The State of Play finale this year was nothing short of a shocker: Arc System Works, the renowned developers behind the Guilty Gear and Blazblue fighting game series, unveiled their newest foray into their fighting forte, and their partnership with perhaps the most unlikely of universes to build in – Marvel Entertainment. The result, MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls, simply has to be seen to be believed. Check out the hot new trailer on YouTube or right here:
Tōkon looks to be delivering some of the same fast-paced, combo-heavy fighting that Arcsys is known for in their own series, with no small amount of the classic juggles of Marvel vs. Capcom fare. Much like the latter series, this will also be a team game. Unlike, MvC, however, Tōkon is looking to up the ante by having each player pick a massive team of four fighters to take to battle!
As excited as I am by the product, I am a bit hesitant to see how fielding an entire super hero squad into a fighting game is going to work out in practice. I’m also not particularly impressed with the opening lineup of fighters. Barring a few fresh faces like the Robbie Reyes version of Ghost Rider and the eternally-plucky Ms. Marvel (who looks positively kawaii in Arcsys’s heavily Japanese-inspired artistic design), most of the cast is largely the kind of MCU-centric characters we’ve grown to expect – Captain America, Spider-Man, Iron Man and Star-Lord make up half of the revealed roster. While not unwelcome, the world of Marvel is absolutely ripe with potential fighting game characters, even after you snag up all of the obvious choices like Shang-Chi, Iron Fist, and Daredevil. I’m eager to see what surprises Arcsys has up their sleeve when it comes to future roster announcements!
MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls is projected for a 2026 release on the Playstation 5, Steam and Epic Game Store platforms.
