Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls DLC Starts With Phoenix Cyclops

Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls now has its first confirmed DLC character, and it's Phoenix Cyclops, arriving as part of the Year 1 lineup, which is bundled into the Season Pass. That pass comes included with the Digital Deluxe Edition, so if collecting everything matters to you, that's really the edition worth considering.

The character is expected sometime in fall, likely October or November, with the rest of the Year 1 additions rolling out sometime next year, since the full pass runs all the way to next August. In total, the Season Pass includes four new characters plus an extra stage.

That DLC news arrives just as Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls heads into launch in 2 days with a clear target on its back- its own PC performance.

The open beta made that obvious fast. Plenty of players found the build playable enough to enjoy, but the rough edges were hard to miss, and apparently nobody knows that better than the people who made it. According to an insider, Arc System Works has already mapped out a list of fixes it's racing to ship before Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls officially launches.

Before getting into the technical stuff, you should know that Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is currently discounted through a third-party retailer. If you use the code AUG15 at checkout, you'll shave 15% off any edition of the game, no matter which version of Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls you're eyeing.

The Standard Edition comes out to around $51 with the discount applied, and the pricier bundles get the same treatment; the Ultimate Edition drops down to roughly what the Digital Deluxe Edition normally costs. On top of that, you won't get hit with tax either, which makes it a pretty solid place to grab your copy if you were already planning on buying it.

Now, onto the actual substance. Regarding the PC performance issues, an official statement thanked everyone who jumped into the beta and said the whole point of running one is to catch problems before the real launch. The message specifically called out PC players and confirmed the team is already working on delivering better performance right out of the gate, with improvements planned for day one.

You'll also want to keep an eye on your graphics drivers once launch day rolls around.

It's likely a new driver update will drop alongside the game, similar to how other big releases tend to get their own performance-focused driver support. As far as what's actually being worked on, you can expect the team to be tackling CPU usage, since a chunk of the performance complaints seem tied to how much strain the game puts on the processor in the background.

Frame drops and general lag are also on the list, along with an issue that was causing unnecessary shader compilation every time you booted the game up, something a lot of players ran into during the beta. Streaming compatibility is getting attention too, particularly for anyone using OBS or Discord. Additionally, rollback netcode along with crossplay issues are being addressed as well.

That crossplay piece really can't be overstated. For a fighting game, especially one like Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, functional cross-platform play basically decides whether the PC community sticks around long-term. Interestingly, the open beta reportedly performed better than any fighting game beta has before on PC, which is a genuinely strong sign.

But you already know most of the player base for a game like this tends to live on console, so if crossplay isn't rock solid, the PC side risks becoming a ghost town over time. It becomes a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation; people won't buy in on PC if the community feels thin, and the community stays thin if people don't buy in.

Beyond the performance work, the real decision point for most buyers comes down to picking the right edition.

Anime fighters in particular tend to fizzle out fast without proper crossplay support, so it's a good thing the studio behind Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls has a track record of supporting cross-platform play in their other fighting titles. Beyond that, additional fixes for other reported issues are apparently in the works too.

There have been promises that every bit of feedback from the beta is being used to shape what the game looks like at launch and afterward. Worth remembering that Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is being treated as a live-service title, meaning it should keep evolving with regular updates well beyond its release window.

If you're leaning toward the Ultimate Edition instead, you get noticeably more. The Digital Deluxe Edition itself comes with a lobby avatar, a lobby pet, and that Year 1 character-and-stage pass mentioned earlier, which is really the main draw.

The Ultimate Edition builds on that with five character costumes, including alternate looks for Spider-Man, Storm, Iron Man, Captain America, and Doctor Doom, plus an animated color-shift unlock that applies across all twenty characters available at launch. It's mostly cosmetic, but if that's your thing, the Ultimate Edition tacks on about $15 over the Digital Deluxe price.

A couple of those costumes have already been shown off, and they genuinely look impressive.

Iron Man's classic look comes with two shader options, one styled like a comic book and one with a more standard finish, and the comic-inspired version stands out as the better-looking pick between the two. Spider-Man's upgraded suit also made an appearance, drawing inspiration from a recent superhero video game, and the animations shown off for it looked polished.

None of that is essential to enjoying the game, but if the costumes and color variants appeal to you, the Ultimate Edition runs about $100 total, roughly $15 above the Digital Deluxe tier. You could also just buy the base game and pick up the Season Pass separately later, since it likely won't be locked exclusively to the Digital Deluxe bundle.

Going that route would probably land you around the same price, or possibly a bit more, depending on how the Season Pass ends up being priced once it's officially listed; expect something in the $25 to $30 range. Either way, every edition of Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is currently discounted through that same third-party retailer mentioned earlier.

There's also a pre-order bonus worth mentioning if you're still deciding. Buying any edition before August 5th gets you a themed lobby item, a cosmic-themed lobby ride, and a lobby pet, all as a pre-purchase incentive tied to Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls.

One thing to keep in mind before buying: the PC version requires a linked account through the game's console platform holder to actually play.

There are also regional restrictions tied to that requirement, which isn't ideal, and the PC build ships with kernel-level anti-cheat baked in as well. Both of those factors could hold the PC version back from reaching its full potential, which is a shame given how strong the beta performance numbers apparently were.

Overall, there's a lot of excitement building around this one. Time spent with the beta suggests a genuinely stylish, fast-paced fighter, and even if you're not the type chasing competitive rankings, there's plenty to enjoy between the episode mode, the arcade-style content, and casual online matches.

The pace itself is going to be divisive; some players are going to love how quick and aggressive things move with the Vital Gauge, while others might find it overwhelming. Either way, Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls officially launches on August 6th, going live around 11 a.m. Eastern that morning, so keep that timing in mind if you're planning to jump in right away.