Part 20

Learn advanced defensive tactics in Tekken 3, Part 20. Master blocking, countering, and escaping tricky situations like okizeme and stuns to dominate your opponents.

Alright, let's dive into Part 20 of our Tekken 3 guide. This section is all about getting defensive – understanding how to block different attacks and, more importantly, how to handle those super annoying situations where you feel like you can't catch a break. We'll cover everything from basic blocking to escaping stuns and dealing with tricky 'okizeme' attacks.

Understanding Attack Types:

First off, Tekken 3 breaks attacks down into a few categories:

• High Attacks: These can be blocked or ducked. Easy enough, right?
• Mid Attacks: You can block these, but you can't duck them. Keep your guard up!
• Low Attacks: These can be blocked or hopped over. Hopping is risky though, so be careful.
• Special Mid Attacks: This is a tricky one that mixes mid and low characteristics. You can't duck it, but you can block it whether you're standing or crouching. Think of Eddy Gordo's Handstand kicks or any character's crouching jab – these fall into this category.

Dealing with Difficult Attacks:

Now, some attacks are just plain tough to defend against. Here's how to handle them:

• (A) Attacks During Your Own Offense or Recovery: The best defense here is a good offense... or rather, not leaving yourself open in the first place. Avoid starting long attack strings that an opponent can easily sidestep or back away from. Be super cautious with unblockable moves – only use the slower ones if you're absolutely sure they'll hit, and always mix up your attacks so your opponent can't predict you. Limit moves with long startup or recovery unless your opponent is recovering from their own move, leaving them open for a guaranteed hit.
• (B) Okizeme Attacks (Attacks While You're Getting Up): These are the worst! My favorite way to shut them down is by getting into crouch dash (grdt) and tapping 4. This sweep will juggle if it counterhits or connects cleanly, and it works for any character. You'll need to follow up with a low attack to continue the juggle after the sweep. Other good options include using the Ankle Kick (d+4), any standard kick, or just rolling away. The safest bet is often to just stand up without attacking, especially if your opponent just missed an attack like d+4. However, if they're trying to interrupt your rising attack with something like d+1_2, your best bet is to flip over and immediately roll away. If you don't roll away fast enough, they'll reposition and you won't be able to flip again. If they do hit you, let them – it's better to get hit by something like d+3, then flip and roll away. You can also try rising from crouch dash (grda) and blocking as you come up; you'd be surprised how fast you can block okizeme attacks from this position. Avoid rising with a 3 unless it's guaranteed, because opponents can counter a blocked rising 3 with standing-while-crouching (ws) attacks, and some of those can juggle (like Jin's ws2). If your opponent is running at you while you're down, flip over (1_d+1) out of the way. Wait until they're close but not too close, or their stomp/slide will track you. It's tough to time, but you can interrupt a slide with crouch dash d+4 if your timing is perfect. This is actually a great time to use d+4 because your opponent can't easily counter it like they can in other situations. You really need to anticipate the slide, though, or you'll stand up right into their Shoulder Ram. From grda, you can interrupt a runner with a rising 3_4, but if your opponent expects it, they can punish you.
• (C) Attacks While You're Stunned: You can recover from stuns faster by holding forward (F) and then returning to a blocking stance. For example, Jin's b~f{2{1{2_d+2 causes a double-over stun. If Jin hits you with the first or second punch, you can hold F to recover and block the final punch. This works even if you keep holding F. Be aware that this forward-holding trick only works if there's no delay between the stun and the follow-up attack. For other stuns, you need to recover from the stun first and then block.
• (D) Attacks From Behind: Don't panic! Even with your back turned, you can still sidestep (though not as far), punch, kick, and even throw.