Tokyo Game Show 2025 - Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls
Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls wasn't initially on my TGS radar, but that changed when I walked by the Arc System Works' booth. I was drawn in by the vibrant colours, big character sprites, and fast-moving line. I decided to join the queue and was immediately handed a collection of laminated documents detailing the gameplay basics and info for all eight characters: Storm, Star Lord, Ms. Marvel, Iron Man, Doctor Doom, Captain America, Ghost Rider and Spider-man.
I felt like I was prepping for an exam, and as with most exams I take, I committed to being thoroughly under-prepared. I skim read it, then passed it on to the next guy in line.
Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is a tag-team fighter. You pick a team of four, starting off with a single fighter and an assist character, and then gradually unlock access to your full team by meeting mid-match conditions, most of which I never fully grasped. Eventually, you can go beyond assist combos and are able to tag in your full team. Filling the Assemble Gauge allows you to pull off assist combos and filling the Skill Gauge enables you to use individual and unique skills. I learnt most of this post-demo, when I actually bothered to read the instructions online.
I like bright colours.
Anyway, back to the line. Having watched other punters play, I came to realise that this was a versus demo, so I started to size up my potential opponents. The guy two people in front was wearing what I think was a King of Fighters t-shirt, so I figured he'd know his shit and I'd be in for a bad time. The person between him and I had fat thumbs and would probably lack the required finger-dexterity to embarrass me. The people directly behind me were a pair, so I didn't need to worry about them.
Now at the head of the line, I confirmed with the Arc System guy that I was on my own and he picked out the next billy-no-mates in the queue, who was a couple of attendees back. We gave each other the obligatory "yoroshiku onegaishimasu" - he seemed nice but I couldn't tell whether he'd be any good at fighting games. I maintained eye contact for a second too long to try to psyche him out a little, but it didn't seem to work.
He had normal thumbs.
We were led to our screen, and I was greatly relieved to find two controllers waiting for us - joy pads, not joy sticks. I'd let myself down earlier in the day trying to play Street Fighter 6 with an arcade stick and was not keen to repeat that incident. Although I was still ignorant of pretty much everything regarding Marvel Tokon, I was excited to get my hands on something new. The adrenaline started to flow.
We proceeded to character-select, where we were greeted by the eight characters I listed earlier. After each selection, I was surprised to be prompted to choose yet another fighter - I really hadn't been paying attention! I picked Ghost Rider first, because he looked cool; next I selected Ms. Marvel, so my opponent wouldn't think I was sexist. Next up was Star Lord, for no good reason, and finally I selected Storm because I wanted to ensure that I had a completely different team to Player One. Also, everyone loves Halle Berry.
We politely allowed the pre-bout cutscenes to play in full, as everyone knows you never skip a cinematic on the first viewing. It was very stylish & vibrant - I pulled out my phone, opened the Notes app and wrote "colourful" as if I would forget that word and the fact that Marvel Tokon is, in fact, quite colourful.
We politely allowed the pre-bout cutscenes to play in full, as everyone knows you never skip a cinematic on the first viewing. It was very stylish & vibrant - I pulled out my phone, opened the Notes app and wrote "colourful" as if I would forget that word and the fact that Marvel Tokon is, in fact, quite colourful.
Player One was clearly focused on the game and the mechanics, whereas for that first bout, I was more tourist-like in my approach. I was checking out the stage - a New York-looking city - watching background animations, trying to read the screen and figure out what the various gauges represented. I wouldn't say there's an excessive amount to take in, but at times it was visually overwhelming. Mid-round, his Spider-man threw me into another area of the stage, and this wall-break gave us access to our third characters, who then became available for assists. He pounded me in the new setting, and the round was soon lost.
The second round was no better. Before long, I was down 0-2, and I could sense he was starting to feel a little uncomfortable, having only just met me and already making me look like a complete scrub. For my part, while I would have preferred not to have disgraced myself, I was still having a good time. The action's fast and not too complicated, and visually it's a treat. If I'm able to enjoy losing, I figure the game must be pretty good.
At some point during the third round, he permanently shifted to Iron Man, who was an absolute beast. I got trapped in the corner and he pummelled me, and it took me half my health bar before I was able to fluke my way out of it, mostly by spamming assists and eventually clearing some room. I finished the round with an ultimate skill, maybe not called that, and I had my first victory. Fuck this guy.
He wiped the floor with me in the next round and claimed the win, which was when I grasped that bouts are best-of-five. I took the 1-3 loss gracefully. I gave a small head-nod bow and smiled, but I was not amused. I was not amused at all.
Back in the character select screen, the race was on to pick Iron Man first, and I was quicker out the blocks. I added Ms. Marvel - not sexist - Star Lord, and rounded out my team with Spider-man. Spider-man was already on my opponents team, but I opted for him over the still-available Captain America, as I'm not American and did not want to give the wrong impression.
"Huh, this guy's not American" Player One thought to himself, probably.
Anyway, the second bout went much better for me and far worse for him. I quickly cornered his Doctor Doom with my Iron Man and pulverised him high and low with kicks and rockets, and whenever he looked set to break free, I pinned him back and pounded him with assist combos. Iron Man is far slower than Ghost Rider, but my opponent's Doctor Doom couldn't take advantage. The next round ended with the same result, though I almost surrendered a commanding lead.
I dropped the next round, as is the polite thing to do. I avoided a collapse in the fourth round, however, wrapping up my victory, 3-1. I finished him off with a super skill - again, probably not the correct terminology - which assembled at least three of my team for one destructive and overwhelming combo. I have no idea how I pulled that off.
And with that, our 15-minute demo came to an end. A well-earned draw. We shook hands and parted ways. I can't speak for my new friend, but I had a good time with Marvel Tokon. It has most of what I look for in a fighting game, and I was able to enjoy myself even when things weren't going well. The quality of play certainly improved on both sides as the demo progressed, a good sign for those of us who enjoy our brawlers casually. I can't really speak to the mechanics in any great depth, nor predict how happy more seasoned fighting game players will be with it. However, the 4-character set-up and the gradual release of fighters and available combinations would suggest that there's potential for great variety and depth.
But whatever, it's very colourful.
Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is due next year.
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