Let’s get real – Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 was abysmal. We ranked it last when we made a list of all the titles from best to worst because it just didn’t have the same wow factor as the earlier titles. The wonder team of Neversoft & Vicarious Visions made the best games in the series, and it speaks volumes when the best skateboarding game of recent times was a remaster of the first two Pro Skater titles. So, when I discovered that Tony was speaking with Activision but couldn’t actually give any more details other than ‘it will be something the fans will truly appreciate’, it got me thinking about what it could actually be.
The first game in the series debuted on the PlayStation on September 29th, 1999. That means that in a few weeks, the series will be hitting its 25th anniversary, and that’s why these rumours of a Tony Hawk’s remaster have emerged, partly coming from Tony himself.
Where do you think Tony dropped the news that he was in talks with Activision again? Could it have been on a vert somewhere, or maybe it was while speaking with fans at a skate convention? No, it was during a cooking show called Mythical Kitchen while talking with host Josh Scherer about his last meal on Earth. Josh put the question to Tony at around 25 minutes in, just long enough for him to be dazed and confused by the thought of so much nice food that he might hopefully have let his guard down a little.
Obviously, my first thought was that if fans went crazy for Pro Skater 1+2 bundled together, then maybe we might be looking at a new remaster of 3+4. That would be pretty sweet too, especially considering the new features Pro Skater 3 brought to the table. Still, the general consensus across the internet from fans of the iconic skateboarding series is that remastered versions of Tony Hawk’s Underground 1+2 are top of the list, and if Tony has had his ear to the halfpipe over the past couple of years and been listening to the fans, then they might have got their wish.
It’s well-documented that Tony Hawk wanted to bring 3+4 to the table and that the plan was in the works before Vicarious Visions was merged with Activision’s sister company Blizzard Entertainment. Still, if Tony is talking with Activision now and with the DNA of Vicarious Visions living on albeit under a different guise, then surely they can pull off another brilliant remaster in the same vein as the 2020 release and dust off the old company logo one more time for the ultimate nostalgic release? Time will tell, but I for one would be incredibly happy to step back into a remastered world of driving vehicles, custom graffiti, going up against Team Bam, and an epic career mode in two of the most detailed games in the series!
