Best Tony Hawk Games Of All Time

Pretty much the entire top 10 is worth playing!

Honorable mention for the halfpipe in the Skate or Die games on the NES 🎮

I didn't even know there were that many. I kinda stopped paying attention after the huge downgrade that was 4. I knew that some of the later ones turned more into Jackass games than skateboarding.
I wish the remake was a trilogy rather than 1+2, THPS3 was a big step up compared to 2.

THPS 2 Sega Dreamcast is all I need

@SmaggTheSmug 4 and THUG are honestly really good. They’re a different type of game but the lack of a timer means they can make the levels bigger and more varied. The gimmicky stuff started to slowly ruin the series but I have better memories of those two games than any of the others.

Remembered playing this back in the days of Playstation one, I did had fun with it, together with my brothers and that was the last time I played a skating game. Don't know if I should buy this or not. As the reviews are tempting.

@nessisonett I just found the bigger levels and the need to look for the objectives boring. Even though I spent a lot of time in free ride mode in 2 and 3 I didn't appreciate it being the default in 4. Maybe because in the older games it felt like you were encouraged to use the entire level rather than just a part of it for a mission. Also the timer in the old games meant that the game kinda felt fit right in for a song length, while in 4 music felt a bit out of place. Like a random playlist plinking along, not relevant to the game at all.

It blows my mind that there have been 27 Tony Hawk games...

Oooh, so many good memories of THPS3...

@Jey887 My thoughts, exactly 😮

I played 1 and 3 on my PS1; so many good memories - especially my constant practice on 3's Foundry level trying to get a 1 million point run. I succeeded, and I hopefully still have the replay, but I've never been able to replicate the feat.

I just got the new Switch game in the mail yesterday, and I'm looking forward to having a grand time with it!

I played Tony Hawk mainly on the PS & GBA systems. I never realised there were so many TH games on other Nintendo sytems!

Downhill Jam was one of my many guilty pleasures on the good ol' Wii mind you, lol.

So many good memories with this franchise. I remember playing THPS 1 on the N64 at friends house in high school. I still remember hearing the intro to Police Truck looping over and over and thinking his cartridge was broken. I had the Dreamcast version at home and didn’t realize the shortened tracks were due to the limitations of the cartridge. Still had a blast with the N64 version, though.

I haven't played any Tony Hawk game since American Wasteland but I will likely get 1+2 on Switch.

2 and 3 on gba were my introduction to the series. They were such good takes on the formula considering the hardware

Actually, my first introduction was 3 on GBC, I remember cycling 6 miles to Curry's to buy after my dad left for work at 4pm. By the time I left to return home, it was 6.30pm and pitch black. Had to sleepover at my great aunts and got a call from my dad saying he was 'disappointed' in me

Huh. Didn’t know there were N64 versions. Would’ve gotten into the franchise as those years were the height of my extreme sports fandom. As such I considered the franchise to be a PlayStation franchise and thus ignored it and by the time I saw gamecube entries, I no longer cared. As such, the remakes will my first time playing the series. Hope I find it fun.

I played TH 1, 2, 3 & 4 on my PS1 and PS2 as the controllers are way better for pulling off combo's than any Nintendo pad.
I also got the remakes on the PS4 for the same reason thanks to Sony not changing their controllers for years and keepng very similar layouts.
Fell straight back into racking up ridiculous scores as It felt natural and I remembered most of the button combinations.
Sometimes a lack of innovation for your controllers pays off 😁

I own both 1 & 2 on my 64 and I can't pull half the moves I can with a Sony controller.
Also I rate 3 as my all time favourite thanks mainly in having the best level ever, the cruise ship.
Some seriously massive scores on that level.
Let's hope 3 & 4 get the same treatment as 1 & 2 as I would snap that up in a heartbeat.

I've been very impressed with the Switch game. Playing it a ton this weekend, both docked and portable. So much fun and perfect for short gaming sessions.

Proving Ground DS and American Sk8land are some of the best skating games I ever played. Massively underrated on this list!

@Ryu_Niiyama It’s funny that so many associates the series with PlayStation. Maybe it’s because I didn’t have a PlayStation as a teen. But I did have a Dreamcast and ultimately a GameCube. Those are the consoles (especially the Dreamcast) that I closely associate with the series

@UmbreonsPapa People associate it with Playstation because they got the games 1st early in the series.1 came out on PS1 in August 99 and on N64 in February 2000.2 came out on PS1 in September 2000 and N64 in August 2001.3 came out on PS1 & PS2 in October 2001 and N64 in August 2002.If you wanted to play THPS at launch you needed a playstation or you were waiting 6 months to almost a year in some cases.

THPS 1+2 is incredible on the Switch. I also got the game on my Xbox Series X, and the game looks incredible on that console, but the way the game looks on the Switch is a lot closer to what I remember those early THPS games looking like. That and having the games on a portable is amazing, especially on the Switch Lite with it's d-pad.

As for the series, I think it slowly got worse over time, but had a few high and lows here and there. For example THPS 1-4 were incredible games, total classics, but they are less memorable and nostalgic for me as I go on. The THUG games were good but lacked the style that THPS was known for, and THUG 2 felt like it was more aimed around Jackass than anything else. I don't even remember American Wasteland but it seemed to be more of the same from that THUG era.

Project 8 felt like a high point for me after that, like they were going back to the first 4 games, but sadly that was pretty much it for the series, after that the games got all gimmicky and were nothing like the THPS games I loved. The Ride and Shred era games felt like real low points, when Robomodo got handed the series and sunk it to depths I never thought possible by the time they released THPS 5. Luckily they are no more and the series finally got handed off to a competent developer who could do the games some proper justice in the modern era.

@UmbreonsPapa to my knowledge I have never seen an N64 game or an ad (granted by 2000 I was barely watching live tv so I could prep for college) for it and all I saw growing up were PS1 ads for the series. So By the time I saw it on gamecube (aside from the genesis I was a Nintendo only gamer until college) I didn’t care/had too much other things to play. 1080 snowboarding kept me plenty occupied.

THPS 1+2 on Switch is only 30 fps. Hard pass.

I love these games. The GBA games were good times but the 2D never did it for me. 3 was the pinnacle, IMO, with 4 as a close second. Then probably 2 then Underground 1 then the original. I haven’t enjoyed any of the others too much that I’ve played. I greatly look forward to playing the 1+2 remake and would be thrilled to have a 3+4!

I think I remember playing a demo of THPS 1 on Playstation before it came out, like they had with that magazine or whatever that had monthly demo discs. It was so fun. Yeah, these games are amazing. Played 1, 2, and 3 to death on PS1, PS2, N64, Dreamcast, and Gamecube. The third one is definitely my favorite so I'm looking forward to a remake of that whenever it comes out.

I don’t know *****. But underground is the next remaster.

I'm actually more than a little taken aback by the low community scores for the DS versions of Proving Ground and American Wastleland. Those were both exceptional handheld Tony Hawk games and really demonstrated why the remasters of THPS 1 and 2 were in such good hands with Vicarious Visions.

I was like, "Yeah, okay. Tony Hawk. I'll skim the article...27!? There were 27 Tony Hawk games? I thought there were like eight. Like eight and a spinoff. I remember underground. 27???" Then I found underground near the top. Yep. About right.

@Papichulo I remember when you bailed it looked like the skater's head came off, but I think it was supposed to be the helmet. Hard to tell with all the pixel jank

So happy to see Tony Hawk 3 on Gamecube in second place. One of the first game we got when we bought the console, so many great memories. A whole lot of horse games though...

No argument from me.. fantastic remakes

But what about Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure that used the same engine? Toys for Bob worked on that one. This is the important question.

I had no idea there were so many.

Stopped reading once you claimed the ds one was toilet after admitting you never played it. I never played it, and it probably was, but I’m not gonna read a long @$$ article you just phoned in. Take two seconds and grab a copy and try it out. I’m sure you’ve got a way to get access to it

@MeatSauce Also the N64 versions of the game were crap compared to Playstation.

@Sublogic Very true.I used to love playing against my friends that only had the n64 version cause I always had 6 months or more of experience and I knew all the secrets.Back then I’d get it for PS1,N64,Dreamcast and GBA.

@Ambassador_Kong
You're missing out!

Only hurting your own entertainment looking at it like this.
You don't notice it when you play, an if you did I would wager you are not a Switch player only.

The performance of it prepatch is more than adequate (patch inserts multiplayer along with some other bits), then it gets better with it.
Playing it hand held is glorious fun and the memories/muscle memory stands you in very good stead to just enjoy it or the comfort food it is. Stepping into an old sock never felt so good.

Fantastic port.

@Rosona i have it on PS5 at 60fps. Thought it might be fun portable, but not at half the framerate.

@Rosona
They are. (especially on a hybrid system where games almost always have to strike a balance between power, battery and performance).

And we know that. Almost all of us here have PS5 or PC with RTX GPU that outperforms PS5 and can run triple digit FPS all day, and still choose to play on Switch instead.

Tony Hawk PS 1/2 on Switch is excellent. Looks incredible, runs smooth, and man oh man, playing on the Lite is a dream come true! I bring mine to work every day and play a bit in the office. It's so good.

@Ambassador_Kong
I always find it interesting when I hear someone say, "game X is 30 fps, hard pass" like it's some unforgivable sin that's so detrimental to the experience it's not even worth playing. Its very extremist.

Half the games that released on PS4 the entire 8th generation were 30fps and even dipped below (Monster Hunter World, Bloodborne, Assassin's Creed, etc), and I struggle to believe the ppl saying "hard pass" were saying that in the review articles for those games, skipping every 30fps game on PS4 all generation long. Not to mention, the overwhelming majority of AAA games on PS3 were also 30. And I suspect ppl who say "hard pass" had no problems with it back then. But all of a sudden, a new console comes out and ppl get on a high horse acting like anything less than cutting edge is unplayable, even when on a hybrid where a different standard of expectations applies.

Kinda like me with my PC that smokes PS5, if I were to say, "60fps? Pfffft... hard pass. If it's not 4k 144 fps it'd not even worth playing." If I said that on PushSquare ppl would be like, "get outta here you salty elistist PC fanboy". And rightfully so.

I have a PS5, PC, all that, and "half the framerate" doesn't really result in "half the fun", or even feel "half as smooth". Consistency and stability trumps the number itself. It feels 95% the same (especially in handheld) but with the benefit of playing both TV and portably, which is absolutely worth it. Even on the TV, "half the framerate" is excellent. More than good enough. Higher framerates are a nice perk, but they hardly impact entertainment value when you're playing. Whereas being stuck TV only has a pretty massive impact on entertainment.

If you truly can't stand playing a 30fps game, I can't imagine why you're on a fansite for a hybrid handheld console that doesn't have the power to push beyond that for the vast majority of games. This ain't where you come if you're a technical elitist. And frankly, neither is PS5. If you're gonna act elitist, at least do it right. If stable 30 on a handled is a hard pass, then 60 on a power console is even more of a hard pass.

@JaxonH Simply put... If I have a choice to play a game at 60 fps or 30 fps, I'm going with 60. And yes, there is a very noticeable difference between the two framerates. especially when you are playing a game that requires twitch reflexes.

Finally, the traitorous critic is one of the weakest logical fallacies, but you already strawmanned me, so I won't even bother with your personal incredulity fallacy.

@Ambassador_Kong
I can appreciate that. Nothing wrong with having preferences.

But that's not really what I was addressing. If that's truly your preference, to the extent that tiny bit of extra smoothness is worth more than the hybrid advantage, that's cool. I'm not knocking it. More power to you.

But Switch isn't really the platform for 60fps only types that say things like "hard pass" at even the slightest whiff of a game running at 30. It makes me question why you're even here in the first place. Very few games on Switch run at 60, because it's a hybrid. High end performance isn't the priority for this platform. It compromises a bit in that regard to provide something far more impactful for most. If you're not one of them, again, you do you. But I find it odd why you'd come to a fansite for a hybrid console that doesn't focus on 60 fps, knowing that full well ahead of time, only to matter-of-factly declare how hard of a pass everything is from that tall PS5 horse you're sitting on.

To which I rightly pointed out, why are you here if 30 fps games are so beneath you? If you refuse to enjoy any game at 30fps even when stable as a rock and on a hybrid system, which is the best hybrid experience the market currently has to offer for most games, I can't imagine what you're here for. The occasional one or two titles a year that happen to offer higher framerates? And even then, they're not gonna look as good. At which point I suspect your response will then be "less than 4k? Hard pass", so... what's the point? You're not gonna find anything that looks or runs as good as a power console, and that's clearly what you value to the execlusion of all else. Again, it would be like if I posted in PushSquare article about a game being a "hard pass" because it's only 60 fps, saying "well I was interested, but then I saw it was 60fps- hard pass- I only play 144 frames on my PC" knowing full well PS5 can't handle that and isn't the platform for that.

So ya. I haven't strawmanned anything. I'm just letting you know it's cheesy to come on a site for a system that balances performance in the interest of the hybrid advantage, and mockingly declare how games on the system are so beneath you and a "hard pass" because of it. I could understand if it was dropping frames and stuttering. Or blurry like some games have been. But this is about as good as it gets on Switch. If that's not enough for you, why waste time coming here to talk about games you feel aren't up to your personal standards.

Tony looks absolutely satanic in the Downhill Jam cover art.