25 Years Later – 'Tekken 3' Fights On To 2022

In 1997, Tekken 3 seemed like a glance of the future. 25 years later, does it still have a fighting chance?

[KingofBandits]

Tekken 3 and Tekken Tag were the pinnacle of the series imo. so much variety, good balance and mini games that were crazy addictive. Fighting games have kind of fell off a lot since those days. Outside of Tekken SoulCalibur 2 was in my opinion a near perfect fighter. Shame the genre has gone the way of DLC hell and designed around eSports

[Kurisu]

If Tekken 3 is available through PS Plus Premium then I'll cry tears of joy.

[specialguest]

That time when it was released in the arcade was also at the height of the arcade era (not including the early 80s era), before arcades started to decline. It was a fun time back then

[Unknown_Gamer5794]

Unfortunately, fighting games lend themselves well to DLC and season passes, even more so than most other genres, and even more unfortunately, devs behind these games know it. Content such as characters, modes, stages and even costumes/skins are all things that could be put behind paywalls, and it all seems to fit the genre like a glove. For the above reason, we will likely never go back to the days of fighting games being sold to us as complete packages, which is all the more reason why I appreciate retro titles.

I don't have anything to add on the eSports scene as I don't follow it.

Tekken 3 holds a special place in my heart as it was my first real introduction to fighting games. Well, it was the first one I owned at least, and got me into the genre. I had come across games like Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat in arcades, and visited friends with Super Nintendos to get my butt kicked at whatever then current fighting game they had.

It wasn't until I was in the 3rd grade and got my PS1 that I really had the opportunity to dive into a fighting game with Tekken 3, and what a ride it was. I unlocked everything, and I mean everything, from characters and modes to alternate costumes, and yes, I even unlocked the secret characters. Man, I miss that game so much, and yeah, I also miss the days when a game like that could have so much content for a single price of admission.

[ROCKY28]

Playing this game on dreamcast with improved textures thanks to Bleem is incredible!

[Tetsujin]

Tekken 3 is what a fighting game should be in terms of balance and replayability. The character variety, mini games, special characters, the endings, the sound track, the game set a standard in fighting games.

Then along came Tekken Tag arcade, the arcade game that brought me back into the scene after conquering Marvel vs Capcom and Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter.

Then Capcom vs SNK

Then Capcom vs SNK 2