On September 29, 2024, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater celebrated its 25th anniversary.
Skateboarding in the ’90s was wild, with legends like Tony Hawk doing things no one thought possible. Tricks like the loop of death and the first 900 were just the beginning. These stunts would become the heart of a game that changed everything: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater.
The game turned 25 this year. It’s still known for its fantastic arcade gameplay, spawning eight sequels, millions of sales, and inspiring countless kids to pick up skateboarding after playing the game. From an old mall to the streets, it brought skateboarding into our lives in a whole new way.
Tony Hawk and other skaters made skateboarding an extreme sport. They were superheroes, doing tricks in places you’d never expect. Hawk wanted to capture that feeling in a game. The demo from Neversoft made anyone feel like a superhero on a skateboard.
“Activision called me and I knew right away that was exactly what I wanted to work on,” he said in a 2017 interview with Jenkem. “It was already fun to play, you didn’t have to know how to skate, and the controls were easier to understand.”
From a warehouse in California to a secret military base in Roswell, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater is considered one of the best skating games ever. Its music and style captured the skate culture perfectly. But what made it stand out was its exploration and platforming, which were some of the best in the genre.
“We never wanted you to accidentally do something you didn’t want to do. Even if that was cool. We wanted it to do exactly what you were telling it to do,” said producer Scott Pease in a 2019 interview with The Ringer. “When you actually physically push that button and then you get snapped into that rail, it feels like you’re doing something, versus the game kind of playing itself.”
Fans think the game is super fun.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater isn’t just a sports game; it’s about tricky jumps, perfect timing, and smooth moves. It’s like Mario or Astro Bot in its core mechanics. There’s a lot of arcade-style craziness, like grinding on a movie theater’s sign in Minneapolis or jumping over a cable car in San Francisco. Those were just fun challenges in an open world.
Each early park was a mix of exploring, platforming, and style-themed challenges. In two-minute runs, you’d explore, find secrets, and aim to get the most points. This made the game endlessly replayable.
Later games added more life to the parks. Pro Skater 3 had pedestrians, Pro Skater 4 included animals, and Underground allowed players to get off their boards and explore.
The original Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, built on Neversoft’s earlier project Apocalypse, featured simple movement mechanics. Tricks were limited, but you could combine them by grinding and wall riding. Later games improved this with manuals and better game tech, making the experience tighter.
The game’s open playgrounds and amazing movement appealed to many. It wasn’t just about tricks; it was about going your own way.
“A lot of people did say, ‘You can’t really do that. You can’t just make a game that’s pure tricks. It’s not going to work, no one’s done that. It’s not real, man, you’d run out of speed.’ So we had this big internal debate,” Pease said in a separate interview with Polygon. “We just started to lean into the natural act of skating in a real environment, going anywhere, exploring, finding your own lines and being creative.”
The studios behind Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, including those that dropped the Pro Skater title and the 2020 remaster, have disbanded. Neversoft ended in 2014, and Vicarious Visions, which did the 2020 remaster, merged into other Activision Blizzard teams.
Even with the original team gone, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 was a huge hit, selling over a million copies in two weeks. Players love the create-a-park mode, even with limited support for online modes.
People loved the simple joy of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. They were upset when a remake of the second and third game was canceled for Call of Duty development.
Activision called Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater an “important core” franchise. Under Microsoft’s new ownership, maybe we’ll see more remakes or new games. It would be great to see a new game take the skateboarding platformer to the next level. The legacy of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater will always be remembered, just like Mario.
“Thanks to Activision, Neversoft (RIP) and all of you that played THPS in those formative years,” Tony Hawk said in an Instagram
There’s as much love for great platformers now as there was in 1999. New and old players would love a new Tony Hawk game, especially if The Birdman ensures it matches the excitement of real-world skateboarding.
