Get ready to do a kickflip as today I am sharing with you my top 5 Tony Hawk games! You may think that one of the Tony Hawk games would have shown up on my top 5 PlayStation 2 games list, but the reason none did was that this is a series I mostly played on the original Xbox. I played the first two games, but I never actually owned them until many years later.
Anyway, this is a franchise that I love, and narrowing this list down to just five was about as hard as hitting a 900! However, after much deliberating and watching a few episodes of Jackass and Viva La Bam, I am pretty happy with my list. Speaking of which, this is my list so be sure to let me know what your favorite Tony Hawk game is in the comments section down below.
Number 5
Tony Hawk’s American Skat8land
I am sure many of you are surprised to see Tony Hawk’s American Skat8land on this list, but I freaking love this game. This was released on the Nintendo DS and it went alongside Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland which I enjoyed on the original Xbox. Despite being a handheld title, this is a full 3D Tony Hawk game! It has some awesome cel-shaded graphics that I feel still hold up to this day, it has a rocking soundtrack, and best of all, it plays great. Due to the lack of an analog stick, it may take a while to get used to it, but once you do, I would go as far as to say that this is one of the most addictive games on the Nintendo DS!
Number 4
Tony Hawk’s Underground 2
I am kind of cheating here as this is a two for one. I enjoyed the first game, but being a fan of Jackass and Viva La Bam, this clicked with me on a whole other level. It had an awesome and super fun single player campaign that saw you going all over the world causing mayhem in a Jackass/Viva La Bam style. However, you also had the classic mode for those who wanted a more “normal” Tony Hawk experience. The reason that I say this is a two for one is that I loved this game on the original Xbox, but it also got a tremendous port on the Sony PSP. I was an early adopter of the PSP and this was by far my most played game on it!
Number 3
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 was the first game in the series that I actually owned. Before we get to this, I want to give an honorable mention to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2X which was an Xbox exclusive that had the courses from Tony Hawk 1 and 2 in it. Back to Pro Skater 3! This was a massive upgrade from the previous games. It had much sharper visuals, but the revert that was added here was a game-changer that allowed you to string together the craziest combos. Pulling off massive combos was so addictive and me and my buddies would try and outdo each other all of the time. It had an amazing soundtrack and it was truly an epic continuation of what came before it. This is where the original style of Tony Hawk really peaked!
Number 2
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2
I bet that there are a few shocked faces that Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 is not number one on my list! This is what we all wanted, the Tony Hawk series had been on an epic downward spiral for years at this point and this showed that Activision still cared about the series. It had amazing visuals, a really cool and fitting soundtrack and it played amazingly well. The controls were tight, arguably tighter than they had ever been. This game showed that the classic Tony Hawk series still had a place in modern gaming. The only negative about this is that it is a damn shame that Activision has not followed this up with at the very least some Tony Hawk 3 DLC for this game! I have played through this on both PlayStation and Xbox!
Number 1
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4
No way you thought that Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4 was going to top this list when you started reading it! This is my favorite game in the series and one of my favorite games of all time. This changed things up considerably, it got away from having a couple of minutes to do a run to an open level format where you tackled individual goals one at a time. Look, I get this change was not for everyone, but I loved it and I felt that it was a natural progression for the series. The controls were even better this time around and it has what I consider to be the best soundtrack of any Tony Hawk game, any soundtrack that has both Iron Maiden and AC/DC on it is great. One of my biggest gaming wants is for a full remake of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4! While I played this originally on the Xbox these days I have it on PS2, Game Cube, and even PS1 as well.
Thanks for riding goofy with me and checking out my top 5 Tony Hawk games. There are some other great titles in this series that I have had a lot of fun with over the years, but these are the ones I like best.
If you have a different opinion, be sure to let me know what your top 5 Tony Hawk games are in the comments section down below.