It’s been a bit more than two months since we saw the announcement of Arc System Works’ surprising new fighter Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls which seems to take some level of inspiration from the esteemed Marvel vs. Capcom series in some regards, but is most definitely it’s very own thing first and foremost.
While we haven’t seen any new characters since the game was announced, we’ve received a good deal of information — a beginner’s guide explaining the mechanics, beta announcement for early September and finally a quote which gives a lot of insight into the developer’s plans… their intent to support the game for 10 years.
Not too long ago, one of my colleagues speculated that Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls will need a large roster in order to justify its 4v4 format. It makes sense — if you are tasking players with a full team of four characters, then obviously some variety would be desired.
It’s worth noting that developers have explained that it’s entirely possible to just play one character and use the others as assists so as to not overwhelm players who aren’t fond of team fighters, but even then there’s still the option to implement all four characters equally in your game plan.
However, the statement on that Evo main stage from the developers that they are looking to support this game for 10 years — far longer than any fighting game has received continuous support to date.
The closest approximation to support so far after initial release is probably Skullgirls, which received a full season of post-launch content long after its launch, but since that was preceded by many years of no new characters it’s still not quite the same situation.
With this quote in mind coupled with the vast library of characters present in Marvel’s expansive universe, it’s highly likely that the plan for Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is to continuously update it for a long time and gradually expand the scope of it — similar to how another large Marvel game project, Marvel Rivals, is doing (I just might have predicted exactly this a few months ago, in fact.)
If this is the approach taken with Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, then it also stands to reason that fans may need to temper their expectations for the actual launch of the game and that it might end up with a smaller roster than many are hoping. So far, we’ve seen 8 characters announced in the game’s initial trailer — Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Storm, Star-Lord, Dr. Doom, Ghost Rider and Ms. Marvel.
But how much bigger will the roster actually be? Well, at the start, possibly not too much bigger.
Looking at other Arc System Works titles which were developed from the ground up, Guilty Gear Strive launched with no more than 15 characters playable (and its roster has since grown to the size of 32, with more to come in the future.)
A more apt comparison might be the latest team-based game they developed with another large intellectual property, namely Dragon Ball FighterZ.
This game, which was a 3v3 fighter so not too far off from Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls’ format, also had a relatively small roster to start off for such a game, featuring 24 characters at launch, followed by an additional 20 later in its lifespan landing at a total roster of 44 fighters when all was said and done.
Given the intention of supporting Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls for an astounding 10 years, it may very well end up with one of the absolute largest fighting game roster we’ve ever seen, rivaling titans such as Marvel vs. Capcom 2’s roster of 56 characters or perhaps even Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s massive 82 fighter lineup.
But, before getting to that point, it’s quite likely that it will start small — so don’t be too surprised if the beginning looks scarce. This seems like a title where Sony and Arc System Works are in it for the long haul, so it’ll be interesting to see where we start and even more so to see where we end up when all is said and done.
Personally, I’m expecting the launch roster to sit around the 20 character mark, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the game closing out its support with over 60 fighters in the end. What are your predictions? Let us know in the comments.
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