Fight-A-Base : Battle Arena Toshinden 3

(Higher Voltage)

Battle Arena Toshinden 3

Developed By Tamsoft
Published By Takara

Releases

Playstation	(12/27/1996)

Themes

weapons world_tour

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Character Selection

Color Code: Boss Character Playable Character

User Reviews
A beautiful mess (5 / 10) by anon
Let's get straight down to the nitty-gritty of Toshinden 3. In my opinion, it's the most half-arsed title in an already cheesy series. You'll notice nothing has been done to improve the graphics; characters look less detailed and are smaller than the ones found in 1 & 2. Also, the stages are much more sparse and are now enclosed on all sides by gates/walls, meaning you can't ring yourself or opponents out for the lulz. (Although I admit punting them onto the ceiling only to have them crash down on top of your character in a heap can be funny, especially while they perform their victory pose).

It does have a few other enjoyable parts, though. Characters move a tiny bit faster (don't get too excited, however; they still kind of seem like they've popped a selection of sleeping pills), and the moveslists have been expanded, even if many of them are just simple strings. Special attacks look crazier than ever before, what with every character possessing newly-added "Soul Bombs". Basically, these allow you to release a powerful, psychedelic aura/blast of energy to deal damage.

Another feature I like is that every one of the 14 initially playable characters have a "darker" counterpart to tie in with the slapdash story, even if their fighting styles are extremely similar as them, á la Tekken, etc.

The new members of the cast are all very quirky and have interesting, unique designs, too, fitting right in with the already lovable Mötley Crüe of the previous two instalments. I mean, come on, what other fighting game can you name that lets you control a farting monkey with metal claws, a toddler who carries around a sword nearly twice her size and giggles nonchalantly when getting slashed/clubbed to pieces, and assassins who think they're Catwoman, Jason Voorhees and Michael Jackson as pre-made characters?

Obviously, Toshinden 3 should be taken with a pinch of salt, if you do decide to play it, that is, and despite being far from one of the best fighters, it's always been a guilty pleasure of mine, just like the rest of its predecessors.

Trivia

Gems of a Feather Crash Together
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo is a parody puzzle game featuring super deformed versions of Capcom's signature characters translating the stacking and shifting of "power gems" into taunts and super combos. Pocket Fighter is a spin-off of sorts, re-purposing the gems and comedic charm into a proper fighting game.

The Puzzle Fighter formula (sd characters, comedy, colored blocks) would later be employed by Tamsoft with Puzzle Arena Toshinden and much later by Midway with Mortal Kombat Deception's Puzzle Kombat mini-game.

Content Credits:

MK Plot Guide