The third tournament of the Iron Fist
Last week's poll saw the historic fighting game released in 1997 on PS1 come out the winner. Tekken 3 was in some way the Killer App of PlayStation, in fact it managed to sell 6,1 million copies.
It is not a famous title only among the happy owners of Sony consoles, in fact Tekken 3 was also a coin-op, I remember that in the only arcade in my city there was a cabinet dedicated to the third Iron Fist tournament, how many hours spent (and how much money spent) in front of them to challenge each other with friends and others, are emotions that only some "old man" like myself can understand and remember.
Screen
The game has its beginning 16 years after the Tekken 2 tournament, Heihachi who comes out as the winner creates the Tekken Force, a military organization controlled by Mishima Zaibatsu.
One day while the men were excavating in Mexico, they were attacked by a powerful creature, the only survivor tells Heihachi that it is Ogre, the ancient God of Fights.
The "good" old Mishima then runs with a small group of men in search of this divinity, all to harness its power and use it for their own purposes.
One evening, Jin Kazama, his nephew, shows up at Heihachi's door. Heihachi is banned from this unexpected visit and discovers that Jun Kazama (fighter of the previous tournament), became the lover of his son Kazuya and that once the latter was thrown by himself on the volcano, the pregnant woman escaped to the Yakushima island.
Jin tells his grandfather that Ogre, the demonic entity he is looking for, attacked the island of Yakushima and killed his mother, leaving him unconscious. The nephew asks Heihachi to teach him the famous Karate Mishima (a fighting method similar to traditional Karate, but particularly violent), the man accepts this request.
Jin after three years learns and improves the fighting techniques of the Mishima clan and enters the Tekken 3 Tournament, to defeat the fearsome Ogre. However, the XNUMX-year-old is unaware that his grandfather is using him as bait to get to the ancient God of Fighting and finally capture him.
The boy manages to defeat all the suitors and to arrive in the presence of the Ancient God, he defeats him, but the latter reveals his true form, known as True Ogre, a remarkably powerful and dangerous creature, unlike his humanoid form.
True Ogre is a particular beast with a head wrapped in fur, long horns above it, snakes are placed in place of an arm and is equipped with wings.
Jin manages to defeat this monstrosity as well. Meanwhile, the Tekken Force, led by that fox Heihachi Mishima, bursts into the place, who shoots a bullet in the head of his nephew, to eliminate him permanently. Jin's skull, however, regenerates itself, thanks to the demonic gene already present in Kazuya.
The boy then gets up and gets rid of the soldiers, throws Heihachi against a brick wall and after dropping him to the ground leaves him somewhere and runs away accompanied by two huge black wings. Heihachi becomes aware for some time and notices this incredible detail, realizing that the grandson, just like the son, is affected by the demonic gene of the Mishima family.
Meanwhile, obscured by the shadows, another member of the Mishima family awaits his revenge.
Characters
Tekken 3 has a total roster of 24 characters, many of them are "new", correspond to new versions of old characters, just think of King II or Hwoarang.
- Eddy Gordo (favorite character of myself and many button mashers);
- Hwoarang (student of Baek Doo San);
- Jin Kazama;
- Forest Law (son of Marshall Law);
- Ling Xiaoyu;
- King II (replacement for the late King);
- Mokujin (training dummy capable of emulating all fighting styles);
- Gon (T-Rex puppy, unlockable by making the record in Time Attack mode);
- Ogre;
- True Ogre;
- Kuma II (son of Kuma);
- Panda (to be unlocked as a variant of Kuma);
- Bryan Fury;
- Doctor Boskonovitch (unlockable after completing Tekken Force mode four times);
- Tiger Jackson (variant of Eddy Gordo, unlockable after obtaining 10 consecutive victories with the Brazilian fighter);
- Gun Jack;
- Anna Williams;
- Nina Williams;
- Yoshimitsu;
- Lei Wulong;
- Heihachi Mishima;
- Jack-2
Curiosity
There were other characters in Tekken 3, but they were canceled for various reasons. Jun Kazama, Jin's mother, was supposed to be in the game, but given the story her presence would have raised even more questions. Sake instead was a previous Ogre boss, this character took shape from a salmon, the creation of the move-set was however problematic so he was excluded from the final version of the game.
Game mode
Besides the classic tournament mode there are some interesting modes such as:
- Tekken Ball: a kind of Tekken-style beach volleyball;
- Tekken Force: scrolling brawler that alternates weak enemies with increasingly powerful bosses, the challenge rate is anything but low.
