2 things I’m proud of as a skater and a THPS fan: Before 3 came out they had a website that you could tell the developers what you wanted in the game. I told them they should add Wolverine and Loops in the park editor. The game came out and had both. Also I saw Geoff Rowley win a contest in Huntington Beach with my sister around summer 2001 and that footage is in the intro where you can see me and my sister in the stands!
THUG was great (despite being very different from the four masterpieces before it), but THUG2 sucks. That was the beginning of the end of the franchise.
@@AxelKristoff-zm6cg I wore one out for sure. Laser burned lines in it and it wouldn’t read anymore. Went to Game Stop and got another one with my birthday money.
As a 24 year old man, I’d easily pay $100+ with no shame for a THUG1/2/THAW remake package made by vicarious visions…a combo remake like that would be an absolute dream come true
@@TrevorFosterTheFosterDojo lol I have a laptop but have more fun playing and collecting games for older consoles, trust me I understand the convenience with pc and steam decks I just enjoy playing on og hardware
THAW for me is the most well polished, charismatic and creative in terms of narrative, art direction and overall world building despite it's limitations. It just feels like a fresh game within the rest, like the cool badass cousin. It has a special place in my heart.
I’ve seen a million Tony Hawk game retrospectives/reviews but I never get tired of them because I love to hear so many different perspectives on this series that I am a die hard fan of. It’s such a cool aspect of humanity that we can experience the same exact thing but have wildly different opinions on and how those opinions can differ from nostalgia or lack thereof. Gr8 vid m8.
Different perspectives? lol They all parrot the same shit for the most part. I'll give this guy props for at least deviating from the rest a little bit.
Dude THAW is SO GOOD! Easily my favorite in the series! It absolutely blows my mind that people hate on it The soundtrack, the open world, the art style
THAW became my favorite when I was a kid. Today though, it’s very hard for me to decide if I like THPS or THUG better though. If you’ve never played the Nintendo DS port of American Wasteland, “American Sk8land,” it’s highly underrated and really fun. The graphics are horrible lmao but the soundtrack is one of the BEST.
Why its such a shame the online for it is down, and you can no longer play Free Skate at all. You just get suck on the screen and have to reset the game.
man i never realized how much better THPS3 felt than THPS4. even tho 4 was the first to free roam and no longer “classic mode” 3 really felt fluid and clean so early on in the series. especially the colorful and fun levels
I agree and also just noticed this. 4 has manual tricks and spine transfers so I expected the game to feel identical to 3 but better, but there is definitely something fundamentally different about the core mechanics.
3 had a multiplier cap which forced people to get creative with their tech rather than score whore. The tech got more advanced in THUG 1/2 but advanced tech in THPS3 just hits different.
I got 190/190 in THPS4, I do have to say that some of the later levels were quite bleak looking, but the controls of the game and ability to combo are epic, I never had an issue with the core mechanics. About half of the levels are great.
The soundtrack in THAW is soooo good, just replayed the whole thing. I felt like the further you get into the game the more you can feel that they were rushed through development. It’s a real shame because it’s otherwise solid
Unconditional by The Bravery is one of my favorite songs in the entire Tony Hawk franchise and I have THAW to thank for giving me the memory of skating to that song!!
Underground story was so good when i was a young kid. When you jump the helicopter in Hawaii amd your mate steals your footage and you go back to the streets and grind again and go against him at the end in the streets man so fire.
Thank you for pulling up for American Wasteland. Everyone seems to talk about THUG1 and 2 and sure those are great games, but imo the pinnacle of Tony Hawk was American Wasteland. So glad I found you. I will never understand the hate this game gets.
THPS3, THUG 2 and THAW were three of my most played games as a kid, spent so much time across the career modes, had a blast dicking around with the homies in the assorted 2-player modes and spent so much time creating skaters, parks and graffiti in the creative modes. The rock / punk / hip-hop soundtracks were always so dope as well and played a massive role in shaping my music tastes for better or worse, hahaha! A shame that we're not gonna see that 3+4 remake after 1+2 seemed to be getting the series back on track, but we'll always have the old titles to play and enjoy! I would love to see the Pro Skater / Jet Set style gameplay make a comeback, these games had such a swagger to them and oozed style that is sorely missed in the current AAA / AA gaming landscape. At least the indies are holdin' it down.
Love the positive view of American Wasteland. I feel like that game gets a lot of undeseved criticism. I feel like Project 8 is where things really start falling off as the physics and camera feel so wrong when compared to previous entries. Great analysis!
i saw KISS in 2010, and those developers did a great job matching the energy and ambiance of a real KISS concert. im pretty sure gene shoots some stage set with pyro thats an eye for detail
THUG 1, THUG 2, & THAW is top 3 for me. Also there is a modified version of THAW called reTHAWed on PC. It has some techs & exploits similar to THUGPRO but you can only just THAW levels.
THPS4 is not difficult at all. The most difficult game in the franchise is easily Proving Ground *IF* you're trying to reach a Sick ranking on every goal. It's virtually impossible.
@@gonzalez878 Yup. THPS4 is easily my favorite. It was the perfect blend of classic thps, but much bigger levels, way more content, and unique and challenging goals. I love the Pro specific challenges at the end.
@@gonzalez878both are somewhat true tho, thps4 is pretty hard but trying to sick rank all of Proving Ground (and Project 8 too) is damn near impossible
@@theobell2002 Okay, but sick ranking Proving Ground on every goal is for people who are masochist. THPS4 is at least fair, some Proving Ground goals clearly weren't tested.
I’ve been playing THPS ever since its release, with THUG probably being my personal favorite. I have to say, you do a GREAT job with reviewing these games. Much love!
I've played a lot of Tony Hawk games since I was a literal toddler, and personally THUG2 and THAW are absolutely unmatched with the extremely tight gameplay and a type of endearing insanity that simply doesn't exist in AAA games today
From the perspective of someone who's spent thousands of hours speedrunning 3, 4, UG and UG2, I definitely think THPS4 is incredibly underrated. The engine is at its peak, with the gameplay feeling smoother than it ever was or ever will be. There's a real tightness to the movement and physics that's just not quite there in the later entries. I definitely understand that the lack of story may result in the player not having the desire to drive forward, but for me the drive comes from how satisfying the game is to play and master. It's easily the most challenging game in the series, and in the same way that 1 & 2 are hard to revert to with their more limited options, the difficulty of 4's missions is exacerbated by the lack of off-board that one grows accustomed to when coming back from Underground on. Throw in your high scores or best times being tracked in the vast majority of goals and you have, for me, a highly replayable experience. I don't think there's another game on this planet that I'd rather take on a desert island.
Pro Skater 3 is my all time favorite game. Though i can recognize later games like the underground games play soo much better and are what i usually play nowadays along with THUG Pro
THPS4 was one of my first games ever, and definitely my intro into the crazy skate world. I also have the game's opening titles to thank for making me a rock fan since my little 6-7 year old brain marveled in the coolness of a great skate montage over AC/DC's punchy hooks. A very special game for me, and everything up to Underground 2 is always dear to my heart!
I remember my friends and I playing the first THPS game before it came out, on a ps1 demo disc from Pizza Hut 😂 it only had the Warehouse level on it, but we played that ish for hours until the game came out. And then THPS2 came out and it blew us all away. Good times 👍
Dude I had that demo to! I was like 6 at the time an my older brother finally bought the full game. Since I was so young I never made it much past the downtown map back then lol. Good times.
Shout out to the fact that THAW had covers of classic punk songs reimagined by modern bands like MCR and Fallout Boy they're AMAZING and is to my knowledge the first and only time music was actually made for these games and not just licensed tracks
THPS3 is a masterpiece in my opinion. Nothing in the series comes close. THPS4 - THAW will forever be nostalgic and are all great in their own rights, but they honestly always felt kinda sloppy and at times a bit cringe. THPS3 was just a straightforward skateboarding game, and It felt legitimate; like it had the stamp of approval from the skating community. Kinda felt like an entrance to that culture as a kid. I remember even as a kid I felt like something changed once THPS4 was released.
Wastelend had so much more potential, but it feels like they got barely done with the tutorial, had no time left and then stretched it out to be the entire story missions
People always say THUG2 is a Bam game but really it was based off of Thrasher's "King of the Road," one of my favorite skate competitions. Everything down to the book, and silly challenges.
Actually a very solid video, as a hardcore player i pretty much agree with most things u say compared to others. Thaw is definitely my favorite thanks to the engine and how fun scoring in that game is, but thug 1 and 2 are definitely the best out of the series. Thug 2 especially since the engine is the most balanced and well rounded out all the games, hints why they used it for thug pro. Props!
Great video. You have inspired me to pick up THUG2 and THAW again after ten-ish years. American Wasteland will forever be one of my favorite games of all time. ❤
Thank you for mentioning THUG2 Remix. That is THE Tony Hawk game for me. I spent so many hours playing it anywhere and everywhere. It truly is amazing how they were able to cram so much into that handheld version. I even played it recently and it’s still as great today as it was then.
I'm definitely someone who doesn't like the games from underground 2 onwards but I respect the different pov and this was a great video. Pro skater 3 for me is the best in the series because it still had the fun original format while adding the last truly necessary addition to gameplay in the revert. (Spine transfers and other additions in later titles are still good but I'd argue not necessary) Underground is my second favourite because the story is very good but I'll always prefer the timed objective based gameplay of the original games. awesome work bro.
Spine transfers were super important. I'd argue spine transfers are the third most important gameplay mechanic in the entire franchise behind manuals and reverts. Reverts were great but the problem with reverts is that they slowed you down to a halt if do them 3 - 4 times in a combo. With spine transfers came the ability to level out of a ramp and continue grinding on the ramp coping to keep your speed and to preserve your reverts.
@@theobell2002 what I mean by necessary is if you're good enough you can keep a combo going forever without spine transfers no matter where you are. Reverts made it possible to connect vert tricks into combos which was the final necessary piece. Flattening out is a crutch because if you're good enough you'll never need it, same with spine transfers. Some of the greatest levels in the series have no spine transfers at all.
This was a great video 🛹 My favorites are THUG 2 & THAW, Also THAW was my first Tony Hawk game But i enjoyed Project 8 & Proving Ground. I wish a lot of these could get remastered. THPS 1+2 on PS5 is sexy
Thank you for the the american wasteland part, it too was my favorite and I started playing with THPS2, I can't count how many times I replayed AW, it's such a dumb and fun ride all the way to the end, the characters are very charming and being able to grind during the disguised loading screens is great.
well thought out video! i would say, thps4 was the online mode game. it blew up in 4 and the community is what kept pushing the following 3 titles in terms of design and gameplay.
Thug was always my favorite of all time. It introduced so much and was a heck of a ride the entire time. SO many hours creating parks (of which probably still exists on a memory card somewhere lol)..and the days of playing split-screen with friends was an experience. Many other great games I've loved as well. but THUG is my most memorable
I’ve been hoping for a THUG/THUG2 remake/remaster for years now but I don’t think it will ever happen. THUG2 is my favorite Tony Hawk game and one of my favorite games of all time
I consume alot of youtube gaming content, but its pretty rare that I hear someone discuss the subtleties of an arcade-style game's engine that really affect the game feel. Like a handful of youtubers at most that I follow communicate that. Subscribed and excited to hear what you think of other games!
THPS is my favorite game series ever. THPS1 came out when I was a teenager and I played them all Neversoft games throughout my teen years. I loved all the Neversoft games. Even my least favorite Proving Ground is lightyears ahead of HD and THPS5. I was really glad THPS1+2 was made and it was a nice the series is off on a high note right now. Also my favorite game is THUG. I was so excited for that game, I don't think I will ever be as hyped for a game as I was for that game before release. Also want to say I think what you said about THPS4 was spot on being the awkward middle child. Sort of stuck between the tight 2 minute runs of THPS3 and the story focused content of THUG. Love the game but it sums it up so well. I think I could talk about THPS all day so I will just leave it at that and not write a whole essay lol.
I played underground 2 for yearssss when I was a kid, but I had forgot which Tony hawk game it was and couldn’t figure it out, until now ! Thanks for the video
I will always remember popping in the THPS PS1 demo CD before it came on shelves and being absolutely blown away. Wish more games would be that simple nowadays. Like, FMV intro, press start to play and get the feel of it right away.
I agree with your sentiment of Tony Hawk 1 introducing the skating culture to much broader audience, me and my friends all got skateboards and tried to get good after our love for that first and second game. The music too was such a classic, awesome game soundtrack.
Man I can’t believe it’s been so long now that even though I spent COUNTLESS of HOURS upon HOURS of my life playing these games since their debut, I almost forgot that they even ever existed in my current mind. The constant blasts of nostalgia this video gave me were unreal! From the very first game all the way to THAW my head it’s spinning with long buried memories
My favorite would american wasteland also. On the xbox you could use the music you had stored on your Xbox. It was great. The genic tunnels to each level was what made me want to play. Even though lackluster it is cool
I'll be honest, one of the main reasons I go back to the Tony Hawk games is that pretty much every one of them had killer soundtracks. While everything you mentioned is important, feeling immense while playing and listening to the likes of Superman by Goldfinger, Guerilla Radio by Rage Against the Machine, Pain by Jimmy Eat World, and so many more made me actually feel as if i was skateboarding irl. Granted I was never good at it, but it definitely inspired my taste of music today
I know people do criticise THUG 2 a lot but for the rare few that played PS2 online, THUG 2 was phenomenal. It was a lawless place with people glitching out of bounds to get to the most inaccessible areas and cheating bastards with Gamesharks that could crash your game or Robin Hood-like cheaters who made hacked characters using banjos as skateboards and uploaded them for all to download.
LEGIT had to pause first 4 seconds!!! It's not sad to see that Tony Hawk games are not up to our standards. I have to say it's been a blessing to see Tony Hawk games thrive in the same way that we did. Games are forever but every single title doest have to win our approval. We came, we saw, we conquered, we lived on. Long live Tony Hawk, the first person to ever Ollie between buildings. Much respect to the content and entertainment he's provided us for Decades! Love to everyone from Texas, I hope y'all enjoy the early games as much as I did.
Man im getting such nice feelings from watching this video. I played all the titles until THUG2, but im definitely watching this until the end. Seeing all the levels, the game menus, is such a nice nostalgic flashback..
My personal rankings of the series. This does not include the GB games, Ride, Shred or HD. 1. THUG 2. THPS3 3. THPS1+2 4. THPS2 5. THUG2 6. THPS4 7. THAW 8. THPS1 9. THP8 10. THPG . . . . 100. THPS5
Awesome video! A lot of nostalgia here. Underground 1 is the best game in the series hands down for me. The story is so good and I can’t remember how many times I played through it.
Tony Hawk Underground 2 and American Wasteland will always be the most treasured experiences of my Tony hawk fandom days. I remember playing Underground 2 around the height of the Jackass era of popularity and also included the cheats. This game was just pure goofy fun. But american wasteland had a pretty underrated storymode with the idea of creating our own park with parts from around LA
A lot of people think Underground 2 is a Jackass game, and I believe Project 8 is kind of like a Wipeout game. The characters feels like characters which would have been in the ACTUAL Wipeout games, and that the ragdoll physics makes it feel like a Wipeout game, even though it predates the show by 2 years, though it may just be that late 2006 to early 2013 feel.
Project 8 came out at a time where ragdoll physics were the new hot thing so they hamfisted a bunch of horrible, uncontrollable bail goals into the game. It's easily the worst part of Project 8 aside from the framerate.
This seems like the perfect example of "how does this channel not have more subs?" Great video. To the point and not overly drawn out like a lot of videos like this are these days. Long form content is cool and all, but there's too much of it at this point, so it's nice that this video is under an hour long. So tired of seeing an interesting video topic, but it's 1-4 hours long.
I think to understand why proskater 2 made such an impact you had to be alive and old enough to remember playing it when it first came out, the unlockables alone are iconic , all the cheats and the soundtrack 👌 a work of art.
I loved the initial THUG. I thought it was great that you start off in Jersey, since I was from Jersey and me and my buddies all wanted to get sponsored. Also loved THAW very much, it perfectly fit in with that time period
Great job on the video! Growing up with THPS2, 3, 4 and THUG (and not really having played the other games until way later), it's interesting to see the perspective of someone who started out with the later games. I think THPS2's rating is so high because when the game was released, it was mindblowing how good it was and you didn't really know that you would be missing reverts or spine changes that much, sure it meant that whenever you went vert you would almost always end your combo but it also meant that the combo multipliers and time limit extender while in a combo weren't as broken as later games so the high score's were still a challenge to get. I think the sentiment of THUG2 and THAW being worse than THUG1 and the THPS games is mainly because the scope (and focus point) of the game changed. The first 5 games were really skateboarding games, sure there was a ton of nonsense in them but the major focus was skateboarding in a somewhat realistic setting (just ignoring the part where you did things like jumping helicopters or skitching elephants), while THUG2 ramped up the Jackass in it with ridiculous stunts and with THAW you're being a borderline domestic terrorist. There's no suspension of disbelief with those games and I think it's why it turned a lot of people (including me) off following games, even though mechanically they were still great. And when the mechanics took a nosedive is when the series really died.
Something I learned recently is that there was a PS1 version of THPS 4, and the levels feel like a weird alt universe version of what we were all used to. THPS3 was also on PS1, but for the most part that one was pretty close to the PS2 version.
Wow!! What a great video man, I've immediately noticed the production quality and the honesty in your reviews.. it's amazing, Keep killing it ! 🤘🏻💜🔥 (By the way I already play THUG & THUGS on the original xbox, and I've ordered American Wasteland because you reminded me of how awesome it was!)
I actually really loved "Proving Ground" on PS3 (especially at the time since I had to trade/sell my PS2 and all games to get my PS3... I've since rebought and collected everything I traded back in the day in the 15 or so years since 👌) and you didn't even mention one of the best parts... THE VIDEO EDITOR, I remember picking one of the great songs off that OST (seriously, one of the franchises best imo) and filming a ton of clips which includes placing/moving the camera around in game then doing the trick etc. etc. then going in and stringing it all together, setting the song and using the various Transition Effects and stuff... God damn man, such a great time doing that 😅 😁
I totally forgot about THAW. Idk how .. such a great game. Youve inspired me to replay thuig 1&2 and THAW. THPS on ps1 was my childhood man. One of the forst games i olayed when i moved on from snes.
Gotta say I love this video! You brought back more nostalgia for a lot of us than I think you were prepared for! I agree with I’d say 90% of what you said though hahahaha! Stay blessed and great video/review brü!
I never thought about it, but I played this series the entirety of my childhood. 1 on n64, 2 on dreamcast, 3 on ps2, 4 i rented consistently (just bought my first copy last month), and thug 1 was the first game guide I ever bought. All the way until project 8, this series was on my playist.
I am Poopfart69, to see that footage where I existed in ThugPro was used brought me great joy lol.
Amazing job!
Godspeed, Poopfart69.
@Undercoverbat95He's the only way to heaven*
This man is an imposter.
I AM THE REAL POOPFART69
@@LennyMiller739 I am Poopfart69's grandfather, YOU are the imposter.
@@Edmond_Dantes1838 Okay well if you're really my grandfather, where did uncle Gary touch me on Christmas eve 2003?
2 things I’m proud of as a skater and a THPS fan:
Before 3 came out they had a website that you could tell the developers what you wanted in the game. I told them they should add Wolverine and Loops in the park editor. The game came out and had both.
Also I saw Geoff Rowley win a contest in Huntington Beach with my sister around summer 2001 and that footage is in the intro where you can see me and my sister in the stands!
this story is so awesome ty for sharing :33
ok that's awesome
So we should thank you for Wolverine and loops ! Thanks a lot !
They put your ideas in the game and still wasn’t the coolest thing about that game to you, considering you actually are in the game. Sick man
R/ThatHappened
THAW is wildly underrated
How so? It's basically the same mediocre game as THUG2.
Its the worst one in the series 😂
@@luis420waffles Ever played THPS5?
@@luis420wafflesproving grounds would like a word
Was my favorite growing up.
The two Underground games were the absolute pinnacle of this series and nobody will ever convince me otherwise.
THAW tho
THPS3 and 4 are better.
THUG was great (despite being very different from the four masterpieces before it), but THUG2 sucks. That was the beginning of the end of the franchise.
Underground 2 was my all time favorite I was 7 and played for so long I melted the disk so my mom had to buy another 1 lol
@@AxelKristoff-zm6cg I wore one out for sure. Laser burned lines in it and it wouldn’t read anymore. Went to Game Stop and got another one with my birthday money.
As a 24 year old man, I’d easily pay $100+ with no shame for a THUG1/2/THAW remake package made by vicarious visions…a combo remake like that would be an absolute dream come true
Preach. I’d throw money at a project like that
As a 27 year-old woman I’d say the same lol
@@TrevorFosterTheFosterDojo no pc for me, I’m strictly consoles from og Xbox to series s and ps5
@@TrevorFosterTheFosterDojo lol I have a laptop but have more fun playing and collecting games for older consoles, trust me I understand the convenience with pc and steam decks I just enjoy playing on og hardware
@@TrevorFosterTheFosterDojo because I like to play video games the way I want to, it’s a dumb take ??
THAW for me is the most well polished, charismatic and creative in terms of narrative, art direction and overall world building despite it's limitations. It just feels like a fresh game within the rest, like the cool badass cousin. It has a special place in my heart.
Ngl bro that’s the nostalgia talking bc I went back and realized the story and narrative was high key dog 💩
Same here. Just last year and I couldn't even finish it. @@vault1021
try reTHAWed!
I’ve seen a million Tony Hawk game retrospectives/reviews but I never get tired of them because I love to hear so many different perspectives on this series that I am a die hard fan of. It’s such a cool aspect of humanity that we can experience the same exact thing but have wildly different opinions on and how those opinions can differ from nostalgia or lack thereof. Gr8 vid m8.
same, i dont know how many "tony hawk retrospective" videos ive watched at this point
Different perspectives? lol
They all parrot the same shit for the most part. I'll give this guy props for at least deviating from the rest a little bit.
An underrated feature of THPS3 is that whether your skater is street or vert changes a few of the level goals - always loved that
How about uploading your face in THUG?
The series was meant to stay in the realm of 1999-2004, that was the best time period for extreme sports in video games.
Dude THAW is SO GOOD! Easily my favorite in the series!
It absolutely blows my mind that people hate on it
The soundtrack, the open world, the art style
THAW became my favorite when I was a kid. Today though, it’s very hard for me to decide if I like THPS or THUG better though. If you’ve never played the Nintendo DS port of American Wasteland, “American Sk8land,” it’s highly underrated and really fun. The graphics are horrible lmao but the soundtrack is one of the BEST.
THPS 1+2 was such a great remaster. Instantly became my fav of the series.
Why its such a shame the online for it is down, and you can no longer play Free Skate at all. You just get suck on the screen and have to reset the game.
Lacks the soul of the originals.
man i never realized how much better THPS3 felt than THPS4. even tho 4 was the first to free roam and no longer “classic mode” 3 really felt fluid and clean so early on in the series. especially the colorful and fun levels
I agree and also just noticed this. 4 has manual tricks and spine transfers so I expected the game to feel identical to 3 but better, but there is definitely something fundamentally different about the core mechanics.
Yes, 3 and 4 were the best
3 had a multiplier cap which forced people to get creative with their tech rather than score whore. The tech got more advanced in THUG 1/2 but advanced tech in THPS3 just hits different.
I got 190/190 in THPS4, I do have to say that some of the later levels were quite bleak looking, but the controls of the game and ability to combo are epic, I never had an issue with the core mechanics. About half of the levels are great.
THPS3 Cruise ship map will always live rent free in my mind!
THAW is not only one of my all-time favorite video games, it also was largely responsible for developing my taste in music.
The soundtrack in THAW is soooo good, just replayed the whole thing. I felt like the further you get into the game the more you can feel that they were rushed through development. It’s a real shame because it’s otherwise solid
Unconditional by The Bravery is one of my favorite songs in the entire Tony Hawk franchise and I have THAW to thank for giving me the memory of skating to that song!!
I loved Tony Hawk 3. The varied locations for stat points and secret boards, the level colors, the special tricks, the graphics. Everything
Underground story was so good when i was a young kid. When you jump the helicopter in Hawaii amd your mate steals your footage and you go back to the streets and grind again and go against him at the end in the streets man so fire.
Thank you for pulling up for American Wasteland.
Everyone seems to talk about THUG1 and 2 and sure those are great games, but imo the pinnacle of Tony Hawk was American Wasteland. So glad I found you.
I will never understand the hate this game gets.
You hate to see a fun series milked for all it's worth until there's nothing left.
THPS3, THUG 2 and THAW were three of my most played games as a kid, spent so much time across the career modes, had a blast dicking around with the homies in the assorted 2-player modes and spent so much time creating skaters, parks and graffiti in the creative modes. The rock / punk / hip-hop soundtracks were always so dope as well and played a massive role in shaping my music tastes for better or worse, hahaha!
A shame that we're not gonna see that 3+4 remake after 1+2 seemed to be getting the series back on track, but we'll always have the old titles to play and enjoy! I would love to see the Pro Skater / Jet Set style gameplay make a comeback, these games had such a swagger to them and oozed style that is sorely missed in the current AAA / AA gaming landscape. At least the indies are holdin' it down.
7 minutes and and he still has not mentioned the slapping music?!
THPS 3 and THPS 4 are both perfection. Everything from there goes a little downhill, then a lot downhill, up until 1+2 came out
Love the positive view of American Wasteland. I feel like that game gets a lot of undeseved criticism.
I feel like Project 8 is where things really start falling off as the physics and camera feel so wrong when compared to previous entries.
Great analysis!
i saw KISS in 2010, and those developers did a great job matching the energy and ambiance of a real KISS concert. im pretty sure gene shoots some stage set with pyro thats an eye for detail
THUG 1, THUG 2, & THAW is top 3 for me. Also there is a modified version of THAW called reTHAWed on PC. It has some techs & exploits similar to THUGPRO but you can only just THAW levels.
Nice one!
What I really love about THPS 4 is the inclusion of difficult goals. The only Tony Hawk's game that really gave me a challenge.
THPS4 is not difficult at all. The most difficult game in the franchise is easily Proving Ground *IF* you're trying to reach a Sick ranking on every goal. It's virtually impossible.
@@theobell2002 okey dokey...
@@gonzalez878 Yup. THPS4 is easily my favorite. It was the perfect blend of classic thps, but much bigger levels, way more content, and unique and challenging goals. I love the Pro specific challenges at the end.
@@gonzalez878both are somewhat true tho, thps4 is pretty hard but trying to sick rank all of Proving Ground (and Project 8 too) is damn near impossible
@@theobell2002 Okay, but sick ranking Proving Ground on every goal is for people who are masochist. THPS4 is at least fair, some Proving Ground goals clearly weren't tested.
I’ve been playing THPS ever since its release, with THUG probably being my personal favorite. I have to say, you do a GREAT job with reviewing these games. Much love!
I've played a lot of Tony Hawk games since I was a literal toddler, and personally THUG2 and THAW are absolutely unmatched with the extremely tight gameplay and a type of endearing insanity that simply doesn't exist in AAA games today
From the perspective of someone who's spent thousands of hours speedrunning 3, 4, UG and UG2, I definitely think THPS4 is incredibly underrated.
The engine is at its peak, with the gameplay feeling smoother than it ever was or ever will be. There's a real tightness to the movement and physics that's just not quite there in the later entries.
I definitely understand that the lack of story may result in the player not having the desire to drive forward, but for me the drive comes from how satisfying the game is to play and master.
It's easily the most challenging game in the series, and in the same way that 1 & 2 are hard to revert to with their more limited options, the difficulty of 4's missions is exacerbated by the lack of off-board that one grows accustomed to when coming back from Underground on.
Throw in your high scores or best times being tracked in the vast majority of goals and you have, for me, a highly replayable experience. I don't think there's another game on this planet that I'd rather take on a desert island.
I second this.
Pro Skater 3 is my all time favorite game. Though i can recognize later games like the underground games play soo much better and are what i usually play nowadays along with THUG Pro
THPS4 was one of my first games ever, and definitely my intro into the crazy skate world. I also have the game's opening titles to thank for making me a rock fan since my little 6-7 year old brain marveled in the coolness of a great skate montage over AC/DC's punchy hooks. A very special game for me, and everything up to Underground 2 is always dear to my heart!
I remember my friends and I playing the first THPS game before it came out, on a ps1 demo disc from Pizza Hut 😂 it only had the Warehouse level on it, but we played that ish for hours until the game came out. And then THPS2 came out and it blew us all away. Good times 👍
Dude I had that demo to! I was like 6 at the time an my older brother finally bought the full game. Since I was so young I never made it much past the downtown map back then lol. Good times.
Underground was my favorite. Serious nostalgia with that game.
It was one game where you can use your skateboard as a baseball bat
surprised that you didn't mention the most important new feature in THUG2 that set the combo system to a new level: Sticker slaps
I had THUG and THUG 2 for GameCube and I remember staying up all night playing through them. They’re my favorite. Definitely deserve a remaster 😢
Shout out to the fact that THAW had covers of classic punk songs reimagined by modern bands like MCR and Fallout Boy they're AMAZING and is to my knowledge the first and only time music was actually made for these games and not just licensed tracks
THPS3 is a masterpiece in my opinion. Nothing in the series comes close. THPS4 - THAW will forever be nostalgic and are all great in their own rights, but they honestly always felt kinda sloppy and at times a bit cringe. THPS3 was just a straightforward skateboarding game, and It felt legitimate; like it had the stamp of approval from the skating community. Kinda felt like an entrance to that culture as a kid. I remember even as a kid I felt like something changed once THPS4 was released.
Wastelend had so much more potential, but it feels like they got barely done with the tutorial, had no time left and then stretched it out to be the entire story missions
Tony hawks 4 is underrated recently went back to it. Great game. Hard but great.
People always say THUG2 is a Bam game but really it was based off of Thrasher's "King of the Road," one of my favorite skate competitions.
Everything down to the book, and silly challenges.
thug - thaw was prime🔥
Honorable mentions: Thps 3/4 & downhill jam
Actually a very solid video, as a hardcore player i pretty much agree with most things u say compared to others. Thaw is definitely my favorite thanks to the engine and how fun scoring in that game is, but thug 1 and 2 are definitely the best out of the series. Thug 2 especially since the engine is the most balanced and well rounded out all the games, hints why they used it for thug pro.
Props!
Great video. You have inspired me to pick up THUG2 and THAW again after ten-ish years. American Wasteland will forever be one of my favorite games of all time. ❤
THPS3 is peak. Amazing levels, best soundtrack, loads of awesome bonuses. So many good memories!
THPS 1 is the king for me.
But Underground and American Wasteland are awesome.
I don't agree with everything in the video but it was a great video!
Thank you for mentioning THUG2 Remix. That is THE Tony Hawk game for me. I spent so many hours playing it anywhere and everywhere. It truly is amazing how they were able to cram so much into that handheld version. I even played it recently and it’s still as great today as it was then.
I'm definitely someone who doesn't like the games from underground 2 onwards but I respect the different pov and this was a great video. Pro skater 3 for me is the best in the series because it still had the fun original format while adding the last truly necessary addition to gameplay in the revert. (Spine transfers and other additions in later titles are still good but I'd argue not necessary) Underground is my second favourite because the story is very good but I'll always prefer the timed objective based gameplay of the original games. awesome work bro.
Spine transfers were super important. I'd argue spine transfers are the third most important gameplay mechanic in the entire franchise behind manuals and reverts. Reverts were great but the problem with reverts is that they slowed you down to a halt if do them 3 - 4 times in a combo. With spine transfers came the ability to level out of a ramp and continue grinding on the ramp coping to keep your speed and to preserve your reverts.
@@theobell2002 what I mean by necessary is if you're good enough you can keep a combo going forever without spine transfers no matter where you are. Reverts made it possible to connect vert tricks into combos which was the final necessary piece. Flattening out is a crutch because if you're good enough you'll never need it, same with spine transfers. Some of the greatest levels in the series have no spine transfers at all.
This was a great video 🛹 My favorites are THUG 2 & THAW, Also THAW was my first Tony Hawk game
But i enjoyed Project 8 & Proving Ground. I wish a lot of these could get remastered. THPS 1+2 on PS5 is sexy
The remaster of thps 1+2 was a great game I still will not get rid of it
American Wasteland is by far my absolute favorite
American Wasteland was my favorite and I played it 24/7
Thank you for the the american wasteland part, it too was my favorite and I started playing with THPS2, I can't count how many times I replayed AW, it's such a dumb and fun ride all the way to the end, the characters are very charming and being able to grind during the disguised loading screens is great.
Underground and underground 2 were my childhood on GameCube. Holy man the hours spent on those games. Perfection
THUG2 is my favorite because I have the most memories with it, then THAW. Having Project 8 on my PSP was awesome though.
well thought out video! i would say, thps4 was the online mode game. it blew up in 4 and the community is what kept pushing the following 3 titles in terms of design and gameplay.
Thug was always my favorite of all time. It introduced so much and was a heck of a ride the entire time. SO many hours creating parks (of which probably still exists on a memory card somewhere lol)..and the days of playing split-screen with friends was an experience. Many other great games I've loved as well. but THUG is my most memorable
I’ve been hoping for a THUG/THUG2 remake/remaster for years now but I don’t think it will ever happen. THUG2 is my favorite Tony Hawk game and one of my favorite games of all time
Man I can’t even lie I love all of them. They all bring back nostalgia except the downhill one, never got around to that one lol
THUG 1 & 2 are some of the all time best for Tony Hawk games
Mr. X here from Mr. X's Maze. THPS4 is king.
Man. I remember playing thug on my gba back in the day. Not the greatest, but it was there lol
Same lol eventually got it for ps 2.
I consume alot of youtube gaming content, but its pretty rare that I hear someone discuss the subtleties of an arcade-style game's engine that really affect the game feel. Like a handful of youtubers at most that I follow communicate that. Subscribed and excited to hear what you think of other games!
THPS is my favorite game series ever. THPS1 came out when I was a teenager and I played them all Neversoft games throughout my teen years. I loved all the Neversoft games. Even my least favorite Proving Ground is lightyears ahead of HD and THPS5. I was really glad THPS1+2 was made and it was a nice the series is off on a high note right now. Also my favorite game is THUG. I was so excited for that game, I don't think I will ever be as hyped for a game as I was for that game before release.
Also want to say I think what you said about THPS4 was spot on being the awkward middle child. Sort of stuck between the tight 2 minute runs of THPS3 and the story focused content of THUG. Love the game but it sums it up so well.
I think I could talk about THPS all day so I will just leave it at that and not write a whole essay lol.
"A lot of the levels have a really drab look here"
Immediately cuts to a clip from a super vibrant level lol
Nice retrospective. I have a lot of fun memories playing the first and third game. 😊
I loved the slowed down trick mode on Project 8…I loved how intricate movements changed the flip entirely!
American wastland was the best and the bmx was really awesome. Too simple but fun enough with
I played underground 2 for yearssss when I was a kid, but I had forgot which Tony hawk game it was and couldn’t figure it out, until now ! Thanks for the video
I will always remember popping in the THPS PS1 demo CD before it came on shelves and being absolutely blown away. Wish more games would be that simple nowadays. Like, FMV intro, press start to play and get the feel of it right away.
Project 8 was my favourite game growing up on the 360 i used to sweat it differently it was so good i loved the open world spots for challenges
I agree with your sentiment of Tony Hawk 1 introducing the skating culture to much broader audience, me and my friends all got skateboards and tried to get good after our love for that first and second game. The music too was such a classic, awesome game soundtrack.
Man I can’t believe it’s been so long now that even though I spent COUNTLESS of HOURS upon HOURS of my life playing these games since their debut, I almost forgot that they even ever existed in my current mind. The constant blasts of nostalgia this video gave me were unreal! From the very first game all the way to THAW my head it’s spinning with long buried memories
My favorite would american wasteland also. On the xbox you could use the music you had stored on your Xbox. It was great. The genic tunnels to each level was what made me want to play. Even though lackluster it is cool
I'll be honest, one of the main reasons I go back to the Tony Hawk games is that pretty much every one of them had killer soundtracks. While everything you mentioned is important, feeling immense while playing and listening to the likes of Superman by Goldfinger, Guerilla Radio by Rage Against the Machine, Pain by Jimmy Eat World, and so many more made me actually feel as if i was skateboarding irl. Granted I was never good at it, but it definitely inspired my taste of music today
I know people do criticise THUG 2 a lot but for the rare few that played PS2 online, THUG 2 was phenomenal. It was a lawless place with people glitching out of bounds to get to the most inaccessible areas and cheating bastards with Gamesharks that could crash your game or Robin Hood-like cheaters who made hacked characters using banjos as skateboards and uploaded them for all to download.
The 'Room with some grind rails in it' looked like the Berrics, it's an iconic spot in skateboarding history.
LEGIT had to pause first 4 seconds!!! It's not sad to see that Tony Hawk games are not up to our standards. I have to say it's been a blessing to see Tony Hawk games thrive in the same way that we did. Games are forever but every single title doest have to win our approval. We came, we saw, we conquered, we lived on. Long live Tony Hawk, the first person to ever Ollie between buildings. Much respect to the content and entertainment he's provided us for Decades! Love to everyone from Texas, I hope y'all enjoy the early games as much as I did.
Man im getting such nice feelings from watching this video. I played all the titles until THUG2, but im definitely watching this until the end. Seeing all the levels, the game menus, is such a nice nostalgic flashback..
My personal rankings of the series. This does not include the GB games, Ride, Shred or HD.
1. THUG
2. THPS3
3. THPS1+2
4. THPS2
5. THUG2
6. THPS4
7. THAW
8. THPS1
9. THP8
10. THPG
.
.
.
.
100. THPS5
11:30 I see what you did there, one of the most memorable moments in gaming for me
Awesome video! A lot of nostalgia here. Underground 1 is the best game in the series hands down for me. The story is so good and I can’t remember how many times I played through it.
T.H.U.G. is one of my top 5 of all time
Tony Hawk Underground 2 and American Wasteland will always be the most treasured experiences of my Tony hawk fandom days. I remember playing Underground 2 around the height of the Jackass era of popularity and also included the cheats. This game was just pure goofy fun.
But american wasteland had a pretty underrated storymode with the idea of creating our own park with parts from around LA
A lot of people think Underground 2 is a Jackass game, and I believe Project 8 is kind of like a Wipeout game. The characters feels like characters which would have been in the ACTUAL Wipeout games, and that the ragdoll physics makes it feel like a Wipeout game, even though it predates the show by 2 years, though it may just be that late 2006 to early 2013 feel.
Project 8 came out at a time where ragdoll physics were the new hot thing so they hamfisted a bunch of horrible, uncontrollable bail goals into the game. It's easily the worst part of Project 8 aside from the framerate.
This seems like the perfect example of "how does this channel not have more subs?"
Great video. To the point and not overly drawn out like a lot of videos like this are these days. Long form content is cool and all, but there's too much of it at this point, so it's nice that this video is under an hour long. So tired of seeing an interesting video topic, but it's 1-4 hours long.
I think to understand why proskater 2 made such an impact you had to be alive and old enough to remember playing it when it first came out, the unlockables alone are iconic , all the cheats and the soundtrack 👌 a work of art.
Tony hawk underground 2 holds a special place in my heart, being young and playing that was a load of fun. Made me a complete bam fan
FANTASTIC video! American Wasteland was also my favorite as a kid
This was an excellent video man. Undergrounds and #1 were the best to me
I loved the initial THUG. I thought it was great that you start off in Jersey, since I was from Jersey and me and my buddies all wanted to get sponsored.
Also loved THAW very much, it perfectly fit in with that time period
Great job on the video!
Growing up with THPS2, 3, 4 and THUG (and not really having played the other games until way later), it's interesting to see the perspective of someone who started out with the later games. I think THPS2's rating is so high because when the game was released, it was mindblowing how good it was and you didn't really know that you would be missing reverts or spine changes that much, sure it meant that whenever you went vert you would almost always end your combo but it also meant that the combo multipliers and time limit extender while in a combo weren't as broken as later games so the high score's were still a challenge to get.
I think the sentiment of THUG2 and THAW being worse than THUG1 and the THPS games is mainly because the scope (and focus point) of the game changed.
The first 5 games were really skateboarding games, sure there was a ton of nonsense in them but the major focus was skateboarding in a somewhat realistic setting (just ignoring the part where you did things like jumping helicopters or skitching elephants), while THUG2 ramped up the Jackass in it with ridiculous stunts and with THAW you're being a borderline domestic terrorist. There's no suspension of disbelief with those games and I think it's why it turned a lot of people (including me) off following games, even though mechanically they were still great. And when the mechanics took a nosedive is when the series really died.
Something I learned recently is that there was a PS1 version of THPS 4, and the levels feel like a weird alt universe version of what we were all used to. THPS3 was also on PS1, but for the most part that one was pretty close to the PS2 version.
Wow!! What a great video man, I've immediately noticed the production quality and the honesty in your reviews.. it's amazing, Keep killing it ! 🤘🏻💜🔥
(By the way I already play THUG & THUGS on the original xbox, and I've ordered American Wasteland because you reminded me of how awesome it was!)
I actually really loved "Proving Ground" on PS3 (especially at the time since I had to trade/sell my PS2 and all games to get my PS3... I've since rebought and collected everything I traded back in the day in the 15 or so years since 👌) and you didn't even mention one of the best parts... THE VIDEO EDITOR, I remember picking one of the great songs off that OST (seriously, one of the franchises best imo) and filming a ton of clips which includes placing/moving the camera around in game then doing the trick etc. etc. then going in and stringing it all together, setting the song and using the various Transition Effects and stuff... God damn man, such a great time doing that 😅 😁
I totally forgot about THAW. Idk how .. such a great game. Youve inspired me to replay thuig 1&2 and THAW. THPS on ps1 was my childhood man. One of the forst games i olayed when i moved on from snes.
I would just skate on the halfpipe level for hours in THPS4. It was so cool skateboarding with all the pros dropping in around you.
thanks for letting me know about the THPS1+2 mod, definitely gonna check that out.
Gotta say I love this video! You brought back more nostalgia for a lot of us than I think you were prepared for! I agree with I’d say 90% of what you said though hahahaha! Stay blessed and great video/review brü!
I never thought about it, but I played this series the entirety of my childhood. 1 on n64, 2 on dreamcast, 3 on ps2, 4 i rented consistently (just bought my first copy last month), and thug 1 was the first game guide I ever bought. All the way until project 8, this series was on my playist.
You CAN spine transfer in THPS2. It's performed with specific inputs like an advanced trick