Tekken 3

Namco released Tekken 3 into arcades in March 1997, the first game in the series to run on the Namco System 12 board. That hardware jump showed immediately: smoother animation, richer backgrounds, and a fighting system that finally let every character step into the depth of the arena with a dedicated sidestep. The roster turned over almost completely. Out went a chunk of the old guard, in came Jin Kazama, Ling Xiaoyu, Bryan Fury, Hwoarang, and Eddy Gordo, each carrying a distinct fighting style and a reason to be there. The story picks up nineteen years after Tekken 2, with a new generation settling old scores. The PlayStation port arrived in 1998 and became the version most people remember. Namco packed it with extras, including Tekken Force, a side-scrolling beat 'em up mode that let you brawl through waves of enemies outside the standard versus format. The port moved 8.36 million copies worldwide and sold 35,000 arcade units, which put it among the five best-selling PlayStation games ever. Critics and players have spent decades ranking it near the top of the all-time fighting game list. Tekken Tag Tournament followed in 1999, and Tekken 4 arrived in 2001 as the proper sequel. The arcade original later shipped inside Tekken 5 on PlayStation 2, and the console version resurfaced on Sony's PlayStation Classic. For a 3D fighter rated Teen, its mix of tight juggle combos and a sprawling cast set a benchmark that later entries kept chasing.[edit]