On March 26, 1998 the Namco 3D fighting game that would mark an entire generation of players was officially released on PlayStation: we are naturally talking about Tekken 3, which officially celebrated its first 25 years today.
The third chapter of the saga made its debut on Sony home consoles just a year after its arcade release, which instead took place on March 20, 1997: in Europe we even had to wait for September 12 before being able to try it on consoles, but the wait was amply repaid by gameplay and a quantity of content that still remains in the hearts of millions of fans today.
Although the Bandai Namco saga has in fact evolved over time, as demonstrated by the excellent Tekken 7 (find it on Amazon) and the eighth chapter still in development, there are still many fans who nostalgically recall the title in which Jin Kazama debuted as the protagonist and new playable fighter, along with those who have become iconic faces such as Ling Xiaoyu, Hwoarang, Eddy Gordo and Bryan Fury.
A game that also helped make the 3D fighting game genre immensely popular and one of most successful in the history of PS1, capable of selling as many as six million copies worldwide: therefore, the best wishes of fans from all over the world could not be missing, after Tekken 3 has officially accompanied us for a quarter of a century.
On ResetEra , the fans have in fact gathered to remember the 25th birthday of the third episode of the fighting game saga, capable of marking an entire generation and which, for many players, turned out to be even the first fighting game ever played.
Some people remember not only the many extra playable modes and the numerous unlockable characters secrets, which considerably extended the longevity of the title, but also those who underline that it was an incredibly ambitious title in terms of presentation, with a perfect mix of gameplay, sophisticated soundtrack and graphics, thanks also to the FMV cutscenes — like the introductory movie that we’ll replay below, with no small amount of nostalgia.
Other users underline how it turned out to be an incredible graphical upgrade compared to Tekken 2, recently proposed on PlayStation Plus Premium — and which we re-told you in our review — thus helping to attract even more curious users.
But there are also those who remember the great accessibility of the fighting game, who managed to bring newbies of the genre closer together — and it didn’t matter that they only used the same moves repeatedly (who said Eddy?) .
In short, we can only join in wishing a happy 25th birthday to Tekken 3: a chapter that launched not only the franchise in videogame Olympus, but which marked an entire generation.
Recall that the third episode of the saga also saw the debut of King II, the legendary wrestler with the jaguar mask who took the place of his master – who appeared instead in the first two chapters of the saga – and who will return in great style also on Tekken 8.
Another of the most iconic fighters is certainly Paul Phoenix, but on the occasion of the eighth chapter of the saga he decided to totally review his look, abandoning his famous haircut.
