The remasters of the first two games to bear the Hawkman’s name came as a breath of nostalgic fresh air back in 2021, recapturing the essence of an era. Now, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 gives the same treatment to the next two games in the franchise, but much like their original versions on PlayStation 2, they feel a little less… essential.
Iron Galaxy Studios has taken the torch from Vicarious Visions to remaster the back half of Neversoft’s genre-defining franchise (and we’ll all keep pretending the fifth game didn’t happen). This project almost didn’t see the light of day when Vicarious became a casualty of the Activision-Blizzard acquisition. Still, Iron Galaxy stepped in to see it through, having assisted with the excellent Metroid Prime Remastered. They’ve largely lived up to the presentational standard of THPS1+2.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 merges the two “campaigns” into a shared hub menu, where you can also outfit your skaters, manage your multiplayer party or hop into the park creator. Jumping from one game’s levels to the other—or even changing modes from standard career play to Free Skate—is a breeze.
All the professional skateboarders from the originals have returned, alongside a handful of modern pros, though the large menagerie of secret characters (from surfer Kelly Slater to Jenna Jameson stand-in Daisy, to the literal mascot of Neversoft, and all the copyrighted characters in between) hit the cutting room floor for obvious reasons. And yes, even Bam Margera is back as an unlockable secret character, while Digital Deluxe owners can also play as the Doom Slayer or a Revenant.
“Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4‘s soundtrack is a rare letdown for the franchise.”
Unfortunately, the create-a-skater experience feels largely recycled from THPS1+2, and I can’t help but feel dissatisfied with the selection of licensed components available. The jarring absences of brands like Element and Blind are presumably due to licensing conflicts, but it feels hollow to see Yeti branding in place of companies I’ve always used in this series.
And speaking of glaring absences, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4’s soundtrack is a rare letdown for the franchise. Tony himself made the noble call to feature different songs from the same artists that originally appeared on the soundtracks, claiming on Instagram, “that discovery is half the fun, and a big reason that these soundtracks resonated in the first place.” He’s right in that regard—I discovered a lot of songs and artists I wouldn’t have otherwise through the original games, some of which still get regular rotation on my playlists today.
But this approach perhaps went a touch too far. Fewer than 20 per cent of the original soundtracks have returned, accounting for 10 songs out of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4’s 60 tracks (65 if you include the Digital Deluxe edition’s extra tracks from DOOM games). Some of the new songs are great—I was genuinely shocked to realize “Charlotte” by Canadian metal band Kittie wasn’t an original track—while others just weren’t my taste or were unremarkable.
What stood out like a sore thumb was the disconnect between familiar levels and a largely unfamiliar soundtrack. Just like THPS1 isn’t the same without “Superman,” THPS3 feels empty without “I’m a Swing It.” I’m all for promoting new artists, but this is still a remaster, and the auditory divergence felt detrimental.
I remember sinking countless hours into Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 back on the PS2, so even without the music, my first runs on its iconic courses inspired that nostalgic endorphin rush that comes with a good remaster. Muscle memory kicked in, steering me toward the best gaps and hidden item locations, even after literal decades. The remaster does a good job of bringing the classic layouts to modern technology without compromising their designs; sometimes, games from the PS1/PS2 era can feel barren when converted to 16:9 and 4K, but this glow-up feels a little more alive thanks to the NPC pedestrians and vehicles.
“I can’t deny that Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 had me feeling like a teenager again.”
With those NPCs comes a slew of quirky objectives. By this point in the series, Neversoft was leaning harder into slapstick humour and clichés, so if you’re going for completion, you’ll have to ollie into someone who’s frozen their tongue to a lamppost in the Canada stage, and contend with both rent-a-cops and frat boys in other levels. Some of these elements are more groan-worthy now than they were in 2001, but the experience of building combos and exploring the stages in two-minute chunks is still every bit as fun.
Granted, this leads to another hot-button issue for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4: heavy editing on the latter game. THPS4’s levels were originally unrestricted, treated like a Free Skate mode where players had to seek out challenges rather than being given two minutes to cross objectives off a laundry list. The remaster opted to shoehorn THPS4 levels into its predecessor’s model instead.
Chances are, your reaction to this change will depend entirely on your nostalgia factor. If this is your first experience with these levels, you probably won’t notice much difference. Returning players, however, may notice that some levels have been replaced outright.
Personally, I didn’t mind, as I have much less connection to the original, and it maintains a consistent experience across the remasters; plus, I’m good at keeping some distance from the Jackass approach the series began to adapt a couple games later. That being said, I did find the THPS4 levels feel diminished for the changes. The S-K-A-T-E goals are a good example—where the first three games arranged these collectibles in natural progressions through each level, they aren’t as intuitive to grab in a 2-minute run through THPS4‘s courses. Again, a wise choice, but an arguably flawed execution.
Though I’m coming down a little hard on a couple of elements, I can’t deny that Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 had me feeling like a teenager again, and I’d recommend it to any of my fellow elder millennials who grew up on the series. The classic formula still works damn well twenty-five years after it was first created, and the coat of HD paint helps illustrate that. It’s a great chance for some cross-generational bonding as the original audience now has kids of their own to introduce to this world of unrealistic physics and crazy scores.
The remasters also inspired the same feelings I had back in the day, though; while I could still sink time into THPS3 all day, it doesn’t quite reach the same peaks as the second game, and THPS4 begins to pay back diminishing returns. I’m glad the remainder of the Pro Skater series was revitalized, but it’s just not as essential an experience as the first two games. You’ve got to know when to end a combo, so we can call it a day here and avoid going Underground (even if they brought Bam back).
