It’s been a while since I done a review, well few days ago but here’s a game that I used to play so much in my youth. Tony Hawk pro skater for PlayStation!

Context:
Skateboarding was getting popular in the 90s. Neversoft, the developers behind this game, asked Tony Hawk to help out with a upcoming game about skateboarding use him as the “poster boy” to help with sales. He got on board and helped out with the team to create which was the beginning of a franchise that was big from 1999 through the 2000s. There’s more to this story including beta and how it wasn’t originally a skateboarding game but that’s more on game discussion (I made a extensive research through the years.) I haven’t touched this game until 2004 and was instantly hooked. It had an impact on me and been playing every game from the original to Tony Hawk 2,3,4 and the remakes.

Graphics: 9
It was 1999. The best consoles were the PlayStation and Nintendo 64. Dreamcast was at its infancy in Japan and not available in the U.S yet I think. The graphics were pretty good for its day and how you can roam around the 3-D environment with a skateboard is pretty neat. The lighting was good, draw distance wasn’t that bad and the skaters look like their real life counterparts back in ‘99. People who picked it up were probably excited how it looked

Sound: 9
Sound doesn’t sound too compressed and hearing the wheels roll and people bailing or grinding is as “realistic” as 1999 can get on the PlayStation. One certain aspect though is the music. Some of the songs became synonymous with the game like “Superman” by Goldfinger or “Police Truck” by Dead Kennedy’s. The soundtrack is very memorable and helped define the game as more than an ordinary skateboard game.

Addictive: 10
Being 1999 once you start playing you get hooked immediately. It’s easy to play and with it having two players, you’re able to challenge your friends for hours of fun like horse, graffiti or score attack. Bare bones but be reminded how people were back when this came out. With each skater being unique with their stats and special moves you have a bit of replay-ability with this game.

Depth: 7
There’s quite a few game modes in this game consisting of Career, Free skate, time attack and two player. The game offers 9 levels with their own unique setting and Goals if you play on career mode. Career mode each level has five tapes you must collect to complete and new levels unlock as you collect the certain amount of tapes each level requires to play. From warehouse, to School, the Mall, Chicago, Downtown, Downhill Jam, Burnside, San Francisco and even a secret stage, each level has there own personality. One flaw though is that some levels do have some empty space and or some feel too compact though they are minor not ruining the experience of the game as a whole

Difficulty: 8
Game is easy to pick up and have fun, especially in career mode but as you progress it does get a bit harder. The game alleviates the difficulty with stat upgrades whenever you collect a certain amount of tapes and it comes with a new board also with each skater. One thing though is that the stats are added predetermined and you don’t have a choice where to put them at, though it can give a bit of a healthy challenge to some skaters if you don’t get infuriated easily


The game was really the beginning a series that expands to today with the newest game being the remake of 1+2. Tony Hawk pro skater was a huge hit and with the sequel coming in a year later, you knew this game had potential. I grew up playing this and even then I put it in my PlayStation and play a few sessions once in a while with Rune Glifberg as my favorite skater. For the rating

The average rating will be a 8.6 and I feel like that’s a fair rating for this game. This was truly the foundation for later installments that help cement itself for the next decade.