Now that we’ve gotten our first look at the new Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, I thought it might be a good time to reminisce on the golden age of skateboarding games. There were two colossal hitters back then — Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and Skate — which did you prefer?
And before you all go and make the obvious choice — Skate — allow me to define the rules a bit. We’re talking about both series in their absolute prime. Sure, Skate came out and made the ageing, dated THPS series look flat and dull by comparison — but never forget just how much you loved those games circa THPS2 and THPS3. Those games man. Those games.
I’ll never get those endless hours back, that time spend playing Airport over and over and over and over again. And I don’t want it back. It was awesome.
But Skate. Sweet, beautiful Skate. Skate 2 was probably top 5 of last generation for me.
It’s a toughie. Keen to hear your thoughts below.
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44 responses to “The Big Question: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater Or Skate”
Trick question since the correct answer is Simpsons Skateboarding.
https://flavorwire.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/psycho.jpg
everyone gets an upvote for that.
Loved THPS1 through 4. Never played the the others.
If I wanted to play Skate, would I be OK starting with Skate 1, or should I just skip through to Skate 2?
Go straight for 3, man. Should be around the same cost as 2.
You could skip straight to 2 or 3 easily enough. The games are connected but they’re not really plot-heavy. The only real issue would be if you ever wanted to go backwards since each game has more to it mechancially. It’s a bit weird to not be able to do something in skate that you’re used to doing in skate 2.
I’d suggest just going straight for Skate 2. It just plain improved on everything that Skate 1 did, and you don’t need to have played 1 to get the most out of 2 (although granted, 1 was still a great game). 3 wasn’t bad, but the city wasn’t anywhere near as well designed and they didn’t really add much at all (I think darkslides was about it, and they were pretty clunky).
Skate 3 for sure, game is technically solid and as authentic as it gets…
I feel like all the nubs that voted thps clearly never played Skate3, im sorry but after ride and thug2 they killed the franchise for me… will always remeber thps2 and Marseille, France but it ain’t got nothing on coffining in Skate3
It was an outsider, but ‘Thrasher: Skate and Destroy’ was an awesome, and my all time favourite, skateboarding game. Skating in my younger days, I felt that Thrasher was a much better representation of skateboarding. Pulling the moves off was incredibly satisfying. The Skate games (especially Skate 3) were pretty fantastic too. They gave a similar feeling and satisfaction. But I’ll remember my Thrasher days most fondly.
Ok everyone…. we’ve found ‘that guy’…
Ya’ll grab the pitchforks, I’ll stoke up the bonfire…
??? Ummm, I don’t get it…
i never played skate, so for me thps 1-3 ( i had one my mac and and ps one ) they were just soo awesome and i also DN BMX as well
I have put more hours into THPS than any other skating game but I can’t go past Skate. I LOVED THPS until I saw Skate and realised what I was wrong about that whole thing.
Also, if we are doing this, how about BMX games.. Dave Mirra FTW!
Seriously BMX needs a revival. It sucks that without a multi-million dollar franchise in the spotlight no one even tries to tap the market.
I find it really hard to compare the two.
Tony Hawk’s was nutty, arcadey nonsense that worked amazingly well. Skate was a crazy simulator that worked amazingly well. It’s the difference between Mario Kart and Forza. Although I guess Forza never had some of the infamous glitches that Skate had, so the analogy somewhat falls apart.
Yeah, it’s like comparing Dave Mirra and Paper Boy, Super Punch Out and Mortal Kombat or Smash Bros: Melee and Marvel vs Capcom 2.
My opinion completely.
Skate 2 is just awesome. Every player character is mechanically the same and its on the actual player to master the system, rather then having skill points to improve aspects of their abilities.
Tony Hawk fells snappy magnetic and mechanical, SKATE I fell is about building up this momentum and flow. But this is obviously due to one being an Arcade style and the other more grounded in reality (you can still do some crazy BS in SKATE though) If people like Tony Hawk more cool, but SKATE 2 is the best video game involving a board on wheels.
Why does it have to be one or the other?
my friend is really good at skating and he loves THPS coz it’s not realistic while I suck at skating butnlove skate as it feels im doing real tricks. My friend says he can go outside and skate like Skate so whats the point?
THPS up until 3 then Skate. The more difficult question is how you rank these games.
THPS2
THPS3
BM BMX
THPS
Skate
while I have to give Skate credit on being better in a lot of ways THPS was just so easy to pick up and start playing. Sure you may not be clearing a level in your first play through, but it was easy enough to progress though. There was a lot to master, but you could enjoy the game with out mastering it.
Skate on the other hand seemed to be a much tougher learning curve. I am not saying this is a bad thing, in most cases I would say it is a good thing, but it never had the instant awesomeness that THPS had for me.
All things considered I think Skate is a better game, but still pick THPS.
They’re very different games, but I’ll put skate ahead. Skate is like fingerboarding, it’s not the same skill set as actually skating but it is it’s own skill set none the less, where THPS is more like Battletoads. THPS is nothing like actually skating but it’s still an insanely fun arcade style game. Sort of like how Guitar Hero/Rock Band are nothing like actually playing a guitar but it doesn’t matter because they’re fun games to play not simulations.
Also Sunset Overdrive should be thrown into the options. It’s THPS with BOOM BOOM BOOMs.
thps in it’s prime was amazing. The amount of hours we spent playing multiplayer on ps one would be huge. I was heavily in to skating at the same time so we would rebuild the local spots in thps as well and skate those. so much fun. I recently picked up a gaming tablet for emulation and played through thps1 and 2 and both of them hold up really well today.
THPS 1,2 and 3 were absolutely awesome (even if I think it was starting to date even by the 3rd game).
SKATE is clearly the better series now.
The best day I ever had playing THPS was better than the best day I ever had playing SKATE, although I was also doing a lot of skating and weed in those days so that might be a contributing factor….
I have very little interest in a new THPS, I’d be ridiculously excited for a new SKATE.
…so you voted for THPS?
Reason being, my opinion is pretty much what you wrote. I voted THPS based on the fact that in 20-30 years time, for nostalgic purposes and overall playability I can’t go past THPS.
HAHA, no shit I forgot to vote!
Maybe all those evenings playing THPS ‘HORSE’ in a smoke filled room with my mates really have come back to bite me!
Voted for THPS now.
Matt Hoffman’s Pro BMX.
While good, it was very clunky compared to Dave Mirra’s Freestyle BMX. It seemed they got a team to make a BMX game using the THPS engine, and it really did feel slapped on [just swapped models and animations]. It really didn’t flow as well.
LIGHTS OUT! GUERILLA RADIO
TURN THAT SHIT UP!
KELLY SLATER PRO SURFER
Skate or Die!
That or the skating events in the California Games series.
That red splat when you ran into the entrance of the tube in CG2 was the first time I’d ever seen blood in a game. It’s weirdly the first thing I remember when I think about those games.
CALIFORNIA GAMES FOR LIFE SON!
Skating, a bit of a surf and some gnarly footbag action. All. day. son.
The soundtrack to THPS 2 and 3. Oh man, those were the DAYS!
Haven’t played Skate. So, uh…
Aggressive Inline!
Skate or Die!!!
Recently, after watching my nephews play Project 8 on Xbox, I was filled with a craving to play a skateboarding game again. I searched through all the PC online stores and came up empty. Sure, there were skateboarding games released on PC but none are available digitally.. well except for that Shaun White thing… in any case, I went to find a PS3 title instead and my first purchase was Skate 3 after looking at lots of reviews. Turns out, a lot of those reviews are by people who don’t want a “game” that is “fun” but a simulation of skateboarding that is technically accurate. Since then, I managed to find a copy of TH Project 8 and fire it up.. I played this for hours and hours.. love it.
So definitely, for me, it’s an easy vote for Pro Skater. The TH games are all about FUN.
THPS HD is available on Steam.
I have no comment on whether it is any good, though. I was in a similar situation to yourself, more out of nostalgia for THPS2 on PS1.
The reviews for THPS HD are pretty mixed, so instead I installed a PS1 emulator and played with my Dual Shock 3 controller. I used PCSX-R, and it supports a lot of modern graphics features, such as higher resolution display, anti-aliasing, texture upscaling. A lot of the textures used in THPS2 are vector images, so they scale up perfectly.
So, yeah, if you want to play an HD version of THPS, use an emulator on PC. It’s damn fantastic!
Oh yes, I did see that actually.. but was warned off it by the reviews as it seemed to only be a shadow of what the original was based on the reviews. In any case, it was my experience both with Skate and TH that I was trying to explain and my justification for picking TH over Skate.
It’s like the difference between SNOW (a skiing game, with the promise of snowboarding at some stage, in development through Early Access Steam) and SSX. SSX is all about the fun and doesn’t take itself too seriously.. SNOW, while still allowing tricks and a little bit of “crazy” still tries to replicate the feeling of skiing etc.
Why is there no vote for OLLI OLLI
Really enjoyed Skate, but i put no where near as many hours into that as I did THPS. Skate was realistic, but THPS had that awesome arcadey kind of fun appeal to it
Disney’s Extreme Skate Adventure…
For me there is only one winner overall which is Skate.
I loved the THPS games to death as they were released and being a skater for roughly 15 – 20 years I had an immense amount of fun with the older THPS games. Hell, I even remember loving California Games well before that.
Fast forward to the first Skate game. It was a revelation. The Flick It controls were almost perfectly implemented and screw all that button mashing jazz, I had finally discovered a skateboarding game that felt ‘right’.
I guess it really all boiled down to the controls for me. No need to pick each game apart for pro’s and cons. Both deserve equal acclaim.
Skate just comes out head and shoulders above THPS.
I am deeply saddened to hear that THPS will be continuing with the button mashing control scheme. I guess I should have expected it.
A dream come true for me is another Skate game with the flick it controls released on PC. Yep, dreamin’.