#696 Tekken 3 (PS1) Exclusive Hidden Characters (3/3): Dr. Bosconovitch playthrough.

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AdmiralMcFish - Bosses and Hidden Characters

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Published on August 28, 2017 11:40:04 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqGE9g_DEn4

Game:

Tekken 3 (1996)

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Let's Play

Duration: 8:20

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A playthrough of the exclusive hidden character Dr. Bosconovitch/Dr. B. in the PS1 port of Namco's Tekken 3.

The last of the exclusive characters to cover, and he's probably the most special. Dr. B is unlocked by playing through the special beat-em-up mode of this game, Tekken Force, three times in a row, and then playing through it again to defeat him in a special boss battle.

Of course, I wasn't talented enough at the game back in the day to accomplish this, considering Tekken Force is a "one life and you're out" mode. As a result, Dr. B. for a very long time (a year or two, perhaps) occupied my mind as a pipedream of a sorts; an impossibility which may one day come, but ultimately was unlikely. No matter how much tried, I just couldn't get through Tekken Force mode. But one day. One day. When I was playing matches against a few friends of mine. Well after a match, there, on that character selection screen, that icon which had been blank for so long, was finally replaced by old Dr. B. himself. To say I was ecstatic would be an understatement. I had vaguely read on the internet back then (back when dial-up was still the norm mind you, so I rarely browsed for long) that certain characters could be unlocked by playing enough matches. But back then there was so much misinformation on the internet to deceive you. Hell, myths about the triforce in Ocarina of Time were abundant, and the internet was even more of a "wild-west" than people accuse of it being nowadays. You had to take a lot of what you read with a pinch of salt, unless it was in a gaming magazine, and even they screwed up from time to time.

So then I finally got to play as Dr. B. And slowly, but surely, the disappointment set in. Oh God, the disappointment. He was fucking useless. He fell down constantly, seemed to barely function as a character and not only was very slow and difficult to play as, but extremely difficult to fight against too as most attacks didn't hit him. It was probably my first fighting game disappointment, and it wouldn't be the last by any stretch of the imagination. Indeed, it hardened me a bit for the shit I've had to deal with when it comes to fighting games since then.

All that, of course, is quite hardened perspective bias. The irony of the whole thing is that, years later, when I decided to unlock the characters in the first three Tekken games, unlocking Dr. B. took me, get this. One. Measly. Hour. Just using Hwoarang and his 3, 3, 3, 3 combo over and over again. It's astounding the way the brain develops logically.

In time as well, I've also come to realise what a genius character Dr. B. is. I've also warmed up to him a bit more as a result of his well-executed inclusion in Tekken Tag 2, which we'll get to when we get to it. There's no denying that he was a poor choice for an extra character (couldn't we have had Lee instead?) but his moveset is almost a stroke of genius, relying on a variety of ground-based techniques from all the characters. With good timing and nimble execution, he can be a surprisingly formidable, extremely powerful character in the right hands. He's basically the series' take on Dan Hibiki, except that Dr. B. Has a lot more potential. Look up a TAS of Dr. B. and you'll see just how powerful he has the potential to be, it's actually quite extraordinary.

It would take years for Dr. B. to make an appearance again, with him understandably not returning in Tekken Tag. Indeed, he's the sort of character which would only work on a console. Next time, we take a look at some more exclusive content to this port of the game.

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