Tekken 3

Tekken 3
Arcade flyer
Developer(s)	Namco
Publisher(s)	Namco
Director(s)	Katsuhiro Harada (Voice actor)
Composer(s)	Nobuyoshi Sano (Arcade & PSX) Keiichi Okabe (Arcade & PSX) Hiroyuki Kawada (PSX) Minamo Takahashi (PSX) Yu Miyake (PSX)
Series	Tekken
Platform(s)	Arcade, PlayStation, PlayStation 2 (as part of Tekken 5's Arcade History mode)
Release date(s)	Arcade March 20, 1997 PlayStation JP 19980326March 26, 1998 NA May 1, 1998 EU September 12, 1998 PAL December 21, 2011 (PSN)
Genre(s)	Fighting
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer
Cabinet	Upright
Arcade system	Namco System 12

Tekken 3 is the third installment in the popular Tekken fighting game series. It was released for Arcades in March 1997, and for the PlayStation in March - September 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. Tekken 3 is still widely considered one of the greatest games of its genre, and of all time.

It was the first game released on Namco System 12 hardware (an improvement to the original two Tekken games, which used System 11). It was also the last installment of the series for the PlayStation.

Gameplay

Tekken 3 maintains the same core fighting system and concept as its predecessors, but brings many improvements, such as significantly more detailed graphics and animations, fifteen new characters added to the game's roster, more modern music and faster and more fluid gameplay.
Perhaps the most noticeable change from Tekken 2 fight system is movement reform - whereas the element of depth had been largely insignificant in previous Tekken games (aside from some characters having unique sidesteps and dodging maneuvers), Tekken 3 added emphasis on the third axis, allowing all characters to sidestep in or out of the background by lightly pressing the arcade stick (or tapping the controller button in the console version) towards the corresponding direction. Another big change in movement was that jumping was toned down, no longer allowing fighters to jump to extreme heights (as was present in previous games), but keeping leaps to reasonable, realistic heights. It made air combat more controllable, and put more use to sidestep dodges, as jumping no longer became a universal dodge move that was flying above all of the ground moves. Other than that, the improved engine allowed for quick recoveries from knock-downs, more escapes from tackles and stuns, better juggling (as many old moves had changed parameters, allowing them to connect in combo-situations, where they wouldn't connect in previous games) and extra newly-created combo throws.

Tekken 3 was the first Tekken to feature a beat 'em up minigame called "Tekken Force", which pitted the player in various stages against enemies in a side-scrolling fashion. If the player succeeds in beating the minigame four times, Dr. Bosconovitch would be a playable character (granted that you defeat him first). This was continued in Tekken 4 and succeeded by the Devil Within minigame in Tekken 5 - but Boskonovitch was dropped as a playable character after Tekken 3. There is also a minigame "Tekken Ball", similar to beach volleyball, where one has to hit the ball with a powerful attack to hurt the opponent or try to hit the ball in such a way that it hits the ground in the opponent's area, thus causing damage.

Story

Fifteen years after the King of the Iron Fist Tournament 2, Heihachi Mishima has established the Tekken Force, a paramilitary organization dedicated to the protection of the Mishima Zaibatsu. A squadron of the Tekken Force searches an ancient temple located in Mexico. Soon after arriving there, Heihachi learns that they have been obliterated by Ogre. However, Heihachi, having witnessed the event, seeks to capture Ogre in hopes of harnessing its power for his own gain. Soon after, various martial artists end up dead, attacked or missing from all over the world, with Ogre behind it.

Jun Kazama has been living a quiet life in Yakushima with her young son, Jin, fathered after the events of the previous tournament by Heihachi's son, Kazuya. However, their peaceful life is disrupted when Jun begins to feel the encroaching presence of Ogre. Jun is now a target and instructs Jin to seek Heihachi should anything happen. Sometime after Jin's fifteenth birthday, Ogre indeed attacks. Against Jun's wishes, Jin valiantly tries to fight Ogre off, but Ogre knocks him unconscious. When Jin awakens, he finds that his house has been burned to the ground, and that his mother is missing and most likely dead. Driven by revenge, Jin is confronted by the Devil, which brands Jin's left arm and possesses him. Jin goes to Heihachi, explaining his situation and identity and begging him for training to become strong enough to face Ogre. Heihachi accepts and takes Jin in, as well as sending him to school.

Four years later, Jin masters the Mishima karate style. On Jin's nineteenth birthday, Heihachi announces the King of the Iron Fist Tournament 3, secretly intending to lure out Ogre, while Jin prepares for his upcoming battle.

In the tournament, at a large temple, Paul Phoenix defeats Ogre and walks away from the tournament, thinking he is victorious. However, Ogre transforms into its true form of a monstrous beast, and Jin finally confronts it. Jin battles and defeats Ogre, and the being completely dissolves. However, Jin is suddenly gunned down by a squadron of Tekken Forces led by Heihachi, who, no longer needing him, personally fires a final shot into his grandson's head.

However, Jin, revived by the Devil within him, reawakens and dispatches the soldiers, smashing Heihachi through the wall of the temple. Heihachi survives the long fall, looking up to see Jin sprout feathery wings and fly off into the night.

Soundtracks

Main article: Tekken 3 Original Sound Tracks

Characters

Returning characters:

• Anna Williams (unlockable)
• Heihachi Mishima (unlockable, sub-boss)
• Lei Wulong
• Nina Williams
• Paul Phoenix
• Yoshimitsu

New characters:

• King II
• Jin Kazama
• Ling Xiaoyu
• Hwoarang
• Eddy Gordo
• Forest Law
• Kuma II (unlockable)
• Panda (unlockable, acts as a costume swap for Kuma II)

• Julia Chang (unlockable)
• Bryan Fury (unlockable)
• Gun Jack (unlockable)
• Mokujin (unlockable)
• Ogre (unlockable, final boss)
• True Ogre (unlockable, final boss)
• Tiger Jackson (unlockable, acts as a costume swap for Eddy Gordo)

Bonus characters (PlayStation version):

• Gon (unlockable)
• Doctor Bosconovitch (unlockable)

PlayStation

The original port of Tekken 3 to the PlayStation featured two new characters: Gon and Dr. Boskonovitch. Anna was also updated and given her own character-select spot complete with a unique portrait, voice, stance, a few of her own unique moves (as well as her moves from the first two games, some of which were given to Ogre) and her own ending, as opposed to in previous installments, where she was basically a model-swap of Nina. Still, she reused a lot of Nina's strikes and throws. She was made even more unique in Tekken 5.

The PlayStation version features new "Tekken Force" and "Tekken Ball" modes, as well as all modes present in Tekken 2. Due to PSX hardware limitations (less video RAM and lower clock speed) the visual quality was reduced. The backgrounds were re-made into 2D panoramic images, the character poly-count was reduced, and the game ran at lower overall resolution.

The PlayStation 2 release of Tekken 5 features the Arcade version of Tekken 3.

Dreamcast

While Namco never officially ported Tekken to Dreamcast, an independent company designed bleem!, a special boot-disk for Dreamcast which enabled the Dreamcast to boot the PlayStation version of the game. The port enhanced the resolution, thus making the game look sharper. In a visible difference between the background images and the stage, Namco used panoramic images on the background that could not be enhanced. After enhancement some character models have a more blocky appearance because the character-model display is much sharper.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	96.3%
Metacritic	96
Review scores
Publication	Score
Allgame
GamePro	5 out of 5
Game Revolution	A-
GameSpot	9.9/10
IGN	9.3/10
The Video Game Critic	A

According to Metacritic, Tekken 3 has a score of 96 out of 100, indicating universal acclaim and is ranked number 2 on their list of greatest PlayStation games. Tekken 3 became the first game in three years to receive a 10 from a reviewer from Electronic Gaming Monthly, with three of the four reviewers giving it the highest possible score (Tekken 3 was the first game to score a 10 under EGM's revised review scale in that a game no longer needed to be "perfect" to receive a 10; the last game to receive a 10 from the magazine was Sonic & Knuckles). The only holdout was the magazine's enigmatic fighting-game review guru, Sushi-X, who said that "no game that rewards newbies for button-mashing will ever be tops in my book", giving the game 9 out of 10. As of April 2011, the game is listed as the eighth-highest-rated game of all time on the review compiling site GameRankings with an average ratio of 96.3%.

GameSpot gave the game a 9.9/10, saying "Not much stands between Tekken 3 and a perfect 10 score. If the PlayStation exclusive characters were better and Force mode a bit more enthralling, it could have come closer to a perfect score." and praises the sound effects, music and graphics.

In December 2006, Tekken 3 was ranked tenth on GameSpot's top ten list.^{[citation needed]} In September 2004 it ranked #10 on PSM's "Final PlayStation Top 10" and #177 on Game Informer's Top 200 games of all time.^{[citation needed]} In 2011, Complex ranked it as the fourth best fighting game of all time. As of September 2012, Tekken 3 still remains as the highest rated Tekken game in the series.^{[citation needed]}

External links

• Tekken 3 Official Website
• Tekken 3 for PlayStation at GameSpot.com
• Tekken 3 for Arcade Games at GameSpot.com
• Tekken 3 at The Killer List of Videogames
• Tekken 3 at MobyGames

Preceded by Tekken 2

Tekken Series 1997-1999

Succeeded by Tekken Tag Tournament