Tekken 3
Tekken 3 (鉄拳3) is a fighting game, the third entry in the Tekken series. The original arcade game initially had a limited Japanese release in November 1996, followed by a wide international release in March 1997, before being ported for the PlayStation in 1998. The original arcade version of the game was released in 2005 for the PlayStation 2 as part of Tekken 5's Arcade History mode. The game was re-released in 2018 as part of Sony's PlayStation Classic.
Tekken 3 features a largely new cast of characters, including the debut of several now-staple characters such as Jin Kazama, Ling Xiaoyu, Bryan Fury, Eddy Gordo, and Hwoarang, with a total of twenty-three characters. The home version includes a new beat 'em up mode called Tekken Force, and the bonus Tekken Ball mode.
The game was a major hit for both arcades and consoles, selling 35,000 arcade units and more than 8 million PlayStation copies worldwide, making Tekken 3 the fifth best-selling PlayStation game. Tekken 3 has since been cited as one of the greatest video games of all time. It was followed by Tekken Tag Tournament, a non-canon installment in 1999 in arcades and in 2000 for the PlayStation 2. The direct sequel, Tekken 4 was released in arcades and on the PlayStation 2 in 2001 and 2002, respectively.
Gameplay[edit]
Tekken 3 maintains the same core fighting system and concept as its predecessors. Three-dimensional movement is insignificant in previous Tekken games (aside from some characters having unique sidesteps and dodging maneuvers), but Tekken 3 adds emphasis on the third axis by allowing characters to sidestep in or out of the background. Fighters now jump more reasonable heights than in the previous games, making them less overwhelming and putting more use to sidestep dodges, as jumping can no longer dodge every ground attack. New improvements include quicker recoveries from knockdowns, more escapes from tackles and stuns, more moves with juggling enabled, and newly created combo throws.
Tekken 3 introduces a beat 'em up minigame called "Tekken Force", which pits the player in various stages against enemies in a side-scrolling fashion. The concept was expanded on in a minigame for Tekken 4, and succeeded by the Devil Within campaign mode in Tekken 5. Another minigame is known as "Tekken Ball", similar to beach volleyball, where the player must hit the ball with a powerful attack to pulverize the opponent or cause them penalty damage by letting the ball fall into the opponent's territory.
Characters[edit]
The arcade version features a total of 21 characters. Because the game takes place 20 years after Tekken 2, only six characters from the previous installment return, with the rest being new. Unlike the previous two games, the character select screen displays all characters at once, instead of hiding some offscreen and requiring players to scroll past the screen to select them.
The console version adds two new characters, Dr. Bosconovitch and Gon, and also makes Anna Williams, a palette swap of Nina Williams in the arcade version, into a distinct character with her own moveset, voice clip, and ending. There is also an unplayable enemy, Crow, faced only during the Tekken Force minigame. The console version only features 10 characters available by default, with the rest being unlocked by fulfilling various conditions.
New characters[edit]
- Bryan Fury a: A cyborg kickboxer sent by mad scientist Dr. Abel to kidnap rival scientist Dr. Bosconovitch.
- Crow b: A code name and member of the Tekken Force. Crow has the lowest rank.
- Dr. Bosconovitch a d: The silly, elderly genius scientist who is Yoshimitsu's friend and a prisoner of the Mishima Zaibatsu (as he was forced to create several projects for them, including the genetically altered animals Roger and Alex)
- Eddy Gordo: A Capoeira prodigy seeking revenge against the Mishima Zaibatsu for having assassinated his parents and ruined his family's business.
- Forest Law: The son of Marshall Law (whom he heavily resembles and fights like), now competing to earn money to help him out.
- Gon a d: A special guest character from the manga of the same name.
- Gun Jack a: The third model of the Jack series was sent by his creator, Jane, to retrieve Jack 2's memory data.
- Hwoarang: A Tae Kwon Do student of Baek Doo San wanting to take revenge against Ogre for apparently murdering his teacher.
- Jin Kazama: The grandson of Heihachi Mishima and son of Kazuya Mishima and Jun Kazama practicing both his parents' martial arts who seeks revenge against Ogre for having supposedly killed his mother.
- Julia Chang a: The adopted daughter of Michelle Chang sets out to rescue her kidnapped mother from the Mishima Zaibatsu.
- King II: The successor of the original King who participates to save his predecessor's orphanage after the original is killed by Ogre.
- Kuma II a: The son of the original Kuma also serving as Heihachi's loyal pet and bodyguard.
- Ling Xiaoyu: A Chinese teenager practicing Baguazhang and Piguaquan who wants to build her own amusement park by winning the tournament.
- Mokujin a: A 2,000-year-old wooden dummy who comes to life as a result of Ogre's awakening and can switch between every other characters' fighting styles.
- Panda a c: Xiaoyu's pet and bodyguard.
- Ogre a: A mysterious immortal humanoid is known as the God of Fighting. Ogre is the main antagonist and final boss, responsible for the disappearances of numerous martial artists.
- Tiger Jackson a c: A disco man with an afro.
- True Ogre a: Ogre's second transformation.
Returning characters[edit]
^a Unlockable character
^b Unplayable enemy in Tekken Force mode
^c Skin/palette swap
^d Only playable in the console version
^e Only skin/palette swap in an arcade cabinet
The original port of Tekken 3 to the PlayStation featured two new hidden characters: Gon and Dr. Boskonovitch. Anna was made into her own separate character, given her own character select spot, voice, unique attacks, and ending. The PlayStation version features new "Tekken Force" and "Tekken Ball" modes, as well as all modes present in Tekken 2. Due to the PlayStation's hardware limitations of less video RAM and lower clock speed, the visual quality was downgraded. The backgrounds were re-made into 2D panoramic images, the number of polygons used for each character was slightly reduced, sound effects played at a high pitch, and the game runs at lower overall resolution. Namco representatives had in fact originally stated that they did not think it was possible to convert Tekken 3 to the PlayStation.[8] By April 1997, Tekken 3 was popular in the arcades, and the process of its home conversion was considered certain on PlayStation but merely a controversial consideration on Nintendo 64. The music for Tekken 3 was written by Nobuyoshi Sano and Keiichi Okabe for the arcade version, with the PlayStation version featuring additional themes by the same composers, along with Hiroyuki Kawada, Minamo Takahashi, Yuu Miyake, Yoshie Arakawa, and Hideki Tibetan.
The PlayStation emulator Bleem! was released for the Sega Dreamcast that allows Dreamcast owners to play a graphically enhanced version of Tekken 3 using the PlayStation copy of the game. The PlayStation 2 release of Tekken 5 features the arcade version of Tekken 3. The PlayStation version of Tekken 3 is among 20 "generation-defining" games on the PlayStation Classic, released on 3 December 2018.
















