- NA release: 15th March 2000
- PAL release: 24th March 2000
- JP release: N/A
- Developer: Neversoft, Edge of Reality
- Publisher: Activision
- N64 Magazine Score: 86%


This little game became a massive hit, with Tony Hawk’s games possibly being the most universally loved and well regarded sporting franchises. I personally started with Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4 on GameCube, and adored it (yet I’ve oddly never touched the franchise since), and I found it difficult to go back to this – it certainly doesn’t help that the N64 version features a gutted soundtrack.

In terms of movement and tricks, that’s something that the series managed to pull off from the very start. The game still feels smooth and responsive, and landing tricks has the right amount of leniency. Stringing together combos is more difficult, due to the lack of features added later on, but the important part is that it’s all still fun.

What I personally dislike, though, is the structure of the game. You get dumped into levels for only 2 minutes at a time, with five challenges to complete: two high scores to beat, find the letters S-K-A-T-E, smash 5 things and find a hidden tape. As the developers had to figure out how the core gameplay would work, it does make a lot of sense for the first game in the series.

While I didn’t get on with the game overall, I can definitively appreciate it for what it did, and that it was a solid start that (for a time) Neversoft were able to build up from. You can see some interesting experimentation in the levels – such as the linear Downhill Jam level, which eventually became the basis for a Wii game – as they were figuring out what the franchise was. The important thing was that they nailed the feel of skateboarding.

Fun
The animation is good, but it’s the dynamic camera that really brings the stunts to dizzy life. As you soar into the air, spinning and contorting to rack up a big points combo, the camera swoops around your skater to keep the landing zone visible. The horizon tilts dramatically when you take a corner or hit a pipe, creating a real impression of danger even though the game isn’t particularly fast.
Martin Kitts, N64 Magazine #41
Remake or remaster?
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater got an atrocious remaster. Thankfully, it then later got a wonderful remake in “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 & 2”.
Official ways to get the game.
The remake of 1 & 2 is available on most modern platforms.
N64 Games by Date
1997: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
1998: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
1999: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2000: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
Always hated how the music is cut short and looped in this version.
Not the ideal version of the game, but it’s hard to argue about this game’s impact. It’s the best non-Rare western-made 3D platformer series ever made.
Much like the best Nintendo games, THPS just feels good to play. Even without any interesting level design or set pieces, just the basic act of locomotion feels utterly divine. But, you know, it does have excellent level design to do along with its wonderful locomotion; making it a full package.
The 2 minute time limit was also a genius decision, turning each level into a veritable clockwork diorama that encourages you to break it apart and discover endless ways to rack up high scores and find every tiny secret. It gave the game that critical Just-One-More-Go factor that the best arcade games excelled at. If anything, it’s shocking that this game didn’t originate from the arcades, because it nails that tightly designed loop. Surprisingly, the closest thing we’d ever get in the arcades would be probably Crazy Taxi. But it was that rare thing, an arcade score attack game doing gangbusters at a time where the arcades were starting to lose relevance.
And of course, it essentially kicked off the Extreme Sports genre as we know it.
It essentially nailed the late 90s zeitgeist with its theming; encapsulating everything that made the era so special. But it’s a big shame then that the N64 version came out 6 months late and still so compromised, really missing that crucial initial window of opportunity. As such, the series became associated with Sony platforms moving forward; a huge blow to Nintendo’s mindshare in the west. While future games on GameCube would have simultaneous releases that had (mostly) feature parity with their PS2 counterparts, the damage had already been done before the GameCube had even launched; and Nintendo would never manage to recover (even to this day, THPS 1+2 on Switch is considered an afterthought compared to the PS4 release).
THPS is a landmark release that ended up being one of the biggest franchises of this generation (as well as the next), but it would not be in Nintendo’s favour.
I… would not call Tony Hawk’s a Platformer game, that’s for sure :p
I remember playing the second one a long time ago. Barely remember it, but it was really damn cool. That game, as well as WWF Smackdown! 2, really spoiled my expectations on the level of polish I should expect from licensed games.
I would. If you can’t aim where you’re flying and landing, you’re not going to make much progress. And all the floating collectibles? Hell, S-K-A-T-E letters are basically Jinjos from Banjo-Kazooie.
Anyway, yeah. THPS 2 was the first one I played. Immediately loved it. Don’t think I could ever go back to the original though. No manual? No thanks!
It also can’t be stated enough how influential this licensed game is, and that’s in no small part to the Hawkman himself. That guy was heavily involved with helping Neversoft make this. Providing motion capture for the game, explaining skating terminology to the staff, convincing his skater pals to let them use them in the game. And then right before the Playstation version came out, he nailed the first ever 900! (Which I believe he recreated for Neversoft to use in their intro video for the game) Neversoft did a cracking job, but there’s no denying Tony made it the breakout hit it was.
He’s still very passionate about the games, he did the 900 again for the remakes, so he’s still got it. I really hope he’s successful in getting the third and fourth games the excellent treatment the first two games got.