Yesterday marked the arrival of Sony's hotly anticipated PlayStation State of Play showcase, a live stream providing fans with a glimpse of the most impressive titles to come – including Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, a 4v4 tag fighter featuring Marvel superheroes and a unique anime-esque aesthetic.
Although the art style is far more adjacent to developer Arc System Works' other games, like the iconic Guilty Gear series, it was actually a choice pushed by Marvel Games. Speaking on the decision to utilize the anime-like vibes, Arc System Works producer Takeshi Yamanaka explains in a new behind-the-scenes video that devs initially proposed a different aesthetic more true to the source comics – but Marvel Games senior product development manager Michael Francisco wasn't a fan.
"When we first submitted our designs to Marvel, I got the impression that Michael-san's reaction wasn't particularly positive," recounts Yamanaka, who "kept wondering what was wrong." It turned out that Francisco wanted Arc System Works devs to use the style true to their previous games. "After talking with him directly, he said something like, 'Show us the Marvel that you (Arc) want to create.'"
