Hands-On Preview: MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls is Electric, Dynamic, and Fun

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Published Jun 30, 2026, 12:49 PM EDT

Ethan Krieger is an Editor at DualShockers, where he covers reviews, guides, lists, features, previews, interviews, and gaming news. He began writing professionally in 2017 as a sports writer before moving into games coverage with DualShockers in 2024.

Before joining DualShockers, Ethan wrote for the FanSided Sports Network, including 8 Points, 9 Seconds, where he covered the Indiana Pacers, and Pelican Debrief, where he covered the New Orleans Pelicans. His background in sports writing, editing, and content strategy now informs his approach to gaming coverage, especially around reviews, rankings, guides, and event reporting. Ethan studied English at Arizona State University, with a focus on writing and text editing.

Over the weekend, I was able to attend EVO 2026 at the Las Vegas Convention Center to watch tons of thrilling fighting game tournaments, browse an amazing selection of gaming-related merch and crafts, as well as go hands-on with a few games on the show floor.

Most exciting to see was that MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls, the latest game from fighting game masters Arc System Works, was available to demo not only to the press, but also to the entire public crowd at the show.

There's no mainstream demo for Tōkon yet, so of course, I immediately got in line to check it out and see what it's going to be bringing to the table in August 2026.

The Preview Scene

Aside from the actual tournaments, it's probably safe to say that the Tōkon preview section of EVO was the most popular part of the show overall. I tested it out on Friday, the first/least busy day of the show, but there was still constantly a healthy line to go hands-on for a 10-15 minute demo.

After waiting in line and getting paired up with another solo player in the queue near me, we got to select if we wanted to play with a PS5 DualSense, a leverless game pad, or an arcade-style joystick pad. I won't lie; I'm not a fighting game professional, so my casual-self waited an extra 10-or-so minutes to be able to use a good ol', trusty DualSense.

With that, my new friend and I sat at a station, popped on our headsets, and played four or five rounds of Tōkon against one another.

Fast, Chaotic, Exciting

Regardless of controller, Tōkon and its systems are snappy and responsive. You can take a look at all the standard button mapping above to get a sense of everything that's going to be at your disposal here. Ultimately, for a high-level fighting game, it's not a ton to wrap your head around, which I think will serve the game very well. Easy to learn, difficult to master, blah blah. You know the tropes.

Still, Tōkon is obviously doing some different things from other fighters, most notably the "Assemble" mechanics, which function as assists, but are able to be deployed very often to keep the battles exciting and electric with your bench heroes jumping into the fray frequently to put their mark on the match.

Tōkon also does something interesting where you have four selected fighters total to start a match, but only two are available to begin. If you lose a round, the next/third fighter gets unlocked. By the time you're on the brink of elimination, all four can be used. This swings some momentum back to the losing player (usually me in this demo), since the winning fighter starts to feel a little hamstrung if it's becoming a two versus four fighter match at any point.

The artwork, sound design, and voice acting are also consistently awesome, just if anyone was concerned on any of those fronts.

In the Balance

All of the above, of course, speaks to balance, and a philosophy that Tōkon seems to be taking in order to even things out across a match without it ever feeling too lopsided. The hardest of the hardcore might scoff at the idea of giving the losing player more tools to come back, but it's less rubber-banding and more just interesting match dynamics.

Character balance seemed good overall, but as with any fighting game, you'll find your Mains quickly. The question then becomes, "Is this character too good, or do I just vibe with them?" For example, Ghost Rider would be my top choice right now, as I seemed to have the most success with his mid-range chain whip. My opponent, however, was also good with Ghost Rider. Is this a balance issue, or was this character simply just a little more casual-friendly/unbalanced?

Either way, I have full confidence that Arc System Works will key into things like this quickly and balance patch as we go from here on out, so I'm not currently concerned about it at all. Even in its current, pre-launch form, Tōkon is genuinely super fun. From someone that isn't a fighting game diehard, I can see this being one I personally pop into pretty regularly.

More Coming Soon

More news is coming out about Tōkon all the time, including a report from Push Square that states an open beta for the game is coming soon from July 24th-26th. If you want to see what the game is all about for yourself, that's obviously your next best chance if you missed EVO.

Even in its current, pre-launch form, Tōkon is genuinely super fun.

Either way, full launch is coming very soon, with MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls scheduled for release on August 6, 2026. The full character list for launch has now been solidified, so start thinking about how you want to build out your ideal team of four.