// PC GAMER — GAMING
Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls review
Innovating on the tag fighter formula, Marvel Tōkon has a little something for everyone. If only the PC version was up to par with console.
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Arc System Works can do just about anything, including convincing me to pick up a Marvel-themed 2D anime fighter. Not that I've got anything particularly against either of those things. But as someone who grew up firmly in the 3D fighting game scene (and continues to dwell there) and traditionally doesn't care much for superheroes beyond Spider-Man, Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls should be a hard sell for someone like me.
What is it? A 4v4 tag fighter chock-full of super-jacked heroes
Reviewed on Nvidia GeForce RTX3070, AMD Ryzen 9 3900XT, 32GB RAM
And yet Arc System Works has utterly enamoured me to its riff on both the Marvel universe and tag fighters, having me grumble significantly less about anti-airs and jump cancels than I traditionally would. Its low skill floor and high skill ceiling leaves tons of room for expression, from casual autocombo mashers to professionals who can hit you with a two-touch death combo if you're not careful.
Whereas most tag fighters are a conservative 2v2 or 3v3 battle, Marvel Tōkon pits a whopping four characters against each other. That would be downright terrifying by usual tag fighter rules—learning two characters has put more than enough folks off the likes of Tekken Tag Tournament and 2XKO—but Tōkon grounds its larger teams by giving all characters a shared health bar.
It means you can essentially play Tōkon as a 1v1 with the odd assist here and there, while letting you go ham with a full team if you want to. But the game doesn't give you access to all four outright. Instead, you'll start with two characters, continuing to build out your team throughout the match through things like stage breaks, wall splats, and… well, losing the round. It folds in an element of strategy that I really like and stops Tōkon from feeling like a total snowball fest.
Its roster of characters is genuinely stellar, too. Each fighter is already loosely grouped up into a team—you've got the classic Avengers with Captain America, Iron Man, Black Panther, and Hulk. My personal favourite is the Samurai Outlaws comp made up of Ghost Rider (I am now a little obsessed with Robbie Reyes), Blade, Deadpool, and Loki.
Arc System Works has done such a fantastic job of making each character's moveset fit with their personality. Spider-Man thwips around the stage with his webs, Magik can go for an all-out assault from her portals, and Deadpool's penchant for being all meta absolutely shines through his moveset—essentially chock-full of easter eggs like Kauzya's Electric Wind God Fist, the Jack-O crouching pose, and Scorpion's signature "Get over here!"