Playstation's Best

Playstation’s Best
Tekken 3
Namco | Namco | 1998 | Fighting - 3D
GAMERANKINGS.COM COMPILES REVIEW scores
from top magazines, newspapers and websites. According
to the reviewers, Tekken 3 is the best game released for the
Playstation. When the Playstation was announced in 1994,
though, Namco’s fighter wasn’t on anyone’s radar. Would
the Playstation have Street Fighter? Mortal Kombat III?
How can Sony compete with Yu Suzuki’s Virtua Fighter,
which was set to launch the Sega Saturn toward success?
The original Tekken, meaning Iron Fist, was released to the
arcade on new hardware called System 11, which was based
on architecture similar to Sony’s Playstation. Easy conversion
meant that Tekken was a quick port. The top-notch
quality of the port, with 3D graphics that were better than
the arcade original, proved the technological strength of
the Playstation. Tekken 2 a year later also impressed, but
1998’s Tekken 3 signaled the high water mark of the series.
Brought over from the System 12 arcade board, a system
more advanced that the Playstation, Tekken 3 nonetheless
remains nearly arcade-perfect. Four primary buttons are
used, one each for the left and right arms and legs. The
nonsensical “soft” and “hard” punch legacy of earlier fighters
is rightfully consigned to history. An enormous number
of moves and combinations means that skill and experience
will always prevail over simple button-matching in a
Tekken match. As in most fighters, each character uses a
different style, such as Capoeira.
Namco is known for including copious extras in its home
ports, and Tekken 3 is no exception. Two exclusive characters
are added, strangely including a comic book dragon
named Gon. FMV of incredible quality, perhaps better than
even Square’s best Playstation efforts, is included for each
individual character in their ending. Tekken Ball, a minigame,
is the best of extras. In the game, two characters play a
version of volleyball, infusing the volleyball with special
energy when it is struck with a special move. If the opponent
is hit with the ball or allows it to touch the ground,
they suffer that damage.
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