Zanobard Reviews

An impressive array of bombastic themes forms Toma Otowa and team’s thunderous score for Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, with a wide range of electronic & orchestral styles and an ever-ferocious electric guitar all-in making for a tremendously enjoyable fighting game soundtrack.

The sheer volume of character and setting themes created for this 2026 fighting game is what initially drew me to Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, but what made me stick around was just how damned fantastic some of them are. Crafted by Toma Otowa (Ghost Of Yotei) and a team of additional composers (including but not limited to Brain & Melissa, Daisuke Ishiwatari, Norichika Sato, Shuhei Tsubota, Shunsuke Takizawa and STROBES), this nearly four hour album for the game is comprised of fifty nine tracks, and pretty much all of them are individual themes. We start with “Stronger As One”, a thunderously electric guitar-led powerhouse of a song (sung by Keiko Terada) that never lets up its deafeningly heavy metal insanity throughout a four minute runtime, instantly setting an aptly fist-pumping tone for the game itself. The subsequent “Title Menu Overture” then switches to score fully, debuting the main theme on pulsing electronics and propulsively upbeat synth. The resulting impeccably catchy motif then bops in delightful party-styled splendour across both this “Arranged” electronics-focused cue and a more heroic, traditionally orchestral “Original” take later on in the album. Both are great renditions in their own ways, but personally – the “Arranged” track takes the cake for me. So damned catchy!

A ferocious electric guitar leads “Fighting Souls” with a heavy metal vibe in full swing, before the first of the album’s character themes then arrives with “Captain America’s Theme”; a rumble of drums and proud surges of brass introduce a bold, patriotic motif for the titular superhero in the cue’s opening seconds, with an electric guitar then carrying said theme enthusiastically all the way to the end. An “Orchestral Arrangement” that sounds more traditionally Cap-esque in its triumphant orchestra is also included here, but I think the original has a bit more flair personally. Frantically energetic metal then leads “Iron Man’s Theme” with an electric guitar once again centre stage, before the tone then shifts for “Black Panther’s Theme” as EDM-styled electronics and chanting vocals proudly showcase Brain & Melissa’s boppy motif for the character. Aggressive vocal grunts then join forces with crashing heavy metal for the aptly-styled “Hulk’s Theme” before a Standout Cue arrives in “Storm’s Theme” as soaring vocals leap and twirl together with a powerful electric guitar, boppily heroic percussion and wonderful strings work, resulting in a theme overall that absolutely rocks the house for four utterly sublime minutes. Superb.

A twang of American Western-styled guitar opens “Wolverine’s Theme”, with an intense rock-led thunder then suddenly erupting as an electric guitar and beats burst into frame. The resulting ferociously frenetic ensemble, still led by that opening Western sound, is then an absolutely phenomenal tune – rivalling David Fleming’s Marvel’s Wolverine as the top recent theme for the title character. The thematic quality does then sadly take a bit of a dip for the rather abrasive “Spider-Man’s Theme” as distorted brass blares atop jazzy percussion. A jazzier sound for Spidey is something I could get behind, but I just can’t get over the horrible constant high-pitchedness of this theme. Could just be me. Thankfully things get interesting again for the subsequent “Ms. Marvel’s Theme” as what sounds like a sitar pairs with enthusiastically upbeat vocals and a blasting electric guitar, making for a rip-roaring, kind of anime-sounding and very catchy theme for the titular superhero. Bold, bombastic synth is then the focus of “Star Lord’s Theme”, with the resulting aptly ’80s vibe leading an exuberant and delightfully upbeat flair throughout the cue.

Crashing heavy metal occupies the five minute “Ghost Rider’s Theme”, with soaring vocals (courtesy of Matthew Polley) elevating it to quite spectactular heights. A rather gothic sound is then appropriately central for “Blade’s Theme” with retro synth and deafening guitars accompanying before frenetic electronic chaos arrives for the zany “Deadpool’s Theme”. The mood then turns dark and malevolent for the dramatic “Doctor Doom’s Theme” as blasting brass, throbbing guitars and eerie vocals debut the titular villain’s rather aggressive motif, with the subsequent “Magneto’s Theme” receiving similar levels of entertaining tonal maliciousness, though now with a propulsively metal style and emphatic vocals (again by Polley). Continuing a focus on classic Marvel antagonists, “Green Goblin’s Theme” brings sheer instrumental chaos to the forefront as imposing guitars intermix with frenetically jazzy brass, before screaming death metal forcefully takes the stage in the roaring “Carnage’s Theme”. Things then calm somewhat for the jazzy “Promoter’s Theme” as boppy brass and strings leap happily along in big band style, though this doesn’t last as “Champion’s Theme” brings crashing drama back to the fray with screaming vocals, electric guitars and pounding drums all accompanying.

A series of team themes are up next, with the “Fighting Avengers Theme” being a standout first; proudly bombastic with brassy flair and surging strings, this theme for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes strides heroically throughout both this and an “Epic Arrangement” cue (the latter of which, with enthusiastic synth and electric guitars, is an absolutely phenomenal piece). The “Unbreakable X-Men Theme” up next is then a little more forlorn but no less epic, soaring triumphantly through two arrangement tracks much like the Avengers (and similarly too, the “Epic Arrangement” is the better here). The Guardians of the Galaxy then get a rather playful motif on upbeat strings and synthy beats in the “Amazing Guardians Theme” before bombastic heavy metal retakes the stage for the “Samurai Outriders Theme”. Lastly for team themes, the tone darkens dramatically for the “Knights Of Doom Theme” with low-pitched brass and deep, throaty guitars marching a malevolent motif along. A couple of boppy big band “New York City” pieces then kick off some location cues, with the “Wakanda Theme” harkening back to the vocal splendour of Black Panther’s with proud chanting, grandiose bursts of brass and African-styled percussion.

Ominous woodwinds and slinking percussion are the focus of “Savage Land Theme” alongside aggressively marching bursts of brass, before things get wacky and impeccably ’80s for the upbeat, synth-styled “Knowhere Theme”. Determined strings then build the noble “X-Mansion Theme” to a boisterous orchestral crescendo, with the “Asgard Theme” afterward continuing in a similarly gallant manner though now with emphatic choir and brass in centre stage. After a couple of ferociously in-your-face “Champion’s Arena” action cues the album then shifts pace, moving more into a bonus track section as some rather triumphant, orchestra-focused “Mode Menu” and “Arcadia Rumble” setpieces lead into the guitar and brass-heavy “Space Beyond The Void” and “Flipping Through The Pages”. After the earlier-discussed orchestral arrangements of character and team themes, the album closes as it began on Keiko Terada’s “Stronger As One”, this time in an “Opening Edit” rendition that’s just as phenomenally upbeat and rock-styled as the original!

Overall, the absolute strength of Toma Otowa and team’s score for Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is its wide range of genre-spanning music styles, as there are a lot of them. Leading the pack is a thunderously emphatic, electric guitar-focused heavy metal sound bonded with superheroic orchestra, and around it is everything from twanging American Western to boppy big bands, playful anime-style songs to screaming death metal, thudding African tribal percussion to ethereally Indian sitars – there’s so much going on here that it’s almost unbelievable, and yet it all works. Every playable character in the game gets a unique style and catchy theme, and that’s just scratching the surface as there are a number of location setpieces, team themes, action cues, songs and even a main overture too, showcased through the triumphant and indeed standout “Title Menu Overture”. Highlights of the aforementioned character and team themes include a ferociously vocal piece for Storm, a Western-styled powerhouse for Wolverine and a darkly in-your-face sound for Doctor Doom, as well as the head boppingly memorable “Fighting Avengers” and “Unbreakable X-Men” arrangements. All-in, there’s so much to enjoy here that it’s almost overwhelming – a nearly four hour album runtime certainly doesn’t help that – but try a couple of the Standout Cues below first; I can pretty much guarantee you’ll find them worth it.

Score: 8.5/10

Standout Cues: Title Menu Overture, Storm’s Theme, Fighting Avengers Theme

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