History VideoGame / GrandTheftAutoIII

** Cars are much more fragile in this game than in the previous titles, needing only some gunfire damage or a couple of crashes to catch on fire.

** The original [=PS2=] version was the only 3D game developed under the DMA Design name. Later revisions updated it to Rockstar North.

** No Pay n' Spray and Ammu-Nation icons are on the radar.[[note]]The Staunton Island locations are marked for a while after it's unlocked.[[/note]]

** This game marked the debut of the now-iconic comic book-style cover art, but as visible above it uses a limited color palette, a stark contrast to all future examples in the series. This cover art was also made for the North American release; the 'main' European release instead had [[https://cdromance.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/12647_front.jpg a splash of characters and action]] as its cover art.

** With careful observation of the Portland map and getting hidden packages, it's possible to get the Uzi, Shotgun and [=AK47=] before the first mission.[[note]]The [=AK47=] isn't accessible via hidden packages until Staunton Island, but it's found in two spots in Portland. One of them requires a bit more effort to obtaining it.[[/note]]

** EarthDrift has yet to take effect. Instead of [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity Vice City]], a very prominently placed billboard on Staunton Island advertises flights to Miami (''Definitive Edition'' does alter this one), and Ray Machowski also explicitly says he's headed to Miami in his farewell pager message.[[note]]This is specially weird considering that Vice City already existed in the [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoClassic first Grand Theft Auto]].[[/note]] The DJ of MSX FM explicitly mentions [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Vader]] and [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Pikachu]] during one of his freestyles. There are also a few BlandNameProduct versions of real-world brands you can find, as opposed to future games that prefer to create something more original.

** With careful observation of the Portland map and getting hidden packages, it's possible to get the Uzi, Shotgun and AK47 before the first mission.[[note]]The AK47 isn't accessible via hidden packages until Staunton Island, but it's found in two spots in Portland. One of them requires a bit more effort to obtaining it.[[/note]]

* TheRemnant: The Forelli Crime Family is presented as this in-game. They have no real turf and only appear in a few early mentions. They're not even referred to as the Forelli Crime Family but as "The Forelli Brothers". In the later 3D Universe games (all of which are set before III), the Forellis are a major powerhouse of an organization.

* LeaveBehindAMessenger: Enforced during "Waka-Gashira Wipeout!", as you have to leave behind at least one survivor to finger [[spoiler:the Cartel as being responsible for assassinating Kenji]].

* InfinityMinusOneSword:
** Ray Machowski's bulletproof Patriot isn't as tricky to obtain as the virtually invulnerable Cheetahs you can obtain from the ''Turismo'' mission via convoluted means, and isn't as fast, but all you need to do is complete all of Ray's missions and his Patriot is all yours. It's not fireproof or explosion proof, but as long as you steer clear of those dangers, you're fully protected from bullets. As a bonus, unlike the Cheetahs, it has better off-road capability, so you can utilize more escape routes with it.
** The Rhino tank is this surprisingly, as all you need to do is advance the story to unlock the third island, achieve a maximum wanted level, steal a tank near your Staunton Island hideout, park that tank inside the huge garage, and save your game to erase your wanted level. The main challenge is keeping authorities away from the doors to your tank and eliminating or taking cover from the M16 troops. The tank is slow under its own engine power, but you can aim the cannon behind you and use it like a rocket engine to solve this issue. Being completely invulnerable to explosions and bullets while able to instantly destroy nearly all vehicles vulnerable to collision damage (other Rhinos are immune to this effect, they take ages to chip down) main weakness is fire damage, but enemies rarely have fire weapons so just be careful not to drive the tank through Molotov fires or hit it with your own Flamethrower. Or you could just type a cheat to spawn the Rhino.
* InfinityPlusOneSword: The [[CoolCar Cheetahs]] you face from the ''Turismo'' mission. They're bulletproof, fireproof, and explosion-proof, so they can only take damage from collisions. Unfortunately you can't just hijack the car at the start of the race as they have their doors locked... but if you can flip one over then ''push the vehicle all the way into your garage'' (or just overturn it near the garage, as the track passes it at some point. The car won't catch fire and explode like other vehicles, though it might despawn if it is out of your sight during the mission, but after it's over the driver will crawl out and walk away, giving you a much better shot), it will be repaired back to new and becoming usable. You still need to be careful of crashing too much and being dragged out of the car, but otherwise it keeps its immunity against the 3 things above.

** The Yardies leader, King Courtney. Besides being quite hostile with Claude, he betrayed him, allying with Catalina and never received a deserved punishment. [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoAdvance It isn't the first time he escaped punishment, either.]]

* ALighterShadeOfBlack:

* LeftHanging: Both the [[spoiler:disappearance of Donald Love]] and the [[spoiler:ambiguous fate of Maria after the ending, in which she may be or may be not have been KilledOffscreen]]. Both aren't even answered in future games either.

** Toni Cipriani to Salvatore Leone.

* TheUnintelligible: The Yardies and Triads. Good luck interpreting their accents with subtitles turned off.

* TooAwesomeToUse: The bulletproof Patriot you get as a reward for Ray's last mission. It's completely impervious to all gunfire, and it can even turn the normally difficult final mission into a cakewalk. Unfortunately, this vehicle isn't replaceable if it's gone. This also applies to some other vehicles, but since getting them typically requires failing the mission, you could get another copy for a rainy day.
* UnexpectedlyRealisticGameplay: When you try to steal a cop car, often times the cop will immediately swing open his car door, causing you to fall down to the ground and promptly get busted.

* WritersCannotDoMath: Parodied. An AdBumper for Head Radio calls the station "the rock of Liberty City for sixty years". This would mean they started out in 1941, Rock & Roll wasn't invented by then.

* NoGearLevel: The final mission starts with all your weapons gone. Fortunately there's a sniper rifle near the entrance of the dam, and you could always pick a couple AKs, M16s or UZIs. Or you could get a Rhino and use it as your weapon until you kill enough enemies for a handheld one.

* PressXToDie: At a certain point, you'll learn that a car you were supposed to pick up [[spoiler:has been rigged with a car bomb. You can still go get the car, which predictably ends up with it blowing up with you inside. Or you could just leave during the detonation delay, as the explosion only does 83 damage up close]]

* RegionalRedecoration: In ''Grand Theft Auto III'', a massive construction site sits where there was a neighborhood in ''Liberty City Stories.'' Why? [[spoiler:Because Toni was hired by Donald Love to nuke Fort Staunton]]

** It's possible to get a Cheetah in Portland, where they don't normally spawn, in certain missions. With a bit of exploitation in El Burro's first mission, you'll get a bulletproof, fireproof, ''and'' explosion-proof vehicle that's even faster than the Banshee! If that wasn't enough, game engine exploits allow you to add collision immunity, meaning it will be absolutely impenetrable to anything NPCs could muster against you.

** "[[http://www.g-unleashed.com/index.php?cat=14&pid=118 You weren't supposed to be able to get here you know]]" - though it's actually quite easy to go there legally.
** In "Cutting the Grass", the player must trace who is receiving leaked information from a snitch. The player may proceed to carefully trail the snitch riding on a taxi as instructed...or simply commandeer a taxi and pick the snitch up themselves, arousing little to no suspicion.
** [[spoiler:"Sayonara Salvatore" tasks the player with one simple task: Kill Salvatore after he leaves Luigi's club.]] However, the mission doesn't specify how the player should complete this task, so the mission has been programmed to accommodate different play styles, like a surprise charge that usually results in a chaotic car chase or an efficient sneak attack from a vantage point.

* DirtyCop: Ray Machowski. He has plenty of contacts in the Liberty City underworld, and even introduces series staple, [[AscendedExtra Phil Cassidy]].
* DiscOneFinalBoss: [[spoiler:Salvatore Leone serves as this, and slaying him means you're persona non grata from Saint Mark's for the rest of the game because their shotguns will obliterate anything that isn't bulletproof in SECONDS.]]

** You can find an AK-47 behind some buildings in Saint Mark's, and an M-16 in Staunton Island near the ''You weren't supposed to be able to get here you know'' sign as soon as you unlock either region. That's long before you could even buy those weapons, where your only sources of firepower would be occasional shotgun shells, Uzis and pistols.

** The Mafia Sentinel is considered one of the best gang cars in the game due to its high speed and good handling, plus it can be obtained in Portland right off the bat. [[spoiler:It will be much more dangerous to get one after killing Salvatore]] however.

** Cars are much more fragile in this game than in the posterior titles, needing only some gunfire damage or a couple of crashes to catch on fire.

** Cars are much more fragile in this game than in previous titles, needing only some gunfire damage or a couple of crashes to catch on fire.

** Cars are much more fragile in this game than in the posterior titles, taking just a few shots or crashes to start catching fire.

* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: After Carl/Carlos kills Marty Chonks, you can run him over, even though it has no effect on the story. You do get his shotgun though.

** Cars are also much more fragile in this game than in the previous titles, taking just a few shots or crashes to start catching fire.

** EarthDrift has yet to take effect. Instead of [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity Vice City]], a very prominently placed billboard on Staunton Island advertises flights to Miami (''Definitive Edition'' does alter this one), and Ray Machowski also explicitly says he's headed to Miami in his farewell pager message. The DJ of MSX FM explicitly mentions [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Vader]] and [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Pikachu]] during one of his freestyles. There are also a few BlandNameProduct versions of real-world brands you can find, as opposed to future games that prefer to create something more original.

* ContinuingIsPainful:
** Dying or getting arrested deprives you of all your weapons, and whatever mission you were in the middle of will fail on the spot. Collecting hidden packages will mitigate this to a [[DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist slap on the wrist]] with free weapon pickups appearing at your hideout, but you'll still have to drive back to the mission's starting point to retry it.

** One of 8-Ball's character drawings shows him holding an M-16. 8-Ball's hands were crippled prior to the events of the game, and he mentions in “Bomb Da Base: Act II” that he can’t hold firearms while his hands are healing.

* NoPronunciationGuide: While for the most part, Creator/MichaelMadsen (Toni Cipriani's VA) pronounces his name "Sip-riani", there is one instance in one of his missions where he messes up and pronounces it "Kip-riani".