Tekken 3 (PSX)
Tekken 3 is the third installment of Namco's premier 3D fighting game franchise. Converted from the arcade to the PlayStation, Tekken 3 ran on the technology called the System 12 board. It is a step better than Namco's System 11 board, which is nearly identical to the PlayStation. The trick was to pull off a conversion to fit with the console's architecture and technology, and they did just that.
Tekken 3's fighting styles range from street fighting to beautiful ancient oriental fighting styles. Each of the 20-plus characters features a different style (Kung Fu, Capoeira), some of which must be mastered before using adequately. At first, you have 10 fighters to choose from but as you complete the individual story/arcade modes, you will unlock that person's counterpart. Their story is represented by various intro and ending cinematic sequences.
As in the previous Tekken titles, each character has an abundance of moves he or she can perform. They consist of throws (for up close battle), punches and jabs, and kicks (both aerial and on the ground). To help players get used to controlling the game, each fighter's move list can be accessed at any time via a pause menu.
Players are given quite a few options of gameplay styles to choose from: Arcade, Versus, Team Battle, Time Attack, Tekken Force, Practice and a hidden Beach Ball mode (a competition to see who can keep the ball from touching the sand). The arcade version is simply that and the team battle mode allows you or a friend to choose a team of fighters and go into battle one by one. New to the series is the Tekken Force mode -- a Final Fight inspired side-scrolling action game. It contains four levels and after you complete them, you are given a counter. When you finish it a certain amount of times, a special character is introduced and unlocked.
STORY:
Set fifteen years after the King of the Iron Fist Tournament 2, the story starts with Jun Kazama, who has been living a quiet life in Yakushima with her young son, Jin, who is the son of Kazuya Mishima.
Heihachi Mishima, meanwhile, has established the Tekken Force, an 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. However, while on an excavation in Mexico, a squadron of Heihachi's Tekken Force is attacked and vanquished by a mysterious being. The only surviving soldier manages to relay a brief message to Heihachi, describing the perpetrator as an "Ogre" or a "Fighting God". Heihachi and a team of soldiers investigate, with Heihachi managing to catch a glimpse of the culprit. After seeing the Ogre character, Heihachi's long dormant dream of world domination is reawakened. He seeks to capture Ogre to use him for this goal.
Soon after, various martial arts masters begin disappearing from all over the world, and Heihachi is convinced that this is Ogre's doing. In Yakushima, Jun starts to feel the presence of Ogre approaching her and Jin. Knowing that she has become a target, Jun tells Jin about Ogre, and instructs him to go straight to Heihachi should anything happen. Sometime after Jin's fifteenth birthday, Ogre does indeed attack. Against Jun's wishes, Jin valiantly tries to fight Ogre off, but Ogre brushes him aside and knocks him unconscious. When Jin reawakens, he finds that the house has been burned to the ground, and that his mother is missing and most likely dead.
Driven by revenge, Jin goes to Heihachi and tells him everything. Jin begs Heihachi to train him to become strong enough to face Ogre again. Heihachi accepts and takes Jin in as well as going to Mishima High School where he befriends Ling Xiaoyu and her pet panda and bodyguard (aptly named "Panda").
Four years later, Jin grows into an impressive fighter and master of Mishima Style Karate. On Jin's nineteenth birthday, the King of the Iron Fist Tournament 3 is announced, and Jin prepares for his upcoming battle against Ogre. He is unaware, however, that Heihachi is merely using him and the rest of the competitors as bait to lure Ogre out in order to capture him. Meanwhile Ogre captures assassin Nina Williams (who was recently taken out of her "cold sleep"), puts her under his spell,and sends her to enter the tournament and kill Jin. Jin manages to free Nina from Ogre's spell before continuing on the semi-finals.
Eventually, the tournament leads to the final confrontation between Jin and the God of Fighting. Ogre is able to transform into a much more powerful "true" form, known to the players as "True Ogre". Jin emerges the victor and Ogre completely dissolves. Moments later, Jin is gunned down by a squadron of Tekken Forces led by Heihachi, who, no longer needing Jin, finishes the job personally by firing a final shot into his grandson's head.
However, Jin, revived by the Devil Gene within him (because after Jin's mother had gone missing following an attack from Ogre, Devil returned, branded Jin's left arm with a mark, possessing him), reawakens and makes quick work of the soldiers, turning his attention to Heihachi and literally smashing him through the wall of the temple. Heihachi survives the long fall, but Jin, in mid-air, sprouts black, feathery wings and strikes Heihachi one last time. He then flies off into the night, leaving his bewildered grandfather staring after him.
PLAYSTATION VERSION:
Tekken 3 was originally ported to the PlayStation with two new characters - Gon and Dr. Boskonovich. Anna was also updated and given her own character select spot complete with a unique portrait, voice, stance, a few of her own unique moves (as well as her moves from the first two games, some of which were given to Ogre) and her own ending, as opposed to in previous installments, where she was basically a model-swap of Nina. Still, she reused a lot of Nina's strikes and throws. She was made even more unique in Tekken 5.
The PlayStation version features new Tekken Force and Tekken Ball modes, as well as all modes present in Tekken 2. Due to PSX hardware limitations (less video RAM and lower clock speed) the visual quality was reduced. The backgrounds were re-made into 2D panoramic images, the character poly-count was reduced, and the game ran at lower overall resolution.
NEW CHARACTERS IN TEKKEN 3:
- Bryan Fury: A known officer within Interpol, Bryan Fury was shot and killed by gunmen during a shootout in Hong Kong. His corpse is placed in the custody of Doctor Abel for scientific research and he is revived in order for him to be Abel's agent in obtaining classified information on raising a cyborg-led army. Bryan enters the King of Iron Fist Tournament 3 in hopes of killing Yoshimitsu and capturing Dr. Boskonovitch, Abel's rival.
- Dr. Boskonovich: Originally worked for the Mishima Zaibatsu. During the first Tekken, the Manji ninja clan (led by Yoshimitsu) raided the Mishima Zaibatsu's vault. During the raid, Yoshimitsu lost his arm and was found by Boskonovitch who helped him escape. He was kidnapped by Kazuya Mishima in the run-up to Tekken 2 and was forced to work for him. Some of the many projects involved the creation of the bio-weapons Roger and Alex and the completion of the Prototype Jack unit. He began the "Cold Sleep" project as a means of preserving his daughter's body (who seemingly died) by using Nina and Anna Williams as test subjects. After completing his tasks, and before being executed, Dr. Boskonovitch was rescued by Yoshimitsu. Nearly twenty years later, he contracted a rare disease that affects the spine. In order to cure himself and to revive his daughter, he needed the blood of the fighting god, Ogre. He turned to an old friend: Yoshimitsu for help. Yoshimitsu entered the Tekken 3 tournament and was successful in retrieving a sample of Ogre's blood after it had been killed by Jin Kazama.
- Eddy Gordo: Is an Afro-Brazilian video game character in the Tekken fighting game series by Namco. He made his debut in the arcade version of Tekken 3 in 1997 and his first console appearance was in the 1998 PlayStation port of the title. Eddy's storyline from his debut through Tekken 5 revolved around his quest for revenge for the murder of his parents, culminating in the defeat of Kazuya Mishima during the events of Tekken 5.
- Forrest Law: The proud son of Marshall Law, Forrest Law trains at his father's dojo to achieve Marshall's success and greatness. As a protective father, Marshall has forbidden his son from entering any contests outside the dojo.
Marshall's long-time friend and competitor, Paul Phoenix, visits once every few months to spar with Marshall. One day, when Paul arrived, Marshall was away supervising the building of a new dojo. Paul insisted that Forrest join him in some training exercises. Forrest declined, knowing that his father would disapprove. But Paul wouldn't take no for an answer.
Unaware of Marshall's restrictions on fighting, Paul suggested to Forrest that he join The King of Iron Fist Tournament 3. Marshall was enraged when he found out what happened. To him, it was as if his son had been kidnapped.
- Hwoarang: Is a student of Baek Doo San and well-versed in the martial art of Tae Kwon Do. He used to gamble in street fighting. His fellow gang members would lose matches, then Hwoarang would step in and win. During one of these matches, he faced Jin Kazama, and he was forced to end in a draw. This was the first time that he had not succeeded in winning a fight. Hwoarang decided to train harder and never lose again. Upon visiting the dojang, he saw the dojang destroyed. It had been attacked by Ogre. Frustrated and angry, he entered The King of Iron Fist Tournament 3 to fight a conclusive battle with Jin, and to get revenge for his master.
- Jin Kazama: Trained by his grandfather, Heihachi Mishima in order to enter the King of Iron Fist Tournament, Jin wishes to avenge his mother's apparent death. However, during the tournament it is revealed that Jin possesses the Devil Gene, a genetic abnormality within his body, which causes the betrayal of Heihachi who wants to take it. He is also antagonized by his father, Kazuya Mishima, from whom he inherited the gene. While dealing with them, Jin loses control of the Devil Gene, which causes his transformation into an alter-ego named Devil Jin.
- Julia Chang: Studies archeology in Michelle Chang's tribal lands. As a baby, Julia was deserted in the ruins of ancient Native American settlements, where Michelle found her. Michelle rescued Julia and brought her up with love. Julia loved Michelle and her adopted tribe and trained with Michelle to protect her beloved homeland. When Julia was 18, stories of sudden disappearances of famous martial artists all over the world began to reach the tribe. The tribe knew the cause, which was contained in the tribal legends, the legend of The God of Fighters. People in the tribe feared that Michelle's pendant, the key to Native American sacred treasure, had something to do with the disappearances. With apprehension spreading through the tribe, Michelle left for Japan to ask Heihachi Mishima why he had sought to take the pendant during the second tournament. Michelle hoped to learn about the origin of The God of Fighting's power. Michelle did not return. Julia suspected Heihachi and now seeks him out to discover the truth.
One day, she discovered that her native homeland was in danger of being covered by an encroaching desert; this was brought on by today's rapidly changing global ecosystem. Julia wanted to save her home, and she began her studies on ecosystem restoration. Julia joined an advanced genetic research group led by Professor T that studied the biological mechanism of reforestation. Professor T's research grant came almost exclusively from G Corporation. In fact, G Corporation's supercomputers located at their high security research center were used for computationally intensive biogenetic analysis and ecosystem modeling. All their project data was stored on G Corporation's file servers as well. Julia was absorbed in her daily research, waiting for the day when her work on ecosystem restoration would be complete. When her project was completed, she would save her home.
- Ling Xiaoyu: Ever since she was a little girl, Ling Xiaoyu loved amusement parks. She was also tutored in martial arts from a young age by her relative Wang Jinrei. He believed that if she were more serious, she could achieve true greatness, but became frustrated by her careless attitude. While vacationing in Hong Kong with her family, she noticed a yacht bearing the name: Mishima Zaibatsu. Knowing that the Mishima Zaibatsu was rich and powerful, she decided to seek out Heihachi Mishima and make her dream a reality. Abandoning her family, Xiaoyu stowed away on the ship.
The ship’s security soon discovered her and informed Heihachi of her presence. By the time that Heihachi arrived on the scene, all of the Tekkenshu -Heihachi’s personal security force- that were aboard the ship had been beaten into unconsciousness and strewn about the deck. It looked as if the ship had been hit by a hurricane. Amidst the chaos, Heihachi found Xiaoyu. She threatened to beat him up if he did not accept her challenge. Amused by her juvenile antics, Heihachi roared with laughter and promised to build her theme park if she won his tournament. She enrolls at the Mishima Polytechnical School, and this is where she first meets both Jin Kazama and Miharu Hirano. Bringing along her old school's trained panda (aptly named "Panda"), Heihachi teaches her to fight, much like he had taught Kuma, so that Xiaoyu would have a bodyguard. This inspired Xiaoyu to see Heihachi as something of a grandfather toward her.
- Mokujin: Is inspired by the Jackie Chan movie Shaolin Wooden Men. He is a wooden training dummy who comes to life in the presence of powerful evil. He has no fighting style of his own, and instead swaps between the fighting styles of the other characters featured in the game. At the beginning of a fight, Mokujin will assume another character's fighting style at random, and uses a wooden sword when he emulates Yoshimitsu, or a tail when emulating Roger. In this aspect, mastering Mokujin requires mastery of all the other Tekken characters' movesets.
Mokujin was awakened when Ogre, the God of Fighting, was released. After Jin Kazama defeated Ogre in The King of Iron Fist Tournament 3, Mokujin grew lifeless once more, but he had a smile on his face (stated in Mokujin's Tekken 5 Prologue). With the awakening of another powerful evil entity (Jinpachi Mishima), Mokujin came to life once more. Following the defeat of Jinpachi Mishima, Mokujin once again became lifeless.
He appears in the multi-company crossover game Cross Edge as a training dummy in the game's practice battle mode under the name Woodman.
- Ogre: Is first mentioned in Heihachi Mishima's character profile. It states that many years after Heihachi had reclaimed control of the Mishima Zaibatsu, he formed the Tekken Force, his own military group. One of the missions of the Tekken Force was to search an ancient temple located somewhere in Mexico. Soon after arriving there, Heihachi learned that his entire force had been obliterated by Ogre. Heihachi, having witnessed the power of Ogre, sought to capture it in hopes of creating the ultimate life form.
According to official canon, Ogre attacked many world-renowned martial arts masters around the world. Because many characters from previous Tekken titles were not featured in Tekken 3, it is believed that their disappearance is due to being a victim of Ogre.
- Panda: Is cared for at Ling Xiaoyu's high school. To participate in the tournament, Xiaoyu moved to the Mishima Polytechnical School in Japan. Heihachi taught Panda "Advanced Bear Fighting" so that she could act as a bodyguard for Xiaoyu during the tournament. Although Kuma is fond of Panda, Panda dislikes him and keeps her distance. Panda is given her own story. In her prologue, it explains Panda as protecting Xiaoyu as her bodyguard and tending to her concerns.
- Tiger Jackson: Is a palette swap character "unlocked" by selecting Eddy Gordo with the Start button in both Tekken 3 and Tekken Tag Tournament. (Tekken 3 requires the player to complete the game with 17 unique characters first). According to the Tekken 6 Art Book, which came with the Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion Bundle, Tiger Jackson was one of the unused names and concepts of Eddy Gordo from during the development of Tekken 3.
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