October 20, 2024, 9:46 am | Read time: 7 minutes
The “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater” game series is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. This is reason enough for TECHBOOK author Woon-Mo Sung to take a nostalgic look at his very own experience with the games.
Do you remember the Official PlayStation Magazine? Back then, it was considerably more expensive than most other video game magazines of the 90s or noughties, but it had something the others didn’t: a demo CD. Readers could get a taste of selected games on this every month. It often contained crap or simply uninteresting games. But when the first part of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater appeared on the magazine CD, I was immediately blown away. And I still had no idea that the immense fun wouldn’t stay on the PlayStation for me.
Overview
Knotted fingers and blisters thanks to “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater”
But first to the game: In Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, players either slip into the role of the skateboarding icon of the title or choose another well-known pro, including Bob Burnquist, Geoff Rowley, or Elissa Steamer. They all have slightly different characteristics. Hawk is particularly good in the air, Rowley and others are better at keeping their balance during grinds and slides.
However, the principle remains the same: collect a massive amount of points in a limited time with the most daring maneuvers possible and complete certain tasks along the way. Those who know how to make the most of the imaginatively designed levels and chain tricks together to create endless combinations have an advantage. Although these are based on reality, the physics are devoid of any realism. And that makes for action-packed, fast-paced gameplay that is addictive as you strive for your next personal best.
My favorite level in the first part remained the skate park in Chicago until the very end, where I had picked out an excellent line (in my opinion) and played through it until my fingers were completely knotted. However, I didn’t crack the magic mark of one million points. Instead, I seriously blistered my fingers – but “no pain, no gain” also applies to gaming high scores.
The absolute highlight with “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2”
Compared to the sequel, however, the first part was just a tender prelude – but with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, I finally broke the knot, while my fingers paradoxically became even more tangled. The level of choice? Marseille. And this time, it rained millions of points.
My gaming fanaticism reached its absolute peak here in terms of virtual rolling trees. And I spent countless hours alone or with my buddy Nick trying not to mess up Kickflip+360 Flip+FS Boardslide+360 Shove it+BS Bluntslide+FS Nosegrind+Manual+900 Varial. If it did, the next attempt at the combo would start.
I also managed millions of points on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3, but I was starting to feel a bit tired. That was actually the last part I actively played. But that was certainly also due to the fact that there were other genre representatives in the CD drive, such as Grind Session and Thrasher: Skate and Destroy. Years later, I returned to the skate game genre – then to Skate 2 from EA. However, to this day, I haven’t played the remakes of the first two Tony Hawk’s parts released a few years ago.
From the couch to the real skateboard
I spent many intense hours with the Tony Hawk franchise, which I still look back on fondly today. But the true legacy of the series in my life is the fact that it actually motivated me to buy a skateboard as a teenager – as it did many others.
Did I have any idea what made a good board? Nope. I just spontaneously went to the sports department at Karstadt and grabbed one that at least had a cool design on the underside. Did my buddy Nick and I feel insanely cool afterward? But so what?
In the complete absence of any sense of shame, the crunchy definition of a wannabe soon made schoolyards, sidewalks, and parks unsafe with boundless amateurishness. At least I skated “Goofy,” i.e., with my right foot in front, which sounded cool – Tony Hawk skates like that, too. However, I also pushed “Mongo,” which meant I gave momentum with my front foot, which was totally frowned upon at the time.
Acquaintance with ollie
But although we couldn’t do anything at first: An unexpected as well as indescribable feeling of freedom accompanied our first attempts at walking, sorry, rolling, and spurred us on to seriously learn a few first tricks. The theory of the ollie, i.e., jumping with the board without using your hands, quickly became clear to us, but the practical exercises were almost unbeatable in terms of embarrassment.
At some point, however, it seriously went “pop!” – like the sound you hear when you kick the board down hard on either side. The first llie was done, and from then on, completely new possibilities for urban mobility opened up.
Because now we could not only casually roll along a sidewalk, but we could also board past at street crossings in front of the eyes of drivers stopped at red lights and hop up the next kerb. In the early days, however, this didn’t always work, which is why I occasionally kissed the asphalt, much to the amusement of all road users.
The ultimate challenge: Kickflip
Over time, we ventured up and down small ramps and expanded our repertoire of tricks. However, our lack of real talent soon became apparent: while I tackled the challenge of gaps (for example, jumping down a landing) on a small scale, my eye-foot coordination was only good enough for a reliable pop shove-it: turning the board 180 degrees using only my feet.
In combination with a fairly high ollie, I felt very confident in my amateurism. However, my skills and patience were not enough for a kickflip (360-degree turn of the board across the transverse axis). Again, the theory seemed plausible, but my ankle just wasn’t loose enough to kick the board sideways.
As time went on, I became increasingly frustrated with my stagnating progress, and to make matters worse, some of my friends gradually withdrew from skateboarding. I then tried it on my own for a while, but I just didn’t enjoy it as much. At some point, the board just stayed in the cupboard and was never picked up again.
I’ve learned a bit – and it’s here to stay
Today, I look back on four to five years of fun, bruises, scraped elbows and knees, a dislocated shoulder, and frustration. In the end, we were definitely just followers who had simply jumped on a hype that unfortunately didn’t become a lasting passion.
Or maybe it did? Almost 20 years have passed since then, and today, my damaged knees wouldn’t even manage to squat for an ollie. And yet something has remained even after all these years: The memory of the euphoric feeling of landing a trick for the first time and the knowledge that determination and an iron will (at least temporarily in my case) pay off.
To this day, I have respect for skate talents who amaze me with their videos. The YouTube algorithm regularly flushes clips from competitions or film shoots into my feed and on Instagram I follow the well-known skater Daewon Song, among others.
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The board is gone, but the dreams remain
Even though I no longer skate actively, I have remained a passive fan of the sport and enjoy new best performances, great trick combinations, and crazy maneuvers in the halfpipe or on the street. It all started with a video game at home in front of the screen.
Thanks to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, I got a glimpse of this scene for a few years, and I still can’t walk past a banister without imagining myself jumping down or skidding along in my mind’s eye.
Dreaming is still allowed.