Every Tony Hawk Game Ranked From WORST To BEST

When primitive man first attached wheels to a  bit of wood and used the resulting contraption to careen dangerously down a nearby hill, little  did he know the world-changing craze that he had created. Anthony Frank Hawk, better known  as Tony Hawk, and respectfully known by his many admirers as "Birdman", is arguably the  most famous modern proponent of rolly-planky, or "skateboarding", as it would come to be  known, and his recognisability to gamers of a certain era is comparable to that of La

ra Croft,  Crash Bandicoot, and maybe even Mario himself. The Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series  exploded onto the scene in 1999 to a stellar critical reception  and enviable commercial success, and the series instantly ollied its way into the  hearts of the collective gaming public. That said, it definitely has its share of ups and  downs, and some might argue that the Tony Hawk franchise seems to consist mostly of  a gradual downslope without the customary bit that goes back up at the end. More of

an  uninterrupted, descending ramp than a half-pipe. We'll expand on all that in good time, though,  because for this video we've looked at each game in the series, assessed their stunts, tricks,  and spills, and taken into account their critical reception at the time of release and their  current status with nostalgic fans. As usual, we won't be looking at remakes, re-releases,  collections, or mobile games, with each game being judged solely on its original incarnation –  so a quick hello to

the excellent Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 remakes, as we won’t be talking about  you today! We may also split handheld versions off into their own entry if they're deemed different  enough from their console and PC-based siblings. Right, that's enough official stuff, it's  time to get this thing rolling. Prepare for more alley-oops, fakies, drop-ins, and nosegrabs  than you can shake a specifically-designed 7 to 8-ply maple plywood deck with polyurethane  wheels at, as we thrash around the vast

, varied and exciting skatepark  that is the Tony Hawk series. Let's rank 'em! I'm Ben, and I'm Peter from TripleJump, and here is Every Tony Hawk Video  Game Ranked from Worst to Best. 19. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 –  PS3/PS4/Xbox 360/Xbox One – 2015 After original Tony Hawk developers, Neversoft, departed the series to make the Guitar Hero  games, Chicago-based developer, Robomodo, stepped in. This now-defunct studio's  final game, and, at the time of recording, the final original release in th

e Tony Hawk  franchise, was Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5. This ill-fated title was intended to be  a return to form for an ailing series, and a return to its roots, even going so far  as to revive the original “Pro Skater” name that hadn't been seen since 2002. It was an  idea that was nice in theory, but in reality, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5's development and release  turned into a bit of a horror story, and resulted in a game that finds itself in a crumpled,  bloody mess right at the bottom of our

list. Eschewing the story modes that had started  to appear in mid-era Tony Hawk's games, Pro Skater 5 offered no-frills, score-based,  open-ended gameplay, with the player's goal being to flip and trick their way to the top  of the scoreboards or collect certain items, depending on the game mode. This was  achieved across ten skatepark maps, with players also able to create their own  skateparks to thrash around in as well. Not that they'd want to. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5  received a sound and

unanimous critical mauling, with its dodgy controls and mechanics, repetitive  challenges, ropey visuals, and plethora of bugs and glitches all failing to escape the notice of  merciless reviewers. Rushed to release due to an impending license expiry, the game came out in  an incomplete state, with players requiring an 8GB day one patch to access most of the game's  content. As you're no doubt aware, this sort of thing doesn't go down too well with the gaming  public, and Pro Skater 5 was right

fully panned. Seen as an insult to the series, and to  skateboarding culture as a whole, Pro Skater 5 is left to languish at the bottom of the pile,  remembered only for its failures. A total wipeout. 18. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater – GBC – 2000 While most ports and iterations of  the early Tony Hawk games were on a more-or-less equal footing, the Game Boy  Color version of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater represented a drastic drop in quality  compared to its legendary counterparts. Developed by prolific stud

io, Natsume, Tony  Hawk's Pro Skater on the GBC is a title that proves that the developers didn't know quite  how to translate the gameplay of the console version to a handheld device capable only  of 2D visuals. Natsume opted to provide the player with a few different modes, like  a half-pipe mode where players perform tricks and accumulate points, and a number  of racing modes, including one-on-one races, tournaments, and multiplayer, but none of  these offerings were particularly enjoyable. T

he half-pipe mode was seen as crushingly  boring and awkward, with tricks difficult to pull off thanks to misread button inputs,  and no incentive to keep playing beyond sating any initial curiosity. The game offers a number  of professional skateboarders to choose from, but this choice has little bearing on  the half-pipe mode, and the smattering of different half-pipe levels to choose from  only changes the aesthetic and not the gameplay. In the racing modes, however, your choice of  skater ha

s a huge effect on your chances of success, with the overly difficult AI ensuring  that lower-rated skaters will be completely left in the dust by the top-level boarders. Tricks can  be performed during these races, but only the most determined players will be able to pull off said  tricks while also staying competitive in the race, and the computer skaters are extremely aggressive,  knocking into you at the slightest opportunity. Worst of all, though, is the implementation  of the tricks, with

every single stalefish, indy, or method performed by the player causing a  full-screen illustration of the trick to appear, completely shattering the flow of the gameplay. It's easy to look back on this early attempt  at a handheld skateboarding game and scoff, but the choice to constantly interrupt  the game in this way is truly baffling, and something that, thankfully, doesn't  rear its head in the series again. 17. Tony Hawk's Motion – DS – 2008 Released exclusively for the DS and developed 

by Creat Studios, Tony Hawk's Motion had a special gimmick up its sleeve; the inclusion  of a “Motion Pack”, which was inserted into the DS' Game Boy Advance slot, and used as  a method of control. That information alone, along with the game's early inclusion in  this video, should be enough to let most experienced gamers understand where this is  going, but we'll expand upon it nonetheless, because there are a few points of interest  concerning this somewhat obscure DS oddity. First of all, the

game actually features  snowboarding as well as skateboarding, giving players the opportunity to wrap  up warm, take the wheels off their board, and perform tricks and grinds along  snowy courses as well as the usual urban skateparks. The cartridge also came with  a second, bonus game called Hue: Pixel Painter, which again used the Motion Pack add-on to  control a strange, hairy, little ghost-type character as he smears paint behind him,  bringing light and colour to a lifeless world. It's all

very odd, and while it may seem like  good value to have two games for the price of one, the fact of the matter is that both titles  felt more like a demo than a full experience. Tony Hawk's Motion was severely lacking in  content, and what content was there felt awkward and unfinished, with the all-important  motion controls proving to be unresponsive. Tony Hawk's Motion is no more than an  odd footnote in the series' history; a strange little game twinned with  another strange little game and

packed in with a strange little peripheral that was  basically doomed before it hit the shelves, what with the then upcoming  DSi not featuring the GBA port. The only motion we can really recommend  when it comes to this Tony Hawk's title, is the motion of turning away and leaving  it exactly where it is on the shelf. Alright, I know that was a bad joke.  No need to get e-motion-al about it. 16. Tony Hawk: Ride – PS3/Wii/Xbox 360 – 2009 The first game made by the aforementioned Robomodo  after N

eversoft's departure from the series, Tony Hawk: Ride looked to get a piece of  Guitar Hero's peripheral-based success by coming packed with a big, plastic,  skateboard controller. The plan was to allow would-be skateboarders to skate in  their own homes without having to worry about things like wheels, passersby,  and, you know, actual skateboarding. Hatched by long-time Tony Hawk publishers,  Activision, the peripheral-based Tony Hawk: Ride was marketed as an exciting new direction  for the fr

anchise, and the break-through that the series needed to stay relevant in the  ever-changing medium. With the gift of hindsight, it is now seen as a hare-brained scheme to  take a teetering franchise and lump it with yet another gimmicky peripheral during  an era of gaming plagued by unwieldy motion-controls and ill-fated attempts  to win over the casual gaming audience. Tony Hawk: Ride offers various game modes,  including slaloms, speed challenges, and trick sessions, and the controller itself

  uses infra-red technology to detect the player's movement and weight distribution on  the board. Movements like turning, leaning, and hopping were intended to  translate realistically on-screen, but, to the surprise of very few onlookers,  this was not really the case in practice. The gameplay and controls were deemed awkward  by reviewers, and the control method required a level of dedication to master that simply wasn't  worth it when the game itself was so lacklustre and disappointing. The

title's average score  across all three consoles hovers in the 40s, and Tony Hawk: Ride found itself taking  up space in retail store stockrooms the world over after potential customers  decided that they already had enough barely-used, oversized gaming accessories  cluttering up their cupboards and attics. Tony Hawk: Ride was one of the first massive  signs of the franchise's transformation from a series that captured the unbridled  joy of pure, addictive gameplay, to one that frustrated with r

epeated attempts  at unwanted gimmicks and executive meddling. Stop the ride, please, I want to get off. 15. Tony Hawk: Shred – PS3/Wii/Xbox 360 – 2010 It's Tony Hawk: Ride, but they added  snowboarding! If you were once a cool, young, and active person who is aware  of extreme sports slang like I am, then you would have already known this,  as one doesn't “shred” on a skateboard, shredding is an activity reserved exclusively for  snowboarders … and those who need to dispose of sensitive documen

ts securely, but that's far  less cool, although still weirdly satisfying. Anyway, Tony Hawk: Shred is the  immediate sequel to Tony Hawk: Ride, and came packaged with the exact same peripheral  with a different visual design. Aiming to right the wrongs of its predecessor, Tony Hawk:  Shred packed in some additional content, and the developers put a lot of effort into  making this game live up to its perceived promise. The snowboarding was a welcome  addition, (and kind of made more sense, consi

dering you're standing on a wheel-less  board) and the birdman himself showing up to offer hints and tips on using the controller  gave the game an added sense of authenticity. Tony Hawk: Shred was an improvement, but was  still way off the mark when it came to providing a compelling and enjoyable skateboarding  experience. Though the critical reception was slightly less negative than Tony Hawk: Ride,  the game's average still languishes in the red, and despite the efforts made by  Robomodo to i

mprove the experience, frustrating gameplay and awkward  controls still ruled the day. The title's sales performance matched its critical  reception, with the game selling only 3,000 copies in the US during the week of release. Fans  of the Tony Hawk franchise were crestfallen, and as far as mainline console releases go,  the series went into a five-year stasis, broken only by the fiasco that  was Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5. It's all a bit depressing really, but don't  worry, it's all uphill from

here! Or would that be downhill? Because going downhill is  easier, especially on a skateboard. Hmm, I'm not sure whether we should be going  up or down the hill at this point... 14. Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam – PS2/Wii – 2006 Alright, downhill it is, with  Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam! Developed by Toys for Bob and released  across home console and handheld platforms, Downhill Jam was meant to compliment  the release of Tony Hawk's Project 8, which hit the shelves at the same  time on next generation

platforms. Unsurprisingly, the aim of the game in Tony  Hawk's Downhill Jam is to skate downhill at irresponsible speeds, racking up points  along the way for doing tricks and grinds, and beating your fellow skaters to the  bottom. It's the only mainline Tony Hawk game to feature a racing mechanic, and the act  of violently pushing other racers to the curb is positively encouraged! Honestly, Tony, that's  no way to treat a lady. What is this, Road Rash? Unnecessary violence aside, this racing a

spect  makes Downhill Jam a unique game in the franchise, and courses based on well-known,  hilly locations like the streets of San Francisco and the steep roads  around Hong Kong definitely add some appeal. Unfortunately, interesting ideas  don't always translate to great games, and Downhill Jam has a number of critical  hindrances that turn it into a bumpy ride. While finding the optimum route and  seeking out shortcuts in the longer races could prove entertaining, the game  was just too frust

rating and clunky to be enjoyed for any length of  time, with awkward controls, unfairly punishing collisions, and janky  physics all combining to sour the experience. Another caveat noted by reviewers,  was that Downhill Jam just didn't feel like a Tony Hawk game, with series  veterans used to the exploration aspect expressing their disappointment at the  fact that it was all but missing in this iteration. Downhill Jam was seen as more  of a racing game than a skateboarding game, with unflatter

ing comparisons drawn  to the generally-superior SSX series. Despite all this, it's still a shame that this  one didn't gain more of a following, because we'd have liked to have seen it spawn its own  series. Just imagine the potential follow-ups to Downhill Jam. Downhill Marmalade, Downhill Honey,  Downhill Pickle – the possibilities are endless. 13. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 – GBC – 2000 Hey, do you remember that Tony Hawk  game that's a 2D side-scroller? No? Then you never played Tony Hawk's 

Pro Skater 2 for the Game Boy Color. After Natsume's fumbling of the  GBC port of the first Pro Skater, Activision trusted them enough to  allow for another crack at the whip, and this time they went down an entirely different  route. The result was a game that's definitely a lot more playable than its handheld predecessor,  and entirely unique in the Tony Hawk franchise. The game features two types of side-scrolling  environment: single-plane side-scrolling levels, similar to run-and-gun shoote

rs like Contra,  and street locales, where players are able to move up and down the screen as well, similar to  something like Double Dragon. If you're used to those types of games, you might expect your  chosen skateboarder to pull out some kind of laser cannon or unleash a flying kick, but this  is strictly about the tricks and flips I’m afraid. Reviewers found that both types of  environment had something to offer, but generally preferred the single-plane stages,  thanks to sluggish movement

often making moving up and down the screen in the street-style  levels a bit of a flow-breaking chore. Each stage has a number of goals that players  have to clear to fully complete the game, ranging from scoring a certain amount  of points, collecting cash, or hunting down letters to spell out the word “skate”.  Though they all seem fairly straightforward, the level design ensures that certain goals  will be devilishly tricky to complete in the time limit, giving players who feel inclined  to b

eat the game plenty to wrestle with. Despite being a marked improvement over Natsume's  first attempt at a GBC Tony Hawk title, however, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 still didn't do enough  to wow the gaming public. Players and reviewers appreciated the range of available tricks and  the level of challenge on offer, but the controls didn't even come close to representing the sublime  poise and precision of its console-based siblings. It's probably the best skateboarding  game on the handheld, but th

at isn't really saying an awful lot. Still,  at least you can skateboard in space! 12. Tony Hawk's Proving Ground  – PS2/PS3/Wii/Xbox 360 – 2007 With its mixed to average review scores,  its refusal to tread new ground, and its cover art that looks very similar to all those  big budget action game cover arts of the era, Tony Hawk's Proving Ground is something of a  poster boy for the unremarkable. It was the last Tony Hawk game developed by Neversoft, but  they said goodbye to the series that br

ought them so much success by releasing a game that  was sadly starting to feel a little old. That's not to say Tony Hawk's Proving Ground is  a poor skating game. Neversoft knew what they were doing, and even when they weren't pushing  the envelope, they were capable of providing a solid skateboarding experience, but compared to  the bombastic praise that was levelled at many of Proving Ground's predecessors, “solid”  seems more than a little underwhelming. The game's single-player mode plays o

ut across  nine levels, based in real-life cities along the East Coast of America, with players invited  to grind the curbs and railings of Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. The  main aim across these three famous burgs is to best a returning Eric Sparrow, the jealous  turncoat from the Tony Hawk's Underground games. In the PS3 and 360 versions of the game, the three  cities are all spread out across one large map, but the less-powerful consoles’ offerings  separate the three areas wi

th loading screens and this, along with a few other missing  features, displeased Wii and PS2 owners. It's also worth noting that it was at around  this time that EA stuck their gigantic, solid gold oar into the genre, with  highly-rated skateboarding interloper, Skate, hitting shelves a month before  Proving Ground's release. This EA Black Box-developed title would provide a new  spin on skateboarding games, and would go on to spawn a short series that came rather  close to knocking the Birdman

off his perch. Despite this new-found competition, Tony Hawk's  Proving Ground rarely offered anything beyond a solid skating experience, and is significant  only for marking the point at which long-time developers, Neversoft, went off to prove  themselves on some entirely different ground. 11. Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam – DS/GBA – 2006 In a trend that you're going to see crop up  at least once or twice more in this list, the handheld version of Downhill Jam was the one  that proved to be the mos

t popular with critics, specifically the DS version. It was developed by  the studio known as Vicarious Visions, who made quite a name for themselves handling the portable  incarnations of numerous Tony Hawk titles. Of course, Vicarious Visions have  other games under their belt, too; from the Xbox port of Doom 3 to Zebco Fishing  for the Game Boy Color, but we're not talking about those games today. Your day may come,  Zebco Fishing fans, but it is not this day. With Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam on

the DS,  Vicarious Visions surprised contemporary gamers with their mastery of Nintendo's handheld, getting the machine to produce some exemplary 3D  visuals for the time, and crafting an enjoyable, miniature interpretation of the series'  trademark pick-up-and-play gameplay. The game once again focused on downhill skateboard  racing, and kicks things off in San Francisco, the most famous of all the world's hilly cities  and a downhill skateboarder's dream come true. As with the console version

of Downhill Jam, many  fans and critics were concerned about the game's shift from open-ended trick skating to racing,  but the DS version mostly allayed such fears, offering an enjoyable experience in its  own right that provided an alternative to the more traditional Tony Hawk games.  Some missed the exploration aspect, but it's not as if they  couldn't find it elsewhere. The GBA version didn't fare quite as well, but still provided an alternate skateboarding  experience and even managed full

3D visuals, though the lack of any texture mapping gives  it a certain ... abstract appeal, shall we say. Still, if you're looking for  skateboarding action on the go, you can do worse than the handheld versions of  Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam, even if they don't really feel like fully-fledged additions to  the Tony Hawk franchise. They're definitely a lot more action packed than Zebco Fishing,  anyway. Again, apologies to any Zebco fans. 10. Tony Hawk's American Wasteland –  GameCube/PC/PS2/Xbox/

Xbox 360 – 2005 Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland was the first game  in the series to consist of one big, open play area rather than separate, selectable skateparks  … kind of. The publishers advertised the game’s setting of Los Angeles as one big level, but  certain reviewers took exception to that claim, pointing out that long, bland, connecting  corridors simply replaced loading screens, and the map wasn’t as big and open as Activision  and Neversoft would have had players believe. Another seri

es first that cannot be denied, though, is the addition of bikes  that players can commandeer, with freestyle BMX tricks and techniques adding  another string to the Tony Hawk bow. Bowny Hawk. The game’s story mode features the  protagonist, a player-named, male skater, moving to Los Angeles to turn over a new leaf,  leaving behind a life of delinquency to become a socially upstanding skateboarder. Throughout the  course of the single-player campaign, players will be interacting with the local s

kateboarding  crew, proving their skateboarding skills, and collecting wood to help with  skatepark construction. Noble work indeed. Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland was fairly  well-received among press and franchise fans, and while the game didn’t exactly take new  strides, many observers appreciated the return to good, old-fashioned skateboarding  after the more arcade-y, destruction-based interlude of the Underground games. The  game’s story mode was also similarly enjoyed, with the ragtag bun

ch of skateboard-loving  misfits versus evil property developers plot-line proving agreeable to fans and  throwing up a few likeable characters. However, many reviewers noted that American  Wasteland did little to evolve the series, and many also noted that the game  was far too easy, with incessant, hand-holding tutorials throughout. It seems that  most skateboard-enjoyers, myself included, would rather be set free to explore and discover the  world of rails and half-pipes ourselves, left to ma

ke our own mistakes and earn our own victories,  and to learn to be great on our own terms. That's in the video game world, I must  stress. If I ever made the mistake of getting on a skateboard in real life, I know I’d  definitely want someone nearby to hold my hand. 9. Tony Hawk's Project 8 –  PS2/PS3/PSP/Xbox/Xbox 360 – 2006 Tony Hawk's Project 8 is, unsurprisingly, the eighth title in the Tony Hawk video  game franchise, but its name is more than just a working title that stuck. The term  “Pr

oject 8” refers to the game's story mode, where Mr. Hawk sees fit to create a skating team  consisting of eight of the top skaters in town, and it's the player's job to work their way up  the rankings and make it into Tony's elite octet. The next Tony Hawk game to grace the shelves  after American Wasteland, the PS3 and 360 versions of the game introduced a new engine,  and finally gave the series a real, undisputed, seamless open world. Tony Hawk's Project 8 was  also the first in the series to

introduce the “nail the trick” feature, in which the camera  zooms in on the skateboard as time slows, and the player is free to unleash a flurry  of neat tricks using the analogue sticks. Project 8 is also ideal for those who like  to show off in front of random passersby, as when stylish tricks are performed  in front of pedestrians, they will, much like in real life, attain the  “stoked” status, and the player will receive a currency known as “stokens”,  which can be spent on in-game items.

The critical reception for Tony Hawk's  Project 8 fluctuated across systems, with the old-gen versions dropping below  70%, but the PS3 and 360 versions being praised for the graphical jump. The new “nail  the trick” feature was also well-received, but the PS3 version's review average did  take a hit thanks to some frame rate woes. Some other issues that came up in  reviews included the lack of challenge, and the fact that, aside from “nail the trick”,  the game felt very similar to its predeces

sors, with many pundits suggesting that  Neversoft might be running out of ideas, and that the whole thing  was becoming somewhat formulaic. Still, this is the only game that I know  of that lets you “shag your dad's balls”. That means something completely different in  America, right? I certainly hope so, anyway. 8. Tony Hawk's American Sk8land – DS/GBA – 2005 The snappily-named Tony Hawk's American Sk8land was once again created by seasoned handheld  developer, Vicarious Visions, and with it,

the New York-based studio continued to show  their skill at getting that signature Tony Hawk gameplay translated into handheld form.  We must stress, though, that the position of this game on our list is primarily based on the  DS version. The GBA version exists, it's there, it had an isometric viewpoint and pre-rendered  backdrops, and it was kind of average. Those who'd adopted Nintendo's dual-screened device,  however, were in for a bit of a treat. Tony Hawk's American Sk8land for the DS  fea

tured many of the same characters, sounds and locations as its home console  counterpart, but with its Jet Set Radio-esque, cel-shaded visuals, and its interesting  use of the handheld's various features, it proved to be one of the better games on the  system, especially so early in its lifespan. Thanks to the DS' button layout kind of mimicking  the original PlayStation controller, American Sk8land had an authentic feel for series veterans,  and the touchscreen controls meant that Vicarious Vis

ions could add a few extra options to the  gameplay. Far from just a place to put an overhead map of the area, the DS' touchscreen was used  to unleash special tricks, that cause mappable buttons to appear on said screen, ready to be  utilised for some cool, stylus-activated moves. Players could also use the touchscreen to make  creative designs for the in-game boards, and could even use the DS' mic to record sound clips  to be used in game. While these inclusions might be seen as gimmicks, the

game's Wi-Fi integration  was certainly not. American Sk8land was in fact the first non-Nintendo-published game to  make use of the console's Wi-Fi integration, and allowed skating fans to test their mettle  against other handheld skaters the world over. It wasn't perfect, and the series was starting  to get a bit long in the tooth at this point, but Tony Hawk's American Sk8land  proved to be one of the best ways to enjoy skateboarding that you  could fit in your pocket. I mean, it's definitely

better than those  finger skateboard things, anyway. 7. Tony Hawk's Proving Ground – DS – 2007 While the console versions of Tony Hawk's Proving  Ground represent Neversoft skating off to pastures new and dropping a decent but unremarkable  swansong on their way out of the door, the DS version showcases Vicarious  Visions once again coming in clutch, with another handheld title  that packed more fun into its tiny cartridge than its console-based  brethren stuffed onto a compact disc. With Provin

g Ground, the developer  expanded upon what they'd already offered with Downhill Jam and American  Sk8land, replacing the toon-like aesthetic with some more realistic-looking  visuals, and upping the challenge a little, offering more practised players something  to sink their teeth into if they wanted to achieve those elusive “sick” rankings. It  even included a miniature skatepark editor, although this couldn't hold a candle to  what the console titles had to offer. Not content with just bolste

ring  the single player experience, Vicarious Visions also did a lot of work to  the online component for their third bash at a DS Tony Hawk game. While the DS itself  was limited in its online capabilities, Tony Hawk's Proving Ground still managed  to offer four player multiplayer, and enabled fans to share their board, wall,  and clothing designs with online friends. Like its home console brethren, Tony Hawk's  Proving Ground for DS' main weakness is the fact that it exists in a long line of g

ames that do  much the same thing, without really adding to the core gameplay enough to make it stand out. On the  DS, however, it was only the third Tony Hawk game after American Sk8land and Downhill Jam, and it  stands out as the best of the bunch, thus taking the crown for being the pre-eminent skateboarding  experience on the popular, dual-screened device. And when you consider that the DS is home to  classics like Spongebob Surf & Skate Roadtrip, that is some very high praise indeed. 6. Ton

y Hawk's Underground 2 –  GameCube/GBA/PC/PS2/Xbox – 2004 When Neversoft felt that the Pro  Skater series had run its course, they decided to take things underground,  and good, old-fashioned, sports-based skateboarding was replaced with delinquency,  vandalism, and general social misconduct, with the Tony Hawk's Underground games  really living up to that “THUG” acronym. While this new attitude for the  series was welcomed by a youth scene obsessed with Jackass and MTV,  Underground 2 especiall

y does feel a little dated by modern standards,  but great gameplay never ages, and Tony Hawk's Underground 2 still nails  those tried and tested series mechanics. Taking players on a skateboarding journey from New  Orleans to Barcelona and from Boston to Berlin, the game's story mode sees the protagonist  kidnapped by Tony Hawk and Bam Margera and forced to compete in a worldwide  “destruction tour”, where the Birdman's team compete with Margera's team to earn points  and cause havoc. Failed bo

arders are eliminated in humiliating fashion, like having a tennis  ball launched into their genitals. What fun. The game featured large maps to explore, and a  classic mode was welcomed by series veterans, who enjoyed the opportunity to play  the timed goal challenges that were the early games' bread and butter. Having  said that, most critics were underwhelmed by the minor improvements made to the gameplay  compared to Underground 2's predecessors, and were disappointed at the lack of new move

s  and tricks added to the game's repertoire. Similarly controversial was the visual style, with  Neversoft's new, cartoony approach to character models unsettling series fans used to the more  realistic models of the first Underground title. The main reason that Tony Hawk's Underground  2 lags behind its older sibling, though, is its story mode. The gameplay was certainly  improved, if only slightly, and while the aesthetic choices were controversial, they weren't  a deal-breaker for most. The

story mode, however, was almost universally seen as inferior, with  Tony, Bam and the gang's Jackass-like antics failing to get players as invested as the  first Underground's tale of betrayal and of skating for the love of the game versus doing  it for the accumulation of fame and fortune. Not that we're above watching someone  unleash an angry bull into a hotel room or anything … we just don't find it  that relatable in the arena of skating. 5. Tony Hawk's Underground –  GameCube/GBA/PC/PS2/Xb

ox – 2003 And now for the game that first took the Tony  Hawk series underground. Not only did Tony Hawk's Underground feature a more gritty atmosphere,  and not only did it introduce the ability to dismount the skateboard and explore on foot,  but it also introduced infamous gaming scumbag, Eric Sparrow, a young man who lives on in legend  alongside the likes of Heimdall from God of War: Ragnarok and the dog from Duck Hunt  in the pantheon of video gaming's most insufferable arses. Oh, and you

can  also drive around in cars sometimes. The story mode sees the player-created  protagonist attempting to achieve their dream of becoming a professional skateboarder  alongside the aforementioned Eric Sparrow. As the story progresses, Eric's jealous and  untrustworthy nature is gradually revealed, culminating in an Earth-shattering betrayal  involving a Russian tank. Yes, seriously. Aside from this epic tale, Tony Hawk's Underground  offered an intuitive and well-designed skatepark creator, so

me decently-realised and graphically  adequate cityscapes to grind around in, and continued the series' tradition  of providing pleasing skateboarding mechanics that were easy to pick  up and tough to master. In fact, some observers pointed out that Tony Hawk's  Underground served as an ideal starting point for those new to skateboarding  games, so accessible was the gameplay. The game's extensive soundtrack was also  appreciated, with rock icons like Kiss lining up alongside punk bands such as

Rise  Against and hip-hop acts like Jurassic 5 to provide ample accompaniment to  all the benihanas and kick-flips. Despite the game's universal acclaim, reviewers  did find a few nits to pick, and these usually centred on the moments in game that didn't  involve skateboarding. While they provided a bit of novelty and variety, the walking and vehicle  sections were seen as unnecessary distractions that controlled poorly, and some found that the  addition of a story mode hampered replayability. T

hese slight downsides aren't enough to stop Tony  Hawk's Underground from being a legendary title, however, and most players appreciated  the addition of a story mode to spice up proceedings, even if it did  mean they wanted nothing more than to wrap their skateboard around Eric  Sparrow's stupid, traitorous head. 4. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 –  GameCube/GBA/PC/PS1/PS2/Zodiac/Xbox – 2002 As we enter into the top four of our list,  we also enter into hallowed territory, as the original Pro Skater

games are  held in extremely high esteem by gamers and reviewers of the era, and occupy grand  pedestals in the halls of gaming history. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 continued  the legacy of the first three games, offering the largest levels yet seen in the  series, and further securing Neversoft's place at the top of the pile in an era that  saw more and more pretenders emerging, looking for a piece of the  skateboarding video game pie. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 was also the progenitor  of the story

modes that would come to define later games in the series. While it didn't have a story  mode per se, it did move away from individual, timed challenges, and instead allowed the  player to explore the levels freely as they chased their goals, picking up tasks from  characters that were dotted around the place. While many appreciated this change,  others preferred the old-school mechanics, but the fact that both approaches offered  a free-skating mode meant that no one was too offended either wa

y. In fact, the  only real complaint levelled at Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 was that the graphics  had barely advanced over the third game, so it's sitting here at number four  thanks to a lack of moving things forward. The GBA version also received heavy plaudits  for its clever design and enjoyable challenges, just missing out on GameSpot's Game of  the Year 2002 award to Metroid Fusion, no less. No shame in earning  the runner-up medal there. Oh, and lastly, since we're  on the subject of handh

elds, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 has a  particular claim to fame that no other game in the Tony Hawk series can  duplicate; it was released on the Zodiac, a mobile entertainment system manufactured by  Californian company, Tapwave, in 2003. What do you mean you haven't heard of it? I carry my  Tapwave Zodiac around with me all the time... 3. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater –  Dreamcast/PS1/N64/N-Gage – 1999 Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, also known as Tony  Hawk’s Skateboarding in certain regions, was the game th

at started it all. By mixing  skateboarding with cutting edge 3D graphics, an alternative punk and ska soundtrack,  expertly crafted and accessible gameplay, and a generous dose of attitude, Neversoft  captured lightning in a bottle. Websites and gaming periodicals hailed the  game as a revelation, a skill-based, authentic-feeling skateboarding game that was easy  to pick-up and endlessly satisfying to master. It wasn’t the first skateboarding game ever. It  wasn’t even the first skateboarding g

ame on PS1, as Street Boarder (or Street Sk8er, depending  on your region), seems to have beaten it to the punch in Japan. It is the first one to set the  gaming world ablaze though, and deservedly so. The goal was to perform combinations of tricks in  order to increase a score and complete objectives. Stringing multiple tricks of different types  together will see the points go racing up, and this will also fill a special  gauge, which can be used to perform special tricks for even more points.

If  you keep repeating the same old tricks, you’ll accumulate points more slowly, and if  you get carried away and fall off your board, any points accumulated from the  current string of tricks will be lost. This risk versus reward gameplay formed the basis  of the entire series, and made for a game that was addictive and challenging, yet simple  enough that anyone could have a great time. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater also included a number of  local multiplayer modes, including “Graffiti”, where pla

yers accumulate points  to claim sections of the levels, “Trick Attack” where players chain tricks  together to hit the highest scores, and “Horse”, which has absolutely  nothing to do with horses. Reviewers adored the game, praising everything  from the physics to the soundtrack, and the only real negative comments came thanks to the slight  performance hit suffered by the N64 version. This didn’t stop if from achieving an average score  in the 90s, and even the N-Gage version delighted pundits

with its gameplay and visuals, and was  seen as the game to own on Nokia's handheld. If even the N-Gage version is lauded, then  this truly must be one of the all-time greats. 2. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 –  GBA/GBC/GameCube/PC/PS1/PS2/N64/Xbox – 2001 Considered one of the greatest games of all time,  the third entry into the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater franchise has some interesting claims to fame,  beyond just being an absolute dream to play. Not only was it the last official release for  the Ninte

ndo 64, which had ceased production a few months earlier, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 was  one of the launch games for Nintendo's GameCube, thus representing the cycle of death and  rebirth for the Japanese giant. It also stands as the joint highest-rated game on the  PlayStation 2 alongside Grand Theft Auto III, and was the first PS2 release  that supported online play. While being significant for  all of these reasons and more, the main thing you need to remember about  Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 i

s that it was, and still is, a bloody great game. Building on  what had come before it, Pro Skater 3 further tightens and refines the gameplay found in  its predecessors, and pleased combo-hungry players with the addition of the revert  trick, which provided the ability to keep combos going after landing in a quarterpipe  and pushed the skill ceiling even higher. This, along with online play, meant that  Pro Skater 3 was ideal for skilled players dying to test their digital skateboarding prowess

  against like-minded individuals across the globe, but the game still retained that  all-important accessibility, ensuring that novices and casual  players would have just as much fun. The portable versions were about as well-regarded  as the home console games, with Vicarious Visions doing an outstanding job on the GBA version  and a development studio known as HotGen (who worked on the infamously rubbish Batman: Dark  Tomorrow) managing to whip up what is probably the best Tony Hawk game on t

he Game Boy Color.  I mean, it's still not great, but we'll take it. Xbox owners were the privileged ones, though,  with the version for Microsoft's debut console having a superior frame-rate, and offering  an exclusive level known as the Oil Rig. PS1 and N64 users had to make do with a game that  used the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 engine, but, you know, if you've been paying attention  to where we are in the list and which game hasn't been mentioned yet, you'll know  that this isn't exactly a ba

d thing. Let's get to that now, shall we? 1. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 –  Dreamcast/GBA/PC/PS1/N64 – 2000 Alright, this is it, this is the  one that, as far as we've seen, ignites the biggest fires of skateboarding  passion in the hearts of skateboard-loving gamers, and creates the warmest and most  blissful feelings of gaming nostalgia. It's also the game that's sitting right  up there at number two in Metacritic's all-time video game rankings, sharing  its Metascore with Grand Theft Auto IV, So

ulCalibur, and Super Mario Galaxy 2, with only  The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time considered a better game according to the accumulation  and aggregation of numeric critical scores. Whether you agree with all that stuff or not,  you can't help but admit that we're talking about the very pinnacle of gaming here, the  tippy-top of what the medium has to offer. Using the same engine as its predecessor,  Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 makes numerous improvements that elevated the game in  the eyes of a

lmost everyone who played it, and ensured if offered exactly what everyone  was expecting from a sequel to a top-rated game. Not only did Neversoft improve the  graphics and license even more appropriate musical accompaniment, but they also worked hard  on that all-important gameplay. The addition of manuals, that allow numerous tricks to be  chained together and require directional inputs to keep your skateboarder balanced, opened  up a whole new level of depth to the gameplay, and the distribu

tion of cash rewards, which can  be spent on upgrading your moves or unlocking new equipment and playable skaters, gave players  that extra motivation to perfect their game. With numerous multiplayer modes, a  skatepark creator, and plenty to unlock, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 featured enough  content to keep fans occupied for years, or at least until the equally-stellar  third game in the series came out in 2001. Fans of extreme sports games  really had it so good back then... Lack of current ska

teboarding games aside,  Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 stands as one of the paragons of the sports genre, and of gaming as  a whole. With its great graphics for the time, its world-class controls, and the overall  quality and era-appropriate charm, Pro Skater 2 will forever live in the hearts of a  whole generation of kick-flipping, rail-grinding, punk-listening gamers, and does the most to cement  the Birdman's status as a video gaming legend, and that's without even mentioning yet  another expertly

-handled GBA port by Vicarious Visions. Truly, Tony Hawk's Pro  Skater 2 is the gnarliest of the gnarly. Now, if you'll excuse us, all this Tony Hawk talk  has made us want to dig our old board out of the shed and grind some rails in the local park  for a bit. I hope that helmet still fits...