[00:01] reviewer for Marvel Tocon Fighting Souls, Mitchell Saltzman. You may know him as the guy who's reviewed pretty much many, many fighting games here at IGN. A lot of hard action games as well. A lot of the in the vein of the Souls
[00:14] likes. Um, and you've been to EVO many times. You made it out of the pools once >> Once. Oh man, I wish I had my my wallet to show my Chipotle card, [laughter] but >> Oh man. Yeah, many Chipotle cards over at EVO. Mitch has seen it all. And we
[00:27] have another big game from Arc System Works. Now, we did not get review copies Works. Now, we did not get review copies in advance. So, the this discussion is impressions and your time with it. You put many hours into it. So, for folks
[00:41] getting into, if they're going to play this game, that's what we're going to be to you for your top level thoughts on Marvel Token Fighting Souls. >> Top level thoughts. Uh, it's funny you said initial impressions. my initial
[00:55] impressions actually weren't, you know, as glowing as as they eventually became. Um, I think a part of it is coming off of, you know, I just did the review for Avatar Legends, the the fighting game, and it's it's funny. I feel like the
[01:08] those two games are almost like on polar edge polar ends of the the spectrum, edge polar ends of the the spectrum, just because I love the way that Avatar Legends plays [music] in my hands. like that that game is just so much fun to to
[01:21] press buttons and to do combos to like you there's such a freeing sense of mobility and you're not really tied down by universal mechanics and it's just a by universal mechanics and it's just a really really great game to play but you
[01:34] know it's missing it's lacking a lot of other areas outside of the core fighting whereas coming to Tokon uh [music] you know I I didn't have that free feeling restrictive or it's a lot more restrictive you you are tied down to the
[01:49] way that these mechanics work. The tag system is a little more restrictive than anything I'm compared to. Um the assist system as well, it's it's it's a little more restrictive. Uh it takes a little bit to get used to the 4v4 format where
[02:03] you start off with only two characters and you basically have to unlock the rest of the characters as you go. So like my first initial impressions were kind of like middling. Um, but I think once you understand what this game is,
[02:18] what it isn't, and you, you know, accept the the mechanics for what for what they are, and you learn how to play within the sandbox that they've established, I think Tokon really does come alive. Um, I think the characters are sick as hell.
[02:32] They look amazing. the their move sets are kitted to be like really they they really pull from what these characters do in in Marvel comics in a way that I I haven't seen them do before with the Marvel vs Capcom games. Um and it's just
[02:47] it's just a lot of fun to to see the spectacle of it. Um, so initial impressions a little middling, but once I played a little more and got got to understand how the game worked, I I became much more, [music] you know, much
[03:01] more of a fan of how this game uh is played. it, you know, it takes time for to really grasp those systems and once you do, um, it kind of starts to sing. Now, I think that's an important topic to hit
[03:15] sides that are coming into this game. you know, the the more casual fighting game fans who are here for Marvel. And then you have people who have played every Arc System Works game and are looking at this as like the next big
[03:28] game that they're going to be grinding. They're going to be in the lab. So, I approachable this game is for someone who's like, "Ooh, we have we have characters I've I know and love. I want to get into this." How approachable
[03:42] would you say it is to them? and what are some of the key takeaways uh you would say to that sort of crowd? >> So, it's interesting going going back to of on the polar ends of the the spectrum. Uh you know, Avatar is a game
[03:56] that is not very immediately beginner friendly. Um that you you have auto of damage and the the characters are very very advanced in terms of what they
[04:08] do in order to use them to their fullest potential. Um, in on the other hand, Tokon, the auto combos are very powerful. >> And I think that was one of the things that turned me off initially from it was
[04:21] the fact that when you're playing a beta and you're going up against people who feels like you're just all mashing buttons and, you know, whoever mashes buttons better in the right spots is the one who comes out victorious. So, in
[04:35] that way, I think you can come into Tocon without without a lot of experience of playing fighting games. Mash on some buttons and you'll see some really cool stuff happening. You'll have a good time. That said, there is a lot
[04:48] to learn beyond that, you know, that floor basically. That's true. That lot of things that you can do on top of that that really add to the the skill that's I think it's pretty good. You know, I'm not I'm not I'm historically
[05:04] not a huge fan of autocombos. I understand their inclusion in Tokon. I them cuz I don't really use them myself, but I I do think it is something that people are going to come into the game. They're going to be able to uh pick a
[05:18] character and very quickly understand how to use that character at a very basic level. And I think that's probably a positive for it. So, for someone who lives in the lab, who's out here like really trying to
[05:31] little bit more about the more in-depth mechanics? Like, we've, you know, Arc System Works fighting games can be as advanced as you want them to be. Um, and good tutorials. You know, I got really in tune with Undertight thanks to its
[05:45] very advanced tutorial system. So, what [music] have you picked up on as you have tried to get more into the the [music] more in-depth mechanics, combo strings, you know, air juggling, how to wield the tag
[05:58] you give a little bit more insight on how you feel about that aspect? >> Yeah, so um there's there's a lot of universal mechanics in terms of like what you can do on defense. There's a
[06:10] universal overhead that leads to uh a combo that increases in strength the more characters that you that you have unlocked on your team. It's pretty much the the active tag system from uh Blaze Blue Cross Tag Battle and 2X KO, but
[06:24] with heavy restrictions on it. 2X KO as soon as you bring in an assist, you can swap to them. There's really no no limit to it unless if you get hit, then you can't swap to them because, you know, you you basically lost the opportunity.
[06:37] you you basically lost the opportunity. In Tokon, you have to active tag. And tag basically means you call an assist, they come on screen, they do an attack, and you can press a button to swap to them while they're on screen. Uh, in
[06:51] Tokon, you have like a very small window of when you're able to actually do that active tab compared comparatively to other games that have the system. And I believe it's meant as a way to kind of reduce the craziness that that is
[07:06] you can do a lot of wild things like call someone in, jump over their head, switch to the other character. So like, you know, you basically sandwich them. That is not as common of a thing that's going to happen in Tokon compared to
[07:20] other tag games like 2x KO, like uh Blaze Blue Cross Tag Battle. Um, so it's it's a little more restrictive in that way. There's definitely sauce to this lot of cool stuff you can do with the unique aspects of the character of of
[07:34] each character. Every character has a unique button that kind of uh you know grounds their kit. For example, Spider-Man, his unique button allows him to web zip. So, he'll you know, he can zip to the the he can zip to the the
[07:48] ceiling and you know, fake out a jump but then change his jump arc and you lot of really cool things that different characters can do with that unique button. So yeah, I I do think that there's a lot of really interesting
[08:00] things to dig into long term that will, you know, that people will find out and develop the meta as the game goes on, about fighting games like the meta is either ever evolving or it just takes
[08:13] time for people to figure out. And of course that is part of the process when you get enough time with the full game. Um and also another thing too is you know this roster is pretty crazy. you know, there's there everyone kind of has
[08:26] their favorite character who is in this roster. It's pretty well represented, I would say, of Marvel, the universe of Marvel. Um, so how are you feeling about representation, and just like the art style, and how they're how they're
[08:41] >> I think it's a pretty good starting roster. I mean, you know, I think X-Men. Uh, >> but I think creating a good starting roster for a fighting game is about getting those those like musthaves in
[08:56] there. You know, putting it some characters that are kind of like cult favorites that people will rally behind. And then you also want to include some weirdos, some some people that you are introducing to the fan base for the
[09:08] first time. And I think in that way, Tokon has a good spread. You know, it's got the Captain America, it's got Iron Man, it's got Spider-Man, etc. And it's got really cool, you know, characters that I think a small a smaller section
[09:22] of fans will will enjoy, but those that enjoy it will really enjoy it, like Blade, like uh, you know, Green Goblin and stuff like that. And then you have the the kind of offbeat weirdos like, uh, Danger, the, you know, the the
[09:36] X-Men. >> Uh, that said, we're missing Gambit. We're missing Nightcrawler. Uh, I I think there there's a lot of of characters that most people would immediately think, oh
[09:49] yeah, that, you know, Gambit would be such a perfect >> Marvel Marvel fighting game character and, you know, he's not in there. So, I guess we just got to cross our fingers and hope for DLC. But, I think by and
[10:01] large, this is a a pretty solid starting roster and uh a good amount of a good that's a pretty good point because I remember the MVC2 days in the arcade. Like some of the best characters are just ones I'd never even knew about uh
[10:16] from my limited knowledge of Marvel, but they became they kind of like took on like everybody loves certain characters in the movies or and the comics as much anymore. So that's always a fun aspect
[10:29] of of a game like this. Yeah. Who who who heard of Silver Samurai and Maro before Marvel vs. Capcom or or X-Men vers Street Fighter? that's the fun part of uh of fighting games like this. So, um yeah, you have a
[10:43] lot more to dig into. So, I kind of want to give you opportunity to uh talk through and explain your review process uh now that you've just got your hands on the full version [music] and how you uh what folks should expect
[10:55] hit that full review, >> my main priority when I first get the game is I'm going to go through story mode. The story mode is apparently like 10 hours long. Uh just looking at the chapter list, you know, it's a little
[11:07] really went all out here. So So basically the way it's broken up is all the the teams that are in the game, all the the roster is broken up to is broken up into like a bunch of teams of four. And uh it it follows each each team
[11:23] basically has their own chapter or has their own chapter list. And I got to play the first chapter with uh Spider-Man and his amazing friends. Uh and it was pretty good. I really enjoyed it. But I got to I got to see
[11:35] how that, you know, holds up throughout the whole experience. And uh that's going to be a big part of of, you know, how I ultimately feel about the game. I story modes don't matter in fighting games. They do. They they they matter
[11:49] for a large a large amount of people. Yeah. Um and then after that, you know, I want to check out the training tools. Um I think training tools are a big part you get your player base to get better at the game so that they stick around?
[12:02] that this game's going to have. It has a huge lobby system that I want to mess around with. There's a a weird uh party mode that they just revealed. Uh it's similar to Grand Bruise if you've played Grand Blue Fantasy versus Rising. Uh, so
[12:17] going to check it and see if they have like replay takeover and all those things. The elephant in the room is that the PC beta was was not good. Um, it it had a lot of performance issues. Uh, it was causing people who matched with
[12:31] people who were playing on PC to have really laggy matches because like the people who were playing on the other side, their their their gameplay was so chuggy. So, it was affecting the the person that they were playing against.
[12:43] Um, so I I need to see how the PC performance is and how that affects the online experience. My goal is to have something ready for Tuesday of next week, and if I can get it earlier, then I'll I'll do my best to do that. All
[12:57] to talk about Marvel Tocon Fighting Souls. Be on the lookout for Mitchell's stated, he's going to be putting a lot of time into it, and this game is a big deal. So, be on the lookout for more
[13:10] reviews from Mitch, uh, check out his 2X KO. And for everything else in the world of games, stick with IGN.