Classic Moments: Tekken 3

We revisit Namco’s superb Playstation sequel

You’ve always enjoyed the lighter side of fighting games – you always finished off your Mortal Kombat II victories with a Friendship and quickly developed a soft spot for comedy fighter Dan in the Street Fighter Alpha games. Tekken 2 certainly had its moments, what with Roger, Alex and Kuma, but they all felt a bit too sincere and viable. Going into Tekken 3, you couldn’t help but expect more of the same.

You were wrong. As soon as you unlocked Tekken Ball, you knew that Namco had decided to embrace absurdity to its fullest extent. The concept was simple – attack the ball to either make your opponent miss it, or hit them hard in the chops. But the execution was glorious. There you were, a heavily muscled man in a jaguar mask, fighting a tiny farting dinosaur in some sort of weirdly violent volleyball game. Next time you had people over for a games night, there was no question of what you were showing them – after all, who wouldn’t want to see that?