Welcome to the R/R/R Files, where we look at whether or not an older title should be re-released, remade, or rejected. This week sees the first of our team selections, where a staff member makes a choice regarding what game they would like to see featured in this article. While the choice was made several months ago, the waiting is over. Our very own Editor – David Howard, has selected the following game to be put under the magnifying glass…

Case #005 Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3

Game Information

Original platform – PlayStation 2 (’01)

Previous ports – PlayStation (’01), Xbox (’02), GameCube (’02), PC (’02), Gameboy Color (’01), Gameboy Advance (’02), Nintendo 64 (’02)

Trivia

• It was the first game that supported online features on the PlayStation 2.
• It was the last game to be released on the Nintendo 64 in North America

What is Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 Like?

For those that have played any previous Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater title, this will be largely familiar territory. You get an arcade mode that placed you inside a skate park filled with half pipes, rails and massive gaps. Each level was themed around the location at hand, with some challenges being unique to that landscape. For the most part, the core enjoyment comes from the hours of fun perfecting a run to achieve that high score – the purest of arcade thrills, combined with finishing a stage completely to unlock the secrets. By chaining tricks with reverts, new to the franchise at this stage, and by utilising the double flips by tapping the flip button and a direction twice, it was possible to score higher than ever before.

The fact that the game had bags of character is what made this particular incarnation of THPS work so well. This was before the challenges bordered on the ridiculous and were merely improbable. One of the missions you had to explore the haunted house in the middle of a suburban town. Secret riders included a couple of nerd based fantasies at the time in the form of Darth Maul and Wolverine, together with a Demoness who makes the skate shop owner wail in agony on the rider select screen!

But this is all nothing compared to the impact of the licensed soundtrack. Sure the first two games had arguably better collections (I personally love the soundtrack from THPS2 more), but three gave us the greats and even introduced me to artists that I would follow for a long time. From classics such as The Ramones, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Motörhead, to bands that would later hit the big time like AFI. Heck, even CKY’s debut single – 96 Quite Bitter Beings featured in the game. If you listen to the soundtrack now, you’d probably feel as if you were travelling back in time completely, but it still remains one of the major highlights of this classic game.

Legacy

Considered one of the best games in the series, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 has a legacy that outshines the rest of the series. On MetaCritic, it is the joint highest ranking game on the PlayStation 2 and is only surpassed in score by Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox 360/PlayStation 3), Soulcalibur (Dreamcast), The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 64) and oddly enough, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 (PlayStation). It went on to sell 2.4 million copies worldwide on all consoles.

Future Tony Hawk skating games would go on to ditch the arcade feel in favour of a more free skate orientated career mode where people gave you objectives to tackle at your leisure rather than against the clock as either a famous skateboarder or one created using the Create-A-Skater option. Standards began to slip with Tony Hawk’s Underground and Tony Hawk’s Underground 2, and then slowly dipped into obscurity of the public consciousness with Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland, Tony Hawk Project 8 and Tony Hawk’s Proving Grounds. Activision nailed the final nail in the coffin with the disastrous Tony Hawk’s Ride and Tony Hawk’s Shred, thanks to that horrific skateboard peripheral.

How easy would it be to port?

If we’re going to go with a port, the best candidate would definitely be the PlayStation 2/Xbox/GameCube version due to the more recent and crisp visual presentation. However there is a rather big snag in this plan…

Re-release/Remake/Reject

If you had asked me 12 months ago as to whether this game should have a remake or be re-released, I could have given you a cold look and said “neither”. It isn’t because Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3 is an awful game – in fact it is the crowning jewel on this milestone franchise. The issue comes from the legacy of the “pro skater” chapter of this franchise. The two Underground games took things on a slightly awkward turn, but it was “Ride” and its peripheral that put to bed all hope for a look back…or at least that was the thought until this happened…

Late 2011 saw the surprise announcement of Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD, due on digital markets next year. This initially led me to think that we would either see sequels to THPSHD or levels from THPS3 would be included within the package due next year. But then a small brain wave hit me. Why have one game splicing levels from a variety of different titles when all we actually need are “map packs”? If they just released the odd game pack that features the courses, music and campaign modes that use either the “Arcade” mode or “Free Skate” mode, we’d have a behemoth of a digital game! It is certainly cheaper in the long run as they should have the physics down by now, allows for the HD release to have a stupid amount of revenue and will appease the fans of the franchise. Now if only every one of the artists who originally contributed would be on board with the music…

Verdict

Remake (as downloadable content for Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD)

What do you think though, should Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 be re-released, remade or rejected?