177-626: Tekken 3 ( 鉄拳3 ) is a 1997 fighting video game , the third title in Namco 's Tekken series, and the first game built on the Namco System 12 arcade hardware. Plotwise, the game takes place twenty years after Tekken 2 (1995) and features a largely new cast of characters, including the debut of several now-staple characters such as Jin Kazama , Ling Xiaoyu and Bryan Fury , and adds sidestepping ability to every character in-game . Tekken 3
354-483: A 3rd Strike semi-final match held at Evolution Championship Series 2004 (Evo 2004) between Daigo Umehara and Justin Wong . During this match, Umehara made an unexpected comeback by parrying 15 consecutive hits of Wong's "Super Art" move using Chun-Li while Umehara had only one pixel on his health bar. Umehara subsequently won the match. "Evo Moment #37" is frequently described as the most iconic and memorable moment in
531-518: A beat 'em up minigame called "Tekken Force", which pits the player in various stages against enemies in a side-scrolling fashion. The concept was expanded on in a minigame for Tekken 4 , and succeeded by the Devil Within campaign mode in Tekken 5 . Another minigame is known as "Tekken Ball", similar to beach volleyball , where the player must hit the ball with a powerful attack to pulverize
708-710: A "Gold" award from the Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (VUD) in November 1998 for sales above 100,000 units, with the VUD later raising it to "Platinum" status indicating over 200,000 sales by August 1999. At the 1999 Milia festival in Cannes , it took home a "Gold" prize for revenues above €36 million or $ 40,000,000 (equivalent to $ 75,000,000 in 2023) in the European Union during 1998. Tekken 3 grossed
885-481: A 4.5 out of 5 for graphics and sound and a 5.0 for control and funfactor. While noting that it was visually not up with its competitor Virtua Fighter 3 , the reviewer said it was stunning in its own right and features phenomenally responsive and easy controls. The game was a runner-up for "Arcade Game of the Year" (behind NFL Blitz ) at Electronic Gaming Monthly ' s 1997 Editors' Choice Awards. Tekken 3 became
1062-571: A best-of-three matches format like later fighting games, and has training bonus stages . The Player vs Player edition of Karate Champ , released later that year, is also the first fighting game to allow two-player duel. It influenced Konami 's Yie Ar Kung Fu , released in October 1984. The game drew heavily from Bruce Lee films, with the main player character Oolong modelled after Lee (like in Bruceploitation films). In contrast to
1239-475: A boxing game featuring a behind-the-character perspective, maneuvers such as blocking and dodging, and stamina meters that are depleted or replenished by blows. Karate Champ was developed by Technōs Japan and released by Data East in May 1984, and is credited with establishing and popularizing the one-on-one fighting game genre. A variety of moves can be performed using the dual-joystick controls. It uses
1416-519: A brutal and gruesome finishing move onto the defeated opponent. Prompted by the announcer saying "Finish Him!", players have a short time window to execute a Fatality by entering a specific button and joystick combination while positioned at a specific distance from the opponent. The Fatality and its derivations are arguably the most notable features of the Mortal Kombat series with cultural impact and controversies . Fighting games often include
1593-411: A character's health, and the round continues until a fighter's health reaches zero. Hence, the main goal is to completely deplete the health bar of one's opponent, thus achieving a " knockout ". Games such as Virtua Fighter also allow a character to be defeated by forcing them outside of the arena, awarding a "ring-out" to the victor. The Super Smash Bros. series allows players to send fighters off
1770-535: A classmate named Ling Xiaoyu and her pet Panda . He also met Hwoarang during a street fight in which they fought to a draw, leading to a persistent rivalry. 4 years later, Jin masters the Mishima karate style. On Jin's 19th birthday, Heihachi announces the King of Iron Fist Tournament 3, and Jin himself prepares for his upcoming battle, having no idea that his grandfather is secretly using him, Xiaoyu, Hwoarang, and
1947-612: A commander of the Tekken Force. Anna later becomes playable in Tekken 7 as part of the Season 2 DLC. After the tumultuous events of Tekken 6 , Anna's spirit grew weary of constant conflict. After finally retiring, she meets and falls in love with an elite soldier in the G Corporation. However, tragedy strikes on the day of their planned wedding, when the sound of gunfire suddenly fills the venue amidst preparations. Anna rushes toward
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#17327759759312124-449: A distinct fighting style seen in the games. Namco × Capcom (2005) Armor King ( アーマー・キング , Āmā Kingu ) is a professional wrestler and was a rival of King when the latter was still an inexperienced wrestler. He suffered eye damage in a fight with King, but when he later found King distraught and drunk in an alleyway, Armor King convinced him to get back into fighting and enter the second King of Iron Fist tournament. After King
2301-470: A fixed-size arena along a two-dimensional plane , where characters navigate the plane horizontally by walking or dashing, and vertically by jumping. Some games allow limited movement in 3D space, such as Tekken , while some are set in fully three-dimensional environments without restricting characters' movement, such as Power Stone and Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm ; these are sometimes referred to as "3D arena" fighting games. The fighting game genre
2478-580: A further €57,209,778 or $ 60,974,181 (equivalent to $ 112,000,000 in 2023) in Europe during 1999, adding up to over €93,209,778 or $ 100,974,181 (equivalent to $ 189,000,000 in 2023) grossed in Europe by 1999, and more than $ 150,000,000 (equivalent to $ 280,000,000 in 2023) across Europe and the United States by 1999. According to Tekken series producer Katsuhiro Harada , Tekken 3 sold 8.36 million copies during its initial release on
2655-511: A game that featured unprecedentedly detailed pre-rendered 3D graphics and vastly improved on the core concept of combos, presenting a way faster gameplay than most other games of that era, specific combo-breaker maneuvers, and the "Ultra", a series of combined finishing moves surpassing the number of 20 hits. Many of the games of that period were low budget clones of the more popular games, and in some cases this led to controversy; in 1994, Capcom USA took unsuccessful legal action against Data East over
2832-417: A greater number of animations, but otherwise play like those rendered in two dimensions. Games that are fully three-dimensional without a 2D plane are sometimes referred to as "3D arena" fighting games. Aside from restricting movement space, fighting games confine the player's actions to offensive and defensive maneuvers. Players must learn each game's effective combinations of attacks and defenses. Blocking
3009-421: A headband of matching red color as Heihachi's karate belt. Before G Corporation fully takes over Mishima Zaibatsu and its assets, Kuma rescues one of the researchers from Mishima Heavy Industries in time, who eventually provides him aimable salmon-like rocket explosives during The King of Iron Fist Tournament 8 . After Kuma learns the truth behind Heihachi's death, he ultimately sides with Jin against Kazuya. During
3186-482: A hit when countering zoning. The opposite of turtling , rushdown refers to a number of specific aggressive strategies, philosophies, and play styles across all fighting games. The general goal of a rushdown play style is to overwhelm the opponent and force costly mistakes, either by using fast, confusing setups or by taking advantage of an impatient opponent as they are forced to play defense for prolonged periods of time. Rushdown players often favor attacking opponents in
3363-504: A journalist who lost his family in the war that occurred during the sixth tournament to join his cause, as well as a redeemed Jin to investigate how the Mishima affair first started. In the eighth tournament , ahead of Kazuya's public revelation to the world as a devil, Lee manages to recruit Alisa's "father", Doctor Bosconovitch, and by extension, Manji Clan, to co-develop an aircraft carrier Vlodnir, and armored suits for their allies, including Lee himself against Kazuya, while also aiding
3540-579: A leader of his Tekken Force unit, Kuma forfeit his spot in the King of Iron Fist Tournament 7 where he supposedly would have fought his old enemy Paul again. Instead, Paul's opponent is Kuma's crush, Panda (unbeknownst to Kuma himself). Kuma's last known location during the tournament was the Philippines, where he and his unit provides supplies for the Filipino survivors of a typhoon disaster. After earning
3717-406: A mysterious and malevolent creature known as Ogre . Having captured a brief glimpse of Ogre before its immediate disappearance, Heihachi seeks to capture Ogre in the hopes of harnessing its immense fighting power for his own personal gain. Soon after, Nina Williams was awakened from Dr. Bosconovitch 's cold-sleep machine. Various known martial artists end up dead, attacked, or missing from all over
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#17327759759313894-606: A number of games that sparked another surge in fighting game popularity. Super Smash Bros. Brawl was released in early March 2008 to universal acclaim and went on to set a new record in sales, at one point selling at 120 units per minute. Another game was Street Fighter IV , the series' first mainline title since Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike in 1999, which was released in early 2009 also to critical acclaim, having garnered praise since its debut at Japanese arcades in July 2008. The console versions of Street Fighter IV , as well as
4071-595: A palette swap of Nina Williams in the arcade version, into a distinct character with her own moveset, voice clip, and ending. There are also several unplayable enemies faced only during the Tekken Force minigame. The console version only features 10 characters available by default, with the rest being unlocked by fulfilling various conditions. ^a Unlockable character ^b Unplayable enemy in Tekken Force mode ^c Skin/palette swap ^d Only playable in console version ^e Only skin/palette swap in arcade cabinet 15 years after
4248-482: A perfect score." He also praised the sound effects, music, and graphics. Next Generation reviewed the PlayStation version, and stated that "There is no better fighting game, on this system or any other. It's clearly superior to the previous games in the series and a stunning value for Tekken aficionados." According to PlayStation: The Official Magazine in 2009, Tekken 3 "is still widely considered one of
4425-431: A player at any time. The game also introduced pressure-sensitive controls that determine the strength of an attack, though due to causing damaged arcade cabinets, Capcom replaced it soon after with a six-button control scheme offering light, medium, and hard punches and kicks, which became another staple of the genre. In 1988, Home Data released Reikai Dōshi: Chinese Exorcist , also known as Last Apostle Puppet Show ,
4602-615: A popular genre for amateur and doujin developers in Japan. The 2002 title Melty Blood was developed by then-amateur developer French Bread and achieved cult success on the PC . It became highly popular in arcades following its 2005 release, and a version was released for the PlayStation 2 the following year. The late 1990s and early 2000s saw the rise in online gaming . In 2004, Mortal Kombat: Deception , Dead or Alive Ultimate , and
4779-441: A realistic fighting engine that features three-dimensional environments while abandoning time limits and health bars in favor of an innovative Body Damage System, where a sword strike to a certain body part can amputate a limb or decapitate the head. Video game enthusiasts took an interest in fictional crossovers , which feature characters from multiple franchises in a particular game. An early example of this type of fighting game
4956-524: A response to hackers of the original Street Fighter II game to add new features. However, criticism of these updates grew as players demanded a true sequel. By 1995, the dominant franchises were the Mortal Kombat series in America and the Virtua Fighter series in Japan, with Street Fighter Alpha unable to match the popularity of Street Fighter II . Throughout this period, the fighting game
5133-472: A restaurant in San Francisco's Chinatown , and like his close friend Paul Phoenix , financial difficulty becomes his primary motive for entering the King of Iron Fist fighting tournaments held throughout the Tekken series. His appearance and fighting style are based on Hong Kong martial artist and actor Bruce Lee . Sometimes known as "The Fighting Chef", Law is the father of Forest Law . He enters
5310-613: A series of bosses , and Enter the Dragon (1973), about an international martial arts tournament. Other inspiration is Japanese martial arts works, including the manga and anime series Karate Master (1971–1977), and Sonny Chiba 's The Street Fighter (1974). Before martial arts games, the earliest video games with fist-fighting are boxing games , featuring battles between characters with fantastic abilities and complex special maneuvers. Sega 's black-and-white boxing game Heavyweight Champ , released for arcades in 1976,
5487-487: A set number of lives (called stocks) for each player (usually three), and if the score is tied between two or more fighters when time runs out, then a " sudden death " match will take place by delivering a single hit to an opponent with 300% damage. Fighting games widely feature health bars , introduced in Yie Ar Kung-Fu in 1984, which are depleted as characters sustain blows. Each successful attack will deplete
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5664-493: A set number of rounds (typically three ), beginning with the announcer's signal. If the score is tied after an even number of rounds (such as 1-1), then the winner is decided in the final round. Round decisions can also be determined by time over, which judge players based on remaining health to declare a winner. In the Super Smash Bros. series, the rules are different. Instead of rounds, the games usually give players
5841-724: A short amount of time in the console version. ^7 Only in Tekken 5 and in the Devil Within mode. ^8 Not playable and available in Round 2. ^9 As King I/Kuma I. ^10 As King II/Kuma II. ^11 Only playable in story mode in The Dark Awakens. ^12 Unlockable if not selected in Adventure Mode. ^13 Only playable in Fight Lab mode for the prologue. Anna Williams ( Japanese : アンナ・ウィリアムズ , Hepburn : An'na U~Iriamuzu )
6018-473: A single-player campaign or tournament, where the player must defeat a sequence of several computer-controlled opponents. Winning the tournament often reveals a special story-ending cutscene , and some games also grant access to hidden characters or special features upon victory. Tekken introduced the concept of story modes in 1994 with the first arcade full motion video cutscenes for each character's victory. In most fighting games, players may select from
6195-474: A thought - that Kuma II is smarter than his father, and a good bodyguard for Heihachi. One day, when Kuma was absorbed in watching TV, he suddenly went wild at the sight of a martial artist with a scarlet go-gi - it was Paul Phoenix. Kuma has trained since that day to defeat Paul in the King of Iron Fist Tournament 3 . He doesn't think anything of Ogre, who is the God of Fighting; only of defeating Paul. However, during
6372-465: A type of action game where two (in one-on-one fighting games) or more (in platform fighters ) on-screen characters fight each other. These games typically feature special moves that are triggered using rapid sequences of carefully timed button presses and joystick movements. Games traditionally show fighters from a side view, even as the genre has progressed from two-dimensional (2D) to three-dimensional (3D) graphics. Street Fighter II , though not
6549-482: A variety of playable characters with unique fighting styles, special moves, and personalities. This became a strong convention for the genre with the release of Street Fighter II (1991), and these character choices have led to deeper game strategy and replay value. Custom character creation, or "create–a–fighter", is a feature of some fighting games that allows a player to customize the appearance and move set of their own character. Super Fire Pro Wrestling X Premium
6726-426: A variety of computer-controlled fighters, Street Fighter II allowed players to play against each other. The popularity of Street Fighter II surprised the gaming industry, as arcade owners bought more machines to keep up with demand. Street Fighter II was also responsible for popularizing the combo mechanic, which came about when skilled players learned that they could combine several attacks that left no time for
6903-521: Is a Japanese sumo wrestler who is barred from the sport for infractions such as firebreathing and taunting his opponents. This rejection, coupled with his mounting gambling debts, steers him into a life of crime. Heihachi Mishima hires him as a henchman for the first King of Iron Fist tournament, in which Ganryu loses to Yoshimitsu , who then drains Ganryu's remaining finances and leaves him broke. Kazuya Mishima pays him handsomely for his services in his Mishima Zaibatsu corporation. Ganryu participates in
7080-523: Is a basic defense against basic attacks. Some games feature more advanced blocking techniques; for example, Capcom's Street Fighter III features a move termed " parrying ", which can be immediately followed by counter-attack, skipping the temporary stun a block would have put them in. A similar stun state is termed "just defended" in SNK 's Garou: Mark of the Wolves . An integral feature of fighting games
7257-451: Is a common element of gameplay . Fighting games emphasize the height of blows, ranging from low to jumping attacks. Thus, strategy requires predicting adversarial moves, similar to rock–paper–scissors . In addition to blows, players can utilize throwing or grappling to circumvent blocks. Most fighting games allow a grapple move by pressing two or more buttons together, or simply by pressing punch or kick while being directly adjacent to
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7434-406: Is belonged to Jane. The first Kuma was once an abandoned bear cub in the forests of the Mishima estate. Heihachi Mishima found Kuma and took him in as his pet. Despite Kuma's unflinching loyalty to his master, Kuma often left Heihachi's side to sleep, even during the summer. This lazy approach means that Kuma's fighting style has never really matured and is very disjointed. This was demonstrated in
7611-463: Is captured by Mishima Zaibatsu's forces and becomes a subject of Dr. Bosconovitch 's cryongenic research. Likewise, Anna is captured by Kazuya and joins her sister in a cryogenic slumber. In Tekken 3 , following their subjection to cryogenic sleep in Tekken 2 , Nina awakes fifteen years later under the possessive influence of the recently unearthed Ogre , who compels her to target Jin Kazama for assassination. Anna awakens with her sister, though
7788-466: Is considered the first video game with fist fighting. Vectorbeam 's arcade video game Warrior (1979) is sometimes credited as one of the first fighting games; in contrast to Heavyweight Champ and most later games, Warrior is based on sword fighting duels and uses a bird's-eye view . Sega 's jidaigeki -themed arcade action game Samurai , released in March 1980, features a boss battle where
7965-502: Is considered to be the "Dark Age" of fighting games. The two most prolific developers of 2D fighting games, Capcom and SNK, combined intellectual property to produce SNK vs. Capcom games. SNK released the first game of this type, SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium , for its Neo Geo Pocket Color handheld at the end of 1999. GameSpot regarded the game as "perhaps the most highly anticipated fighter ever" and called it
8142-458: Is distinctly related to the beat 'em up genre, which pits many computer-controlled enemies against one or more player characters. The first video game to feature fist fighting is Heavyweight Champ (1976), but Karate Champ (1984) actually features the one-on-one fighting game genre instead of a sports game in arcades . Yie Ar Kung-Fu was released later that year with various fighting styles and introduced health meters , and The Way of
8319-399: Is killed by Ogre , Armor King trains a new fighter who sports a jaguar mask similar to that of King's. Armor King is not selectable in Tekken 4 , as he is beaten to death in a bar fight instigated by Australian brawler Craig Marduk , who then steals his mask and mockingly wears it in the tournament, provoking Armor King's protege King into entering the competition to seek revenge. Marduk
8496-476: Is mitigated by technology such as GGPO , which synchronizes players by quickly rolling back to the most recent accurate game state, correcting errors, and then jumping back to the current frame. Such games include Skullgirls and Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition . The first fighting games were fundamentally inspired by martial arts films , especially Bruce Lee 's Hong Kong action cinema . Films include Game of Death (1972), where Lee fights
8673-606: Is not a port , but a separately produced game based on the same premise. Capcom released Street Fighter III in 1997 which features improved 2D visuals, but is also unable to match the impact of earlier games. Excitement stirred in Japan over Virtua Fighter 3 in arcades, and Sega eventually ported the game to its Dreamcast console. Meanwhile, SNK released several fighting games on its Neo Geo platform, including Samurai Shodown II in 1994, Real Bout Fatal Fury in 1995, The Last Blade in 1997, and annual updates to its The King of Fighters franchise. Garou: Mark of
8850-451: Is suddenly gunned down by a squadron of the Tekken Force led by Heihachi, who no longer needs him, he personally fires a final shot into his grandson's head. Jin, who is unexpectedly revived by the Devil within him, reawakens and dispatches the soldiers, smashing Heihachi through the wall of the temple. Jin then sprouts black, feathery wings and flies off into the night as Heihachi, who survived
9027-729: Is the 1996 arcade release X-Men vs. Street Fighter (which later became the Marvel vs. Capcom series), featuring comic book superheroes and characters from other Capcom games. In 1999, Nintendo released the first game in the Super Smash Bros. series, which allowed match-ups from various franchises, such as Pikachu vs. Mario . In the early 2000s, the fighting genre boom turned to bust. In retrospect, multiple developers attribute its decline to its increasing complexity and specialization, and to other factors such as over-saturation . This complexity shut out casual players, and
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#17327759759319204-404: Is the final boss in the arcade mode. The mist steps also allow combos to be performed as a manner of "crouch dashing," or when the Mishima player could run to the opponent while crouching since regular running prevented executing easy combos. Polygonal fighters became trendy and many developers started to make them. Further all-new titles were released in 1995: Zero Divide on the PlayStation,
9381-400: Is the flamboyant younger sister of Nina Williams . Their father, Richard, a former assassin, trained the two in a variety of martial arts. However, when Richard dies under mysterious circumstances, the sisters accuse each other, marking the beginning of a fierce, long-lasting feud. With both sisters going their separate ways, Anna enlists in a paramilitary organization and becomes an officer in
9558-511: Is the use of "special attacks", also called "secret moves", that employ combinations of directional inputs and button presses to perform a particular move beyond basic punching and kicking. Some special moves, which play an animation portraying an aspect of the character's personality, are referred to as taunts . Originated by Japanese company SNK in Art of Fighting (1992), these add humor, and they effect gameplay in certain games, such as improving
9735-698: Is then attacked in Tekken 5 by what is believed to be Armor King, but his assailant is revealed in Tekken 6 as the original Armor King's younger brother. After recovering from a brutal beating where he and Marduk knocked out each other and brought to hospital by King, the younger Armor King accepts Marduk's challenge for a retirement match arranged by King in Tekken 7 . English Lowell B. Bartholomee ( Tekken: The Motion Picture ) Earl Baylon ( Tekken: Bloodline ) Japanese Banjō Ginga ( Tekken ) Takashi Nagasako ( TK2 - Tekken Tag Tournament ; Tekken: The Motion Picture ) Hidenari Ugaki ( TK5 -present) Ganryu ( Japanese : 巌竜 , Hepburn : Ganryū )
9912-430: Is to force an opponent to take significant risks to approach the zoning player's character, or to stall out the in-game timer, which causes the player with more health (typically the one doing the zoning) to win. The effectiveness of the latter strategy varies from game to game, based on the effectiveness of zoning tools as well as the length of the in-game timer and the rewards characters can receive for successfully landing
10089-494: Is unaffected by Ogre's influence. In an act of compassion, Anna sets out to stop Nina, who had lost her memories, from reverting to her assassin ways and to help regain her memories. However, her efforts are in vain as Nina suddenly recalls her lifelong feud with Anna, resulting in Nina leaving and severing all ties with her younger sister. Anna is absent as a playable character in Tekken 4 but makes her return in Tekken 5 , when
10266-499: The Gundam: Battle Assault series. This genre is distinctly related to beat 'em ups, another action genre involving combat, where the player character must fight many enemies at the same time. Beat 'em ups, like traditional fighting games, display player and enemy health in a bar, generally located at the top of the screen. However, beat 'em ups generally do not feature combat divided into separate "rounds". During
10443-747: The King of the Iron Fist Tournament 2 , Heihachi Mishima has established the Tekken Force: a paramilitary organization dedicated to the protection of the Mishima Zaibatsu. Using the company's influence, Heihachi is responsible for many events that have ultimately led to world peace. One day, a squadron of Tekken Force soldiers searched an ancient temple located in Mexico under the premise of an excavation project. Soon after arriving there, Heihachi learns that they were obliterated by
10620-576: The PlayStation took eight months, significantly longer than the conversions of Tekken and Tekken 2 , due to Tekken 3 being designed for Namco System 12, making it a much more difficult conversion than the previous two games, which were designed for the PlayStation-based Namco System 11. The conversion team was, aside from a few personnel changes, the same group which created both the PlayStation and arcade versions of Tekken and Tekken 2 . The original port of Tekken 3 to
10797-403: The Tekken , Soul and Dead or Alive franchises continued to release installments. Classic Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat games were re-released on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade , allowing internet play, and in some cases, HD graphics. The early part of the decade had seen the rise of competitive video gaming, referred to by the term Esports . The rise in esports saw
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#173277597593110974-656: The Xbox version of Street Fighter Anniversary Collection became the first fighting games to offer online multiplayer and have received positive reception from critics. While the genre became generally far less popular than it once was, arcades and their attendant fighting games remained reasonably popular in Japan during this time period, and remain so even today. Virtua Fighter 5 lacked an online mode, but still achieved success both on home consoles and in arcades; players practiced at home and went to arcades to compete face-to-face with opponents. In addition to Virtua Fighter ,
11151-462: The samurai player character confronts a boss samurai in one-on-one sword-fighting combat. One-on-one boxing games appeared on consoles with Activision 's Atari VCS game Boxing , released in July 1980, and Sega's SG-1000 game Champion Boxing (1983), which is Yu Suzuki 's debut at Sega. Nintendo 's arcade game Punch-Out was developed in 1983 and released in February 1984, as
11328-415: The second tournament as Kazuya's bodyguard, but he also wishes to build his own sumo ring to impress his secret crush, Michelle Chang , but instead, she defeats him in battle and Ganryu returns to Japan. Two decades after the events of Tekken 2, Ganryu opens a sumo stable and trains other wrestlers. However, after seeing Michelle's daughter Julia on television fighting in the fourth tournament, he enters
11505-470: The 1980s to 1990s, publications used the terms "fighting game" and "beat 'em up" interchangeably, along with other terms such as " martial arts simulation" (or more specific terms such as " judo simulator") and "punch-kick" games. Fighting games were still being called "beat 'em up" games in video game magazines up until the end of the 1990s. With hindsight, critics have argued that the two types of game gradually became dichotomous as they evolved, though
11682-557: The 1990s, commenting that "this now classic fighter served as a welcome palette cleanser to the Mortal Kombat / Street Fighter dichotomy that dominated arcades in the 90s." Complex also ranked Tekken 3 as the eighth best PlayStation 1 video game, commenting, "When Tekken 3 finally moved from our local arcade and into our living room, we knew nothing would ever be the same. With an assortment of attacks and combos to learn, along with good controls, graphics, and sound, Tekken 3
11859-466: The 1993 arcade game Fighter's History , which supposedly plagiarized Street Fighter 2 . Data East's largest objection in court was that their 1984 arcade game Karate Champ was the true originator of the competitive fighting game genre, which predated the original Street Fighter by three years, but the reason the case was decided against Capcom was that the copied elements were scènes à faire and thus excluded from copyright. Sega AM2 debuted in
12036-631: The 59th "best game ever", as "it possesses one of the finest fighting systems ever, the series' well-known juggle formula percolated into a perfect storm of throws, strikes, and suplexes." Fighting game The fighting game genre of video games involves combat between multiple characters, often (but not limited to) one-on-one battles. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as blocking , grappling , counter-attacking, and chaining attacks together into " combos ". Characters generally engage hand-to-hand combat , often with martial arts , but some may include weaponry. Battles are usually set in
12213-649: The Exploding Fist (1985) further popularized the genre on home systems. In 1987, Capcom 's Street Fighter introduced special attacks , and in 1991, its highly successful sequel Street Fighter II refined and popularized many genre conventions, including combos. Fighting games subsequently became the preeminent genre for video gaming in the early to mid-1990s, particularly in arcades. This period spawned dozens of other popular fighting games, including franchises like Street Fighter , Mortal Kombat , Super Smash Bros. , and Tekken . Fighting games are
12390-882: The Exploding Fist borrowed heavily from Karate Champ , but nevertheless achieved critical success and afforded the burgeoning genre further popularity on home computers in PAL regions, becoming the UK's best-selling computer game of 1985 . In North America, Data East ported Karate Champ to home computers in October 1985, becoming one of the best-selling computer games of the late 1980s. Other game developers also imitated Karate Champ , notably System 3 's computer game International Karate , released in Europe in November 1985; after Epyx released it in North America in April 1986, Data East took unsuccessful legal action against Epyx over
12567-652: The Iron Fist Tournaments. Meanwhile, she gives birth to her daughter, who would also take the title of Kunimitsu. Kunimitsu I would also appear in the non-canon games Tekken Tag Tournament and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 . Kunimitsu II first appeared in Tekken 7 as a DLC character. This Kunimitsu enters the King of the Iron Fist Tournament 7 with the same goal her mother once had: To steal Yoshimitsu's sword, in an attempt to cheer up her ill mother. She also had an undercover mission at Mishima Polytechnical School, prior to rushing back to her mother to finish what
12744-476: The King of the Iron Fist Tournament to attempt to steal valuable treasure from Michelle Chang . Michelle manages to defeat her in battle. Two years later, upon learning that Yoshimitsu's sword also holds value, she enters the King of the Iron Fist Tournament 2 to try and steal it. When she confronts Yoshimitsu in battle, she is once again defeated. After the previous two failures, Kunimitsu decides to retire from thievery and does not participate in any more King of
12921-484: The PlayStation features two new hidden characters: Gon and Dr. Boskonovitch. Boskonovitch was a late addition; in early 1998 Namco said that Gon would be in the PlayStation version but Boskonovitch's inclusion was still not certain. Anna was made into her own separate character, and given her own character select spot, voice, unique attacks, and ending. The PlayStation version features new "Tekken Force" and "Tekken Ball" modes, as well as all modes present in Tekken 2 . Due to
13098-403: The PlayStation's hardware limitations of less video RAM and lower clock speed, the visual quality was downgraded. The backgrounds were re-made into 2D panoramic images, the number of polygons used for each character were slightly reduced, sound effects played at a high pitch, and the game runs at lower overall resolution. Namco representatives had in fact originally stated that they did not think it
13275-447: The Tekken Force. Anna plays a minor role in the story of the first game , only appearing as a sub-boss character for Nina. Later games, however, would begin to flesh out her story. Tekken 2 saw Nina once again contracted to assassinate the tournament's sponsor, this time being Kazuya Mishima . Whether at Kazuya's behest or Anna's own choice, Anna becomes a bodyguard for Kazuya, along with Ganryu and Bruce Irvin . Soon after, Nina
13452-501: The Tekken tournament as Lee was. Lee is also selectable in the non-canon games Tekken Tag Tournament , Tekken Tag Tournament 2 , Tekken 3D: Prime Edition , and Tekken Revolution . As mentioned before, Violet was first introduced in Tekken 4 as an alter-ego of Lee Chaolan. Serving as his public persona as the CEO of Violet Systems, Lee used this alter-ego to allow himself to enter
13629-456: The United States alongside Paul Phoenix and Marshall Law . After Kazuya wins control of the company, Lee works as Kazuya's secretary, in addition to overseeing Kazuya's team of bodyguards and Dr. Bosconovitch 's experiments, all while secretly hoping to take over the Zaibatsu. However, Lee is soon expelled from the Zaibatsu for unknown reasons while Heihachi disowns him, causing him to leave
13806-566: The Western-developed FX Fighter on PC and Criticom on console, and Sega's arcade Fighting Vipers - on top of Tekken 2 , an updated Battle Arena Toshinden 2 , and console ports of Tekken and Virtua Fighter 2 . A multitude of new polygonal releases arrived in 1996 from both prime and smaller developers, major games being Virtua Fighter 3 , Soul Edge , Dead or Alive , Last Bronx (in Japan), and
13983-531: The Wolves from 1999 (part of the Fatal Fury series) was considered one of SNK's last great games; the company announced that it would close its doors in late 2001. Electronic Gaming Monthly reported that in 1996, U.S. gamers spent nearly $ 150 million on current generation fighting games, and in Japan, fighting games accounted for over 80% of video game sales. The fighting game genre continued to evolve, with several strong 3D fighting games emerging in
14160-418: The addition of several new tracks. Other composers who participated in composing additional music include Hiroyuki Kawada, Minamo Takahashi, Yuu Miyake , Yoshie Arakawa, and Hideki Tobeta. Arakawa had previously composed for the first two Tekken games, while Sano, Okabe and Miyake would go on to work on several future entries in the series, including Tekken Tag Tournament . The PlayStation emulator Bleem!
14337-407: The arcade version, and stated that " Tekken 3 isn't quite the artful masterpiece that [ Virtua Fighter 3 ] is, but is still awesome in its own right, and has moved the series even further form its 'me too' roots. The fighting system has evolved nicely, resulting in some wild and effective moves and new characters, a faster responsiveness, and an impressive 3D fighting experience." GamePro gave it
14514-437: The arcades in 1996, porting it for the PlayStation in 1998. It spawned a long-running franchise , known for its fast-paced control system, innovative counterattacks , and environmental hazards . The series again included games important to the success of their respective consoles, such as Dead or Alive 3 for the Xbox and Dead or Alive 4 for the Xbox 360 . In 1998, Bushido Blade , published by Square , introduced
14691-498: The basis for his fighting game Street Fighter . Nintendo's boxing sequel Super Punch-Out was released for arcades in late 1984 and ported by Elite to home computers as Frank Bruno's Boxing in 1985, features martial arts elements, high and low guarding, ducking, lateral dodging, and a KO meter. This meter is built up with successful attacks and, when full, enables a special, more powerful punch to be thrown. Broderbund 's Karateka , designed by Jordan Mechner and released at
14868-454: The bear Kuma , his love interest Panda , the boxing kangaroo Roger , and the dinosaur Alex . Certain characters like Jin Kazama , Kazuya Mishima , Lee Chaolan , and Jun Kazama have their own alternative versions. Each character has their own goals for participating in the tournament. Only two characters have been playable in all thirteen major Tekken games to date: Nina Williams and Paul Phoenix . King has also been playable in all
15045-583: The best fighting game ever to be released for a handheld console. Capcom released Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 for arcades and the Dreamcast in 2000, followed by sequels in subsequent years. Though none matched the critical success of the handheld version, Capcom vs. SNK 2 EO was noted as the first game of the genre to successfully utilize internet competition. Other crossovers from 2008 included Tatsunoko vs. Capcom and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe . The most successful crossover, however,
15222-403: The best-selling fighting arcade video game franchises that have sold at least 10,000 arcade units . The prices of fighting game arcade units ranged from $ 1,300 (equivalent to $ 2,800 in 2023) for Street Fighter II Dash ( Champion Edition ) in 1992, up to $ 21,000 (equivalent to $ 44,000 in 2023) for Virtua Fighter (1993). In addition to unit sales, arcade games typically earned
15399-504: The big beat direction, but Sano was able to convince him that it would work well in the series. During development, a tester criticized the music and wanted the music to resemble Sega's Virtua Fighter ; this angered Sano, although the report was dismissed. Okabe also became ill during the music's production. The game had a limited Japanese release on 28 November 1996. It was followed by a wide international release in March 1997, releasing in North America on 18 March 1997. The conversion to
15576-408: The character each player is currently using. As a result of this, a concept called "footsies" has emerged, frequently defined as players jockeying for position and using low-commitment moves at distances where neither character has a particular advantage. Depending on the game, character, and move used, a player may be rewarded for a decisive blow with a strong positional advantage, strong enough that
15753-472: The commotion only to discover her beloved killed and her sister, Nina, escaping in Anna's wedding dress. Fueled by vengeance, Anna resolves to reengage in combat once more. Anna's fighting style is based on Koppo and Hapkido, a martial art known for its use of spinning back kicks, jumping kicks and close-range throws. Although their father taught Anna and Nina the same martial arts skills, each sister has developed
15930-478: The corner of a stage or as they get up from a knockdown; both situations severely limit the options of the opponent and often allow the attacking player to force high-risk guessing scenarios. Spacing is the act of positioning a character at a range where their attacks and movement tools carry the lowest risk and the highest reward. The concept is somewhat akin to that of footwork in martial arts. The desired position for play varies based on what tools are available to
16107-440: The critically acclaimed Virtua Fighter 5 was released to very little acclaim in 2007, its update Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown received much more attention due to renewed interest in the genre. Numerous indie fighting games have also been crowdfunded on websites such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo , the most notable success being the tag team fighting game Skullgirls in 2012. Later, in 2019, Ubisoft reported that
16284-558: The doctor in removing the remaining inhibitor inside Alisa's body, so as to set her free. In response of Jin's last encounter against Kazuya that caused the former to lose his will to control his devil a week before the latter announced the eight tournament, Lee summons the Kliesen Family for their expertise on researching the Devil Gene and its originator Azazel, recognizing that Niklas's child Leo also previously participated in
16461-556: The end of 1984, is a one-on-one fighting game for home computers that successfully added plot to its fighting action, like the beat 'em up Kung-Fu Master . By early 1985, martial arts games had become popular in arcades. On home computers, the Japanese MSX version of Yie Ar Kung-Fu was released in January 1985, and Beam Software 's The Way of the Exploding Fist was released for PAL regions in May 1985; The Way of
16638-421: The fall, looks on from the ground. Tekken 3 is the first game to have been released on Namco System 12 hardware, after the original two Tekken games on System 11 . The animation for the combatants was created using motion capture . The sub-bosses of the previous two Tekken games were dropped in Tekken 3 , since the developers felt it would make for a deeper and more well-rounded game if they focused on
16815-610: The fast motions of a joystick, and so players had difficulty executing special moves with any accuracy. The release of Street Fighter II in 1991 is considered a revolutionary moment in the fighting game genre. Yoshiki Okamoto 's team developed the most accurate joystick and button scanning routine in the genre thus far. This allowed players to reliably execute multi-button special moves, which had previously required an element of luck. The graphics took advantage of Capcom's CPS arcade chipset , with highly detailed characters and stages . Whereas previous games allowed players to combat
16992-650: The fifth in hopes of wooing Julia if he is able to recover her lost "Forest Rejuvenation Data" that he eventually finds inside the Mishima Zaibatsu's laboratory, but Julia receives the information and flees before Ganryu can propose marriage. Now faced with a failing restaurant he had opened afterward in Hawaii, Ganryu enters the tournament again in Tekken 6 in attempt to advertise the restaurant and bring in revenue. Unfortunately, Ganryu accidentally donated all his restaurant earnings to Julia's reforestation campaign. In order to fix his financial problems, Ganryu decided to enter
17169-430: The fifth tournament Kuma fought his old enemy Paul Phoenix but just barely lost to him. Sometime after the King of Iron Fist Tournament 5 and the death of his master Heihachi Mishima, Kuma was convinced that he was the only one who could save the Mishima Zaibatsu. He set out to the Mishima Zaibatsu headquarters with resolve. Waiting for him there was the new leader of the Zaibatsu, Jin Kazama . Easily defeated by Jin, Kuma
17346-478: The fight between his father, Kazuya, and his rival Paul Phoenix . Near the end of the tournament, Paul makes it to the finals after defeating the other competitors, including Kuma and Jin in the previous rounds. Paul enters a large temple, defeats Ogre in a fierce battle, and walks away from the tournament, thinking he is victorious. However, unbeknownst to Paul, Ogre morphs into his 2nd, monstrous form known as "True Ogre" after absorbing Heihachi's fighting force when
17523-417: The finest fighting games of all time". In September 2004, for the tenth anniversary of the PlayStation brand, it ranked No. 10 on the magazine's list of "Final PlayStation Top 10". It was also No. 177 on Game Informer ' s 2009 Top 200 games of all time . In 2011, Complex ranked it as the fourth best fighting game of all time. Complex also ranked Tekken 3 as the ninth best arcade video game of
17700-492: The first King of Iron Fist Tournament , where Kuma was easily defeated by Paul Phoenix . Kuma was very impressed with Paul's fighting prowess, as he'd thought that the only strong human was Heihachi. Heihachi was also defeated in the last tournament (by Kazuya Mishima ), and so he and Kuma retreated to a mountain dojo to re-train. Kuma traveled to the King of Iron Fist Tournament 2 with his master, vowing to destroy Paul Phoenix this time, and to eat anyone who got in his way. Kuma
17877-505: The first King of Iron Fist Tournament in the original game in hopes of opening his own dojo with the winnings, Law would eventually draw against Wang Jinrei . Despite not winning the tournament, Marshall would eventually open his own dojo. However, in Tekken 2 , his students are soon attacked and his dojo destroyed by Baek Doo San , provoking Law into entering the second tournament to seek revenge. Law would eventually face his villainous assailant and successfully defeated him, dropping out of
18054-472: The first fighting game to use digitized sprites and motion capture animation. Meanwhile, home game consoles largely ignored the genre. Budokan: The Martial Spirit was one of the few releases for the Sega Genesis , but was not as popular as games in other genres. Technical challenges limited the popularity of early fighting games. Programmers had difficulty producing a game that could recognize
18231-451: The first fighting game, is considered to have standardized the genre, and similar games released prior to Street Fighter II have since been more explicitly classified as fighting games. Fighting games typically involve hand-to-hand combat, though many games also feature characters with melee weapons. Fighting characters are usually based on humans, but there are also games that are entirely based around mecha robot characters, for example
18408-420: The first game in three years to receive a 10 from a reviewer from Electronic Gaming Monthly , with three of the four reviewers giving it the highest possible score. Tekken 3 is the first game to have scored a 10 under EGM ' s revised review scale in that a game no longer needed to be "perfect" to receive a 10, and the last game to receive a 10 from the magazine was Sonic & Knuckles . The only holdout
18585-405: The first half of 1998, which made it the country's third-best-selling game for the period. PC Data , which tracked sales in the United States, reported that Tekken 3 sold 1.11 million copies and earned $ 48,500,000 (equivalent to $ 90,700,000 in 2023) in revenue during 1998 alone. This made it the third-best-selling PlayStation release of the year in the United States. In Germany, it received
18762-421: The fourth King of Iron Fist Tournament without being found out by the Mishima Zaibatsu. While primarily a main palette swap of Lee in most mainline games since his debut game, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is the only game where Violet has his own character slot, even being the main character in the Fight Lab mode of the game. Marshall Law ( Japanese : マーシャル・ロー , Hepburn : Māsharu Rō ) is a martial artist who owns
18939-548: The free-to-play platform fighting game Brawlhalla reached 20 million players, with it climbing to 80 million by 2022. In 2018, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for the Nintendo Switch was released. It became the best-selling fighting game of all time, topping its Wii predecessor Super Smash Bros. Brawl and introduced nearly 90 characters through its default mode and through downloadable content or DLC, having sold 34.22 million copies worldwide. Later in
19116-410: The game controls, which created a sense of mystique and invited players to practice the game. Following Street Fighter's lead, the use of command-based hidden moves began to pervade other games in the rising fighting game genre. Street Fighter also introduced other staples of the genre, including the blocking technique, as well as the ability for a challenger to jump in and initiate a match against
19293-424: The game outside Japan because it felt that "unrestrained" 3D fighting games were unenjoyable. Sega also attempted to introduce holographic 3D technology to the genre with Holosseum in 1992, though it was unsuccessful. Several fighting games achieved commercial success, including SNK's Art of Fighting and Samurai Shodown as well as Sega's Eternal Champions . Nevertheless, Street Fighter II remained
19470-528: The game. Yie Ar Kung-Fu went on to become the UK's best-selling computer game of 1986 , the second year in a row for fighting games. The same year, Martech 's Uchi Mata for home computers featured novel controller motions for grappling maneuvers, but they were deemed too difficult. In the late 1980s, side-scrolling beat 'em ups became considerably more popular than one-on-one fighting games, with many arcade game developers focused more on producing beat 'em ups and shoot 'em ups. Takashi Nishiyama used
19647-417: The games, but as two different characters, with King I being in the first two games and King II being in the remaining games. Two characters, Kazuya Mishima and Heihachi Mishima , would come close, having been playable in eleven games but appearing in twelve games. Kuma has also been playable in twelve of the games but as two different characters, with Kuma I being in the first two games and Kuma II being in
19824-573: The genre into "true 3D" due to its introduction of the sidestep maneuver, which IGN described as "one little move" that "changed the fighter forever". The "sidestep" in the game, however, consisted of shoulder rolls instead of actual sidesteps. That year, Namco released Tekken 2 , which introduced actual sidestepping or "mist steps" as first released in arcade games and in the international fighting game community. These moves are only exclusive to its two protagonists, Heihachi Mishima and his son, Kazuya Mishima , and his counterpart transformation which
20001-400: The genre with the 1993 arcade game Burning Rival , but they gained renown with the release of Virtua Fighter for the same platform the same year. It is the first fighting game with 3D polygon graphics and a viewpoint that zoomed and rotated with the action. Despite the graphics, players were confined to back and forth motion as seen in other fighting games. With only three buttons, it
20178-439: The ground surrounding his house has been burnt and his mother is missing and most likely dead. Driven by revenge, Jin is confronted by the Devil, which brands Jin's left arm and possesses him. Jin goes to his grandfather, Heihachi, and explains his situation to him, begging him for training to become strong enough to face Ogre. Heihachi accepts and takes Jin under his wing, as well as sending him to Mishima High School where Jin meets
20355-467: The grounded realism of Karate Champ , Yie Ar Kung-Fu moved the genre towards more fantastical, fast-paced action with a variety of special moves and high jumps, establishing the template for subsequent fighting games. It expanded on Karate Champ by pitting the player against a variety of opponents, each with a unique appearance and fighting style. The player could also perform up to sixteen different moves, including projectile attacks, and it replaced
20532-488: The history of competitive video gaming, compared to sports moments such as Babe Ruth's called shot and the Ice Hockey Miracle on Ice . It inspired many to start playing 3rd Strike, which brought new life into the fighting game community (FGC) during a time when the community was in a state of stagnation. Dead or Alive 4 became the first fighting game to have a televised competitive esport scene as it
20709-435: The home port of Tekken 2 , cementing 3D as the future of the genre. In 1994, SNK released The King of Fighters '94 in arcades, where players choose from teams of three characters to eliminate each other one by one. Eventually, Capcom released further updates to Street Fighter II , including Super Street Fighter II and Super Street Fighter II Turbo . These games feature more characters and new moves, some of which are
20886-417: The late 1990s, traditional 2D fighting games began to decline in popularity, with specific franchises falling into difficulty due to 3D fighters. Although the release of Street Fighter EX introduced 3D graphics to the series, both it and Street Fighter: The Movie flopped in arcades. A home video game also titled Street Fighter: The Movie was released for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn , but it
21063-469: The late 1990s. Namco 's Tekken (released in arcades in 1994 and on the PlayStation in 1995) proved critical to the PlayStation's early success, with its sequels also becoming some of the console's most important games. The Soul series of weapon-based fighting games also achieved considerable critical success, beginning with 1995's Soul Edge (known as Soul Blade outside Japan) to Soulcalibur VI in 2018. Tecmo released Dead or Alive in
21240-425: The latest game Tekken 8 , which was released in January 2024 sold over 2 million copies in its first month alone. Thus, the 2020s have had a marked resurgence in fighting games that has been deemed a new golden age in fighting games. The following are the highest-grossing fighting game franchises, in terms of total gross revenue generated by arcade games , console games , and computer games . The following are
21417-443: The latter had tried to capture it while it was unconscious. Because of this, the tournament continued as a result, with the tournament officials reinstating Jin and allowing him to replace Paul in the finals. From there, Jin confronts True Ogre in an intense fight and manages to defeat it as True Ogre completely dissolves, thus Jin succeeded in avenging his mother's death and winning the tournament. Despite his hard-fought victory, Jin
21594-448: The latter started. Lee Chaolan ( Chinese : 李 超狼; pinyin : Lǐ Chāoláng ; Japanese : リー・チャオラン; Hepburn : Rī Chaoran ) is the adoptive son of Heihachi Mishima , whose own son Kazuya's defeat is Lee's motivation for entering the numerous King of Iron Fist tournaments held throughout the Tekken series. Lee was adopted by Heihachi to provide a rival for Kazuya, who he felt was too weak to lead his Mishima Zaibatsu company. Lee studies in
21771-477: The local country's trust, Kuma became the final opponent for the Zaibatsu's employment exam. Many young participants either quit or lost to Kuma during the exam: only one participant, a typhoon survivor named Josie Rizal , succeeded - despite Kuma's misgivings about her crybaby attitude. Unfortunately, following the true death of Heihachi at the hands of Kazuya during the seventh tournament, Kuma begins to adopt Heihachi's fighting style and dons his signature gi, with
21948-406: The majority of their gross revenue from coin drop earnings. Ogre (Tekken) Bandai Namco Entertainment 's Tekken media franchise is known for its diverse cast of characters hailing from various nationalities, all coming together to compete in the King of Iron Fist tournament. In addition to the human characters, Tekken also features non-human characters for comic relief, such as
22125-419: The market for fighting games became smaller and more specialized. Even as far back as 1997, many in the industry said that the fighting game market's growing inaccessibility to newcomers was bringing an end to the genre's dominance. Furthermore, arcades gradually became less profitable throughout the late 1990s to early 2000s due to the increased technical power and popularity of home consoles. The early 2000s
22302-434: The mid-2020s, the genre achieved another renaissance with the arrival of Street Fighter 6 and its immediate success, together with Mortal Kombat 1 and Tekken 8 . Street Fighter 6 sold over 1 million copies within five days after its launch, and sold over 3 million copies by January 2024. Mortal Kombat 1 sold over 2 million copies in its first two months, and garnered over 3 million copies by January 2024, while
22479-400: The most popular, spawning a Champion Edition that improved game balance and allowed players to use boss characters that were unselectable in the previous version. Chicago's Midway Games achieved unprecedented notoriety when they released Mortal Kombat in 1992. The game featured digital characters drawn from real actors, numerous secrets, and " Fatality " finishing maneuvers in which
22656-422: The move sets and playability of the core characters rather than on adding bosses. The music for Tekken 3 was composed by Nobuyoshi Sano and Keiichi Okabe . Sano, who served as the sound director, took a big beat approach to the music with a slower tempo than the music found in previous games, as this genre had not previously been utilized in games. Game director Katsuhiro Harada initially did not understand
22833-434: The one-on-one boss battles of his earlier beat 'em up Kung-Fu Master as the template for Capcom 's fighting game Street Fighter , combined with elements of Karate Champ and Yie Ar Kung Fu . Street Fighter found its own niche in the gaming world, which was dominated by beat 'em ups and shoot 'em ups at the time. Part of the game's appeal was the use of special moves that could only be discovered by experimenting with
23010-439: The opponent to recover if they timed them correctly. Its success led to fighting games becoming the dominant genre in the arcade game industry of the early 1990s, which led to a resurgence of the arcade game industry. The popularity of Street Fighter II led it to be released for home game consoles and becoming the defining template for fighting games. SNK released Fatal Fury shortly after Street Fighter II in 1991. It
23187-404: The opponent, or cause them penalty damage by letting the ball fall into the opponent's territory. The arcade version features a total of 21 characters. Because the game takes place 20 years after Tekken 2 , only six characters from the previous installment return, with the rest being new. The console version adds two new characters, Dr. Bosconovitch and Gon , and also makes Anna Williams ,
23364-553: The opponent. Other fighting games, like Dead or Alive , have a unique button for throws and takedowns. Projectiles are primarily in 2D fighting games, like the Hadouken in Street Fighter . Projectiles can simply inflict damage, or can maneuver opponents into disadvantageous positions. Especially in 2D, zoning is defensive play that focuses on using relatively risk-free attacks to keep the opposing player away. The object
23541-440: The original PlayStation, including 1.4 million in Japan and 6.96 million overseas. According to Metacritic , the game has a score of 96 out of 100, indicating universal acclaim, and is ranked number 2 on its list of greatest PlayStation games. As of April 2011, the game is listed as the twelfth-highest-rated game of all time on the review compiling site GameRankings with an average rating of 96%. Next Generation reviewed
23718-492: The outcome. In Tekken 6 's " Scenario Campaign " story mode, Anna leads G Corporation's defenses against the Mishima Zaibatsu and Lars Alexandersson 's rebel army; during a confrontation with the rebels, Anna's actions indirectly result in the death of Lars' friend, Tougou. She also accompanies Kazuya to Azazel's Temple in the desert. Following Kazuya's stalemate with Lars, Anna flees with him. Anna additionally appears in Nina's 2005 spin-off action game Death by Degrees as
23895-760: The player's character kills their opponent. The game earned a reputation for its gratuitous violence, and was adapted for home game consoles. The home version of Mortal Kombat was released on September 13, 1993, a day promoted as "Mortal Monday". The advertising resulted in line-ups to purchase the game and a subsequent backlash from politicians concerned about the game's violence. The Mortal Kombat franchise would achieve iconic status similar to that of Street Fighter with several sequels as well as movies, television series, and extensive merchandising. Numerous other game developers tried to imitate Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat 's financial success with similar games, including Rare Software with Killer Instinct ,
24072-528: The point-scoring system of Karate Champ with a health meter system, becoming the standard for the genre. Irem 's Kung-Fu Master , designed by Takashi Nishiyama and released in November 1984, is a side-scrolling beat 'em up that, at the end of each level , featured one-on-one boss battles that resemble fighting games. It is based on Hong Kong martial arts films, specifically Jackie Chan 's Wheels on Meals (1984) and Bruce Lee's Game of Death . Nishiyama later used its one-on-one boss battles as
24249-471: The process. However, he is defeated in the later stages by Kazuya, whom Lee believed to be dead, but he then learns someone else has controlled the Zaibatsu in Heihachi's absence. Believing it to be Kazuya, Lee enters the fifth tournament in Tekken 5 to take him out personally and regain control of the Zaibatsu, but upon learning that the culprit is Kazuya's paternal grandfather Jinpachi , he drops out of
24426-678: The remaining games. Comparison table Yes = Playable by default. Yes = Playable via update or unlockable. Costume / Costume = Playable, whether by default, unlockable, or via update, but as a palette swap or in-battle transformation of another character instead of a standalone character. DLC = Paid downloadable content. Guest = Third-party character. NPC = Non-playable character. Cameo = Cameo appearance. ? = To be confirmed. No = Not included. + = Including
24603-477: The rest of the competitors as bait to lure Ogre out into the open. When Nina Williams was awakened from Dr. Bosconovitch 's cold-sleep machine, she suffered amnesia . Now controlled by Ogre, Nina acts robotically, with the command to assassinate Jin. During the tournament, Jin managed to bring Nina back to her senses by defeating her, allowing her to break free from Ogre's control. Jin went on to narrowly defeat Hwoarang after an hours-long fight, very similar to
24780-411: The rewarded player can minimize the number of viable moves available to the other player. Doing so, and then taking advantage of the opponent's limited options, is called pressure. Common forms of pressure include making a player guess whether they should block high or low, or keeping the opposing player trapped in the corner and punishing any attempts to escape. Fighting game matches generally consist of
24957-411: The rise of major international fighting game tournaments such as Tougeki – Super Battle Opera and Evolution Championship Series , and famous players such as Daigo Umehara . An important fighting game at the time was Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike , originally released in 1999. The game gained significant attention with " Evo Moment 37 ", also known as the "Daigo Parry", which refers to a portion of
25134-479: The series as the platform fighter subgenre due to its deviation from traditional fighting game rules and design. Several games such as Marvel vs. Capcom and Dead or Alive have featured teams where players form "tag teams" to fight duels, but a character may be swapped by a teammate. Some fighting games offer the endurance challenge of a series of opponents. Online games can suffer lag from slow data transmission , which can disrupt split-second timing. This
25311-708: The series' "worst ever characters": "If losing some weight and not wearing a massive nappy all the time isn't the first thing you do to attract someone whose mother you've already failed to hit on, then you're doing something terribly, horribly wrong." The various Jack models were originally created by the Mishima Zaibatsu and G Corporation for different purposes: The Jack series robots also appear in Tekken Tag Tournament (Jack-2, Gun Jack, and Prototype Jack) and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (Jack-6 and Prototype Jack). The player's Jack character (barring original Jack, Prototype Jack, Jack-X and Jack-4) in most series
25488-675: The seventh tournament. Ganryu's occupations have varied in alternate Tekken media; in the animated film Tekken: The Motion Picture , he is Lee Chaolan's bodyguard, and in Tekken: Blood Vengeance , he is a PE teacher at the Mishima Polytechnic School. GameSpy named Ganryu as one of their "25 Extremely Rough Brawlers" in video gaming: "Ganryu is more of a tragic character as his unrequited love for fellow fighter Julia fuels his brutality." In 2011, Computer and Video Games deemed Ganryu one of
25665-490: The sisters' reunion triggers Nina's repressed hostility towards Anna. Anna retaliates, leading to a prolonged gunfight lasting several days. Eventually, the sisters reach a deadlock and agree to settle their grievances once and for all, with a glimpse of their battle appearing in the game's opening sequence. In the following tournament, both sisters agree that only one will emerge alive. However, despite Nina's victory over Anna, she decides to spare her life, feeling unsatisfied with
25842-655: The sports game genre. Fighting games involve combat between pairs of fighters using highly exaggerated martial arts moves. They typically revolve primarily around brawling or combat sport , though some variations feature weaponry. Games usually display on-screen fighters from a side view, and even 3D fighting games play largely within a 2D plane of motion. Games usually confine characters to moving left and right and jumping, although some games such as Fatal Fury: King of Fighters allow players to move between parallel planes of movement. Recent games tend to be rendered in three dimensions, making it easier for developers to add
26019-406: The stage when a character reaches a high percentage of damage; however, the gameplay objective differs from that of traditional fighting games in that the aim is to increase damage counters and knock opponents off the stage instead of depleting life bars. Beginning with Midway's Mortal Kombat released in 1992, the Mortal Kombat series introduced "Fatalities", where the match victor inflicts
26196-545: The strength of other attacks. Some characters have unusual taunts, like Dan Hibiki from Street Fighter Alpha . Combos that chain several attacks are fundamental to the genre since Street Fighter II (1991). Most fighting games display a "combo meter" of progress through a combo. The effectiveness of such moves often relates to the difficulty of execution and the degree of risk. These moves are often challenging, requiring excellent memory and timing. Predicting opponents' moves and counter-attacking, known as "countering",
26373-554: The third axis by allowing characters to sidestep in or out of the background. Fighters now jump more reasonable heights than in the previous games, making them less overwhelming and putting more use to sidestep dodges, as jumping can no longer dodge every ground attack. Reversals, introduced for some characters in Tekken 2 , were now available to all characters. New improvements include quicker recoveries from knockdowns, more escapes from tackles and stuns, more moves with juggling enabled, and newly created combo throws. Tekken 3 introduces
26550-412: The third tournament Kuma was once again easily defeated by Paul. Kuma would finally accomplish his goal of defeating Paul in the King of Iron Fist Tournament 4 . However, Kuma's happiness was brought to an abrupt end with the death of his master Heihachi. Kuma lived in sorrow over Heihachi's presumed death, but on seeing the uncertainty surrounding the Mishima Zaibatsu, Kuma realized that saving it would be
26727-441: The tournament and returns to his business. After Kazuya legitimately takes control of the company, Lee enters the next tournament in attempt again to come in contact with Kazuya. In the game's "Scenario Campaign" story mode, Lee joins forces with Julia Chang , Lars Alexandersson , and Dr. Bosconovitch's android daughter Alisa , with a shared objective of stopping Kazuya and Jin, but Lee and Lars are not aware at first that Alisa
26904-604: The two terms may still be conflated. Sports-based combat games are games that feature boxing , mixed martial arts (MMA), or wrestling . Serious boxing games belong more to the sports game genre than the action game genre, as they aim for a more realistic model of boxing techniques, whereas moves in fighting games tend to be either highly exaggerated or outright fantastical models of Asian martial arts techniques. As such, boxing games, mixed martial arts games, and wrestling games are often described as distinct genres, without comparison to fighting games, and belong more in
27081-407: The ultimate display of loyalty to his presumed deceased master. However, the chaos at Mishima Zaibatsu had already subsided when Kuma arrived, and he was thrown out of the building by security. Kuma had no choice but to return to the mountains. When the Mishima Zaibatsu announced the King of Iron Fist Tournament 5 , Kuma decided he would enter the tournament and take back the Mishima Zaibatsu. During
27258-504: The update games. Notes: ^ Not including arcade history mode of Tekken 5 and gallery mode of Tekken 7 and Tekken 8. ^1 NPC in Tekken 5 and Tekken 5: DR (PSP, arcade, and online only)/Unlockable in Tekken 5:DR (PS3 and offline only) ^2 Only in Tekken 5: DR . ^3 Only in Tekken 6: BR (arcade and console) . ^4 Playable in a campaign level. ^5 Only in Tekken 7: FR (arcade and console)/Round 2 . ^6 Only playable in story mode for
27435-404: The updated Super Street Fighter IV , sold more than 6 million copies over the next few years. The success of these two games, among others, sparked a renaissance for the genre, introducing new players to the genre and with the increased audience allowing other fighting game franchises to achieve successful revivals of their own, as well as increasing tournament participation. Tekken 6
27612-476: The war, Kuma sneakily attempts to take Paul and Marshall out, but instead accidentally takes a hit by a rocket meant to hit both men and thereby saves them, to Kuma's dismay. Kunimitsu made her debut in the original Tekken as a thief and rival of Yoshimitsu. A former member of Yoshimitsu's clan, known as the Manji Clan, she was banished from the clan for her theft. In order to make ends meet, Kunimitsu enters
27789-433: The world of fighting and pursuing a career in robotics. Lee returns in Tekken 4 as a playboy with a fast-growing robotics business of his own. Upon learning that the Zaibatsu's rival G Corporation was attacked by the Tekken Force, Lee joins the fourth tournament with a vastly different appearance, competing under the name of Violet in order to conceal his identity, while hoping to test his new " Combot " experiment in
27966-639: The world, with Ogre behind all of it. Jun Kazama has been living a quiet life in Yakushima with her young son, Jin Kazama , fathered during the events of the previous tournament by Heihachi's son, Kazuya Mishima . However, their peaceful life is disrupted when Jun begins to sense Ogre's encroaching presence, and knowing she is now a target, Jin is instructed to seek Heihachi if anything happens. Sometime after Jin's 15th birthday, Ogre attacks. Against Jun's wishes, Jin valiantly tries to fight Ogre off, but Ogre knocks him unconscious. When Jin awakens, he finds that
28143-725: Was Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii . Featuring 40 characters from Nintendo and third-party franchises, the game was a runaway commercial success in addition to being lavished with critical praise. In the new millennium, fighting games became less popular and plentiful than in the mid-1990s, with multiplayer competition shifting towards other genres. However, SNK reappeared in 2003 as SNK Playmore and continued to release games. Arc System Works received critical acclaim for releasing Guilty Gear X in 2001, as well as its sequel Guilty Gear XX , as both were 2D fighting games featuring striking anime -inspired graphics. Fighting games became
28320-405: Was ported to the PlayStation in 1998 with additional content, including a beat 'em up mode called Tekken Force. The game was a major hit for both arcades and consoles, selling 35,000 arcade units and 8.36 million PlayStation copies worldwide, making Tekken 3 the fifth best-selling PlayStation game . Since its release, Tekken 3 has been cited as one of the greatest games of all time . It
28497-467: Was a major hit. In Japan, the 15 April 1997 issue of Game Machine listed Tekken 3 as the most-successful arcade game of the month. It went on to be the highest-grossing arcade printed circuit board (PCB) game of 1997 in Japan, and second highest-grossing overall arcade video game below Sega 's rival Virtua Fighter 3 (1996). Tekken 3 sold 35,000 arcade units worldwide in 1997, including 15,000 in Japan and 20,000 overseas. While Virtua Fighter 3
28674-419: Was building off the popularity of its previous iteration and was still positively received, selling more than 3 million copies worldwide by August 2010, one year after its release. Other successful games that followed include Mortal Kombat , Marvel vs. Capcom 3 , The King of Fighters XIII , Dead or Alive 5 , Tekken Tag Tournament 2 , Soulcalibur V , and Guilty Gear Xrd . Though
28851-403: Was created to serve Jin, thus acting as a mole for Lars. When Alisa is destroyed at the climax, Lee promises Lars that she will be reconstructed with his company's resources, which he finally succeeds at the same time of Heihachi's return in the seventh tournament , shortly before the latter's true demise at the hands of Kazuya in their final battle. During the seventh tournament, Lee also recruits
29028-474: Was designed by Takashi Nishiyama, the creator of the original Street Fighter , which it was envisioned as a spiritual successor to. Fatal Fury placed more emphasis on storytelling and the timing of special moves, and added a two-plane system where characters could step into the foreground or background. Meanwhile, Sega experimented with Dark Edge , an early attempt at a 3D fighting game where characters could move in all directions. However, Sega never released
29205-583: Was dumped out of a helicopter into the Hokkaido wilderness. Despite that, Kuma survived, traversed the vast forests, and entered the King of Iron Fist Tournament 6 , determined to defeat Jin and take his place as the rightful successor of the Mishima Zaibatsu. Following Heihachi's surprising return as a Mishima Zaibatsu leader since Jin's disappearance, Kuma was found by his master's Tekken Force army, and learned that his master promotes him to lead his own Tekken Force unit. Due to being busy with important tasks as
29382-479: Was easier to learn than Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat , which has six and five buttons respectively. By the time the game was released for the Sega Saturn in Japan, the game and system were selling at almost a one-to-one ratio. In 1994, Namco released Tekken , the rival arcade game using cutting-edge 3D polygon technology. The 1995 PlayStation game Battle Arena Toshinden is credited for taking
29559-529: Was followed by Tekken Tag Tournament (1999) and its direct sequel is Tekken 4 (2001). Later, Tekken 3 's arcade version was included within Tekken 5 on PlayStation 2 , while the console port was re-released as part of Sony 's PlayStation Classic . Tekken 3 maintains the same core fighting system and concept as its predecessors. Three-dimensional movement is insignificant in previous Tekken games (aside from some characters having unique sidesteps and dodging maneuvers), but Tekken 3 adds emphasis on
29736-414: Was immediately defeated by Paul Phoenix again. Just after the second tournament Kuma died of old age, Heihachi trains a replacement, also named Kuma, Just like his father, the second Kuma is Heihachi Mishima's pet and bodyguard. Kuma is in love with the panda bear Panda, but she neither feels the same nor has any interest in him. It is noted that although she does not love him, she does occasionally give him
29913-515: Was more successful in Japan at the time, Tekken 3 was more successful worldwide. Tekken 3 later became the overall highest-grossing arcade game of 1998 in Japan, above Virtua Fighter 3 Team Battle . The PlayStation version was also a major hit. In Japan, the game sold over 1 million copies on its first day of release. In May 1998, Sony awarded Tekken 3 a "Platinum Prize" for sales above 1 million units in Japan. According to Weekly Famitsu , Japan bought 1.13 million units of Tekken 3 during
30090-473: Was much more polished and smooth than its predecessors." Tekken 3 has also been listed among the best video games of all time by Electronic Gaming Monthly in 1997, Game Informer in 1999, Computer and Video Games in 2000, GameFAQs in 2005, and Edge in 2007. ArcadeSushi ranked Tekken 3 as the "20th Best Playstation Game", with comments "Tekken 3 changed everything. Friends became bitter rivals. Bitter rivals became even more bitter rivals. Tekken 3
30267-399: Was possible to convert Tekken 3 to the PlayStation. By April 1997, Tekken 3 was popular in the arcades, and the process of its home conversion was considered certain on PlayStation but merely a controversial consideration on Nintendo 64 . Sano and Okabe returned to compose the music for the PlayStation version, with much of the soundtrack being arranged from the arcade's music, along with
30444-532: Was released for the Sega Dreamcast that allows Dreamcast owners to play a graphically enhanced version of Tekken 3 using the PlayStation copy of the game. The PlayStation 2 release of Tekken 5 features the arcade version of Tekken 3 . The PlayStation version of Tekken 3 is among 20 "generation-defining" games on the PlayStation Classic , released on 3 December 2018. The arcade game
30621-446: Was the dominant genre in competitive video gaming, with enthusiasts popularly attending arcades in order to find human opponents. The genre was also very popular on home consoles. At the beginning of 1996, GamePro (a magazine devoted chiefly to home console and handheld gaming) reported that for the last several years, their reader surveys had consistently yielded 4 out of 5 respondents name fighting games as their favorite genre. In
30798-425: Was the first game to include such a feature. Fighting games can support a two-player duel, sometimes by letting a second player challenge the first at any moment during a single-player match. Some games allow four-player simultaneous competition. Uniquely, the Super Smash Bros. series has allowed eight-player local and online multiplayer matches, beginning with Super Smash Bros. for Wii U , though many classify
30975-441: Was the game you played with friends you didn't want to be your friends anymore." The same site also ranked it as the "17th best fighting game", commenting, " Tekken 3 was easily one of the best Tekken games ever created. Before the series became obsessed with wall splats and ground bounds, it simply had huge open 3D arenas with massive casts that may or may not have included boxing raptors." In 2015, GamesRadar ranked Tekken 3 as
31152-435: Was the magazine's enigmatic fighting-game review guru, Sushi-X, who said that "no game that rewards newbies for button-mashing will ever be tops in my book", giving the game 9 out of 10. GameSpot 's Jeff Gerstmann gave the game a 9.9 out of 10, saying "Not much stands between Tekken 3 and a perfect 10 score. If the PlayStation exclusive characters were better and Force mode a bit more enthralling, it could have come closer to
31329-550: Was the only fighting game included in the esport league, the Championship Gaming Series (CGS), in 2007 and 2008. The league was operated and fully broadcast by DirecTV in association with British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) and STAR TV . Dead or Alive has been credited for launching the careers of pro-gamer turned Koei Tecmo employee, Emmanuel Rodriguez, and the highest-paid women pro-gamers, Kat Gunn and Vanessa Arteaga . The late 2000s featured
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