1. You probably first witnessed the game when an older sibling or cousin got it on Playstation One.
Totally unaware of how much graphics and game play would improve within the next few years, you thought this was the pinnacle of technology. The high school from Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater probably looked as good as real life to you at the time.
2. The game had you well versed on the names and personalities of professional skaters.
Chad Muska, Mike Vallely, Nyjah Huston, Andrew Reynolds, Bob Burnquist, Paul Rodriguez, etc. are names that you probably never would have come across if you hadn’t played this game, unless you read American skating magazines.
3. Create-A-Skater was an extremely important part of the game.
Being able to customize your outfits added so much to the series.
4. Eric Sparrow still stirs up feelings of anger in you.
The most irritating rival since Gary from Pokémon.
5. Being able to get off the skateboard in Tony Hawk’s Underground totally changed the game.
There is no more iconic combination of buttons than R1 + L1. Those two buttons made so much possible in this game.
6. You were also able to drive for the first time.
It was also the most unsatisfying driving experience in any game, ever.
7. There were loads of surprises hidden all over the game.
Like the weird Star Wars kid hidden in Boston in Tony Hawk’s Underground 2. Or the secret gymnasium and swimming pool in the high school in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater.
8. The anticipation waiting for the Wheel of Loogies to stop spinning was so intense.
9. The soundtrack of every game was perfect and probably influenced your taste in music later in life.
10. Everything started to go downhill after American Wasteland, but you can’t deny that being able to cycle a BMX was a lot of fun.
11. Graffiti was also a pretty fun addition to Tony Hawk’s Underground 2.
All of the main billboards were probably physically impossible to paint, especially in a few seconds, but it still added a bit of incentive to explore.
12. You definitely went on Create-A-Park and built a park that was 80% pits full of spikes.
Unfortunately it’s not 2004, so it’s very difficult to source a video online that accurately illustrates the spike pit skate parks of death that people made.
13. It helped you improve your geographical knowledge.
You’ll never forget that the world’s longest bench is in Barcelona’s Park Güell. Basically every stop on an interrailing trip can be prepared for by re-playing Tony Hawk games.
14. The day you learned how to balance manuals, grinds and vert tricks was the day that your life changed.
From that day onward, nobody could possibly ever beat you at any multiplayer game on it. Plus it made the game extremely unrealistic. Characters would be performing Natas Spins for up to five minutes straight.
15. The secret characters were always pretty amusing.
In a universe without Tony Hawk games, it would make absolutely zero sense to see a YouTube video of Shrek skateboarding around Barcelona’s most famous tourist attractions with Linkin Park as a backing track.
While Linkin Park wasn’t on the soundtrack, it still pretty much sums up the tastes of people who played this game as a kid.
16. The multiplayer games were the cause of many fights between siblings.
Graffiti? Skate? They’re going to end in tears and hair-pulling.
17. It was a game that could produce endless hours of entertainment without getting even slightly boring.
Whether you preferred playing against a time limit in earlier games or the open world in the later games, Tony Hawk games really had something for everyone, and was perfect multiplayer material for parties and predrinks.
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