Sometimes saying "this game was good for its time" can sound like damning it with faint praise, but that's not the case with Tekken 3, because it was really damn good for its time. Tekken 2 showed flashes of brilliance but I think this game was where the series really found its feet, and started to clearly pull ahead of its direct rival Virtua Fighter. Perhaps the one thing I could complain about is that button mashing makes a very viable strategy if you know which character to pick (spam the kick buttons in various combinations with Eddy or Hwoarang and it's hard to lose). But the game had plenty else going for it: tight controls, huge movesets, interesting characters, plenty of unlockables, and a great sense of style. Definitely one of the best fighting games of its era.
Tekken 3 is a sort of mood-focused masterpiece for Tekken in the same way that Third Strike is a mood-focused masterpiece for Street Fighter; where 3S is a game where the atmosphere causes the gameplay to get a distinct tint of bittersweet nostalgia and a light fear + hope for the future, Tekken 3 is a game where every single part of it oozes the feeling of grungey, rough and halfway to being sleazy 90's edge - with just enough sophistication to not get lost in the sauce.
Heihachi's theme in this is an absolute fucking ALLTIMER. They never gave the old man a theme better than the one he got here.
Heihachi's theme in this is an absolute fucking ALLTIMER. They never gave the old man a theme better than the one he got here.
Played this a bunch at Fisher's house. A less popular choice as there were five of us taking turns, but a good laugh to watch. I didn't really get it, but I enjoyed Hwoarang's mad legs. Crossland was always banging on about supposed secret "4-button moves" and would get roundly mocked for it.
CROSSLAND
CROSSLAND
A fighting god Ogre rips Grandson's mom's fucking head off
Grandson doesn't like that very much and is mad
Grandson enters tournament arranged by Grandfather (Father from previous entries)
Grandson fights Grandfather and wins
Grandson Fights Ogre and wins but then Ogre eats his grandfather????????
Grandson wins again but then his grandfather shoots him
Grandfather makes a goofy ass smile and attempt to leave
Grandson unleashes emo powers and slams grandfather to the ground before flying away.
And Mokujin is there.
Grandson doesn't like that very much and is mad
Grandson enters tournament arranged by Grandfather (Father from previous entries)
Grandson fights Grandfather and wins
Grandson Fights Ogre and wins but then Ogre eats his grandfather????????
Grandson wins again but then his grandfather shoots him
Grandfather makes a goofy ass smile and attempt to leave
Grandson unleashes emo powers and slams grandfather to the ground before flying away.
And Mokujin is there.
I like this a lot, and I mean a LOT, more than I did before now that I'm getting the hang of Tekken. I still prefer the combat feeling of Tekken 5 but if you tell me that Tekken 3 is your favorite game in the series I will totally understand. Maybe it will become my favorite too once I unlock the volleyball mode, I dunno. Good ass video game.
In this thrilling instalment of Punchman vs Kickman, El Baldo sets up another spicy tournament so he can lure out Shrek and beat the shit out of him to take his power to I dunno I didn't read the manual. DORYA man is absent this time but in his place we have DORYA man's son who's basically just DORYA man but with stupid hair. King's still as bullshit as always and can do one grab and take about 70% of your health off in one go and I still can't defend against low attacks. This is also the last time Paul isn't a laughing stock, except he's still kind of a laughing stock because he just leaves halfway through the fight. Game's pretty good, it finally controls less like shit and you can't spend the entire fight running away like in Tekken 1 because there were no boundaries. Spamming Jin's funny spin kick got me through most of it.
Oh also Heihachi's theme is absolutely amazing and I wish it'd get a remix in Tekken 7.
Oh also Heihachi's theme is absolutely amazing and I wish it'd get a remix in Tekken 7.