Tekken 3 On Dreamcast! - Review By Retrovertigo - Page 1/2
During the 2000 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), besides the huge presence that Sega had at the Expo, one of the most interesting products to me was Bleem's PlayStation emulator for the Dreamcast, called the Bleemcast. Originally, the idea behind the Bleemcast emulator was that the discs would have been released in a collection of 4 discs, spanning 400 of the PlayStation's best titles. The Bleemcast would allow Dreamcast owners to play graphically-improved PlayStation titles. In the 18 months since E3 2000, things have greatly changed.
After legal complications with Sony, and Sega's announcement of new anti-piracy Dreamcasts and the announcment of Sega's departure from the console side of the video game industry, the Bleemcast's 4-disc collection, spanning 400 different titles, dwindled down to 3-discs supporting 1 title per disc: Gran Turismo 2, Metal Gear Solid, and Tekken 3.
In a surprising move, Bleem closed shop and called it quits a few weeks ago. It was an unexpected move that caught a lot of gamers off guard, and was a source of frustration and sadness for many Dreamcast supporters in forums across the Internet.
Whether or not Sony had any involvement (directly or indirectly) with Bleem folding, Bleem took stabs at them with the documentation accompanying Tekken 3, by calling them a sue-crazy company who was on "an evil quest for world domination", and even gives props to Electronics Boutique for carrying their products, "in spite of Sony's threats."
Even though Bleem is no longer around to make any more Dreamcast emulation discs for PlayStation games, should you still support the defunct company with a purchase Tekken 3?
The Good
Unless you've played your Dreamcast in a cave for the last 6 years, chances are you've at least heard of the PlayStation's Tekken franchise. Tekken 3 was the most recent version of the series for the PlayStation, and has been critically acclaimed to be one of the best fighting games out there.
Tekken 3 mixes the 2D gameplay style found in many classic arcade fighting games, with a 3D engine. However, because of it's 2D rooted gameplay, the game plays quite differently from the 3D games like Soul Calibur and Dead or Alive 2.
One thing that Tekken 3 does have on many of the popular 3D fighting Dreamcast games is the innumerable number of different modes of gameplay. Of course there's the usual Arcade Mode where you play through the game and attempt to defeat the opponents that the computer throws at you, until you win the game.
What kind of fighting game would it be if there weren't any beat-up-your-friends Versus Mode? There is also the Team Battle Mode where you form a team of your favorite fighters and go head-to-head with the computer's selected team. And the Survival Mode is something that is not uncommon in fighting games, where you try to kick as much ass as you can before losing a single life.
Time Attack Mode is a race against the clock to knock out a string of opponents as fast as you can. Practice Mode allows you to, of course, practice your moves and master your characters before putting them in some "real" danger.
The mode that really makes this game stick out (by today's standards in "3D" fighting) is the Tekken Force Mode. Basically, this mode plays like a game of Final Fight or Double Dragon mixed with the a surivival mode element, where you work your way through a slew of enemies (sometimes it's one-one-one, while other times you're pitted against 2 or more enemies). To make it a little easier than your standard game of survival mode, there are health power-ups to help you out. If you can make it through the "mission" and beat the boss, you will progress to the next round.
You start off with 10 selectable characters, but there are a lot of secrets, including secret characters to unlock as you progress through the game like a champ.
Anybody who is a fan of Namco's greatest Dreamcast release Soul Calibur might be interested to know that Yoshimitsu first made his appearance in this PlayStation release.
Many of my friends, who where hardcore PlayStation fans, were all about the Tekken fighting series, and were particularly proud of Tekken 3. It is a strong franchise, which has spawned many sequels including the PlayStation 2 launch title Tekken Tag Tournament, which many of you Sega fans "lovingly" labeled it "Tekken Jag Tournament" because of the PlayStation 2's inability to full-screen anti-alias (smooth out polygonal graphics), which resulted in sharp "jaggies". (Excuse the explanation for those who are familiar with "jaggies" - this was to inform those who were not hip to our PS2-busting humor.) Tekken 4 is also supposed to make its debut on the PlayStation 2 in the future.
Bleemcast for Tekken 3 does a great job of emulating this title to the Dreamcast. Some of the text is a little blurry (due to the Dreamcast's anti-aliasing), but the fighters are clean and polished-looking.
Gamers looking for a new (or actually "old" if you want to be picky) take on the fighting series featured on the Dreamcast, will want to check out Bleemcast for Tekken 3.
Next: The Bad, and The Final Word
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