It’s been 25 years since Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater forever changed the landscape of video games, licensed soundtracks, and the sport of skateboarding. Translating the freeing feeling of expression that drives skate culture, while squaring this virtual representation with the inherent video gamey-ness of high scores and competition was a code no developer could crack.
Plenty have tried of course. The Atari 2600 game 720 marked the first true video game translation of skateboarding. Rockstar Games’ Thrasher: Skate And Destroy accurately recreated the painful difficulty of skating, but made an impenetrable game in the process. Meanwhile, Sega’s Top Skater, the arcade classic that put players directly onto the board to control their character, made it fun without accurately portraying the easy-going freestyle nature of the extreme sport.
