Tidbits
  1. Japanese versions of early Tomb Raiders have a few little differences to Western Tomb Raiders. For example, the enemies are easier to kill. Blood sprites have also been removed to reduce gore.
  2. Core Design had planned to use Peru for a location for Tomb Raider 3.
  3. In Tomb Raider 3, Lara was going to have a knife to remove key items from stone.
  4. The leader of the Damned is possibly called Bob as one of the game's soundtracks is called 'Geordie Bob'. He speaks with a Newcastle accent.
  5. Nathan McCree took 4 months to produce the music and sounds for the game.
  6. In the Nevada levels, there is a logo on the boxes reading 'MJ-12'. This was possibly the code name for a secret group in 1947, created by U.S President Harry S. Truman for the investigation of UFO sightings.
  7. The PS1 Disk of Tomb Raider 3 can be put into a CD player and the soundtrack will play.
  8. Tomb Raider 3 was originally going to be a TR2.5 whilst players waited for the next game.
  9. The German punk band Die Ärzte's 1998 music video for 'Männer sind Schweine' {‘A Pig Named Men’ or ‘Men Are Pigs’) featured Lara Croft as she interrupts the band playing and fights with the members, using her pistols as well as hand-to-hand combat. Interestingly the lead singer was given permission to voice an enemy for the game.
  10. The game was to feature two levels of difficulty: easy mode would allow the player to save as often as the player wished whilst the hard mode made players find save crystals and have to use them wisely.
  11. It was going to be possible to kill the piranhas in this game. The idea was that the player could throw in a grenade whilst the piranhas were in shallow water.
  12. The workers in the level 'Nevada Desert' wear a denim waistcoat with the symbol of a flaming skull on the back. This is a reference to id Software's game 'Doom' from 1993. The symbol is the image of a 'Lost Soul'.
  13. In a Beta rolling demo, Lara was originally going to wear a white jacket in Antarctica rather than the orange.
  14. In the Treasure Room at Lara's home, there is a golden figure that is usually confused with a mask. However it has been suggested that it could be a Chachapoyan fertility idol, like the idol that Indiana Jones is looking for in the beginning of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark', though nothing has been confirmed.
  15. Core Design spelt ‘Antarctica’ wrong during the present day of the opening FMV.
  16. Tomb Raider 3 had a Launch Night Party at the Natural History Museum in London. Golden Lara statues were given away and a short film called ‘Tomb Raider: The Trilogy’ was shown here.
  17. According to an article printed in an issue of 'Computer Gaming World' in 1998, various features suggested were blowing leaves in the environment, animals were to be scared of a gunshot for the first time but then get used to it, and tigers would fight in packs and Lara would have to shoot at the leader, which would then disperse the others.
  18. Other suggested features for this game include: unarmed combat, a reload key for weapons, Lara to show injuries, such as limping, Lara using body armour, night vision goggles, and a flamethrower.
  19. According to issue 126 of the official Playstation magazine which announced the PS4 version of Rise of the Tomb Raider, the total sales of Tomb Raider 3 on all formats is approximately 6.5 million copies worldwide.
  20. The player can pick up a Cathedral Key in the level Thames Wharf however the player will never use it. It is presumed that the All Hallows bonus level was going to be a part of the London level set, and so the key would give you access to the cathedral.
  21. In some versions of the game, the Ora Dagger (the reptile shaped artefact found in the South Pacific levels) has been named Element 115. Those players will then pick up the Ora Dagger in Nevada. This is a confirmed mistake by the level designer Richard Morton.
  22. If, after playing a level in the game, the player returns to Croft Manor to relax, the ambience from that level will be played here too.
  23. The monkeys are friendly in Jungle, the first level of India and of the game, but they are not friendly in the following levels. However there is an exception; after completing most of the level ‘Temple Ruins’, the player will come to an area where they need to find a pullable block to reach a small doorway above. There are two monkeys here and they do not attack Lara, they don’t even come near her. They merely roll around.
  24. Lara Croft’s in game model was made up of 450 polygons.
  25. The whole game comprises of 19 levels and 59 secrets, however is it possible to find 60 secrets as there 4 secrets in the level ‘Coastal Village’.
  26. The stats screen in the PC version is blue, a smaller box and features lower on the screen. On the PlayStation, the box is green, is centre of screen and is much larger.
  27. Once the player completes the game, if they start a new game, it will reward the player with every gun, unlimited ammo for all weapons, unlimited flares and unlimited medipacks.
  28. The little Compsognathus will usually gang up on Lara to attack, however if the player kills all but one, the lonesome Compsognathus won’t actually attack Lara anymore and will instead follow her around.
  29. Tomb Raider 3 was the first game in the series that could be played using the analog sticks on the PlayStation controller.

Sources

No. 14
The Idol in Lara’s Treasure Room 
http://archaeologyoftombraider.com/2015/04/13/15-awesometomb-raider-easter-eggs/  

No. 21
Element 115/ Ora Dagger Error
http://www.trinity.westhost.com/tomb/meteor/11w.html#plot11.1  

No. 31
Lara’s Footprints 
http://web.archive.org/web/20010803171225/http://www.larasmansi on.freeserve.co.uk/nitpicks0.htm