exists to solve the problem your main cannot solve alone. Three rules cover most of it:
- Cover your range. A close-range main wants a sidekick that hits from distance. A zoner wants one that can bail them out when someone closes the gap.
- Do not double up on the same weakness. Two slow characters means two characters who lose to the same game plan.
- Remember the no-repeat rule. Your fighter and sidekick must be different, and so must your opponent's pair. In local versus, decide who gets Sheneneh before the match starts.
Who should you main?
There is no published tier list from the developer, and with a roster that changes every couple of weeks, any tier list you find right now will be stale within a month. The honest answer is to pick by playstyle rather than by reputation:
- New to fighting games: Martin or Tommy.
- Like pressure and speed: Gina or Jerome.
- Like keeping people out: Varnell Hill.
- Like labbing weird tools: Dragonfly Jones or Bob from Marketing.
- Like the stage as a weapon: Bruh-Man.
You can test any of them without committing by opening CPU Showcase and watching the computer use the character first.
Characters players keep asking for
The creator runs the roster by request: comment a character, and the top comment gets added. The names that come up repeatedly in the listing's comments are Otis, Hustle Man, Roscoe, Ms. Geri, Mama Payne, Stan, King Beef and Reverend Leon Lonnie Love. Nothing is confirmed until the developer posts it.
Play with any of them now
Every fighter on this page is in the build embedded on the home page. If the keys do not respond, click once inside the game window — the canvas needs focus before it accepts input. Full key mappings are on the controls page.
Sidekick pairings that make sense
Because the sidekick can only be used once, the pairing question is really "what situation can I not solve alone". A few combinations follow directly from that logic:
Close-range main plus a long-reach sidekick
Gina or Pam with a sidekick that can hit from distance. Your problem is opponents who run away; the sidekick is the answer to that specific behaviour.
Zoner plus a defensive sidekick
Varnell Hill wants space. His problem is someone who closes it. A sidekick that can interrupt a rush is worth more to him than extra damage.
Technical main plus a simple sidekick
Cole already asks a lot of your hands. Pairing him with a sidekick that has one clear job keeps your mental load manageable.
These are principles, not a tier list. We have not run matchups systematically, so we are not going to pretend a specific pairing is optimal.
How to learn a new character in fifteen minutes
Most people pick a character, lose three matches, and conclude the character is bad. The faster path is to watch before you play. CPU Showcase puts two computer-controlled fighters against each other, which means you can see a character's whole toolkit without being the one under pressure.
Then do this, in order: five minutes watching the character in CPU Showcase, five minutes in Training copying the two moves that looked strongest, five minutes in Arcade on the lowest difficulty trying to land those two moves in a real match. If the character still feels wrong after that, it is the character, not you.
The one rule that catches everyone
No character can appear twice in the same match. In local versus this means you and your opponent cannot both pick Sheneneh, and neither of you can take a sidekick that the other is already using as a fighter. Decide who gets the contested character before the match starts, not during character select.
More Martin: No Filter Fighters guides
This page is one part of a set: the Martin: No Filter Fighters game page is where you play it, the control list maps every key, the Android guide covers phones, and the help page fixes what breaks. The II Turbo page explains the version naming if you have seen it elsewhere.