Bojangles4th
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Completed
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--
Days in Journal
1 day
Last played
October 21, 2023
Platforms Played
I must confess, I have not actually played THPS1 or THPS2 in their original incarnations (loud booing.wav) yeah I know, FAKE FAN!! But listen, hear me out, <even louder revert noises.> Yeah, didn't think you had an answer to that.
Every once in a blue moon I boot THPS3 up for various reasons, whether for a bit of nostalgia escapism (something I normally strongly avoid doing bcus I believe it to be unhealthy), or to simply refresh myself on one of the tightest series of games ever made at their peak.
Everyone's got a different favorite in these, but most agree 3 is the best (on a mechanical level) to play long-term; even over something like the relatively recent 1+2 remake, because while those levels are iconic for bringing skateboarding back into public consciousness and largely credited even for skateboarding having a place today at the Olympics, 3 is where they'd perfect the series mechanically. In the documentary "Pretending I'm a Superman", Tony Hawk mostly talks about THPS1 and THPS3, because while 2 was the gangbusters critical darling and the natural evolution of the surprising smash hit of THPS1, they somehow did it again with THPS3, and there he talks about leaning into a more arcadey approach (not that the previous titles weren't, but this basically triples the length of your average combo).
Something I think is lost in THPS1+2 is the readability of stages. Don't get me wrong, it certainly has presentation still and I'd argue it's decent, but the choice to use very heavy baked in lighting and drop shadows clashes with the direction of these games. Multiple times I was left scouring maps looking for a random circle on a wall because it blends into the shadows; this was never a problem in THPS1 through 4 except maybe finding the skate decks on maps with dark ceilings.
I'm not very fluent in being a vibe scribe, I cannot accurately relay how pure and hollistic the presentation is in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. I was there age 11-12 with a skateboard in hand because of this game, at the only skatepark I was aware of in a 50 mile radius, where some 20-something tried his damndest to teach me to ollie while never laughing at me, all because of this game. Maybe I'll pick up a board again and learn how these punks make slabs of wood orbit their body through telekinesis, but in the meantime I'll just have to settle for this.
Update: I hit 4.6m
Every once in a blue moon I boot THPS3 up for various reasons, whether for a bit of nostalgia escapism (something I normally strongly avoid doing bcus I believe it to be unhealthy), or to simply refresh myself on one of the tightest series of games ever made at their peak.
Everyone's got a different favorite in these, but most agree 3 is the best (on a mechanical level) to play long-term; even over something like the relatively recent 1+2 remake, because while those levels are iconic for bringing skateboarding back into public consciousness and largely credited even for skateboarding having a place today at the Olympics, 3 is where they'd perfect the series mechanically. In the documentary "Pretending I'm a Superman", Tony Hawk mostly talks about THPS1 and THPS3, because while 2 was the gangbusters critical darling and the natural evolution of the surprising smash hit of THPS1, they somehow did it again with THPS3, and there he talks about leaning into a more arcadey approach (not that the previous titles weren't, but this basically triples the length of your average combo).
Something I think is lost in THPS1+2 is the readability of stages. Don't get me wrong, it certainly has presentation still and I'd argue it's decent, but the choice to use very heavy baked in lighting and drop shadows clashes with the direction of these games. Multiple times I was left scouring maps looking for a random circle on a wall because it blends into the shadows; this was never a problem in THPS1 through 4 except maybe finding the skate decks on maps with dark ceilings.
I'm not very fluent in being a vibe scribe, I cannot accurately relay how pure and hollistic the presentation is in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. I was there age 11-12 with a skateboard in hand because of this game, at the only skatepark I was aware of in a 50 mile radius, where some 20-something tried his damndest to teach me to ollie while never laughing at me, all because of this game. Maybe I'll pick up a board again and learn how these punks make slabs of wood orbit their body through telekinesis, but in the meantime I'll just have to settle for this.
Update: I hit 4.6m