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SOJ Tekken 3 ยท Vintage Fighting Games
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Why Is Tekken 3 Considered the Best Fighting Game on the PlayStation?

Because the reviews, the depth, and the living room all agreed at once.

Start with the record. Tekken 3's PlayStation version holds a 96 out of 100 Metacritic average, and Metacritic ranks it number 2 on its list of the greatest PlayStation games of any genre. Next Generation, reviewing the home version in 1998, put the claim in one sentence: "There is no better fighting game, on this system or any other."

The interesting question is what sits underneath the scores: a rebuilt fighting system with genuine 3D movement, a cast designed so that a complete beginner produces something beautiful by accident, and a home port that added more than the arcade original instead of settling for less.

THE TWO COVERS

The PlayStation versions
Japanese PlayStation cover of Tekken 3, Jin Kazama with a crackling fist, full bleed art with the Namco logo at top right
Japan
The Japanese PlayStation cover: Jin full bleed under the Namco logo. This is the version that sold over a million copies in Japan on its first day.
United States PlayStation cover of Tekken 3, Jin Kazama, black PlayStation spine band and ESRB Teen rating
United States
The American PlayStation cover: the same Jin art in the black spine packaging. PC Data counted 1.11 million US copies in 1998 alone.

THE CASE

Four documented reasons
The reviews sit at the ceiling
GameSpot gave 9.9/10, Famitsu and EGM both gave 39/40, Next Generation gave 5/5, and Metacritic's 96 average ranks the game number 2 among all PlayStation games, not just fighting games.
Depth that was new in 1997
Tekken 3 gave every character a sidestep into and out of the screen, universal reversals, quicker knockdown recovery, tackle and stun escapes, and expanded juggle combos, all animated from motion capture.
A novice could play it tonight
Eurogamer's history of the series, with champion player Ryan Hart, credits Tekken's accessibility: characters like Eddy Gordo were designed so that even mashing produced flowing strings, while experts found full depth underneath.
The home version outgrew the arcade
Tekken Force, Tekken Ball, character endings and unlockable fighters turned a coin op game into a package Harada says used all the memory the team had on the PlayStation.
Pros trained on it
Hart recalls that the port was so faithful that players treated it as the arcade at home and brought home practiced strategies straight into arcade competition.
8.36 million copies
Per Harada, the PlayStation version sold 8.36 million copies, fifth best selling game on the console, ahead of Tomb Raider, Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil 2.

THE HONEST CAVEAT

Consensus, not unanimity

The title is a consensus verdict, not a law. The Official UK PlayStation Magazine argued at the time that Street Fighter Alpha 3 would outlast Tekken 3, and 2D fighting loyalists had their own champion. EGM's own holdout reviewer, Sushi-X, docked Tekken 3 a point on principle, writing that no game that rewards newbies for button mashing would ever top his list.

What no rival on the system could match was the combination: the highest review averages of any PlayStation fighter, the deepest 3D fighting system on the console, an entry point low enough for a first time player, and a home package bigger than the arcade original. That is why the claim stuck, and why later lists kept ratifying it: Complex named it the fourth best fighting game of all time in 2011, and PlayStation: The Official Magazine was already calling it one of the finest fighting games ever made in 2009.

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