HOOOOOOOOOLY SHIT

so, here's the thing. i loved tekken 2. while still clearly the product of a company and series finding their respective footing, it was such a clear step up from the original tekken that i found myself smitten pretty quickly, even though my copy of tekken 2 has been possessed by the vengeful spirit of kazuya mishima. so consider it all the more impressive then that tekken 3 is EXPONENTIALLY better than tekken 2 in every conceivably direction to such an extent that i kind of can't believe that this game came out less than 3 years after the original.

i like tekken 2's vibes because the levels look and sound like the sort of nightmarish liminal spaces you'd find in a zoomer dreamcore playlist, between the eerie-looking jpgs of real-life hills and cityscapes that are clearly plastered onto 2d walls trying desperately to pass as settlements far-off in the distance. i like the way tekken 2 plays because it manages to establish a captivating rhythm and flow in each fight, having shaken off just enough of the rust to get things really moving and groving in each battle to the death - everything is a little uncanny, but still hard-hitting. in the starkest possible contrast every single thing about tekken 3 feels undeniably and unrestrainedly alive - fights move to the sort of stylized, choreographed cadence you really only see in wachowski flicks, accentuated by the blaring big-beat soundtrack that permeates most every stage. characters move and fight like people, stages feel and look like real places, and every fight feels like a narrative interplay between two opposing forces that remain irreconcilable in spite of their connecting square in the middle: movesets aren't just a means to an end, but an expression of character, a statement all their own.

speaking of character - things start to really pick up and get interesting in the little vignettes of story you get at the end of each campaign mode, and while i can't wait for a more coherently fleshed-out and conventionally told story come tekken 4 i kind of love the tiny glimpses into the intersection between each character's own individual stories in tekken 3 - jin being tossed aside by his groomer grandfather once he's outlived his usefulness only to succumb to and weaponize the same hatred being shown to him against heihachi, hworang choosing to direct his frustration and disaffection with heihachi at the tekken force soldiers in order to give jin a chance to escape, anna's eventual failure to protect nina from the cycle that made them who they are as they eventually succumb to the same-old-same-old of mutual abuse and sisterly hatred... while there are a fair few lighthearted endings that just want to show a funny little clip or show a character doing some cool-boy shit, there's a recurring and resounding feeling of futility as characters fight back against the cyclical nature of tekken's storytelling only to fail, find themselves right at point zero of that cycle, and then get back up and try again. hell, isn't that what fighting games are all about?

...unfortunately, as perfect as the fighting game portion itself is i feel like the side content kind of overextends itself in a pretty poor way. tekken force is a cute idea but is frankly just kind of bafflingly designed, and tekkenball... nobody gives a shit about tekkenball. sometimes it feels like the game Commits To The Bit too often for its own good; joke characters like gon or mokujin coming up in arcade mode can really break up the flow and turn the usual routine of meaningful counterplay into guesswork and tedium. hope you like spamming low kicks and somersaults.

still, though, i'm not thinking about any of that shit when i run through arcade mode for the tenth time in a row just for the sake of trying and seeing what combos work and how i can play with my food before going in for the kill. i'm just thinking about how fucking fun tekken 3 is whenever it's in its element and hones in on what it's all about.