PS Plus Premium subscribers need to play this legendary retro fighting game right now

The PlayStation Plus service is arguably one of the best values on a subscription service for people that enjoy playing games on platforms like PlayStation 5. On the higher tiers, players have access to a number of recent releases and classic PlayStation games that are readily available to download, with more that are periodically added. In the most recent update for PlayStation Plus, subscribers finally have access to one of the most legendary fighting games to release on the original PlayStation console.

To many people, Tekken 3 is one of the best games for the PlayStation. It was a monumental release that was a great follow-up to its predecessor, which pushed the genre forward in big ways. To this day, it remains one of the biggest fighting game releases of all-time. And now that the game is finally downloadable for PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers, it's something that everyone with access to the classics catalog should play on their consoles now.

New stage of 3D fighting

The king of iron fists continues

Both the original Tekken and Tekken 2 were big games for the PlayStation 1 library. While games like Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat were dominating the fighting genre in arcades, Tekken managed to find a footing on home consoles. Although the series was playable in arcades, it didn't really take off until people were able to boot up the series on the PS1. From there, the landscape of fighting games changed forever.

It was a pretty significant time when Tekken 3 finally released on the console. Not only did the game need to live up to the hype of Tekken 2, but overcome the perception of third entries often faltering for various gaming franchises. Luckily for everyone back then, Tekken 3 managed to deliver more than what people expected. Not only was the gameplay tweaked even further, but the series grew even more to build out its universe and cast of characters. Most people, when they think of the Tekken series and reference it, they often remember Tekken 3 over other games.

To many people, Tekken 3 has a lot of new faces that appear for the first time, and would eventually go on to be staples of the series moving forward. The original protagonist, Kazuya Mishima, took a back seat to Jin Kazama stepping forward in the main plot, while many stories for the entire roster played out in the background. With new fighters came an ensemble of new moves and combos to master, making an already deep fighting system even deeper.

The style of Tekken

A look and feel that was unique

Compared to other 3D fighting games back then, and even now, Tekken is a franchise that stands out for it's unique sound and feel when played. A lot of the characteristics from what we know of the Tekken games now can be traced back to both Tekken 2 and Tekken 3. Everything from the sound of the music that plays, the diversity in visuals for stages, and how it feels to move in this kind of 3D space are almost perfected in Tekken 3. The first two games may have laid the foundation for the franchise, but Tekken 3 finely tuned everything to make a new gold standard for other 3D fighting games to be measured by.

At the same time, Tekken 3 wasn't a completely easy game to play. It was definitely more streamlined than the complexity of a series like Sega's Virtual Fighter games, but playing Tekken still required some level of skill. Tekken 3 adds more attacks and unique moves for each character on the roster, opening up new kinds of techniques and options for them in different match-ups. Strategies from the previous game could still work, but there was a lot more to do with all the new changes. And the number of new fighters that could be unlocked by playing through Arcade mode offered even more for players to explore.

Tekken 3 was also the first in the series to give characters the ability to sidestep in a match. This opened up defensive options in 3D space, while also making offensive options require a bit more thought. This was something that was game-changing because it prevented fights from being locked into 2D movement within a 3D space, something that wasn't possible in Tekken 2. Instead of front and back movement, fighters could dodge to the side to avoid damage and counterattack with devastating effects. It made matches a lot more dynamic in 3D, and a lot more exciting as a whole.

Sone great extra goodies

When bonuses were fun

Most classic fighting games often have bonuses and secrets that lead to new fighters being playable and other unique secrets for players to discover. But Tekken 3 was a little different because it offered more than just the 3D fighting to entertain players. There were variations on the fights that were possible, including team matches and a survival challenge, which can mix things up a bit. But it was the extra modes like Tekken Force and Tekken Ball Mode that took things in wild new directions.

Tekken Force is a take on the brawler or beat-em-up genre, which was dominated by classics like Streets of Rage and Final Fight. But taking the Tekken 3 combat and putting it into a side-scrolling brawler made things very interesting. The mode had four main stages that players could battle through, with a boss battle against a character at the end of each stage that played like a regular Tekken match. It was a fun change of pace that was very different from what was seen in the previous game. Completing Tekken Force with a few characters even unlocked another playable character, which gave more incentive for everyone to explore it.

On the other side of the extras was Tekken Ball Mode, a goofy game type that had fighters engaging in a version of volleyball with a Tekken twist. This mode had to be unlocked by playing through the main Arcade mode with a few characters, but could also lead to more goodies being unlocked. For Tekken 3, this was the mode where people were introduced to the goofier side of the series, including the joke character known as Gon, a mini dinosaur that can fight with boxing gloves. The mode itself is a complete distraction that can be fun for those who want to goof around, but the mode also managed to be highly memorable with players, and was eventually brought back in some ways in later games.

A true PlayStation classic

Nearly every person that owned a PlayStation console back in 1998 owned a copy of Tekken 3 at some point. The game is highly regarded as one of the best fighting games of all-time, and still played to this day by fighting game enthusiasts who love the series. It not only significantly added to the growing legacy of the franchise, but managed to influence other fighting games in the genre to reach a higher standard. If there's one game that should be played through the PlayStation Plus Premium classics, it's definitely Tekken 3. The game is a true classic that is highly relevant to the legacy of PlayStation, and still incredibly fun to play.