| Tekken 3 | |
|---|---|
 Arcade flyer depicting protagonistJin Kazama (center),Eddy Gordo (right), Hwoarang (bottom), Ling Xiaoyu (left), and Ogre in the background | |
| Developer(s) | Namco |
| Publisher(s) | Namco PlayStation |
| Director(s) | Masamichi Abe Yutaka Kounoe Katsuhiro Harada |
| Producer(s) | Hajime Nakatani |
| Designer(s) | Masahiro Kimoto Katsuhiro Harada |
| Programmer(s) | Masanori Yamada |
| Artist(s) | Yoshinari Mizushima |
| Composer(s) | Nobuyoshi Sano Keiichi Okabe |
| Series | Tekken |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release | ArcadePlayStation |
| Genre(s) | Fighting,beat 'em up |
| Mode(s) | Single-player,multiplayer |
| Arcade system | Namco System 12 |
Tekken 3 (鉄拳3) is a 1997fighting game developed and published byNamco. It is the third installment in theTekken series and the first game built on theNamco System 12arcade hardware. Plotwise, the game takes place twenty years afterTekken 2 (1995) and features a largely new cast of characters, including the debut of several now-staple characters such asJin Kazama,Ling Xiaoyu andBryan Fury, and adds sidestepping ability to every character in-game. Tekken 3 wasported to thePlayStation in 1998 with additional content, including abeat 'em up mode called Tekken Force.
The game was a major hit for both arcades and consoles, selling 35,000 arcade units and 8.36 million PlayStation copies worldwide, makingTekken 3 thefifth best-selling PlayStation game. Since its release,Tekken 3 has been cited as one of thegreatest games of all time. It was followed byTekken Tag Tournament (1999) and its direct sequel isTekken 4 (2001). Later,Tekken 3's arcade version was included withinTekken 5 onPlayStation 2, while the console port was re-released as part ofSony'sPlayStation Classic.
Tekken 3 maintains the same core fighting system and concept as its predecessors.[5] Three-dimensional movement is insignificant in previousTekken games (aside from some characters having unique sidesteps and dodging maneuvers), butTekken 3 adds emphasis on the third axis by allowing characters to sidestep in or out of the background.[6][7] Fighters now jump more reasonable heights than in the previous games, making them less overwhelming and putting more use to sidestep dodges, as jumping can no longer dodge every ground attack. Reversals, introduced for some characters inTekken 2, were now available to all characters.[8] New improvements include quicker recoveries from knockdowns, more escapes from tackles and stuns, more moves with juggling enabled, and newly created combo throws.
Tekken 3 introduces abeat 'em upminigame called "Tekken Force", which pits the player in various stages against enemies in a side-scrolling fashion. The concept was expanded on in a minigame forTekken 4, and succeeded by theDevil Within campaign mode inTekken 5. Another minigame is known as "Tekken Ball", similar tobeach volleyball, where the player must hit the ball with a powerful attack to pulverize the opponent, or cause them penalty damage by letting the ball fall into the opponent's territory.
The arcade version features a total of 21 playable characters. Because the game takes place 20 years afterTekken 2, only seven characters from the previous installment return, with the rest being new.
The console version adds two new characters,Dr. Bosconovitch andGon, and also makesAnna Williams, a palette swap ofNina Williams in the arcade version, into a distinct character with her own moveset, voice clip, and ending. There are also several unplayable enemies faced only during the Tekken Force minigame. The console version only features 10 characters available by default, with the rest being unlocked by fulfilling various conditions.
^a Unlockable character
^b Unplayable enemy in Tekken Force mode
^c Skin/palette swap
^d Only playable in console version
^e Only skin/palette swap in arcade cabinet
15 years after theKing of the Iron Fist Tournament 2,Heihachi Mishima has established the Tekken Force: a paramilitary organization dedicated to the protection of the Mishima Zaibatsu. Using the company's influence, Heihachi is responsible for many events that have ultimately led to world peace. One day, a squadron of Tekken Force soldiers searched an ancient temple located in Mexico under the premise of an excavation project. Soon after arriving there, Heihachi learns that they were obliterated by a mysterious and malevolent creature known asOgre. Having captured a brief glimpse of Ogre before its immediate disappearance, Heihachi seeks to capture Ogre in the hopes of harnessing its immense fighting power for his own personal gain. Soon after,Nina Williams was awakened fromDr. Bosconovitch's cold-sleep machine. Various known martial artists end up dead, attacked, or missing from all over the world, with Ogre behind all of it.
Jun Kazama has been living a quiet life in Yakushima with her young son,Jin Kazama, fathered during the events of the previous tournament by Heihachi's son,Kazuya Mishima. However, their peaceful life is disrupted when Jun begins to sense Ogre's encroaching presence, and knowing she is now a target, Jin is instructed to seek Heihachi if anything happens. Sometime after Jin's 15th birthday, Ogre attacks. Against Jun's wishes, Jin valiantly tries to fight Ogre off, but Ogre knocks him unconscious. When Jin awakens, he finds that the ground surrounding his house has been burnt and his mother is missing and most likely dead. Driven by revenge, Jin is confronted by the Devil, which brands Jin's left arm and possesses him. Jin goes to his grandfather, Heihachi, and explains his situation to him, begging him for training to become strong enough to face Ogre. Heihachi accepts and takes Jin under his wing, as well as sending him to Mishima High School where Jin meets a classmate namedLing Xiaoyu and her petPanda. He also metHwoarang during a street fight in which they fought to a draw, leading to a persistent rivalry.
4 years later, Jin masters the Mishimakarate style. On Jin's 19th birthday, Heihachi announces the King of Iron Fist Tournament 3, and Jin himself prepares for his upcoming battle, having no idea that his grandfather is secretly using him, Xiaoyu, Hwoarang, and the rest of the competitors as bait to lure Ogre out into the open.WhenNina Williams was awakened fromDr. Bosconovitch's cold-sleep machine, she sufferedamnesia. Now controlled by Ogre, Nina acts robotically, with the command to assassinate Jin.
During the tournament, Jin managed to bring Nina back to her senses by defeating her, allowing her to break free from Ogre's control. Jin went on to narrowly defeat Hwoarang after an hours-long fight, very similar to the fight between his father, Kazuya, and his rivalPaul Phoenix. Near the end of the tournament, Paul makes it to the finals after defeating the other competitors, includingKuma and Heihachi in the previous rounds. Paul enters a large temple, defeats Ogre in a fierce battle, and walks away from the tournament, thinking he is victorious. However, unbeknownst to Paul, Ogre morphs into his 2nd, monstrous form known as "True Ogre" after absorbing Heihachi's fighting force when the latter had tried to capture it while it was unconscious.
Because of this, the tournament continued as a result, with the tournament officials reinstating Jin and allowing him to replace Paul in the finals. From there, Jin confronts True Ogre in an intense fight and manages to defeat it as True Ogre completely dissolves, thus Jin succeeded in avenging his mother's death and winning the tournament. Despite his hard-fought victory, Jin is suddenly gunned down by a squadron of the Tekken Force led by Heihachi, who no longer needs him, he personally fires a final shot into his grandson's head. Jin, who is unexpectedly revived by the Devil within him, reawakens and dispatches the soldiers, smashing Heihachi through the wall of the temple. Jin then sprouts black, feathery wings and flies off into the night as Heihachi, who survived the fall, looks on from the ground.
Tekken 3 is the first game to have been released onNamco System 12 hardware,[9] after the original twoTekken games onSystem 11. The animation for the combatants was created usingmotion capture.[7]
The sub-bosses of the previous twoTekken games were dropped inTekken 3, since the developers felt it would make for a deeper and more well-rounded game if they focused on the move sets and playability of the core characters rather than on adding bosses.[8]
The music forTekken 3 was composed byNobuyoshi Sano andKeiichi Okabe. Sano, who served as the sound director, took abig beat approach to the music with a slower tempo than the music found in previous games,[10] as this genre had not previously been utilized in games.[11] Game directorKatsuhiro Harada initially did not understand the big beat direction, but Sano was able to convince him that it would work well in the series.[12] During development, a tester criticized the music and wanted the music to resembleSega'sVirtua Fighter; this angered Sano, although the report was dismissed. Okabe also became ill during the music's production.[13]
The game had a limited Japanese release on November 28, 1996.[14] It was followed by a wide international release in March 1997, releasing in North America on March 18, 1997.[15]
The conversion to thePlayStation took eight months, significantly longer than the conversions ofTekken andTekken 2, due toTekken 3 being designed for Namco System 12, making it a much more difficult conversion than the previous two games, which were designed for the PlayStation-based Namco System 11.[8] The conversion team was, aside from a few personnel changes, the same group which created both the PlayStation and arcade versions ofTekken andTekken 2.[8]
The original port ofTekken 3 to the PlayStation features two new hidden characters: Gon and Dr. Boskonovitch. Boskonovitch was a late addition; in early 1998 Namco said that Gon would be in the PlayStation version but Boskonovitch's inclusion was still not certain.[7] Anna was made into her own separate character, and given her own character select spot, voice, unique attacks, and ending. The PlayStation version features new "Tekken Force" and "Tekken Ball" modes, as well as all modes present inTekken 2. Due to the PlayStation's hardware limitations of less video RAM and lower clock speed, the visual quality was downgraded. The backgrounds were re-made into 2D panoramic images, the number of polygons used for each character were slightly reduced, sound effects played at a high pitch, and the game runs at lower overall resolution. Namco representatives had in fact originally stated that they did not think it was possible to convertTekken 3 to the PlayStation.[16] By April 1997,Tekken 3 was popular in the arcades, and the process of its home conversion was considered certain on PlayStation but merely a controversial consideration onNintendo 64.[17][18]
Sano and Okabe returned to compose the music for the PlayStation version, with much of the soundtrack being arranged from the arcade's music, along with the addition of several new tracks. Other composers who participated in composing additional music include Hiroyuki Kawada, Minamo Takahashi,Yuu Miyake, Yoshie Arakawa, and Hideki Tobeta. Arakawa had previously composed for the first twoTekken games, while Sano, Okabe and Miyake would go on to work on several future entries in the series, includingTekken Tag Tournament.
ThePlayStation 2 release ofTekken 5 features the arcade version ofTekken 3.[19] The PlayStation version ofTekken 3 was one of the controversial selection of 20 games included bySony Interactive Entertainment on thePlayStation Classic, released on December 3, 2018.[20]
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| GameRankings | 96%[21] |
| Metacritic | 96/100[22] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| AllGame |   (arcade)[23] (PS1)[24] |
| Computer and Video Games | [25] |
| Edge | 9/10[26] |
| Electronic Gaming Monthly | 39/40[27] |
| Famitsu | 39/40[28] |
| Game Informer | 9.5/10[29] |
| GamePro | 5/5[30] |
| GameRevolution | A−[31] |
| GamesMaster | 95%[32] |
| GameSpot | 9.9/10[19] |
| IGN | 9.3/10[33] |
| Next Generation |  (arcade)[34] (PS1)[35] |
| Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine | [36] |
| Entertainment Weekly | A[37] |
| Publication | Award |
|---|---|
| Game Critics Awards | Best Fighting Game[38] |
| EGM | Fighting Game of the Year[39] |
| Game Informer | Best Fighting Game of the Year[40] |
The arcade game was a major hit. In Japan, the 15 April 1997 issue ofGame Machine listedTekken 3 as the most-successful arcade game of the month.[41] It went on to be the highest-grossing arcadeprinted circuit board (PCB)game of 1997 in Japan,[42] and second highest-grossing overallarcade video game belowSega's rivalVirtua Fighter 3 (1996).[43]Tekken 3 sold 35,000 arcade units worldwide in 1997, including 15,000 in Japan and 20,000 overseas. WhileVirtua Fighter 3 was more successful in Japan at the time,Tekken 3 was more successful worldwide.[42]Tekken 3 later became the overall highest-grossingarcade game of 1998 in Japan, aboveVirtua Fighter 3 Team Battle.[44][45]
The PlayStation version was also a major hit. In Japan, the game sold over1 million copies on its first day of release.[46] In May 1998, Sony awardedTekken 3 a "Platinum Prize" for sales above 1 million units in Japan.[47] According toWeekly Famitsu, Japan bought 1.13 million units ofTekken 3 during the first half of 1998, which made it the country's third-best-selling game for the period.[48]PC Data, which tracked sales in the United States, reported thatTekken 3 sold 1.11 million copies and earned$48,500,000 (equivalent to $93,600,000 in 2024) in revenue during 1998 alone. This made it the third-best-selling PlayStation release of the year in the United States.[49]
In Germany, it received a "Gold" award from theVerband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (VUD) in November 1998 for sales above 100,000 units,[50] with the VUD later raising it to "Platinum" status indicating over 200,000 sales by August 1999.[51] At the 1999 Milia festival inCannes, it took home a "Gold" prize for revenues above€36 million or$40,000,000 (equivalent to $77,000,000 in 2024) in theEuropean Union during 1998.[52]Tekken 3 grossed a further €57,209,778 or$60,974,181 (equivalent to $115,000,000 in 2024) in Europe during 1999,[53] adding up to over €93,209,778 or$100,974,181 (equivalent to $195,000,000 in 2024) grossed in Europe by 1999, and more than$150,000,000 (equivalent to $290,000,000 in 2024) across Europe and the United States by 1999.
According toTekken series producerKatsuhiro Harada,Tekken 3 sold 8.36 million copies during its initial release on the original PlayStation, including1.4 million in Japan and6.96 million overseas.[54]
According toMetacritic, the game has a score of 96 out of 100, indicating universal acclaim,[22] and is ranked number 2 on its list of greatest PlayStation games.[55] As of April 2011, the game is listed as the twelfth-highest-rated game of all time on the review compiling siteGameRankings with an average rating of 96%.[21]
Next Generation reviewed the arcade version, and stated that "Tekken 3 isn't quite the artful masterpiece that [Virtua Fighter 3] is, but is still awesome in its own right, and has moved the series even further form its 'me too' roots. The fighting system has evolved nicely, resulting in some wild and effective moves and new characters, a faster responsiveness, and an impressive 3D fighting experience."[34]GamePro gave it a 4.5 out of 5 for graphics and sound and a 5.0 for control and funfactor. While noting that it was visually not up with its competitorVirtua Fighter 3, the reviewer said it was stunning in its own right and features phenomenally responsive and easy controls.[56] The game was a runner-up for "Arcade Game of the Year" (behindNFL Blitz) atElectronic Gaming Monthly's 1997 Editors' Choice Awards.[57]
Tekken 3 became the first game in three years to receive a 10 from a reviewer fromElectronic Gaming Monthly, with three of the four reviewers giving it the highest possible score.Tekken 3 is the first game to have scored a 10 underEGM's revised review scale in that a game no longer needed to be "perfect" to receive a 10, and the last game to receive a 10 from the magazine wasSonic & Knuckles. The only holdout was the magazine's enigmatic fighting-game review guru, Sushi-X, who said that "no game that rewards newbies for button-mashing will ever be tops in my book", giving the game 9 out of 10.GameSpot'sJeff Gerstmann gave the game a 9.9 out of 10, saying "Not much stands betweenTekken 3 and a perfect 10 score. If the PlayStation exclusive characters were better and Force mode a bit more enthralling, it could have come closer to a perfect score." He also praised the sound effects, music, and graphics.[19]
Next Generation reviewed the PlayStation version, and stated that "There is no better fighting game, on this system or any other. It's clearly superior to the previous games in the series and a stunning value forTekken aficionados."[35]
According toPlayStation: The Official Magazine in 2009,Tekken 3 "is still widely considered one of the finest fighting games of all time".[58] In September 2004, for the tenth anniversary of thePlayStation brand, it ranked No. 10 on the magazine's list of "Final PlayStation Top 10". It was also No. 177 onGame Informer's 2009Top 200 games of all time.[59]
In 2011,Complex ranked it as the fourth best fighting game of all time.[60]Complex also rankedTekken 3 as the ninth best arcade video game of the 1990s, commenting that "this now classic fighter served as a welcome palette cleanser to theMortal Kombat/Street Fighter dichotomy that dominated arcades in the 90s."[61]Complex also rankedTekken 3 as the eighth best PlayStation 1 video game, commenting, "WhenTekken 3 finally moved from our local arcade and into our living room, we knew nothing would ever be the same. With an assortment of attacks and combos to learn, along with good controls, graphics, and sound,Tekken 3 was much more polished and smooth than its predecessors."[62]
Tekken 3 has also been listed among thebest video games of all time byElectronic Gaming Monthly in 1997,[63]Game Informer in 1999,[64]Computer and Video Games in 2000,[65]GameFAQs in 2005,[66] andEdge in 2007.[67] ArcadeSushi rankedTekken 3 as the "20th Best Playstation Game", with comments "Tekken 3 changed everything. Friends became bitter rivals. Bitter rivals became even more bitter rivals. Tekken 3 was the game you played with friends you didn't want to be your friends anymore."[68] Chris Lyon from Haydock theTekken 3 World Champion of 1998 - 2003 also ranked it as the "17th best fighting game", commenting, "Tekken 3 was easily one of the bestTekken games ever created. Before the series became obsessed with wall splats and ground bounds, it simply had huge open 3D arenas with massive casts that may or may not have included boxing raptors. I remember first playing DBZ with Kirki and Budge and they just spammed the same moves. You cannot do this onTekken"[69] In 2015,GamesRadar rankedTekken 3 as the 59th "best game ever", as "it possesses one of the finest fighting systems ever, the series' well-known juggle formula percolated into a perfect storm of throws, strikes, and suplexes."[70]
