A review of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2, from the viewpoint of somebody who was introduced to skateboarding through the original games.

In the very end of the summer of 1999, I was introduced to a life changing video game that would shape my life beyond belief. On the last day of summer camp, one of the camp consulars brought in his Sony Playstation with a copy of a brand new video game called Tony Hawk Pro Skater. Knowing very little of skateboarding at the time, I was drawn to the game based on the soundtrack, grinding noises, and overall fun people seemed to have when playing it. After beating the original Tony Hawk Pro Skater, you are rewarded with a short real life skate video featuring the skateboarder you beat the game with. The camp consular showed us these vides of the skaters he’s beaten the game with, and after seeing the real life footage of people ripping, I knew skateboarding was something that was for real, and had me hooked. I never realized people actually throw themselves down huge handrails or boost humongous backside airs on vert ramps. At the time, I was was seven years old, and racing BMX bikes on dirt tracks multiple times a week. Occasionally, I would see skateboarders skating a flatbar and the bleachers for spectators in the middle area of the BMX track. I eventually went up to these skateboarders and spoke to them, asking noob questions out of curiosity. Over time, these skaters thought me basic terminology, popular brand names, and the best professional skateboarders at the time. Shortly after in October of 1999, I got my first skateboard for my birthday. A World Industries ‘Detention’ model off of some mail order website.

Fast forward to Summer of 2000. Tony Hawk Pro Skater is released for the Nintendo 64 and blows up amongst my friend group. Everybody I knew had a copy of that blue cartridge and was at summer camp telling stories of their massive combos they pulled off the night before. With the summer camp I attended eventually buying a couple Nintendo 64 consoles for campers to use, vicious battles of THPS went down daily. Everybody had their favorite, with most people using Tony Hawk himself because of his 9000 point ‘The 900’ special move, but I personally preferred Elissa Steamer based on her Toy Machine boards and special move list. Other than Goldeneye & Pokemon games, Tony Hawk Pro Skater defined childhood competitiveness amongst my friends and I. If I had to make a personal top 10 video games of all time list, the original Tony Hawk Pro Skater would definitely be on that list.

Now about the time the second Tony Hawk Pro Skater came out, my friends and I were starting to get into Playstation 2 games, a system THPS2 didn’t come out on. I did rent Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 from Blockbuster, however my experience with it at the time is a lot less than the original game. However, when Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 was released on iOS sometime in the early 2010’s, I bought it and played it to death. I played it religiously in school, and beat with with almost every character, clearing every goal every time.

I’ve played every Tony Hawk Pro Skater game since, excluding both Tony Hawk Ride and Shred. Out of them all, I enjoyed Tony Hawk 4 the most, clearing it 100% with easily over 500 hours spent playing. I think the series peaking control wise during Tony Hawk Underground 2 (definitely not story wise), and had a hard drop off afterwards. Eventually, the series was produced by Robomodo who is responsible for the prior two releases of Tony Hawk games, both the original THPS remaster and Tony Hawk Pro Skater, and were GOD AWFUL! The games played nothing like a classic Tony Hawk Pro Skater and had arguably some clunkiest physics in any ‘extreme sports’ video game series ever made. After seeing the Tony Hawk Pro Skater series sink to such a low, I wasn’t very optimistic for any good THPS games in the future.

In September of 2020, Vicarious Visions and Activision release Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 + 2, a true remake of the first two games. Vicarious Visions has previously worked on mobile ports of the Tony Hawk Pro Skater Series, as well as recently revamping the Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon series for modern day consoles. The new THPS promised to be a 1:1 remake of the original levels, using everything from the THUG2 engine other than getting off your board and doing graffiti. The game also promised to use original code from both of the OG games in order to get a more classic feel for the series. Of course, being the huge THPS fan I am, I bought this game day 1, skeptical, but excited. I figured it couldn’t be much worse than THPS5, so what the the worst that can happen? Luckily for me, I have three days off in a row the day THPS1+2 was released, because I was HOOKED!!

I’ll begin here with the basics of the game. The modes and basic campaign mode are exactly like the original games. Every goal from both Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 and 2 are there, with five goals added to every THPS1 level to make it an even number across every map. However, there are no longer floating cash icons on every THPS2 level, and stats are no acquired in level the same way as THP3, instead of with every board unlock like THPS1. Some of the added goals, such as the roof gaps on Downtown or the bells on School 1, may be challenging and hard at first, but I was able to figure out ways to accomplish them easily. The games controls like a dream, a spitting to the originals. Adding moves such as trigger transfers, wallplants, hip transfers, and acid drops provide a ton of ways to boost up your combo and easily break your high score personal bests. However, if you rather have the original controls, such as none of the previously mentioned moves or no mannys or liptricks in THPS1, theres options in the controls to change accordingly to your liking. The maps are exactly as I remember then, however this time with much more detail and life. The mall now shows it’s age, with most shops closed down and abandoned. Levels like Downhill Jam add little things such as rails along the fences to streamline your way to the secret tape. It’s little, yet noticeable changes to these levels that give them new life and make them replayable 1000 times over. The soundtrack is a good mix of old THPS song with a hint of new one. Songs like ‘Goldfinger’s Superman’ and ‘Rage Against the Machine’s Guerrilla Radio’ make a return with band such as ‘Sublime’ and many modern rap artists making an appearance. As of right now, I have more than 200 hours logged into the game, and was the 12th person in the world to get the ‘Legen-dairy’ Achievement on Xbox Live according to TrueAchivements. I’m currently only missing three achievement, being all the hard get theres (insanely hard), all gaps, and reach overall level 100. I’m at level 70 currently with the only gap challenge I missing being Skater Heaven, however the Hard Get Theres is an achievement for someone with serious THPS skills. I have more than half of them done, but certain levels like Roswell and Bullring have get theres that will make you want to throw your controller.

One thing I really appreciate about this reboot is the attention to skateboarding’s past. What I mean by that is skateboarders such as Bob Burnquist, who have skated for many companies throughout his career but is not currently sponsored, has boards available from multiple previous sponsors for you to choose from. Not only are Burnquist’s days skating for ‘The Firm’ represented in the game, but also brands like Antihero, who Burnquist skated for being the Tony Hawk Games ever released. Bucky Lasak has both Powell-Peralta & Birdhouse boards, Rodney Mullin has Enjoi & Almost, and even Tony Hawk pays homage to his days on Powell-Peralta with a couple reissues to your disposal. Skaters like Rune Glifburg, Jamie Thomas, and Steve Caballero have both modern day boards as well as some of the amazing vintage board that were featured in the original THPS games. Its a mini nostalgic trip combined with the new school graphics that really bring me back to the year 2000 and being excited over a THPS game originally. Truck brands like Independent and Thunder are represented here too, with many of their real life trucks available for your picking. No longer are the days of generic silver trucks for all skaters. No you can actually choose both your wheels and trucks, and both look pretty spot on to their real life counterpart.

Overall, I’m extremely satisfied with this version of Tony Hawk. It is easily the best Tony Hawk game ever released. The fluidity, nostalgia, attention to detail, $40 price point, and overall gameplay makes this an easy 10/10 rating for me. Feel free to add me on Xbox Live. My gamerTag is Semino1es.