I beat every Tony Hawk Game and Ranked them.
This was an interesting gaming marathon and it was cool seeing how these games evolved over time and then devolved due to the yearly release schedule.
Regardless, this is a really fun series that did a good job innovating and pivoting over the years. All of these games are fun and worth playing.
#1 Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 + 2
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 combines the iconic levels, tricks, and soundtrack of the originals with stunning graphics and modern moves. It’s a perfect mix of nostalgia and fresh thrill, capturing everything that made THPS legendary, now refined for today’s players.
#2 Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2X
This is a great game and a hidden gem. Traditionally THPS2 was my go to game but 2X takes everything great about THPS2 and adds new maps, better graphics and lots of new content. This is the definitive old school skating experience.
#3 Tony Hawk Underground
THUG is probably my favorite experience but I ranked it #2 because it does not have the replay value of games like THPS2 or 2X. What it does have is the best storyline in the franchise, great graphics and a unique personality.
#4 Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2
THPS2 has always been the staple when it comes to this series. This game defined the franchise and continues to be the bar all other entries are measured against. Fun Fact, Tony Hawk himself rates this as the best in the series.
#5 Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3
THPS3 is everything that was great about THPS2 plus some extra moves, better graphics, larger maps and bigger combo multipliers. Plus Wolverine is a secret skater!
#6 Tony Hawk Proving Ground
THPG is another great entry into the series. While the story is not as good as THUG it is still a lot of fun and it is the second best story in the franchise. Plus the skate lounge actually gave you a reason to use the map editor for once. This is a really great game.
#7 Tony Hawk Downhill Jam
DJH is the most unique entry in the series. At its core it is a racing game with unique and varied challenge levels. While it is not your traditional Tony Hawk experience it was a fun change of pace and added a little variety to the franchise.
#8 Tony Hawk American Wasteland
THAW was a good (not great) game and had a good (not great) story. On the surface this game looked like one of the best in the collection. It had a Punk rock story, really great graphics, good gameplay, a great character creator and so much more but somehow it all just fell flat. It had all the ingredients for a great game but did not deliver.
#9 Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4
THPS4 was a good game but it felt very stale and failed to innovate on the previous games. The only big change here was all missions now started with a story, some weird and unnecessary reason why I had to complete the goal. It made the experience feel cheesy. It is still a really fun game to play but does not rank high on the list.
#10 Tony Hawk Project 8
Pro8 was a huge jump forward in graphics, I really liked the way this game looked. The gameplay itself was not great though. Everything felt very stiff and the story felt tacked on.
#11 Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD
THPS HD should have been so good…. Visually it was amazing but the game play was garbage. This game was made by Robomoto, not Neversoft and it shows. I sometimes wonder if Robomoto is owned by Michael Bay, since they are both good at taking things I love, making them look great and also making them suck at the same time.
#12 Tony Hawk Shred
Shred was not that bad…. I mean yea, it sucked but in a fun way. It was cool to have a skateboard as a controller and graphically it looked great. I enjoyed it more than I would like to admit. The controller itself doesn’t work very well but if you play through on easy it keeps you on rails and helps to supplement the shotty design.
#13 Tony Hawk Underground 2
THUG2 should have been called Bam Margera’s Dick & Fart Jokes. It was not a suitable sequel to one of my favorite games in the series, instead it was like a crappy episode of jackass. THUG2 tried to replace a solid story with crude humor and ridiculous stunts.
#14 Tony Hawk Pro Skater 5
THPS5 pisses me off for a number of reasons. This was made for modern systems but graphically it still looked like a last gen game. Plus they required you to be online, even in single player and then they took the servers down. You can now only play this on the Xbox 360 which allows offline play. Anyone that bought a PS4 or Xbox One version can no longer play at all. Really poor planning, shame on you Robomoto.
#15 Tony Hawk Pro Skater
THPS is hard to play now. It is not a bad game but everything else is so much better and way more fun. It paved the way for the whole franchise but its predecessors make this game obsolete.
#16 Tony Hawk Ride
Ride is really, really broken. Many of the levels require you to do very specific tricks but the unresponsive, unpredictable board makes this next to impossible. It has moments where it is almost fun but it is not really worth playing. You would be much better off grabbing a copy of Shred.
#17 Disney Extreme Skate Adventure
Extreme Skate is a Disney game using the Tony Hawk 4 engine. It is fun to play for like 5 minutes. The concept is neat, you get to play Tony Hawk with characters from Lion King, Toy Story & Tarzan in Disney themed levels. You can also create your own character. If you are a fan of Disney or Tony Hawk do not play this because you will end up hating both franchises.
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