History YMMV / TonyHawksProSkater

* CowboyBebopAtHisComputer: The engine the game used was based on that of "Apocalypse", a game which Neversoft previously worked on (and assets were reused from in Downtown Minneapolis). Due to Bruce Willis being involved, this game is often erroneously reported as being based on a film. It wasn't - it was only ever a game.

* LifeImitatesArt: Satire publication ''Website/TheHardTimes'' ran an article "[[https://thehardtimes.net/music/goldfinger-patiently-awaits-reboot-of-tony-hawk-franchise/ Goldfinger Patiently Awaits Reboot of Tony Hawk Franchise]]" in May 2019; a year later, ''THPS 1 + 2'' was announced.
* MagnumOpusDissonance: ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2'' has been called the best in the series by many, although much more for its engine than its level design. Many fans prefer the levels in 1 or 3, and it seems true of the developers as well as more of those were remade in later games.
** While often ''[=THPS2=]'' or ''[=THPS3=]'' tended to be cited by fans as the best entry, numerous Neversoft employees have indicated in a development history article that they feel the series peaked with ''[=THUG1=]''.

* WTHCastingAgency: Music/LilJon's inclusion in ''American Wasteland'' as an unlockable skater was an odd decision, seeing as how none of his music's in the game and the man himself isn't known for skateboarding.

* SongAssociation: Pick any song from the series, especially the ones listed under SignatureSong. Odds are, if you look for the video for the song on Website/YouTube, it'll be flooded with comments from people talking about the Tony Hawk series.

** Any of the "Hard"[[note]]In-game mods and cheats must be disabled before peforming these; otherwise the regular Get-Theres only counts.[[/note]] Get-Theres. You have to master the mechanics and the balance meter gauge, as well for timing the ollie timing right. Levels like Mall, Downhill Jam, Roswell, School II, Venice, Philadelphia, Bullring and Skate Heaven determine your skills on reaching these gaps without screwing up your balance meter gauge.

** Any of the "Hard Gap Combos" challenges, which task you with getting multi ''million''-point combos using certain gaps in each stage. For just one example, how does getting a '''''20 million-point combo''''' using the "Holy Shi..." gap in Warehouse sound?

** Before ''Ride'', there was the motion control peripheral for ''Motion'', which is so sensitive that performing grinds and manuals is almost impossible. The peripheral, which plugs into the GBA cartridge slot, is the only way to play the game, which means that [=DSi=] owners are SOL.

** In [=THPS4=]'s [=PS1=] version, Tony Hawk's Gymnastic Plant scores you an insane points enough to clear most High Score goals in no time.

** In [=THPS4=] [=PS1=] version, Tony Hawk's Gymnastic Plant scores you an insane points enough to clear most High Score goals in no time.

* Any of the "Hard Gap Combos" challenges, which task you with getting multi ''million''-point combos using certain gaps in each stage. For just one example, how does getting a '''''20 million-point combo''''' using the "Holy Shi..." gap in Warehouse sound?

** Any of the challenges that require you to win online multiplayer matches. While it might not sound bad on paper, considering you only have to place in the top half in a match for it to be considered a win, the problem is that, at least on PC, online is absolutely ''brimming'' with cheaters sporting perfect balance and no-bail hacks, meaning that the top half of any given lobby is highly likely to be comprised of said cheaters who will be landing million+ point combos and rocking multi million-point scores with regularity. The average player, therefore, is forced either to cross their fingers and pray to the skate gods that they're [[LuckBasedMission lucky enough to find a match that's relatively hacker-free]], or else stoop to installing cheats themselves just to level the playing field.

** Any of the challenges that require you to win online multiplayer matches. While it might not sound bad on paper, considering you only have to place in the top half in a match for it to be considered a win, the problem is that, at least on PC, online is absolutely ''brimming'' with cheaters sporting perfect balance and no-bail hacks, meaning that the top half of any given lobby is highly likely to be comprised of said cheaters who will be landing million+ point combos and rocking multi million-point scores with regularity. The average player, therefore, is forced either to cross their fingers and pray to the skate gods that they're [[LuckBasedMission lucky enough to find a match that's relatively hacker-free]], or else stoop to installing cheats themselves.

** Two that stand out are "High Plays" and "Big-Time Builder", notorious for being straight-up [[LuckBasedMission luck-based]] for the average player. To wit, these are earned by getting a total of 20,000 visits and 5,000 upvotes respectively on created parks you submit online. Considering the average player can count themselves lucky to get 100 visits and a dozen or so upvotes on any given park they submit, this boils down to creating and submitting literally ''hundreds'' of parks and praying that, over literal ''years' of time, they can amass the needed plays and upvotes to complete these challenges.

** Lip tricks are by far the worst type of tricks on the first era of Tony Hawk's game (and the HD remake). They give little points, only works when you're straight as an arrow, and can ruin combos when they're accidentally performed. Until ''[=THPS3=]'', it also had no way to balance it out and the skater would always bail if you kept holding for more than 4 seconds. It's less terrible in the modern games, but there's still some problems. For example, there's a goal on ''American Wasteland'' when you have to lip trick through '''an entire rotation of Santa Monica's Giant Wheel''' (thankfully only on Sick difficulty). The only saving grace of the lip trick was that leaning too far towards the ramp would cause you to land safely and end your combo without breaking it (unless, since ''3'', you linked a revert into it to keep going), but even that's a crapshoot if you're not doing it intentionally.

* {{Narm}}: A consequence of the sheer space limitations of the Nintendo 64 cartridges had already [[PortingDisaster affected the music]] in the first two games. When 3 somehow got an [=N64=] port too, the music is so gratuitously torn apart at this point that something like [[Music/{{Motorhead}} Ace of Spades]] keeps repeating the normally one-off line, "And don't forget the Joker!" almost as if it's the main chorus.

** While the 3rd game had a decent backport to the [=PS1=] with exclusive content, the 4th game had worse draw distance, wonky physics, lip tricks were nearly impossible to pull off, confusing goals, and glitches out the ass. Of note, the Shipyard level is so scaled-down that it removes almost all the ships from the level, making it illogical and much harder. In addition, the [=PS1=] could not handle the final level Zoo so the simple competition-style level Sewers was made in its place. Interestingly, it was developed by Vicarious Visions, the same people who made the GBA and DS versions of ''THPS'' and eventually ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2'', so what happened here?

* WinBackTheCrowd: ''1 + 2'' is widely hailed by publications and fans as a return to form for the series in terms of its refocus on skating, with physics and speed that feel closer to the earlier games in the series.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: One of the consistent high points of the series is its mix of licensed music, which offers a little bit of something for fans of many music genres (hard rock, heavy metal, rap, etc.), though mostly punk rock/hardcore, and from ''Underground'' on, emo as well.

* VindicatedByHistory: The [=PS1=] port of ''THPS 4'' was not well-regarded at the time as it came late in the console's history and greatly simplified the [=PS2=] game with a downgrade in graphics. However, the simplicity of its presentation and sheer amount of goals have made it a nice alternative for those who don't want to deal with the main game's sometimes overwhelming focus on talking to skaters and its larger maps.

* SidetractedByTheGoldSaucer: The Create-a-Park/Park Editor from older games let you build and skate at your very own dream park with all the options available at your disposal and potentially sink hours crafting a perfect skating level or just roaming around it.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** ''THPS 1 + 2'' feels much more weighted in comparison to the floaty physics of ''THPS HD'' and ''5'', [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks which was a common criticism of those games]]--and in fact, some have determined that developers Vicarious Visions may have ''over''-corrected by making the games feel faster and weightier than even the original games they're based on, making it a bigger challenge to score some of the higher scoring tricks and combos.
** In addition, the game appeases to both those that prefer the combo-heavy gameplay of the later games and those that prefer the simple gameplay of the earlier games by including a toggle that changes the moveset to match either ''1'' (no linker moves), ''2'' (manuals), or a more modern moveset that is close to ''4''[='s=] style (reverts, spine transfers, bail-outs, and wallplants).
** The downhill linear levels were reviled upon the release of the original game for several reasons, one of which being a finish line at the bottom that automatically ended the run. ''1+2'' fixes this by warping the player back to the start of the stage without penalty should they hit the bottom of the Mall and the Downhill Jam. The geometry was also altered so that the player can backtrack up the level instead of hitting physics-based points of no return. ''HD'' did the former first, but the geometry is identical to the originals and thus more hostile towards backtracking.
** The original games were sometimes criticized for FakeLongevity; in order to 100% the game, you had to beat the same stage objectives with every skater, a grind that could wind up tedious to all but the most fervent ''Tony'' fans. For ''1+2'', once a stage-specific goal is cleared, it is cleared across all skaters. To extend the length of the game, it takes a conceit that originated in ''Tony 4'' in skater-specific challenges, on top of other challenges tethered to specific game modes and stage gaps. The reward of real-life skate videos is eased in a similar manner; all that is required is gathering the stat point icons for a specific skater across all the stages, regardless of accomplishing other goals, to unlock said skater's video.
** For those who ''did'' miss the old ''Tony'' grind of beating every level with every skater, VV patched in a separate mode two months after release that allows players to do this, while still keeping intact players' original across-all-skaters progress if they don't wish to partake in it.
** Due to licencing issues resulting in six songs from the original ''1'' and ''2'' soundtracks to be absent, Vicarious Visions brought in 37 more songs ranging from '90s pop and indies for a total of ''56 songs''.
** Matchmaking in ''1+2'''s various Online modes isn't exactly the best, as even at the basic difficulty setting, you'll typically find yourself getting curbstomped by at least one uber-pro who can rack up insane 50+ move, multi million-point combos with minimal effort. Because of this, none of the Online-based challenges require you to outright win a match, instead asking at most for you to place in the top half.