Devil May Cry 3 is the coolest game I've ever played and is packed to the brim with over the top charisma and coolness in every department from the presentation to the gameplay.

In terms of presentation, the game heavily emphasises on the coky personality of Dante from the first game and improves upon it. In this game my man is just too cool to give a fuck about anything, kills of hordes of demons in the most batshist crazy way he can, trash talks the menacing bosses and is in general endlessly entertaining to watch. The other characters are no slouch either with Vergil being one of the best rival characters and Lady's more grounded character and personal dynamic with Arkham making for a good arc. Teminigru with its gothic architecure is easily my favorite setting of the series yet and the industrial rock inspired soundtrack hits hard in combat segments.

The gameplay is the true successor to DMC1's more basic combat system fleshed out much more and captures the feel of the cutscenes effortlessly and player expression takes the center stage here. There's a variety of weapons you can unlock in the game and each of them is distinct enough to stand out on it's own. My personal favorites are Agni and Rudra, Rebellion and Beowulf. The guns are useful for extending combos but not overpowered enough to finish off enemies on their own like the previous entries thus incentivizing getting up close and kicking their asses. The ability to switch weapons on the go is my favorite new feature (you could also switch guns in dmc2 but that did not apply to weapons iirc) even above style system and helps a lot in creating combos. Neat little features like riding on enemies and swinging on poles help infuse the carefree Dante personality into the gameplay.

Most of the bosses here are excellent tho not every boss is equally good imo with the insect boss and the rider having some of the most uninteresting attack patterns and Arkham just being bad in every way possible something which even the game seems to be aware of from what I infer from Vergil's lines before the second phase starts. Though when the bosses are good they go hard af especially Beowulf, Nevan and all the three Vergil fights being some of the most difficult and memorable challenges.

I do have some nitpicks regarding the enemy and level designs, some of the enemies stand in direct contrast to the freeform combat and require a very specific approach which feels very restrictive in comparision to the more basic enemy types which allowed for more freedom of approach by the player. Those wheel-esque and squid-like enemies are the biggest offenders of this crime imo and were massively detrimental to the flow of combat.
Some of the missions have a puzzle or platforming segment too which at best are harmless break from the action but at their worst are annoying af especially the mission where you had to platform on dices and the mission where you had to find the three fragments.

Though, even with all the minor problems I had with it Devil May Cry 3 is still a masterpiece and the point where the series really found it's footing with its combat system and presentation being one of the best I've seen

Tekken 4 is a masterclass in atmosphere and aesthetic. The game's y2k aesthetic becomes apparent as soon as you boot up the game and the intro starts playing with it having one of the iconic moments for the whole series (Kazuya's return to the series after his apparent death in the second game) enhanced by the techno music which accompanies it.

Tekken 4's techno soundtrack helps immerse the player into its more digital aesthetic and 'Fetus' playing in the prologue for each character's story mode paired with the sketchy art and the cold and monotonous speech of the narrator telling the story of the characters does its job to hype the player up for the forthcoming battles.

Speaking of battles the one thing I want to gush about the most are the stages in which the battles take place. Never ever have I seen stages which cater to my taste so much as this game. The stages are much more modern in comparison to what I had come to expect with the battles taking place in airports, malls, top of a skyscraper and other such places. Each stage is distinct and unique and has at least something interesting going on be it mechanically or aesthetically or even both in some cases. Stages like the forest have uneven terrain making it difficult for some moves, parking and skyscraper got objects like poles or statues (respectively) in it which you can use to hide behind or can even destroy by hitting your opponent against it which makes the experience much more realistic. Even stages which don't have a lot going on in gameplay category make up for it in visuals with my favorites being the underground lab surrounded by white fumes at the bottom giving it a more mysterious look and the Underground one in which the crowd surrounds you and they cheer for the fighters when there's a hard hitting move done by either one. Talking about the theme's of these stages would be redundant since I've already praised the ost a lot but skyscraper's theme, 'Authentic Sky' and Airports theme, 'Touch And Go' are my favorites.

I would also like to mention the story mode of each of its character is impeccable and the darker and grittier tone it has makes it much more memorable and its unfortunate to see how much the non Mishima characters are side lined narratively in the successive entries of the series when taking it into account how good this game was because of everyone being given their due.

All in all, Tekken 4 while not as fun to play as 5 for me is still my favorite of the franchise yet (along with 5 ofc) because of its bold and distinct visual identity and various design choices perfectly syncing up with each other to make one of the most atmospheric and immersive fighting games I've played and everyone who's a fan of y2k aesthetic and fighting games should give this one a chance