It’s Marvel, baby! But not as we know it. The June 2025 State Of Play showcase ended with the reveal of a new fighting game of all things, but no one expected PlayStation and Arc System Works to team up with Marvel for this.
Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is 4V4 tag fighter featuring the cast of Marvel heroes and villains, expressed through ArcSys’ trademark style that also embraced Japanese animation stylings that the devs are famous for.
The reveal trailer has all the characters speak Japanese, and they have that anime flair to it, not just because of the unique 3D models designed to look 2D effect as seen in the Guilty Gear series and Dragon Ball FighterZ, but also in their design. Iron Man looks more like a mecha crossed with a tokusatsu hero. Ms. Marvel has a bubbly kawaii face. But a Marvel fan, diehard or casual, could still recognise these characters.
The Japanese word “Tōkon” (toukon) can be translated into “fighting spirit” or fighting souls.
This is no Marvel VS Capcom, we don’t see Dr. Doom do a foot dive (he pulls out a gun instead). But it just looks as ridiculous. At any moment eight characters can be on-screen. Imagine the happy birthdays. And the merry christmases. And whatever the fighting game community will say when you hit, juggle and combo all four of your opponent’s characters because no one expected we ever reached a level where a fighting game lets you control four characters.
Thankfully, this doesn’t mean you need to learn four characters to really maximise your team. The system allows players to just have one main character with the others being assist characters, though you can play it straight and have them be all tag in and out.
The eight playable characters in Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls revealed are:
- Captain America
- Iron Man
- Dr. Doom
- Storm
- Spider-Man
- Ms. Marvel
- Star-Lord
- Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes)
The PlayStation Blog teases characters never been playable in a fighting game will make it into the roster.
Within the State Of Play, there’s a six-minute documentary explaining how it all came to be (it’s PlayStation that approached ArcSys to do this project), how well-aware the dev team are with the legacy of Marvel fighting games (all without name-dropping Capcom), and it was on the Marvel side that nudged the developers to bring in Japanese culture influences into the title. It is them who wanted Marvel Tōkon to be more anime-esque.
PlayStation owns Evo, what used to be the premier fighting game tournament, the Indy 500 of fighting game tournaments if you will, which has now become a franchise event. In the same State Of Play, PlayStation also announced on the same State Of Play showcase that they’re making their own fighting stick peripheral for the first time. While the publisher and console maker has not much history in developing fighting games, it does make sense for them to invest into a game that is console-exclusive. And they’ve called in quite the ringer to do the job.
Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls will be out in 2026 for the PS5 and PC (Steam, Epic Games Store).