Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is right around the corner, and ahead of its Aug. 6 launch, Arc System Works released a final trailer for the game. The video hypes up the story mode’s central premise, as the Champion of the Universe arranges a tournament to decide Earth’s fate. Previously revealed aspects of the game were shown off again, like a story mode written by comic author Kieron Gillen (Once & Future, Die, Young Avengers, Uncanny X-Men) and 20 playable characters.
The trailer shows a better look at Deadpool, who makes an impressive number of fourth-wall-breaking jokes, commenting on how the four-versus-four fighting game fills the screen with characters. At one point, he does a Dragon Ball power-up stance that’s particularly reminiscent of Cell’s iconic intro in the Arc System Works-developed Dragon Ball FighterZ. There was also a look at Battle Arcadia, which seems to be a party-game-style side mode similar to Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising’s Grand Bruise. In general, the trailer makes a very strong argument for the game’s impressive visual style, which combines comic book and anime aesthetics.
The trailer lands following Marvel Tokon’s beta weekend, which left fighting game fans a bit divided. On one hand, there was near-unanimous praise for its animation, soundtrack, and sense of style. Arc System Works’ take on Magik was a huge hit, as the character was the most played among the 16 fighters (out of 20) available for the test. Many players also enjoyed the roster’s unique abilities.
However, the game’s PC port was an unmitigated disaster. The game ran exceptionally poorly on even reasonably powerful machines, creating problems when playing online. Beyond the frame rate issues, many disliked the slow feel to combat. Character movement and attacks were relatively slow, which is quite unusual compared to the much faster pace of most tag fighting games. While Arc System Works has promised to address the issues around the game’s PC port, there isn’t a great deal of time to do so with it out next week.
