Grinding Greatness

For many gamers growing up, our first introduction into extreme sports came to us in the form of, well, games. And the game that paved the way for all others was of course Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater for the Nintendo 64, Playstation, and Dreamcast.

Spawning a half dozen sequels and even some crazy motion control board peripheral, Tony Hawk heard the cries of his gaming faithful (most of those cries were in pain as many of us, including yours truly, broke their a**es on that board last year) and went with his gut to declare that the series needed to return to its roots.

“It’s the best of our first two games for the new consoles and we’re back to joystick controls. And I’m super excited because we’re bringing back the game play that people came to love from the series,” said Tony Hawk himself in a brief interview with EGM back at the 2011 VGAs.

Along with returning to the classic joystick controls in order to link together as many sick tricks as possible, the game also pulls in seven fan-favorite levels across the first two Pro Skater games. Those levels are:

• Warehouse
• School 2
• Mall
• Phoenix
• Hangar
• Venice
• Marseilles

But, of course, in the vein of many remakes coming out lately, fresh visuals are just the beginning for the Pro Skater faithful with the levels and playable characters in the game all getting a major facelift. And speaking of characters, both classic and modern greats like Rodney Mullen, Nyjah Huston, Andrew Reynolds, Eric Koston, Lyn-z Adams Hawkins, Chris Cole, Riley Hawk, and the Birdman, Tony Hawk himself, will grace the game’s roster.

The game animations and objectives also have been upgraded with the change in times. Original level specific goals like S-K-A-T-E and the Secret DVD (originally a VHS tape) have been tweaked while returning and you can also do manuals in levels from the first Pro Skater, originally a move that didn’t enter the series until Pro Skater 2. Along with tweaked classic objectives, we might also see some new ones come in via online play. Unfortunately, online play has only been confirmed at this point, but precious details like number of players, modes, or other online features have yet to be released at this time.

But the best part of all this nostalgia may be the price. Right now expected to be $14.99 on PSN and 1200 MSP on XBLA, I think fans of Tony Hawk Pro Skater as a franchise are beside themselves waiting for this game to finally become available in the Summer of 2012. But for those still on the fence of whether or not seven levels is worth the price, the Birdman said that some DLC levels could be a possibility.

“We’re basically going to go with the best of the first two (games) and if that goes well then we’ll add new levels maybe that no one’s ever seen before,” quote The Birdman.

Well, if that doesn’t give you an urge to grind some rails, then I don’t know what will. Maybe another look at the teaser trailer? Check it out below!

So what do you folks think? Are you pumped up for this classic reborn? Were you fans of the originals? How about the price tag? Let us know with comments below!