Tekken 3 is the third installment in Namco's massively popular Tekken series, released in arcades in March 1997. It was the first installment to use Namco System 12, an upgraded version of the System 11 hardware used for the first two games, it was the final game in the series to be ported to PS1, and it was the first to have Katsuhiro Harada in a co-director role.
Fifteen years after Tekken 2, Heihachi Mishima established the Tekken Force, a paramilitary organization dedicated to protecting the Mishima Zaibatsu. One day, one of the force's squadrons investigate an ancient Mexican temple only to be killed by an ancient, mysterious being known only as "Ogre". Not too long after, martial artists from all around the world start mysteriously disappearing.
Meanwhile, Jun Kazama has been living a quiet life with Jin, her son from the late Kazuya Mishima. Jun begins to sense Ogre's presence and instructs Jin to find Heihachi if anything happens to her. Sure enough, Ogre shows up after Jin turns fifteen and a failed attempt to fight it off leaves Jin unconscious, waking up to find a missing mom and his house burned to the ground. Seeking revenge, and unknowingly starting to be consumed by his Devil Gene, he seeks out Heihachi, telling his grandfather about the Ogre attack and wishing to be taught how to defeat him. Heihachi decides to use Jin as a decoy to lure Ogre out and begins training him.
Four years later, after training Jin to become a highly skilled fighter, Heihachi decides its time to draw Ogre out, and believing that a clash of strong fighters will do so, announces The King of the Iron Fist Tournament 3...
Tekken 3 was a huge step forward for the series in a number of ways. In addition to the Time Skip of 19 years, a large chunk of the cast was written out and replaced (of the 23 characters available in the PS1 version, only eight of them are returning from previous games - and even then, two of those are technically Legacy Characters), and the core mechanics got a substantial overhaul from 2. Sidestepping and reversals were added to the arsenal of all characters, the jump height was made more realistic from the moon gravity levels it was at prior, and the overall gameplay was refined and sped up from previous installments to create a more fluid and fast-paced game.
The PS1 port was released almost exactly a year later in March 1998 (supposedly after Namco doubted that a port would even possible) and introduced both the volleyball-esq Tekken Ball and Beat 'em Up Tekken Force modes to the series, along with two new secret characters: Dr. Bosconovitch and (in a first for the series) the Guest Fighter Gon. Anna Williams was also made into a distinct character instead of being a pallette swap of her sister Nina.
Upon release, Tekken 3 received rapturous critical acclaim, with reviewers praising the amount of content, extremely polished and tight gameplay, and having some of the best visuals on the PS1. To this day it's considered one of the greatest fighting games ever made, and the Growing the Beard moment for the Tekken series. Sales matched the critical response - it became the fifth best selling game on the PS1, with the first two Gran Turismo games and Final Fantasy VII and VIII being the only games that outsold it.
Followed up by Tekken Tag Tournament, which hit arcades in 1999 and was closer to an updated version of Tekken 3 than a full-on sequel. The next numbered entry, Tekken 4, was released in 2001.
Playable Characters:
Italics indicates unlockable characters.- From Tekken: Paul Phoenix, Nina Williams, Yoshimitsu, Heihachi Mishima, Anna Williams
- From Tekken 2: Lei Wulong
- New to Tekken 3: Jin Kazama, Hwoarang, Ling Xiaoyu, King II, Kuma II, Panda, Eddy Gordo, Forrest Law, Bryan Fury, Julia Chang, Mokujin, Gun Jack, Ogre, True Ogre, Gon, Dr. Boskonovitch, Tiger Jackson
Tropes provided by the game include:
- Amusement Park: Xiaoyu's stage is this.
- Art Shift: Xiaoyu's ending is done in a 2D Super-Deformed anime art-style.
- Beat 'em Up: Tekken Force plays as one.
- Boss-Only Level: After beating the fourth level of Tekken Force four times, the player moves onto a bonus fifth stage that only consists of one duel with Doctor Bosconovitch.
- Dug Too Deep: Ogre was inadvertently awakened by the Mishima Zaibatsu during their expedition in Mexico.
- Gainax Ending: Per Tekken tradition, some of the character endings are just plain weird.
- Gon's ending has no bearing on any plotline and just has him running around causing chaos and riding different animals. It's also the only ending of the game that just loops forever instead of stopping, only ending when the player manually skips it.
- Mokujin's ending takes place in a real life forest where he's out working before stumbling upon two kids who appear to be of the same species playing Tekken 3 on a wooden arcade cabinet, and after playing for a while, a female Mokujin appears who seems to be his wife or girlfriend, and punishes him for slacking.
- Human Popsicle: Nina was put into cryosleep shortly after Tekken 2, waking up only because of Ogre's influence. Her sister, Anna, unwilling to spend the next 19 years without her, put herself in cryosleep as well.
- Killed Off for Real: The original King was killed by Ogre. The original Kuma died of unrelated reasons. Back when the game was released, Ogre's body count included the characters missing from Tekken 2, such as Baek (whose apparent death was the reason Hwoarang entered the tournament in the first place), Jun, Wang, etc., but this has been retconned in newer games.
- Legacy Character: Kuma and King are, in-story, different characters from the characters who had those names in 1 and 2. They still look and play basically the same as their predecessors, though.
- Mad Scientist Laboratory: Doctor Bosconovitch's stage takes place in his lab (though he isn't actually mad).
- Mayincatec: Ogre is described as an Aztec fighting god. His stage is set inside the ruins of an Aztec temple, while Heihachi's and Julia's stage is set in the hall outside this temple.
- Palette Swap: Kuma and Panda share the same slot, as do Eddy and Tiger. Anna is a palette swap of Nina in the arcade version, but she is upgraded into a separate character in the console version.
- Palmtree Panic: Both Eddy's and Gon's stages take place beachside.
- Pre-Final Boss: Heihachi is fought in Stage 9, just prior to Ogre. If you play as Heihachi, you will face Jin instead.
- Product Placement: Xiaoyu's stage is set in Wonder Eggs, an amusement park Namco ran at the time. It also features Italian Tomato, a restaurant chain that Namco bought in 1986.
- School Uniforms are the New Black: Jin's and Xiaoyu's third costumes are their Mishima High uniforms. Xiaoyu in particular dons the legendary Sailor Fuku.
- Secret Character: Kuma/Panda, Julia, Gun Jack, Mokujin, Anna, Bryan, Heihachi, Ogre, and True Ogre are unlocked by beating Arcade with different characters (they are unlocked in that order). Tiger is unlocked by beating Arcade with all characters. Dr. Bosconovitch is unlocked by clearing Tekken Force four times, while Gon is unlocked by either beating him in Arcade or Tekken Ball, or achieving the top score of Survival with the name "GON". There is also an alternate way of unlocking characters; the game keeps track of how many times you select a character, and doing it a certain amount of time will open the hidden content (including characters) one by one.
- Spin-Offspring: The game's main protagonist is Jin Kazama, the son of Kazuya Mishima and Jun Kazama. Also in the cast are Forest Law, the son of Marshall Law, and Julia Chang, the adoptive daughter of Michelle Chang.
- Time Skip: 19 years between Tekken 2 and 3.
- You Killed My Father: Both Jin and Hwoarang enter the tournament to exact revenge against Ogre for ostensibly killing the former's mother, Jun, and the latter's teacher, Baek, respectively.
