To finish off the trilogy of PlayStation releases I went and played the demo versions of said game for a bit. I remember playing the demo of this game as a child with Twisted Metal 2 and Barbie explorer. Yes Barbie Explorer for PlayStation don’t hate on me. Though this game only had two players to use in the demo, it was hours of fun playing especially with siblings. Though being a grown man now, I don’t own the actual disc of the game so had to resort to… emulation… to play this game. The difference between the actual game and the demo is minimal but it’s a good thing. Everything is great to play when the full version and guess what? It’s the final game of the PlayStation trilogy before it goes to the next gen. Tekken 3 for the PlayStation. 

Story: 9 

From the canon story in the manual. 15 years had past since the last tournament and Hehaichi Mashimawas triumphant over his son, Kazuya Mashima, and threw him to a volcano. Hoping his son had perished, he regained control of the company and wasted no time on regaining power. He heard rumors of fighting masters disappearing from an entity named “Ogre” and right in front of him, his grandson has appeared asking for help as his mom (Jun from tekken 2) had disappeared. Taking this opportunity to learn about the beast, Hehaichi took his grandson under his wing and trained him so he can create the third edition of “King of the Iron Fist” as a way to lure Ogre out and take the power it possesses. 

Then the cutscene before the menu appears with “Namco presents” and shows more of what the story offers between each character, more information in the manual. 

From reading the manual a bit more, from context it seemed like Paul was meant to face the boss from the last tournament but a traffic jam had caused him to relinquish his chance and give it to Hehaichi in tekken 2. Aside from that it looks like each character has a reasoning for entering the tournament whether it’s for personal gain, revenge from Ogre, assassination or even to gain recognition. The story of the game expands the lore of the series and definitely is something to look forward to for installments to come. 

A great 9 out of 10

Graphics : 9.5

The graphics made a huge improvement over previous installments. The characters are smoother. The levels are gorgeous, the fluidity is amazing. Each character rarely has any sharp edges or are pixelated. They made sure they use the PlayStation’s hardware to the fullest and the reward is magnificent. The stages are one of the best yet also showing great contrast of colors and beautiful scenery and backgrounds. Sure the arcade version is fully 3D backgrounds while the PlayStation still relies on 2D backgrounds but it really doesn’t make a difference when the game is at its fullest. Another huge improvement is the frame rate. You think a game this powerful at its time would be at 30 frames per second? No they made it possible to go a full 60 frames per second and it shows. Fights are more fluid, the movement doesn’t look as bad to a degree.  The only issue about the graphics, it’s interlaced. CRT tvs wouldn’t be that bad but since I’m playing it on QLED tv… yeah it’s kinda terrible. 

Even with that little issue a 9.5 out of 10 since it’s nearly perfect. 

Sound : 10

The music, the sound effects, everything is just amazing for the game. Instead of some simple upbeat music or ambient sounds, the game went for a more rock and techno soundtrack to show off that it’s a new era of the fighting series. Each level has its own music to show off its unique style from the alleyway to Hong Kong streets or the carnival (always thought it was a ship). The sound effects don’t sound muffled and won’t overlap the music as much. I give props to the team for this masterpiece. 10 out of 10 bravo bravo. 

Depth : 9

The game has some returning feature like survival, team battle, and time attack. Each pretty self explanatory but one mode caught my eye and thought I would talk a bit. There is another mode but it’s locked and sadly you have to beat the game with every character to unlock that game mode. Anyways. 

A new feature I’ve seen is “Tekken force battle mode” and not gonna lie, it’s a lot better than I thought. It’s basically a beat ‘em up with tekken characters to go through four stages and collect keys to unlock a secret boss. It’s a bit harder but it’s more fun, definitely worth the replayability to beat with each character. 

Five characters return from the previous installments that were based characters. Out of those five, Hehaichi once again became an unlockable and the rest of the cast are new to the series, to some extent. Some characters have the same move set from previous characters but are technically different. (Forest Law, King II, Julia.) and new characters have appeared to fill in the roster, Eddy, Hwoarang, Xiaoyu, and Jin. Each character has their own movesets and unlockables aren’t just copy and paste. What makes this game better is that each character has a huge string of moves to use and play styles that won’t get you bored of playing and makes you want to master moves of each character. 

One of the biggest improvements of the game, side stepping. It has finally been formally introduced to the game. Previously only three characters were able to side step as a move, but with every character now able to side step it gives a new range of options to attack and dodge against opponents and feel a taste of victory. 

With players and game modes, this title is content rich and really proves how powerful the PlayStation was back in its days. A magnifique 9 out of 10. 

Addictive : 10

Like I said the game is content rich. There’s so much to do and so many moves to learn from each character. Yes the menu shows off the command moves but it’s just a sample of what the characters hone and the best part of the game is learning how to use combos and finding new ones to fight against opponents. Game modes like team battle and survival will keep you on edge (survival when low on health and have to think of ways to survive each battle). Tekken force mode is a great addition to the game and it helps you get a feel of the characters in a beat ‘em up style gameplay and going through the four stages seeing how far you can go. Honestly there’s so much to do in the game and you’ll be hooked and how great the gameplay is and how much it offers for the price you paid back in the days. 

A 10 out of 10. 

Difficulty: 9

You can change the options on the settings but this will be on Normal. The difficulty of the game is like the previous titles. It’s more about skills and patience rather than luck to win fights. Getting deeper into the last three fights you’ll see how difficult it is to beat the opponents. It’s manageable but they’re quarter munchers. 

It begs the question now. How is the rating that high? Learning how to play each character is the challenge since each possess a unique fighting style and button commands. Sure some are easy like a simple 1 and 2 but other combos make you have to wait a second or learn how to time the buttons right. The game itself is easy to play but hard to master, so learning one or two characters seem manageable and able to master them if playing competitively. Another thing is if players aren’t used to the tekken controls, it’ll take some time since it isn’t the traditional six buttons but rather each button uses a limb of their body like previous installments. 

The gameplay is difficult to a degree but learning the character’s movesets is a different story depending on which character. A 9 out of 10


Overall, this was the game I played the most with siblings back in the day. Sure it was a demo disc and it was only Eddy and Xiaoyu but we had a lot of fun playing against each other. Playing the actual game now I can see how much I was missing out and surprised how content rich it is back in the days. The graphics are amazing, the sound is magnificent, the characters each have a personality and gameplay is so fluid that I can see why it’s the most popular fighting game of its time. Dang even today it’s still considered a gem and one of the best. The graphics haven’t aged much and the fighting is still fun. To me I feel like Tekken 3 is what made the game become a mainstay for the series. Seriously one of the best games I have ever played and I will still play it from time to time, pfft I’ll probably buy a physical copy of the disc if it’s not that expensive. For this review I’m giving this rating 

My rating: 9.5 / 10

Review rating : 9.3 / 10