Looking for a healthy dose of gaming nostalgia? You can save $15 on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4, freshly remastered for basically every gaming console, including the Nintendo Switch 2. It’s relatively uncommon for newer titles to get a discount, especially on the latest Nintendo console, so this is a good time to scoop them if you’re interested.
If you’ve never played a Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater game, you’re missing out! The first game dropped in 1999, and they have steadily evolved over the years with bigger tricks, more points, and an ever-growing cast of real professional skaters. In recent years, Vicarious Visions and Iron Galaxy have buckled up the proverbial helmet and remastered the early games in the series, starting with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 in 2020.
Notably, the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 remasters don’t include the career mode, a big shift made by the original Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4 that gave quests to NPCs around each map. Instead, both games use more traditional two-minute rounds, with a list of objectives to try and complete during that time.
There are three entirely new maps for the remaster, my favorite of which is set on a huge pinball machine, complete with an even larger Tony Hawk looking down on you as you skate. I like that it feels unique and new, while still having that fun, slightly off-kilter vibe that made the games great in the first place.
All of the existing maps have been revamped as well, with updated textures and models, new objectives, and fun little Easter eggs to find as you play. In addition to create-a-skater, and the original cast of pro skaters, there are new additions as well, like Andy Anderson, Bam Margera, and even Doom Guy from Doom. There are even remixed soundtracks with both classic tracks and new songs that fit the THPS vibe.
After beating the career mode, there’s a surprising amount of replayability here, with tons of extra challenges and achievements to complete. I sunk countless hours in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 working on the “Get There” challenges, trying to perform precise combinations of tricks and gaps on each map. I’ve already worked my way through the regular and pro goals for each map in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4, and I’m slowly chiseling away at the hardest challenges in the game, which ask for combos in the millions of points.
