Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 - On this day

Looking retrospectively, I don’t think I’ve yet come across any game that better summed up the essence of one subculture like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater did. The first part was revolutionary for several reasons, but with the deuce, the little things that didn't fit in the original took their place. Simply put, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 was the perfect game in its day. Exactly 21 years ago it was one of the best games on the first PlayStation.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater below brought more content and some welcome mechanics. Levels were more substantial with the search for the so-called gaps, the music was crazier, and the graphics better. We could connect the tricks with a manual, we could build our parks in the editor, create our characters, and even try out a demo version of Matt Hoffman Pro BMX. The game was first available on the PlayStation and then came on PC, Dreamcast, and Nintendo 64.

After its release, the game achieved an incredible result by becoming one of the best-rated games in history, and it still holds that result today. True, Metacritic’s average rating of 98 (the second-best on that platform) is based on just 19 reviews, but even that was enough to make THPS2 the top-rated game for the first PlayStation, as well as the top-rated sports video game in history.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 was not as successful in sales and sold 5.3 million units by 2007. This should not be blamed because the game has meanwhile got even better sequels that have added online multiplayer and changed the old campaign format.

However, these later sequels did not remain in the players' memory as much as THPS2, which served as the basis for THPS HD in 2012. We erased that version from our minds after the real remake of the first and second games in the package appeared in 2020 - THPS 1 + 2. With this game, there is technically no reason to go back to the original, unless you care about the old graphics and performance at 30 frames per second.