Retro Review: Tekken 3

Tekken series is one of the most famous and iconic series for Arcades and Playstation consoles made by Namco (Rigde Races, Time Crisis, Soul Calibur series, etc... Founded in 1955,its one of the most creative game companies in the 90-is)

Tekken 3 can be considered as the best Tekken in the series compared to its predecessors and successors. First Tekken was released in 1994, just one year after Virtua Fighters by Sega´s studio AM 2 and designed by legendary Yu Suzuki. Virtua Fighter relatively influenced Tekken series and its development as it was also a 3D fighting game. Dont b#$ch about it...

Released in 1998 Tekken 3 folows the core fighting system and concept from its predecessors, it brings many improvements as smoother animations when you give a smackdown to your opponents, vastly improved graphic details to see little details on character models with nice bloody ends by Yoshimitsu with his katana, great soundtracks that fits each character perfectly... 15 new characters  or 17 in Playstation version. There are two mini-games: Tekken Force: You need to pass stages as fast as possible and beat mini-bosses at the end while time is running out, you can get more time by beating opponents... Beach Volleyball: Kick the ball and if it falls to the ground behind the opponent it damages him and you can do direct damage with special moves.

Storyline: King of the Iron Fist Tournament 3 is started by Heihachi Mishima that established Tekken Force paramilitary organization, as Ogre devastates Heihachi´s squadron of Tekken Force that were searching ancient temples in Mexico. As Heihachi Mishima witnessed the power of Ogre when he arrived and decided to start KIFT3 and lure him and try to harness his power. In meantime Ogre kills most characters from previous Tekken games and joins the KIFT competition that is only launched/started as a trap for him(Ogre). We all know how it ends as Jin kicks the c##p out of Ogre and gaining his powers... Tekken 3 cutscene´s are well made, beatifull with some funny twists and turns that makes you laugh.

Tekken 3 is faster than its predecessors, better sidesteps for better dodging the attacks,  lower realistic jumps with fighting in the air is more controllable, more ways to evade tackles and stuns with better juggles and more combos. The music gives you eargasm when you are fighting, since Tekken 3 is more dynamic the fights are great and gives you decent challenge even on easy most noticeably against Heihachi while Ogre hard but as True Ogre is a piece of cake sadly when you defeat his semi-human form except on higher difficulties...

Tekken Force is a challenge mode where you need to pass stages as fast as possible since time running out, beat opponents and mini-bosses to earn more time... If you lose then you are back at first stage,you can replenish your health with chicken meat and if you do so you get insulted: Chicken...! (Oh how ironic... *sarcasm* *cough* *cough*)

Beach Volleyball: Its simple, you kick the ball to land behind your opponent and deal damagge or you can direct kick with a special kick/move towards your opponent and deal damage when hit also your opponent can do counter-attack like you can... If it touch the ground behind your characters it will deal damage. Its fun to play, hopefully you will like it too...




I enjoyed Tekken 3 when I was a kid especially. My favorite characters were Jin, Yoshimitsu, Hwoarang and Law because of their style of fighting while smacking the AI, your friend(or dad) even thought its not fun when you got a smackdown from your sister even thought she rarely played it... It results in overall fail for me.

9/10 (If you can buy the original CD or on PSN just buy it because this game deserve a lighter wallet/credit card)