‘Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls’ Director Says Players “Only Need To Master One Character” For 4v4 Battle System
In a move that single-handedly saved the recent PlayStation State of Play presentation from being a complete dud, Arc System Works has rocked the world with the announcement of Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, a brand new Vs.-style game that not only draws its inspirations from the original Marvel Comics over the MCU, but also brings with it a new 4v4 twist on the usual fighting game formula.
A joint venture between PlayStation, Marvel Games, and the aforementioned Guilty Gear series developer, the high-speed fighter is set to pit a number of Marvel Comics characters – some returning veterans of past Marvel Vs. Capcom entries, some making their digital debut – against each other in flashy, combo-heavy combat.
Thus far, confirmed characters include Captain America, Iron Man, Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan), Spider-Man, Star-Lord, Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes), Dr. Doom, and Storm.
As shown across the announcement trailer, behind the scenes video, and Marvel’s own news post; the project is a joint venture by PlayStation, Marvel Games, and developer Arc System Works (ArcSys – Guilty Gear, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Granblue Fantasy Versus).
Of course, in traditional ‘Marvel fighting game’ fashion, Marvel Tōkon‘s dedication to its source material extends far beyond just its roster selection.
Per both the game’s debut trailer and a behind-the-scenes dev diary, the various stages that play host to these superpowered brawls are filled with Marvel-related Easter eggs, including a statue of Thor, the Fantastic Four’s Baxter Building, Shuma-Gorath (or Garganto, as he has since been renamed to avoid copyright issues related to the character’s origins) wrapping itself around an apartment building, and even a certain visually impaired lawyer peeking out from the window of his office.
(And before anyone leaps to negative speculation, it should be noted that just because the eldritch god and the Man Without Fear have been given these cameo spots, it does NOT mean the two have been de-confirmed as playable fighters – Just look at Tron Bonne, who appears in Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 as both a background character on the Kattleox Island/Bonne Wonderland stages as well as a full-on roster member.)
Further, in the behind-the-scenes video, one can briefly catch one ArcSys dev in the midst of modelling a triceratops, which itself suggests the game will include a stage based on the Savage Land or, at the very least, something having to do with time travel.
And speaking of stages, it appears Marvel Tōkon will follow in the footsteps of ArcSys’ recent Guilty Gear -Strive- and feature in-combat stage transitions, with fighters being able to be forcefully knocked between different sections of a given stage.
But perhaps the most obvious highlight of the game’s announcement was the reveal that it would feature a new 4-v4 combat system, the first of its kind across the entire genre.
While details regarding its exact mechanics, such as those related to player health, character swapping, and tag-team moves, have yet to be revealed, Marvel Tōkon‘s debut trailer at the very least confirms the potential for the entirety of one’s team, whether in a lead or assist role, to be present on the field at the same time.
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Providing insight into this novel system, Game Director and Lead Battle Designer Kazuto Sekine explained to PlayStation.
“From the beginning, we aimed to make Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls a title that could be enjoyed by a wide variety of players,” said Skeine. “Generally, a team Vs. fighting game requires the player to learn multiple characters, but for Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, you only need to master one character in order to play the game. We have designed the mechanics in such a way that you can perform a variety of actions with either traditional fighting game inputs or simple inputs. With the press of a few buttons, multiple characters can appear on screen to provide backup or attack together – creating a new and exciting team Vs. battle experience.”
“Team VS fighting games have a long tradition of 2v2 or 3v3 team formats, so this is something we discussed in-depth within the development team,” he continued. “We went back and forth many times, from thinking we might be better off making a 1v1 game or sticking to the established 3v3 format.”
In addition to this new gameplay system, the ArcSys fighter also hits its characters with a new visual style, itself perhaps best described as a slightly more ‘anime’ version of the one in Marvel Rivals.
“So if you take a look at our Iron Man design in this game, that distinctive Japanese design, and Arc System Works design sensibility will be visible,” said producer Takeshi Yamanaka.
“I remember, personally, the first time I saw Iron Man,” added Marvel Games Sr. Product Development Michael Francisco. “It was really when I felt that we had something special,” Francisco reminisces. “Iron Man is supposed to be this sleek fighter jet. Think luxury racecar mixed with a brick house. And the fact that they added anime mech elements to him just felt really naturally at home.”
Baird explained “One of the mantras that we have for this project is, ‘From Japan to the World’, and really trying to take not just the IP but the gameplay mechanics and say, ‘What can we take from Japan, the creators that are doing awesome work here, and bring that to the global platform?’ “
It seems that despite ArcSys’ attempts to be global, Marvel and PlayStation are encouraging them to keep their visual edge to set themselves apart from other Marvel games, and fighting games.
Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls launches sometime in 2026 for the PC (via Steam and Epic Games Store), and PlayStation 5 platforms.
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