Deadpool Steals the Roman Cancel: Translated Movelists & Pre-Load Details for MARVEL Tōkon

What’s up, Tōkon community! The August 6 release date for MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls is practically knocking at our door. Following the wildly successful (and occasionally chaotic) open beta late last month, the community has been starving for any scrap of new information to theory-craft before servers officially go live on PlayStation 5 and PC. Today, we are eating incredibly well.

Not only has the pre-load officially gone live across all platforms, revealing a surprisingly merciful file size, but dedicated community translators have cracked the Japanese movelists for a handful of characters who weren’t fully playable in every beta phase. The absolute biggest bombshell? Arc System Works actually gave the Merc with a Mouth a literal Roman Cancel. Let’s break down everything you need to know heading into launch week.

The Pre-Load Surprise: A Breath of Fresh Air for Your SSD

First things first: if you’ve digitally pre-ordered the game, you can start your downloads right now. According to a new report from TwistedVoxel, the pre-load for MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls is officially up, and it brings a massive sigh of relief for our over-encumbered hard drives. In an era where modern fighters like Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 routinely demand anywhere from 60GB to 100GB of premium SSD real estate just to install the base roster, Arc System Works has delivered a masterclass in file size optimization.

The initial download size for Tōkon is reportedly over four times smaller than its genre contemporaries, coming in at a remarkably lean footprint. This compact file size is likely a testament to the game’s bold anime art style, which relies on beautifully crafted cel-shaded models and stylized 2D visual effects rather than hyper-realistic, space-hogging 4K textures. For PC players on Steam and the Epic Games Store, this means less time waiting and more time hitting the lab on launch day. It also heavily implies that the core 4v4 tag team engine is incredibly streamlined under the hood, which bodes well for the rollback netcode’s performance.

TwistedVoxel also noted that the review embargo is expected to lift very close to launch, meaning we’ll get the critical consensus right as the servers open. But honestly, after getting our hands on the game during the July test and experiencing the buttery smooth offline versus modes, the FGC already knows we’ve got something special on our hands.

Movelist Translations Reveal Arc System Works’ Anime Roots

While we’ve had extensive time to figure out characters like Spider-Man, Magik, and Storm during the recent public tests, several roster members remained somewhat shrouded in mystery. Thanks to the folks over at EventHubs, we now have fully translated movelists for four major heavy hitters: Deadpool, Loki, Carnage, and Hulk.

These translations give us a much clearer picture of how these specific fighters will operate in the neutral, how they’ll utilize the shared Vital Gauge to their advantage, and what kind of oppressive pressure they bring to the table. We knew the launch roster of 20 characters was diverse, but these movelists prove that the developers are leaning heavily into the anime fighter insanity they are known for.

Deadpool’s “Roman Cancel”: The Merc Breaks the Engine

When you put Arc System Works in charge of Deadpool, you expect some fourth-wall-breaking shenanigans. We previously reported on swirling rumors that his moveset would mock fighting game tropes, but the translated movelist confirms something we never thought we’d actually see in a licensed Marvel title: Deadpool has a literal Guilty Gear Roman Cancel.

For those uninitiated, a Roman Cancel (RC) is Arc System Works’ signature mechanic from the Guilty Gear franchise, allowing a player to cancel the animation of their current move at the cost of meter, instantly returning them to a neutral state. According to the translated documents, Deadpool can spend a portion of the team’s Skill Gauge to trigger his own bootleg version of an RC. A giant, red-and-black shockwave reportedly bursts from him, slowing down the opponent and giving him massive frame advantage.

Think about the sheer implications of this in a 4v4 tag fighter. Normally, your combo extensions and safety nets are strictly tied to the Assemble Gauge by calling in an assist or performing a hard-tag. By giving Deadpool a solo RC mechanic tied to the Skill Gauge instead, he essentially bypasses the game’s standard tag rules. He can likely throw out an incredibly unsafe, high-damage special move, and if the opponent blocks it, he just Roman Cancels to make himself plus on block and seamlessly continue the frame trap. If his risky overhead hits, he RCs to launch them into a nasty solo bnb combo without ever having to burn his Assemble Gauge. This makes him a terrifying point character for the Samurai Outriders team, capable of burning through your Skill Gauge for untouchable solo mix-ups.

Loki: Master of Illusions and Psychological Warfare

Also representing the Samurai Outriders is Loki, and his translated movelist proves he is going to be an absolute nightmare to defend against. The God of Mischief is built entirely around screen pollution, left/right mix-ups, and intense psychological warfare. Unsurprisingly, his special moves are heavily focused on generating illusions.

According to the translated inputs, Loki has multiple versions of a teleport and clone dash. Depending on the button pressed (Light, Medium, or Heavy), Loki will either dash forward, appear instantly behind the opponent, or send a fake clone forward while staying safely fullscreen. In the chaotic environment of a 4v4 tag match, where assists are constantly flying in and the screen is already filled with massive supers, distinguishing the real Loki from his clones will test your visual processing to the limit.

Furthermore, he has a nasty command grab that seemingly swaps his position with a clone if he whiffs, making it one of the safest command grabs in modern fighting game history. Paired with Ghost Rider’s area-denial assists or Blade’s rushdown, Loki players are going to create unblockable setups that will leave opponents guessing until their shared Vital Gauge is completely drained.

Carnage: Relentless Rushdown and Screen Control

On the darker side of the roster, we have Carnage, a premier threat representing the villainous Knights of Doom faction. If you thought Wolverine’s relentless rushdown was oppressive during the beta, Carnage looks like he was meticulously designed to never let you breathe. The translated movelist describes a highly mobile, feral berserker armed with rapid air-dashes, wall-clings, and sprawling symbiote tendrils that control the midrange with absolute authority.

Carnage’s kit features a unique “Tendril Pull” mechanic, somewhat similar to Spider-Man’s web zips but purely offensive and highly aggressive. He can attach tendrils to the opponent on hit or block, and forcefully pull himself right into their face for an immediate high/low mix-up. What makes him especially dangerous in Tōkon is how his specials interact with the assist system. The translations suggest his tendril strikes have massive hitboxes that can easily drag opponent assists into the line of fire. If your opponent gets careless with their assist calls, Carnage might be able to lock both the point character and the assist into a bloody corner combo, dealing catastrophic “Happy Birthday” damage to the shared Vital Gauge. He’s the ultimate chaotic rushdown tool, perfectly fitting his comic lore and his menacing placement alongside Doctor Doom and Green Goblin.

Hulk: Armored Grappler with Massive Vitality Swings

Finally, we have the jade giant himself, Hulk, anchoring the heroic Fighting Avengers squad. Hulk is your quintessential big-body grappler, but injected with that signature Arc System Works anime flair. The movelist confirms he has thick hyper armor on his heavy normals, allowing him to simply walk right through enemy projectiles and light attacks. In a game with 20 characters throwing everything from magic spells to repulsor blasts, having a character who can just ignore neutral and bulldoze his way in is a massive tactical advantage.

Hulk’s signature “Gamma Crush” super is listed as a massive 3-bar Skill Gauge expenditure that deals absolutely devastating damage. Because MARVEL Tōkon uses a shared Vital Gauge for the entire team, eating a full-meter Hulk super isn’t just bad for the character currently on screen; it evaporates the entire team’s health pool in one fell swoop. To balance his lack of a traditional air dash, Hulk has a “Gamma Leap” command jump that covers nearly the entire screen, allowing him to chase down zoners who try to keep him at bay. If he catches you in the air, his command air-throw will slam you into the pavement, causing a massive ground bounce that can easily be followed up by an Iron Man or Captain America assist for further punishment.

Final Preparations Before Episode Mode

With the August 6 launch approaching fast on PS5, Steam, and Epic Games Store, the meta is already starting to take serious shape before day one. Whether you plan on abusing Deadpool’s Roman Cancel mechanics, overwhelming opponents with Loki’s clones, rushing down with Carnage’s symbiote tendrils, or smashing everything in sight with the Hulk, MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls is shaping up to be a deeply complex and highly rewarding tag fighter.

Get your pre-loads finished, make sure your PC specs are ready, review your team synergies, and prepare yourself to face the Champion of the Universe in Episode Mode. The true battle is about to begin, and you definitely don’t want to get left behind in the training room.