After one beta, I'm sold – Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is the next big fighter

After a brief hands-on at Gamescom, I can confirm that Invincible VS is looking very promising. As for 2XKO, Riot seems intent on fumbling what was once a slam dunk.

Unfortunately for both, after this weekend's beta, I am 100 per cent sure Marvel Tōkon is set to be the next big fighter.

The first reason for that is that, at least for my first hour or so in the game, I had no idea what I was doing.

The game, like Dragon Ball: FighterZ before it, features an auto combo system that is explained to you alongside various other mechanics such as assists, supers, and more.

It's nice to have a beginner-friendly means of playing, but beyond that, the game has a level of depth that only becomes clear when you get your hands on it.

Tōkon is mechanically dense. Not only does it require your inputs to be on point, as any fighter does, but the level of skill expression available is tremendous.

From the moment you start throwing out combos, it is readily apparent that this game has a sky-high skill ceiling – one the likes of me has no hope of reaching in a measly beta period.

I spent the first hour of my time in the beta just throwing out strings in the practice mode, seeing what worked and what didn't, testing out various assists, supers and more.

Each character, beyond being simply zoners, rushdown, etc., had their own gimmick that opened up even more avenues of play.

Star Lord, in my opinion, was the best example of this thanks to a Restand mechanic that offered phenomenal combo potential, and it was hardly surprising to see so many people playing him online.

But he was far from the only character with such a gimmick. Dr. Doom has his teleports and shields which, combined with assists, make him a fantastic mix-up character with demanding combos that are rewarded with big damage.

I'm sure I wasn't the only one being harassed by Ms. Marvel and her lows over and over again, either.

The roster feels very well balanced too. Certainly, there were a couple of characters that felt stronger than others (hello again, Star Lord), but every character felt viable, in part thanks to their various niches.

This may be because the beta roster was so small, and with more characters, balancing naturally becomes more difficult, though as long as we don't reach FighterZ levels of roster size wherein about half the roster isn't worth touching, I have high hopes for Tōkon remaining balanced.

The game is, in theory, a tag fighter, but interestingly, it doesn't always play that way in practice.

Unlike in FighterZ, your characters all share one health bar, so whether you use one character or all four, you have the same HP to lose.

This leads to an interesting style of play where, with no real benefit to tagging out as in other tag fighters. It is often in your best interest to pick a main and stick to it, choosing your remaining characters based on how well their assists support you.

It adds a level of specialisation that typically isn't available in tag fighters – if you're a zoner, you can handily main Iron Man and really hone your skills with him.

On the flip side, if players gravitate towards this style of play, that perhaps opens up more mix-up potential if they like to switch between multiple characters, keeping opponents guessing with regards to who they could swap to next.

There certainly could be more incentive to tag beyond simply a bit more mix-up potential, but for the moment, it's a mechanic that really sets Tōkon apart from even ArcSys's other titles.

Mind games are just as important as mechanics, and more freedom to express yourself via your playstyle is just as crucial, for me at least, as skill expression.

One single beta is nowhere near enough time to explore everything this game has to offer.

There's so much theorycrafting that will undoubtedly take place before the game returns to our screens, whether that's for another beta or the full release, and I'm excited to see what ridiculous combos the most creative among us manage to come up with.

Beyond the fundamentals, I haven't even mentioned the presentation, which in true ArcSys style, is phenomenal.

The genius move to forego a traditional comic book art style in favour of more anime-esque visuals is genius, and everything from the characters to backgrounds to hitsplats looks all the better for it.

Even from a gameplay standpoint, the exceedingly clean art style makes it surprisingly easy to parse the action even when there are multiple assists flying across the screen.

If you played the beta yourself, you certainly don't need me to tell you how good this game is shaping up to be. If it were released tomorrow, I am confident it would be a success, so I can only imagine how stellar it will be once it's fully polished.

Out of the many compliments I can pay Marvel Tōkon, the best one is that, ever since the beta period ended, all I have thought about is how much I want to jump back on. It's been a long time since I've felt that way about a fighting game.

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