(LAST UPDATE: 6/24/09)
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Developer(s): Takara/Takara
Publisher(s): Takara (JP), Playmates (US), SCEE (EU)
Platform(s): Playstation
Release: December 27th 1996 (JP), January 31st 1997 (NA), March 1997
(PAL)
Characters: Abel,
Adam,
Atahua, Balga,
Bay Hou,
Chaos,
Cuiling,
David,
Duke,
Eiji,
Ellis,
Gaia,
Judgement,
Kayin,
Leon,
Miss Til, Mondo,
Nagisa, Naru
Amoh, Rachael, Rungo,
Schultz,
Sizuku Fuji, Sho,
Sofia,
Tau,
Ten Count, Toujin,
Tracy, Veil,
Vermillion, Zola
Related Games:
Battle
Arena Toshinden, Battle Arena
Toshinden 2, Battle Arena Toshinden
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Story:
Unknown to the participants, while the
previous "tournament" was occurring, they were being watched by
another sinister group simply known as the "Organization". The
Organization intended to summon their dark god to earth in order to wreak havoc.
In order to do this they needed a purehearted boy
to use as a vessel and the blood of strong fighters. For
the former they targeted a boy named David. For
the latter, they chose the Toshinden fighters. The Organization trained
assassins in the Toshinden fighters' fighting styles. Led by their leader Abel,
they set out to try and capture the Toshinden fighters.
Review: The third
installment to the series adds a ton of new characters (32 in all). New
gameplay features include stages with walls and ceilings, which promote new combo
possibilities. Fights by default are 1 round with no time limit; certainly a unique
layout for a fighting game. The new features of the game are original, but
aren't quite enough to really compete with the top 3D (and 2D) fighting games of
the time.
As a whole, the gameplay still feels like the same old clunky engine that anyone who played the first 2 games would expect. Each character has their typical special moves, decent looking super moves, combo strings, and even some taunts. The super moves of Toshinden 3 were incredibly easy to pull off, lowering the skill level required to play this game. Toshinden 3 obviously wasn't as technical as other 3D fighters of the time, so true fighting game players looked elsewhere. As a console fighting game it wasn't terrible, but there were plenty of better alternatives at the time.
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Toshinden
3 also featured a laughable graphics selection mode... The game is 30 frames
per second by default, which makes the blocky backgrounds and characters
look kinda-halfway-decent, if that... But the gameplay is noticeably much
more sluggish on that setting and the animation suffers. However, you can
make the game look even worse, and switch to 60 frames per second, so you
can play the game at a much better speed. 
In either case, graphically, the original Toshinden
actually looks better... How is that even possible? Takara made it possible.
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Closing Comment:
Third times a charm? Not quite... More like 3 strikes you're out! Lots of characters,
yes, but most of which are quite uninspiring. You can tell when someone
(or a team) takes time to design the characters for a game, or in this
case, when they design all the characters in about a week... Some turned out
okay, others are laughable. Ironically enough, some of the gun totting characters
were kinda cool and fun to play... Which for a "weapon based" fighting
game, shouldn't be the case. ~F.Yagami,
Webmaster
of TFG