Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2, a remake of the first two games in the series, was one of the most anticipated games of 2020 despite the franchise having the life squeezed out of it for the past ten years. Part of the reason for the excitement came from the fact that developer Vicarious Visions was working on it, a team that had previously lovingly recreated the Crash Bandicoot series in 2017.
Thankfully, after years of disappointing games including reboots and that strange plug-in board, fans of the Tony Hawk series finally have a great game to sink their teeth in to. As the franchise has always been filled with hilarious details, hidden messages in graffiti and billboards, and secret playable characters, THPS 1+2 satisfies those itches with all of this and more.
10 The Skaters’ Ages
This isn’t so much a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it detail, as it is hidden in plain site, but to notice this requires players to be very observant, especially as the skaters rarely face the screen. But just like in real life, Tony Hawk isn’t the spring chicken he once was in the series, and neither are the other skaters. The skaters are all their current ages in the game, which is one of the most exciting features about the game. The world is now 20 years removed from the original Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and Tony Hawk even said that it would have been the best filter ever to be immortalized 20 years younger, but in the end its a testament to the group of skaters’ commitment to the extreme sport.
9 Alien Plushies
The skating series is no stranger to life forms other than human, as in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, the final level Roswell finds an alien lying on a bed behind glass, and they have appeared in many games in the series since then. Now, in every level of both games, there are tiny alien plushies dotted around. They aren’t the as just an Easter egg though, as if the player finds every single one, they will unlock the Roswell alien as a playable character.
8 Deleting A Custom Character Animation
One of the biggest gaming archetypes that has been tied to the Pro Skater franchise since its inception, and has influenced many other similar games, is the ability to customize and create players. Though one of the very few criticisms of the remake is how limited customization is, deleting custom characters features one of the best new animations in the game. If the player deletes a custom character, their face rots in to a skull and the jaw eventually swings off.
7 Recognizing that THPS5 Killed The Series
The Tony Hawk games are beloved to millions of 90s kids, and even the ones that went under the radar are starting to get the recognition they deserve, such as American Wasteland and Project 8. However, there is one game that Tony Hawk fans can all stand united on, and that’s the abysmal Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5.
Even the developers agree with the fans. If players look closely enough at a secret tape in the Downtown map, they’ll find that it says the start and end date of the Pro Skater series is 1999 to 2015, the latter being the year of Pro Skater 5’s release..
6 COVID-19 References
With the current climate being as sketchy as Rodney Mullen’s game stats, that hasn’t been ignored with the release of the remake. A lot of space is occupied with reminders about COVID-19, assuring players to wear masks when out and about and to make sure they are safe. Many of these disclaimers come in the form of advertisements where players would generally expect promotional ads of sneakers, such as on huge TVs and on Billboards.
5 Banjo Champion
If you go in to The Hanger, you’ll find a bunch of old video game boxes laying around, and the boxes look a lot like the packages that Guitar Hero came in. However, it isn’t Guitar Hero, and though the music game is great in many ways, the fictional Banjo Champion is clearly making fun of the classic guitar game.
The idea of making a playlist of songs that could potentially feature on Banjo Champion is enough for this to be the one of the game’s best hidden treasures. Though it might be a joke, Banjo Champion sounds like a hell of a lot of fun, and why should the Guitar Hero spin-off end there; what about Triangle Fighter, or even Xylophone Victor? No?
4 Matt Helsom Memorial Gymnasium
Matt Helsom, a prominent figure over at Vicarious Visions, the developer of this remake and many other beloved games, unfortunately passed away in 2019. The senior 3D artist was loved by everyone at the company and he had worked on Spider-Man games, Skylander games, Destiny, and the beloved remake of the original Crash Bandicoot trilogy and its karting counterpart. Players can find the memorial over School II in THPS2
3 Officer Dick’s Rocker Animation
As unlockable characters have always been fun hidden details in the series, the fact that Jack Black appears in the game hasn’t been remotely hidden, but his character, Officer Dick, is extremely hard to unlock. To play as Officer Dick, players must complete every Created Skater Challenge, of which there are 24. But once those are complete, Officer Dick becomes available and players might miss a typically Jack Black introduction. The actor uses his skate board as a guitar and rocks out, busting out moves that players would be hard pressed to believe the seasoned actor can still pull off.
2 Missing Margera
In The Hanger, the map has been more spruced up more than any other level, as the place is kitted out with state-of-the-art helicopters and a much cleaner look than the original. On top of that, there are several references to Hawk’s older games, including the outliers that have become fan favorites. But interestingly enough, the cover of Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 has erased Bam Margera from the cover, who was originally billed almost as much as Hawk himself. It may just be a licensing issue, but it looks like it will remain a mystery.
1 Luminous Clothing In The Hangar
This is one of the smallest details, but at the same time one of the most visually impressive and alluring of the remake. When the player enters the secret room of the Hangar by grinding on the propeller in the halfpipe, the lighting of the room is UV, which means any white clothing or footwear the player is wearing illuminates. It’s one of the coolest hidden details in of the remake.