The Ptolemaic Army returns from Metal Slug 5, this time expanded and divided up into multiple factions:
- The Ptolemaic Army itself, led by Draganov, which appears to be a normal armed force.
- The Cultists, primarily led by Ptolemaios and Mira, who gives orders to the main army yet have their own goals.
- The Navy. It plays no known role in the game.
- The "Believers" or "Sect" led by Anastasia IV, but they are primarily in an alliance of convenience with Ptolemaios.
During the events of Metal Slug Attack, the main Army rebels against the Cult, becoming the Rebellion. The outcome of this Civil War is not yet known, and where Anastasia's forces fall in this conflict is also not yet known, though she and her sect are not loyal to the Cult.
Ptolemaic Army/Rebellion
- Fire-Forged Friends: Though they tend to bicker, Dragunov, Yoshino and Caroline are this in the heat of battle. An encounter with Allen O'Neil forced Dragunov to pull a Taking the Bullet to protect Caroline and was forced to take her to safety on Yoshino's orders, leaving her to fight Allen.
- Scarf of Asskicking: Most of the Ptolemaic crew wear a red scarf. Caroline confuses Scotia for one of their own because of her scarf.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: Is a strict military commander of the Ptolemaic Army and wields a large-caliber sniper rifle that deals heavy damage to enemies.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Zig-zagged. Her in-game art shows she has no visible scars aside from her eye (and injuries sustained during Another Story are only known through dialogue). But this concept art◊ portrays her being Covered in Scars.
- BFG: Wields an anti-material rifle.
- Death from Above: Her original unit snipes from atop a hover unit. Lowering her HP will lead to Dragunov dropping her vehicle onto the opposing army.
- Defector from Decadence: Fed up with the increasingly creepy actions of Ptolomaios and Mira (the latest of which included collecting enemy corpses from their last operation), she turned from the Ptolomaic Army, taking most of her friends with her.
- The Determinator: Unlocking her fourth skill allows her to keep fighting on foot with part of her original HP.
- Doppelgänger Attack: Her "Special Dragunov" form/unit. Only equipped with a combat knife, her long range attack involves sending shadow clones at her enemies, slicing them with said knife. Her special attack sends a long barrage of these in succession which ends with a point-blank explosion she personally performs.
- Energy Weapon: Her hover unit's special attack.
- Expy: Her bikini top, low-hanging pants, rifle (the NTW-20 as shown in her concept art), ponytail, curves, and choice of colored hover unit, make her a near exact copy of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann's Yoko Littner.
- Eye Scream: Has a scar on her left eye that seems to be permanently shut.
- Feud Episode: So far, twice with Veronica over who would be the pilot of a recently upgraded Union vehicle. Both times, Sisilia had to break up the two.
- Stripperific: Compared to the rest of the army, who most are completely covered, she wears a bikini and low-hanging pants. She drops the pants altogether for her Everlasting Summer variant.
A female Ptolemaic martial arts instructor who happens to wield a giant hammer.
- Amazonian Beauty: She's a Head-Turning Beauty and her character illustration shows off her muscles pretty well. And she needs them to swing that hammer.
- Counter-Attack: Teleports to the front of the opposing army and slams her hammer.
- Gas Mask Mooks: As part of belonging with the Ptolemaic Army's Special Forces section. If she gets knocked back, her mask flies off her face, making her mask-less for the duration of the battle.
- Leotard of Power: Her Everlasting Summer variant has her don a leotard swimsuit, which shows off her muscular legs.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Her special attack finishes off with her hammer acting as a shield for a few moments, deflecting enemy damage from the team.
- Made of Iron: In the second Ptolemaic Another Story, she takes on two Super-Heavy tanks (Shoe and Karn) while still suffering from the wounds she took fighting Red Goblin.
- Ornamental Weapon: The illustration and concept art of her Everlasting Summer outfit has three kunai that attached on her right leg, but she doesn't use it in-game.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: She is more forgivable than the strict Dragunov depending on the circumstances. Ask Abul Abbas.
- Sensual Spandex: She clearly shows it off to the player.
- Shockwave Stomp: The aftermath after slamming her hammer by her special attack.
A mechanic of the Ptolemaic Army. Caroline controls the F-502 ShootingRay(a miniature remote-controlled version of the plane boss from the second mission of Metal Slug 5). She later controls a miniature version of the Jupiter Queen. Later on, she pilots her own variant of the Augensterm, in red.
- Attack Drone: Usually uses remote-controlled weapons.
- Death from Above: The plane's standard attack.
- Damsel in Distress: Has been captured by the Rebel Army twice now.
- Fun Size: The original ShootingRay was modeled after could not fit the screen at its wingspan in Metal Slug 5. Here, it's a similar length to the Hairbuster Riberts.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Created the ShootingRay all of her own; Yoshino calls Caroline the "Mechageek".
- Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: The most girly of the army, but she actively goes to the battlefield with her inventions.
- Improvised Weapon: Attacks with her controller as a close range attack.
- Plucky Comic Relief: When not in battle, Caroline is the most expressive of the expanded cast, being the main host of various comedic moments.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: If her controlled weapon explodes before she dies, Caroline will throw a tantrum and stomp back to base.
- Taking You with Me: Unlocking her fourth skill allows the plane to do a suicide attack whenever it or Caroline loses all of their HP.
- Tank-Top Tomboy
- Wrench Wench: Loves machinery. When she sees Big Shiee for the first time, she wants it for herself. Her own story has her going AWOL (technically, she left a Leave request, but never actually turned it in) to get at a Crablops.
A member of the Ptolemaic Special Forces.
- Animal Motifs: Cats. Her Christmas variant even has cat ears and a tail.
- Badass Biker: Her bike is her form of travel and weaponry. She tinkers with it during her spare time.
- Boyish Short Hair: Green colored.
- Distaff Counterpart: To Tarma, in terms of their affinity to motorbikes.
- Expy: Of the eponymous Catwoman; she wears a tight leather catsuit, she's riding a knockoff of the Batcycle from The Dark Knight Trilogy, and her Christmas variant even has cat ears and a tail.
- Feud Episode: So far, twice with Dragunov over who would be the pilot of a recently upgraded Union vehicle. Both times, Sisilia had to break up the two.
- Gas Mask Mooks: Unlike Yoshino, she temporarily wears one whenever she throws her gas grenades.
- Master Poisoner: Units caught by her gas grenades are poisoned and continuously take damage for a few seconds.
- Navel-Deep Neckline: Her bodysuit is unzipped all the way down to her crotch, complete with Vapor Wear note .
- Weaponized Car: Her motorbike has a gun and missile launcher at the front.
A member of the Ptolemaic Army Supply Corps who always holds and plays her trumpet.
- Brown Note: Her close-range attack is a loud blast from her trumpet.
- Cool Bike: Downplayed. It's a standard bicycle compared to Veronica's motorbike.
- Expy: A Ptolemaic version of Rumi.
- Fanfare: Plays a silent one on her victory animation.
- Heroic Second Wind: During "Sadistic Emotion" Extra Ops, she uses her trumpet to revitalise Veronica and Dragunov who not too long ago were defeated by Izabella and Navy, allowing them to rescue her and escape.
- Say My Name: Shouts "Veronica!" at her defeat.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Once she's knocked off of her bike, she runs away scared.
- Spell My Name With An S: Pronouncing her name sounds more like it should be spelled "Cecilia".
- Stuff Blowing Up: Her long range attack is tossing grenades from her bag.
- Support Party Member: Like the Aikawa sisters, this is her role in her respective army, using her trumpet to motivate her comrades to victory. Her special attack has her use her trumpet to produce pickups that either allows her allies to recharge their special attacks, buff them or in the case of her Special form, heal them.
A mechanic of the Ptolemaic Army. Originally an independent, she was forced to join after being caught stealing the army's supplies.
- Disproportionate Retribution: If Caroline didn't come in and intervene, Towa would've been executed by Dragunov for stealing the army's supplies.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Caroline. Dragunov and Yoshino are disgusted seeing the two being obnoxiously sweet to each other.
- Join or Die: And she wouldn't even have had the choice had Caroline not stepped in.
- Regenerating Health: Gains HP every once in a while. More HP is gained if assist units are placed on the same deck as Towa.
- This Is a Drill: Her mech has two drill for hands. Her special attack is lunging an enlarged drill.
A sniper scouted by Dragunov.
- BFG: Her dark pink sniper is longer than she is tall.
- Gender-Blender Name: A male name on a female.
- Ineffectual Loner: Tends to work alone since she hates noise. When her punishment for not following orders and pointing her gun at Dragunov is a trip to the solitary confinement room, Simon asks if it's quiet in there (and then hopes she gets in as soon as possible).
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Her memories were removed during secret tests by the Ptolemaic Army.
- And I Must Scream: An Another Story suggests that her memories weren't removed, but possibly her entire personality supressed.
- Leotard of Power: Her suit has cutouts on her inner thighs.
- Anime Chinese Girl: Downplayed, but her outfit has chinese motifs.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: She does not ever recall training Matilda.
- Defeat Equals Friendship: In the second Everlasting Summer story, she gets into a fight with Odette out of what seems to be sheer jealousy after her soldiers remark on her cuteness. After the battle, however, she starts acting downright motherly towards her, saying that had she chosen to settle down, she probably would've had a daughter about Odette's (apparent)age by now.
- Jiggle Physics: Her idle animation.
- Mix-and-Match Weapon: Her gun lance, made by the same craftsman who made Yoshino's huge hammer. Its a spear with a gun attachment that inflicts lots of damage but only at close range.
- Ms. Fanservice: Big time. Her pants are as low as Dragunov's and has her chest in the open, showing off her voluptuous figure.
- Spin to Deflect Stuff: She is able to completely nullify any ranged projectiles as she spins her lance as she walks. She can still take damage from explosive attacks however and she stops spinning her lance once she reaches an enemy at melee range.
- Anime Chinese Girl: Downplayed, but her outfit has chinese motifs.
- Big Eater: Unlike Nadia, Chunyan is able to control her weight while enjoying her food.
- Elemental Barrier: Her special is lifting the ground a few yards from her. The protruding rocks serve as a standalone shield.
- Expy: Chunyan is a medley of elements from other fighting-game girls, but her biggest influences are Chun-Li of Street Fighter (who not only has a similar name but wears wrist-weights, too), Li Xiangfei of Fatal Fury (who loves to eat dumplings and works at a family member's restaurant), and Lilith of Darkstalkers (from whom Chunyan takes her pink and red palette).
- Rose-Haired Sweetie: She doesn't mind fighting for the army as long as she has her love of cooking.
- Team Chef: The main reason they invited her. Dragunov in particular loses her stoicness after eating Chunyan's food.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Meat buns.
- Truer to the Text: (Truer to her inspiration, anyway). Special Chunyan wears a blue dress, which makes her resemble her inspiration Chun-Li even more than she did when she was just wearing the wrist-weights.
- Expy: His appearance is loosely based on Shen Woo from The King of Fighters and Geese Howard from Fatal Fury.
- Good Old Fisticuffs: His fighting style.
- Mellow Fellow: When not in battle, he's thoughtful and laid-back.
- Mighty Glacier: Slow and has to be close to attack but his fists are powerful.
- Dynamic Entry: A Running Gag has Yoshino toss Sho right into the action and let him fight alone.
- Passing the Torch: Yoshino gives Sho her secret techniques. Inexperienced, he's instantly exhausted and falls on the ground. It only takes Shizuka's change of heart to stop the Arabians from killing him.
- The Quiet One: Is usually shy and quiet especially towards his imposing superior.
- Shock and Awe: Sho's kamas and their connecting rope are electrified.
- Overly-Long Tongue: The frog's tongue is used to wack her enemies.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The Animal Squad is known to have the strangest types of soldiers.
- Sleepyhead: Oversleeps in the start of the United Front and then immediately goes back to sleep when the operation is over.
- This Is a Drill: Located under the frog's belly. Lucy flies over her enemies and drops the drill on them.
- The Comically Serious: She is unable to differentiate between a joke and an actual order.
- Humongous Mecha: Her D-001 Tanbal, armed with a gatling gun and a refillable rocket arm.
- Falling into the Cockpit: Quickly locates the suit and protects the army from the Rebel invasion. She was totally unaware the suit was heavy in the first place.
- Evil Knockoff: The suit is based on those Perche and Fio wear from the Metal Device Project.
- Loyal Phlebotinum: Unlike the Regular Army suit, the Ptolemaic suits do not have a nervous system, so anyone is able to use it. However, the nervous system is used to actually carry it and its weapons, which makes it almost impossible to move without it.
- One Size Fits All: Averted, the original prototype was meant to be worn by Caroline. Towa and Josette are the few ones of similar size.
- Pintsized Powerhouse: She is similar in size as Caroline and is able to wear the heavy suit without straining herself.
- Making a Splash: He fights with water-based ninjutsu.
- Meaningful Name: The "Mizu" in "Mizuna" can mean "water" in Japanese, explaining his water-based ninjutsu.
- Ninja: Duh.
- Shout-Out: Special Mizuna is a ninja who has bright orange garb and blonde hair, exactly like the title character of Naruto.
- Threatening Shark: Made out of water.
- Animal Motifs: Rodents. She appears to enjoy dressing and acting as a rodent, given her face paint whiskers, her hair ribbon adding "ears" along with her combat sounds.
- Ditto Fighter: She mostly copies Miharu's combat style.
- Mix-and-Match Weapon: She wields a three-pronged spear that also contains guns and rocket launchers in each prong.
- Sexy Backless Outfit: Complete with a Side Boob.
- Stance System: Her normal stance has her holding her trident upright with one hand, but will hold it with the tips pointing at her foes when agitated and with her right foot facing forward. The latter stance is known as her "GO Mode".
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She may be selfish, but deep down she is very kind to her creators.
- Punk: She was designed to resemble and modeled after a female punk rocker.
- Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Translated as More Dakka in her tank form where the number of her Vulcan's shots is proportional to the number of punches she throws.
- Took a Level in Badass: Caroline and Towa originally programmed her to be a kind AI, but an encounter with Yoshino and Dragunov drastically changed her personality from kind to boastful.
- Expy: Of Tatiana Romanova, the Bond Girl of From Russia with Love.
- Evil Knockoff: The GIP-03 Bergenia is this to the Rebel Army's Fortmeranian, both being large tanks controlled by multiple personnel.
- Hard-Drinking Party Girl: According to her concept art, she loves alcohol, and her small pouch on her back is filled with liquor bottles and makeup.
- Self-Healing Phlebotinum: The Bergenia can self repair.
- Sensual Slav: Svetla is the short form of the Eastern European name Svetlana.
- Show Some Leg: She wears a small spandex suit and thigh high boots to distract her enemies. She successfully does this to Tarma much to Eri's ire.
- Victoria's Secret Compartment: Carries a lighter in her cleavage, a tidbit that makes the Ptolemaic soldiers swoon.
- Vodka Drunkenski: See Hard-Drinking Party Girl and Sensual Slav for details.
- Berserk Button: Being ordered to do high-risk operations that would get him killed.
- Blow You Away: He unleashes a twister by quickly moving in circles around in one spot.
- Hover Board: His main mode of transport that also doubles as a weapon.
- My Greatest Failure: Shooting a member of the society instead of Ptolemaios out of fear.
- Secret Secret-Keeper: He knows everything about Red Goblin, but since Humphrey works for Red's enemy force, he keeps his mouth shut.
The Cult/Hidden Army
- Ashes to Ashes: She excels in using black magic with ashes. Mira Diaptora Genesis combines this with a storm that for every damage she deals, she recovers health equal to the damage she dealt.
- The Dragon: Presumably to Ptolemaios, as he gives command of the Masked Soldiers to Mira to fend off the intruding Rebel Army. "Diaptora Genesis" reveals that she is Ptolemaios' daughter.
- Knight of Cerebus: The most serious of the Ptolemaic crew.
- Malevolent Masked Man: Wears a mask to cover her face. When she takes it off, only part of her face can be seen. This was until "Diaptora Genesis" reveals her full face.
- Meaningful Name: The "diaptora" in Mira Diaptora Genesis means "corrupt", further indicating her evil. Other meanings of the name include "deprave" and "demoralize", which further adds to her amorality.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Her eyes appear red when she wears the mask. Subverted as her real eyes are gray without the mask.
- Social Darwinist: She can and will wipe out any and all she deems unfit to survive.
- Underboobs: A large opening in the front of her suit reveals this and her midriff. As Mira Diaptora Genesis, she ditches the underboob dress for a tube top.
- Bloody Murder: When her sword is red, blood flies out when she swings them.
- Compressed Hair: Maria is able to fit her long hair in her small helmet.
- Double Weapon: Her main weapon.
- Expy: As a female knight possessed by evil power wearing dark armor, she's clearly inspired by Saber Alter from Fate/stay night.
- Evil Weapon: It is said that Maria completely changes her personality when she wears the armor. This is because the armor (who is sentient and can talk) actually possesses Maria to increase her powers.
- No-Sell: She is immune to stun attacks when her helmet is on.
- Blood Knight: In both the figurative and literal senses. Figurative because she's always itching for a fight, and literal because of her insatiable bloodlust evidenced by her bloodied scythe. This is all thanks to Mira's empowering ritual.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: Mira gave her an empowering ritual as a reward for protecting Ptolemaios. This is why she can wield a scythe that is bigger than herself.
- Dark Is Evil: She wears black and is a part of the Ptolemaic Army.
- Light Is Not Good: Special Sally recolors her dress white, but she is still not on the good guys' side.
- Elegant Gothic Lolita: Her outfit of choice
- Expy: A girl with twintails wielding a scythe and whose job is explicitly to kill things? Sounds an awful lot like Maka of Soul Eater. (The black and red color scheme is possibly a nod to her Living Weapon, Soul).
- Flower Motifs: The amaryllis.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: She wears a black dress with red accents, and is not on the good guys' side.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: She has blood red eyes and will hunt you down for blood.
- Sinister Scythe: Her weapon of choice is a black scythe with its blade bathed in the blood of her victims.
- Super-Speed: Also the result of her empowering ritual. Translates as a Flash Step during gameplay.
- Casting a Shadow: Alongside being good with a sword, Damian possesses dark wizard powers.
- Cursed with Awesome: Unlike Simon, Damian seems ecstatic to have his swordsmanship back.
- Know When to Fold Them: Damian asks Achetto and the rest of the soldiers to inform Mira while he fights Aionion alone. He then drops his sword and promptly asks Aionion to leave so he doesn't appear dead in an accident and have Achetto come back and laugh at his dead corpse.
- Look What I Can Do Now!: Mira's experiments granted greater powers than what Damian had before.
- Red Baron: The "King of Blades".
- Always Someone Better: Yoshino admits that Achetto is far stronger than her.
- Spectacular Spinning: Her standard attack is moving while swinging her sword in circles.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: She and Damian often bicker and try to one-up each other.
- Alice Allusion: Cara wears an Alice in Wonderland dress and her stuffed animal companion is a white rabbit. (Special Alice wears the dress in its fully saturated blue and white).
- Blood Knight: Just like Sally, she is always eager for a fight, and the blades of her scissors are covered in blood.
- Companion Cube: She made a stuffed rabbit named Mr. Cartman, and made him her friend. Mr. Cartman moves by himself in Cara's victory animation.
- Meido: Her outfit of choice.
- Shear Menace: She wields a large pair of scissors in battle.
- Shout-Out: Cara kills people with an immense pair of scissors—just like Bobby Barrows, the Scissorman of Clock Tower (1995).
- Super-Speed: She gains this after touching a mysterious stone in her private quarters. Translates as a Flash Step during gameplay.
- No Name Given: She is given the name "Sorceress" by the Ptolemaic scientists.
- Verbal Tic: She somehow has a habit of adding "somehow" to her speeches.
The Sect/Believers
- Cult: Has her own similar to her ally Ptolemaios, though their themes are very different.
- Energy Weapon: Her normal attack has her four followers shoot a stream of laser fire each while her special attack has her summon a very large laser attack from her staff.
- Expy: Anastasia's design is a Hotter and Sexier take on Palutena, with long green hair, white robes, golden regalia, and a staff.
- Light Is Not Good: Has the image of a holy maiden, yet is allied with one of the big bads of the Metal Slug series, Ptolemaios.
- Oh, Crap!: Has this reaction when her throne begins to explode when defeated.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: She really would rather not work with the Ptolemaic Army, and indeed expects one side will turn on the other sooner or later. She is actively searching for someone to ally with her against Ptolemaios, having received a vision that he is not trustworthy. Her supposed loyalty is only feigned.
- Wild Card: In the Civil War within the organization, it is uncertain which side she will take or if she will take a side at all. All that is known is that she is not loyal to the Cult itself.
- Gatling Good: Her long range is firing rounds of the tank's machine gun.
- Improvised Weapon: The Gildron can suck up the ground and turn it into a deadly projectile. It is useful in locations with limited weapon ammo and materials.
- Bifurcated Weapon: Her two spears can be combined into a two-pointed lance.
- Expy: This Anastasia inherits the same design tropes that Anastasia IV adopted from Palutena.
- Flashy Teleportation: Anastasia I teleports with a mist effect.
- Leotard of Power: Her outfit of choice.
- Loved by All: All members of the Sect regard her in high regard even in the far future.
- Ominous Message from the Future: Anastasia I establishes the Sect because a Monoeye gave her a vision of the future in ruins.
- Portal to the Past: She utilizes a rip in space time to travel into the future.