Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls Review – One of the Most Addictive Fighting Games I’ve Played This Year

Marvel + Arc System Works Is a Ridiculously Good Combination

I knew I was going to enjoy Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, but I wasn’t expecting to become this damn addicted to it.

Arc System Works has taken its trademark anime-inspired presentation and deep fighting mechanics and smashed them together with the Marvel universe. Somehow, it works beautifully.

If you’ve played Arc System Works games before, particularly Dragon Ball FighterZ, a lot of this will feel familiar. But Tōkon isn’t simply another traditional fighter with Marvel characters slapped on top. The 4v4 system completely changes how you approach a match.

And I absolutely love it.

4v4 Fighting Changes Everything

Instead of controlling one character with a traditional health bar, your team shares a single life bar.

That sounds simple, but once you start getting into the mechanics, things become much more interesting.

You can tag characters in and out, call assists, extend combos and bounce opponents between characters. Building the right team becomes just as important as knowing how to play each individual fighter.

Then there’s Tōkon Assemble.

When you’ve got your team working together and everything starts clicking, the screen becomes absolute chaos. Characters are flying around, assists are going off, specials are connecting and suddenly you’re pulling off some ridiculous sequence you didn’t even know was possible.

It feels fantastic.

Easy to Pick Up, Difficult to Master

This is probably one of my favorite things about Tōkon.

You don’t need to be a fighting game expert to jump in.

One-button combos and Quick Skills make it incredibly approachable, while traditional command inputs reward experienced players with greater damage and faster meter generation.

So whether you’re someone who has spent hundreds of hours learning fighting game mechanics or someone who normally gets destroyed within 30 seconds of entering a fighting game lobby, there’s a pretty comfortable entry point here.

And the tutorials are excellent.

The Battle Guide, Character Lessons and Training Mode do a fantastic job explaining what the hell you’re actually supposed to be doing without making you feel like you’re studying for an exam.

Every Character Feels Like Marvel

There are currently 21 characters, and I love how much personality Arc System Works has managed to squeeze into them.

Spider-Man feels like Spider-Man. His web movement and mobility make him incredibly fun to control, while Magik’s portals give her a completely different rhythm.

That’s something I kept noticing while playing. These aren’t just different character models with slightly different attacks. Their abilities actually make them feel like the heroes and villains they’re supposed to represent.

And with Marvel’s ridiculous roster of characters to pull from, I’m already wondering who the hell they’re going to add next.

The Lobby Is an Absolute Blast

If you’ve played Dragon Ball FighterZ, you’ll immediately recognize the DNA here.

You get this little lobby world where you can run around, interact with other players and generally just mess about between matches.

And I fucking love it.

It sounds like such a small thing, but it gives the game a personality that a traditional menu-based fighting game doesn’t have. You aren’t simply jumping from ranked match to training mode to arcade. There’s an actual little community space where you can hang out.

I’ve spent more time than I probably should have just running around the lobby and checking out what everyone else is doing.

Marvel Has Never Looked This Good in a Fighter

The presentation is outstanding.

The stages aren’t just static backgrounds either. Battles can transition through different parts of the Marvel universe, with environments changing around you as the fight progresses.

Then you have the anime-inspired cutscenes, absurd special attacks, flashy effects and soundtrack that reacts to what’s happening.

It’s loud.

It’s colourful.

It’s completely over the top.

And that’s exactly what I want from a Marvel fighting game.

Plenty to Do

The game also does a good job of offering different ways to play.

Episodes provide story content while also functioning as character-focused tutorials, All Star Arena gives you that classic arcade-style experience with different routes, and Arcadia Rumble offers a more unusual item-based mode that works particularly well for newcomers.

Then you’ve got ranked, casual matches, rooms and the usual online options.

I’ve had a great experience with the online side as well. There were some issues around launch, but the experience has been stable for me on PlayStation.

It Can Be Overwhelming

I do have a couple of complaints.

There are a lot of systems being thrown at you, and even with the excellent tutorials, it can feel like drinking from a fire hose when you first start.

Once everything clicks, it’s fantastic. Getting there can take some time.

I’d also love to see more stages. With a universe as enormous as Marvel, I want to see even more locations and crazy environments added over time.

Final Verdict

Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls has absolutely blown me away.

I went in expecting a stylish Marvel fighting game. What I got was an incredibly deep, ridiculously fun team fighter that manages to welcome newcomers without sacrificing the complexity that fighting game veterans crave.

The 4v4 system is fantastic, the characters feel distinct, the presentation is phenomenal and that lobby is dangerously addictive.

I’ve been playing fighting games for a long time, and this is one of those rare ones where I keep thinking, “Right, one more match.”

And then suddenly it’s two hours later.

9.5/10