Happy Labor Day to those who celebrate. I’m sure you are reading this as you make room for more hot dogs and macaroni salad (or Bagel Bites, if you’re so very tired). Of course, if any of the games talked about in today’s columns were still available for mobile platforms, you could be doing that instead!
Pizza in the morning, pizza in the evenin’…
Tony Hawk’s skateboarding series was no stranger to portability, and this isn’t even close to the last column I’ll be writing on the topic (covering the Java releases is a topic worthy of an encyclopedia). Every mainline release received a totally unique handheld companion game on devices like the PSP, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS (the DS and GBA versions were notably developed by Vicarious Visions). Once gaming on your cell phone graduated from Snake and Breakout clones, it was only a matter of time before the Hawk-man himself tried cramming four wheels and a slab of maple into one.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater for N-Gage
In 2003, the original Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater received a shockingly good N-Gage port, which retained the full soundtrack, levels, and gameplay, albeit at a lower resolution and weird vertical aspect ratio (see below). Nonetheless, the port was considered something of a killer app for the console, and helped push the device to shocking seven-figure sales.
In 2006, Pro Skater 4‘s Game Boy Advance version was ported to the short-lived Tapwave Zodiac, as well as some contemporary cell phones. The port had its issues, but it was impressive and had improved visuals over the Game Boy Advance’s release.
Similar adaptations were released for mobile platforms for almost every entry in the PlayStation 2 era of the franchise. The isometric view (pictured below, courtesy of Gamespot) seems awkward at first, but actually works well thanks to creative level design.
Tony Hawk Vert
2009 saw the first mobile-exclusive release in the franchise: Tony Hawk Vert. Vert had some very attractive pixel graphics, a unique, head-on camera perspective, and a simple control scheme aimed at quick play on the go. The game was well-received on release, but its popularity was short-lived as Android and iOS had begun to dominate the mobile space, and the game was released for Java platforms like Windows Mobile. Thankfully, with some know-how, you can emulate Vert comfortably on devices like the MagicX Zero 40.
Inevitably, the series came to iOS with 2010’s port of the legendary Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2. The port was incredibly well done, albeit with the inherent drawbacks of playing retro games on a touchscreen device. With the exception of an entirely new soundtrack, the game retained every level, character, and trick from the original. It proved to be extremely popular and stayed on top of the iOS game charts until platform updates broke the game’s compatibility and it was delisted.
Tony Hawk’s Shred Session
The series stayed on Do Not Disturb in the mobile space until 2014, when Tony Hawk announced his new game on Larry King Live (seriously). He promoted the hell out of Tony Hawk’s Shred Session, which, of course, turned out to be a F2P endless runner in the vein of Temple Run. It was 2014 after all, a different, darker time.
The game soft-launched in some territories in May of that year. Watch Tony Hawk play the game with less enthusiasm than anything else he has ever done before (here, watch this COVID collaboration with the uber-cool Urian Hackney to remember why you love the man in the first place).
In an early preview for Touch Arcade, then editor Eli Hodapp said, “I’ll hazard a guess […] that more people will be playing Shred Session than any other Tony Hawk game before, or maybe even every Tony Hawk game combined.” The preview received eight thumbs down reactions for every thumbs up.
Shred Session was delisted within weeks of launching and never saw a global release. While the game did eventually surface online, playing it is easier said than done, requiring a very old jailbroken iPhone.
Tony Hawk’s Skate Jam
Interestingly, this wasn’t the last time Tony Hawk would slap his name on a mobile game, with Tony Hawk’s Skate Jam launching in 2019. This last hurrah was a poorly received sequel to the unrelated Skateboard Party series that most already saw as a knock-off of Activision’s original run.
The game wasn’t meritless, but it suffered from terrible physics, clumsy touch controls, and awkward microtransactions that felt shoehorned into the game’s formula. It did boast a licensed soundtrack curated by the man himself, but it wasn’t enough to salvage the mediocre game. The game is still available as of this writing, but no longer carries the “Tony Hawk” license.
It’s been 6 years since Tony Hawk released a mobile entry, and based on the last decade of releases, that is likely for the best. Still, there ain’t no party like a Tony Hawk party, and like any good party, the more the merrier. The series just had another successful entry with the remake of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 + 4, which wouldn’t be a terrible contender for a mobile port with Snapdragon’s new Elite series pushing mobile gaming capabilities further than ever.
Personally, though, I’d like to see a continuation of the ideas presented in 2009’s Vert. Whether we get a glossy port or a retro-inspired revival of Vert, let’s hope the next time the Hawk-man acid drops into our pockets, it’s a triumphant success and not a colossal bail.
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