Earlier this year, PlayStation and Arc System Works blew every fighting game players’ minds with its take on the Marvel universe: a 4-versus-4 tag team fighting game called Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls. It’s basically the duo’s attempt at taking the reins from Capcom’s Marvel Versus series and even succeeding its own 3v3 fighter Dragon Ball FighterZ with this bold new strategy, slated for 2026.

Well, the 4-versus-4 bit is a technicality in a sense, and may scare off a lot of casual players. After all, juggling a team of fighters can be beyond someone’s grasp if they’re struggling to do basic quarter-circle motion/236 numpad notation attacks. After playing through a few sessions of the latest build at this year’s Tokyo Game Show (thanks Arc System Works), it’s clear as day that the 4v4 bit is a helluva selling point for veterans of the subgenre known for quotables like “he so Pringles” and the term “happy birthday” (which is the act of catching an entire opponent’s team in a confirmed death combo). However, you can play this game with the mindset of a 1v1 fighter.

See, you start by picking your point character and three others who act as your assists/additional jump-in moves support folks. As you build up resources in a match, you can tag in and switch out to any of your support folks if you feel like mixing things up with different playstyles. One can start with rushdown queen Storm (of X-Men fame) and then halfway tag in Doctor Doom for some heavy-hitting mid-ranged attacks and surprise dash-in-and-grab shenanigans. Or just play through all four characters you picked in a single match just to confuse your opponents. But you don’t have to if you’re way familiar with your point character; you can just stick with Storm and power through your opponent. See, unlike other tag characters, you cannot catch tag-in characters to deal extra damage and kill them off as you can only deal damage to the current “soul” swapped point character of your opponent’s team.

Everybody in your team shares one life bar, so as long as you’re careful with your point character and keep track of your opponent’s, you’ll eventually start back at a neutral point and begin your respective onslaughts. So far, I’m digging this take on tag fighters where your option to keep your support fighters as just that -support- feels more organic as you eventually “assemble” your whole team for a full-on support brawl-for-all. Imagine a more balanced and more fun KOF 2001 with the flexible Strikers team, and you can see where Arc System Works gets its inspiration from. Add in the fact that each character has a Unique skill that makes them stand out -Iron Man’s flight, Star Lord’s guns, and Captain America’s shield throw- and you have a lot of fighters to experiment with that just makes each of them feel proper and like how they would work in comics (and the Marvel Cinematic Universe).

Web-Headed Wizard

But enough about that: how do the two new characters made playable -Spider-Man and Ghost Rider- fare? Announced in the debut Marvel Tokon Fighting Souls trailer earlier this year, many folks are wondering if these two are almost similar to their Capcom and Marvel VS counterparts? The answer: half-and-half.

We’ll start with this version of Peter Parker: he’s tailored as a all-rounder character who uses his Unique skill Web Zip to get around the field and in the air. He can aim his Web Zip to do kicks and follow-ups to mix up the opponent, has projectiles that multi-hit, and has a counter move called Spidey-Sense that dishes out a counterattack if opponents hit him in this special state.

Zipping around and being annoying as Spider-Man is fun, and makes him slightly more versatile and speedy than Ms. Marvel and Storm, with opportunities to stop his combo strings with a simple Spider-Sense to catch opponents mashing buttons. And we gotta stress that one of his Supers is awfully similar to a certain attack of Maximum (Spider) proportions. He’s definitely a worthy pick that straddles between the line of casual favourite to expert character, as his Web Zip follow-ups can be punished if abused too much.

Flame On

Ghost Rider -the Robbie Reyes version- fights opponents with vengeance flames, his chains, and rams people down with his car as a Super move. Unlike the Johnny Blaze version, this Ghost Rider drives in style in a hot rod from Hell. He fights effectively well with his mid-to-far range chains, closing in gaps and buffing them up with his Vengeance Gauge mechanic. Below his life bar is a “rev gauge” that gets higher if he uses his Skills -it adds more damage and puts him at an advantage. However, if the gauge hits maximum, his Skills have more recovery and thus leaves him vulnerable to punishes. That’s where his Unique Skill and his command grab Penance Driver comes in: it reduces his Vengeance gauge.

As all of Ghost Rider’s best Skills make him play a great keepaway combo game at mid-to-far range, he will need to eventually get close with a Penance Driver or simple Unique Skill chain attack to keep him from being vulnerable to simple pokes and getting blown up. Believe me when I say that his Judgement Cradle chain-swinging wide-reaching fast attack is a potentially abusable move that juggles fools if you can keep him in the red and not over.

While I do wish there were more breakthrough announcements for Marvel Tokon Fighting Souls (which may show up at the Game Awards 2025), I’m still glad that Arc System Works is still confident on showcasing builds of its upcoming Marvel-laced fighting game. Whether you prefer a single-with-support team or want to just assemble your selected heroes for an updated tag fighter experience, Marvel Tokon Fighting Souls seems to prove that you can have your cake and eat it too.

Whether that experiment will work in the final version of the title remains to be seen; right now it’s slated for 2026 until further notice and for PC and PlayStation 5. But at the very least, it’s a gorgeous sight, plays just great, has a varied cast of superheroes (sans a pure grappler; I need one of those), and will be a helluva love letter to Marvel Comics from Arc System Works. If anything, the new stage in this build -the Savage Lands- may hold more potential for new and unheard-of Marvel characters debuting: Kazaar, Sauron, Devil Dinosaur, and Shanna the She-Devil anyone?