On September 4, 2020, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 is coming to the Xbox One, Playstation 4 and PC via the Epic Games Store. Originally released on the PS1, the games were a smash hit and spawned an incredibly successful franchise that fell into decline in recent years.
This isn’t the first time we’re seeing the game remade; back in 2012, Robomodo released Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD digitally to mixed reception- that game featured levels from the original two games in the series; in 2015, they released Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 which was a hot enough mess that the studio shut down.
This new version of the game is being developed by Vicarious Visions and much like THPSHD features remade versions of old levels, but also includes some fresh content, such as online multiplayer and new tricks to perform. Most excitingly, the official press release mentions “Songs from the era”- if there’s one thing the games were known for, it was their soundtrack- Rage Against the Machine, Papa Roach and Primus are all mentioned as being part of the game, which is pretty nice- quite often when a game features licensed music, it doesn’t survive the transition between generations due to said licenses expiring.
One of the game’s most exciting features, Create-A-Park, will be just what it says on the tin- an editing suite that will enable you to design your own skate park.
I’m curious what sort of impact the game will have in 2020; Tony Hawk’s name very clearly has a lot of power when applied as a brand twenty years later, and there’s relatively little competition in the skateboarding game arena at the moment as it’s been quite some time since we’ve heard a peep out of EA and their Skate franchise. It’s also worth noting that, much like with Guitar Hero and Rock Band, which were hits that got driven into the ground with a few too many releases, THPS was seeing some franchise fatigue, and the middling reception of the Robomodo titles in recent years didn’t do much to help the franchise in recent years; it’s probably for the best that Activision let it rest for a while.
Personally, I’m looking forward to this one- that said, I’m not quite as excited for this remake as I am for SkateBIRD, which is coming out in 2021 and as you may rightly assume, allows you to skateboard as a bird. What do you think- does this remake of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 have you excited, or would you rather see them do something new with the franchise- or are you still waiting to see Skate 4 released some day? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter @1RuleBeCool.