Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls finally outlines its launch content: 20 characters, big online lobbies, and a story mode (of sorts)

The next 2D fighter from Arc System Works is Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls. Published by Sony, it’s also set to launch on PC via Steam, so we’re not counting it as a true PS5 exclusive. That said, it no doubt could become one of PlayStation’s surprise hits when it finally drops, and the final details are promising an adequate offering of modes and characters.

Though Steam has since scrubbed the description which likely went up early, social media accounts like Wario64 screen-capped it all when someone, somewhere, hit the button early:

The 4v4 tag team fighter will seemingly have 20 characters at launch, which is below what many hoped for, but well above 2XKO’s disappointing initial roster, for example. For a more traditional fighter, I’d say 20 heroes and villains are more than fine – but since Marvel Tokon’s whole thing is its 4v4 battles, team builds might get repetitive soon (at least until more Marvel icons start arriving).

On a more positive note, 64-player lobbies sound great and follow the recent trend of amping up the social element of these games outside of old-school matchmaking. Ask around and it’s evident this is the type of feature which can elevate a fighter from niche to enduring mainstream heavyweight. It remains to be seen how many player-versus-players will be there at launch, but we might be off to a great start there.

As for the single-player portion, an Episode Mode will elaborate on the game’s “lore” and team dynamics so it’s not just a meet-up of Marvel characters duking it out. Personally, I’m not expecting a meaty story mode from it, but if it can rise above the utterly forgettable solo modes found in games like The King of Fighters XV, that will be more than enough. In any case, let’s hope the offline options go beyond a thin campaign and local versus. Not every fighter can be as offline-friendly as the Mortal Kombat series, but it’d be nice if developers pushed harder on that front.

These leaked details on Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls’ launch offerings arrives right after PlayStation setting a 12th February State of Play stream, so there’s almost no doubt the game will have a slot there, probably locking a release date, too. We’ll find out on Thursday.