Tekken 3 (PSX) - 20. Mokujin Arcade Playthrough
4If Tekken 2 represented the mainstream acceptance of 3D fighting games, then Tekken 3 became arguably the series' peak, released during what should arguably be remembered as the height of the genre. Make no mistake either, Tekken 3 really is the best of what PlayStation has to offer. Not to deny Namco's franchise of it's successes following Tekken 3, the 1 vs. 1 genre found itself constantly trying to claw back the casual audience by the time Tekken 4 and 5 hit shelves, never seemingly hitting those same strides.
Nevertheless, those hallmarks of Tekken's modern design were settled with Tekken 3: Finally the pace of matches felt appropriate to the speed of rounds, where combos had depth, reflecting the player inputs around them, and finally, the risk and reward of Tekken's launchers and punishes became intrinsic to it's very gameplay design and beats. Say what you will about the man now, Katsuhiro Harada's direction became evident in virtually no time at all with this fighter. You could say it is perfectly balanced in a way that all things should be.
Given there is a nearly twenty year jump following Tekken 2, the roster in this third game hit the reset switch as well. Returning characters are noticeably different (see older) as you would expect, with favourites like Law and King taking on entirely new identities in the storyline. Gone are the majority of the sub-bosses, the gimmick dinosaur and kangaroo boxers, the supernatural angels and demons, and even the series' poster child in Kazuya Mishima. Tekken 3 does sorely miss the likes of Jun, Baek and Wang, but in their place are fantastic alternatives in Jin, Hwoarang and Xiaoyu respectively. While definitely disappointing at the time, the series was smart for trying to start fresh since Tekken 2's roster already felt too big for it's boots and this was Namco's way of sidestepping that problem, pardon the pun.
In any case, there is a similar tonal change in Tekken 3, with the whole thing feeling that much grungier than in the past. And naturally, replacing an angsty Devilman in Kazuya with a world threatening Aztec God in Ogre would naturally do that. Ofcourse, this does not interrupt the presentation of Tekken's dance music inspired soundtrack, which bops hard when it wants to, nor does this impede the flashiness of the series' presentation with pre-rendered cinematics on a level far greater than it's predecessors in quality. And as far as graphics are concerned, it is impressive how crisp Tekken 3 looks for a late generation PlayStation release, running very smoothly at a rare 384x480. Unfortunately, the video is presented interlaced, but the clarity pops on a high quality CRT, and even has appeal on modern video scalers. Like Tekken 2, it is visually bright, bold, and small details are animated appropriately too. For instance, Xiaoyu's cloth bow ribbon bounces as you traverse arenas, while Yoshimitsu's laser sword glows a radioactive green as it sways on the screen. The way in which lighting is handled on each stage convincingly gives the impression of time of day, besides the different conditions of which our participants do battle. Touches like these give Tekken 3 alot of personality.
Ofcourse a huge piece of Tekken 3's appeal, much as it were previously in the series, stems from the unlockable characters, ending sequences and different modes of play available to experience. Minigames such as Tekken Ball and Tekken Force are newly introduced extras in Tekken 3 and add variety to an already very entertaining package. There is even a theatre mode which not only lets you view the cinematics of Tekken 3 at your leisure, but will allow you to play the videos and music from the older titles, provided you have the discs of them on-hand.
All in all, Tekken 3 represents a triumphant end to the fifth generation as it's follow-up, Tekken Tag Tournament, was just a little too advanced for the aging PlayStation of 1999. That said, the series had been carried to such lofty heights that, inevitably, it was always going to take Namco that much more work to offer something just as compelling later on. Tekken 4 would eventually take a different, if controversial, route... But that is a story best left for another day.
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