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I was very fortunate to get a code for the closed beta for Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls this past weekend. After ruining my non-existent sleep schedule even further to conform to the time slots provided by the event, I can confidently say it was worth it. Similar to my feelings with Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves beta, my first impressions of the game are pleasant.

I will admit that Tōkon had me hype during its initial teaser trailer during the PlayStation State of Play earlier this year. I thought we were going to get Marvel vs Capcom 4 but when I saw the *Arcsys logo and Ironman looking like a super sentai, obviously it was something different. The bigger surprise was that it was a 4 vs 4 fighting game. Not extremely unprecedented given that The King of Fighters 1999, 2000, 2001 loosely had 4 vs 4 also. That system was the traditional *KOF format of picking 3 characters for one-on-one fights but had a fourth slot strictly for an assist. Tōkon has four functioning characters that you can *active switch and call assists with during rounds. The sheer prospect of a new tag fighter coming out alongside League’s 2XKO and Hunter × Hunter: Nen × Impact was exhilarating.

As far as playing went, I had a ball. Echoing some of the sentiments from the fighting game Twitter space, Tōkon was reminiscent of Dragon Ball FighterZ and Blazblue: Cross Tag Battle. Movement and *rejump combos like *DBFZ and *auto combos plus a *universal overhead mechanic like *BBTAG. I did not mind the lack of a training mode for Tōkon because I personally like figuring stuff for an in-person arcade-esque experience. Simple is king with fighting game betas so if you stuck with *auto combos and timing your assist calls correctly then you could do well enough.

The Diabolical Latveria Jumping Circa 2025

Thankfully, with more access to tech and other players online, seeing what can be done was excellent. The game’s system felt incredibly freeform, and the characters feel widely different despite the small roster. While Doom, Ironman, Storm, and Star-Lord can fly, only Ironman can *air dash from flight or continue from a special move into flight for a combo *mix or to return to *neutral. I thought the Comliket for the game would make things too linear, but it strangely fits with squeezing in meaningful damage versus doing *infinites like in *UMVC3. My one gripe would be *auto combo damage feeling a tad too high and *whiffing without hitting the opponent.

*Reset possibilities, hard to block *oki, and aggression make this Arcsys title play widely differently than the Capcom Marvel games. Thinking on the longevity of the game, I hope Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls has an impactful run as a tag fighter. The single player content, character roster, and developer support will make or break the game’s future. I won’t say “When’s Tōkon?” just yet but I will be hopping on to play it day one.  

Glossary

Abbreviations:

Arcsys – Arc Systems Work, developer

KOF – The King of Fighters, videogame series

DBFZ – Dragon Ball FighterZ, videogame series

BBTAG – Blazblue: Cross Tag Battle, videogame series

UMVC3 – Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, videogame series

Fighting Game Terms:

Additional fighting game terms like reset, oki, ec that are marked with * can be found through the fighting game dictionary – https://glossary.infil.net/index.html