Where to Start · Tony Hawk
Where to Start with Tony Hawk
Tony Hawk is Activision's long-running skateboarding game line — combo chains, vert panic, and soundtracks that permanently lodge in your head. Most entries stand alone; you're here for feel, not lore essays. Every release on GameOrder is cataloged in release order if you want the full timeline.
Best for most players: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 (2020)
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 is the definitive remaster of the two most-loved games in the franchise — modern visuals, rebuilt multiplayer, and the complete original level and goal lists with quality-of-life that makes landing your first million-point run less painful than wrestling a DualShock in 2000.
Classic PS1 peak: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
If you insist on the original PlayStation experience, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 is still the late-90s high point — manual linking, tighter parks, and the blueprint every sequel riffed on. Pair it with nostalgia goggles and a memory card; the remaster is objectively easier to live with day to day.
Also essential: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 keeps the arcade purity of THPS2 while pushing level fantasy and revert chains — excellent pick if you move to PS2-era hardware or re-releases and want the series before it committed fully to narrative sandboxes.
Story and open structure: Tony Hawk's Underground
Tony Hawk's Underground shifts gears into story missions and open-world connectors while keeping the combo language familiar from Pro Skater. Choose this when you want character arcs, off-board moments, and city sprawl layered on top of the classic trick dial.
Era to skip first — After Tony Hawk's Underground 2, the franchise declined sharply during the late-2000s experiments. Newcomers should steer clear of starting with Project 8, Proving Ground, or Ride (and similar post-Underground spinoffs) — they don't represent the series at its best.