Top Ten Favorite Games: #9--Tekken 3

I was sitting in a Laundromat the first time I saw Tekken 3. It was the opening intro. Each fighter practiced his or her fighting style in the rain, with lighting illuminating the background. The animations for each punch & kick thrown looked so realistic. I was captivated by how each character had an individual martial art that reflected what I’d seen in movies and television.

Unfortunately I didn’t get much time to play the old arcade cabinet I saw in the Laundromat. So I was left with yearning for how Tekken really played.

1 year later I met a friend (I was 11 at the time, to give you some perspective) who knew a cousin of his that owned a PlayStation. I was a Nintendo fanboy at this time…but I had heard really good things about the PlayStation; little did I know, that when I left, I would fall in love with Sony’s console.

I didn’t know that Tekken 3 had just been released for the PlayStation, and well at my friends’ cousins house I couldn’t get enough.

Tekken 3 was everything I wanted in a fighting game. Great visuals, style and substance to each fighter, unique and differentiating martial arts, and an addictive quality that only comes with mastering the subtle nuances that each fighter processed.

It would unfortunately be another 2 years before I would play Tekken 3 ever again. Sometimes I knew a friend-of-a-friend that would have the game, but this was rare.

I think after awhile my father could see how much I wanted a PlayStation. We finally bought one, with a copy of Tekken 3.

I was so into this game I really was lethal. Well nowadays I just dabble in Tekken games, the skills I learned from my many hours perfecting each fighter are still relevant even in these newer versions.

To me, the best fighting games want you to master the play-style of each fighter. Tekken 3 had that longing to become death incarnate with each combatant. 

Hwoarang--my boy!

Tekken 3 was really something I hadn’t played before. Even for a fighting game it was different. When you knocked an opponent into the air, they floated for a little while, and I always found that odd. Until I immersed myself in the art of air combos or “juggling” as it’s called in Tekken. The physics of Tekken are what makes it unique. When someone is airborne you can deal damage in artistic and flashy ways. Did you have to juggle someone elaborately? No you didn’t…but it was fun anyways.

I really don’t consider myself a big fighting game fan. But for a 5-year span, I was absolutely into the Tekken franchise. Tekken 3 made me want a PlayStation; years later Tekken Tag Tournament made me purchase a PlayStation 2. Wherever Tekken was, I’d follow. And I think that’s the mark of a great game. One where you’ve got to buy a new system just to play that game--no matter what you have to play it. For me, that was Tekken.