In addition to its unique anime aesthetic, Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls’ new 4v4 tag team system is getting people interested in the new fighting game. While games like Dragon Ball FighterZ and Marvel vs. Capcom 3 have found ways to incorporate three-man teams per side, having eight characters in a match sounds daunting. Thankfully, it seems Arc System Works (ArcSys) has found a solution that won’t require players to learn four different movesets before getting in the thick of things.
In the first behind-the-scenes video of Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, producer Takeshi Yamanaka reveals that ArcSys developers created a system that allows for two options to be interchanged on the fly. You can control just a single character (the leader) with three assist characters, or swap the leader role between the four characters to directly control each one while still having access to the three assists. While the first option is much easier for players to understand and control, those who take the time to master all four of their characters will be able to get more from their lineup.
According to Game Director and Lead Battle Designer Kazuto Sekine, each playable character will have their own set of normal, special, and unique attacks – all of which can be executed with technical fighting game inputs (such as quarter circle motions) or simpler inputs. Based on the description, it looks like Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls’ controls will have similarities with ArcSys’s own Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, where players can deal more damage with technical inputs as opposed to the simpler ones (which often involve pressing a directional input and action simultaneously).
Sekine admits that the 4v4 tag team system is something ArcSys struggled with for a long time. After debating whether to create a 1v1, 2v2, or 3v3 fighting game, Marvel’s wide roster of characters and comic book team-ups pushed the developers to take on the challenging task of creating a title that captured the intensity of being in a Marvel comic.
Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is set to be released in 2026 for the PlayStation 5 and PC.
