Tony Hawk's Pro Skater is a skateboarding game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision for the PlayStation. It came out in North America on 29 September 1999, and in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Europe it was sold as Tony Hawk's Skateboarding.
Neversoft had just finished Apocalypse in nine months and had never made a sports game; its prototype even used Bruce Willis's character from Apocalypse as a stand-in skater. Tony Hawk chose a royalty deal over a one-time payment and earned ten times Activision's original offer within two years. The VHS-tape goals in each level were inspired by the stars of Super Mario 64, and the punk rock and ska punk soundtrack is credited with bringing that music to a new generation.
Ports for Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color and Dreamcast followed in 2000, and an N-Gage version in 2003. In 2020 Vicarious Visions remade the game together with its sequel as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2.1
Names and releases
| Region | Title on the box | Platform | Date | Publisher | Src |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NA | Tony Hawk's Pro Skater | PlayStation | Sep 29, 1999 | Activision | 1 |
| NA | Tony Hawk's Pro SkaterPort by Edge of Reality; Europe 24 March 2000 | Nintendo 64 | Mar 15, 2000 | — | 1 |
| NA | Tony Hawk's Pro SkaterAdaptation by Natsume; infobox gives 21 March, body text 30 March 2000 | Game Boy Color | March 2000 | — | 1 |
| NA | Tony Hawk's Pro SkaterDreamcast; port by Treyarch | Other | May 24, 2000 | Crave Entertainment | 1 |
| NA | Tony Hawk's Pro SkaterN-Gage; port by Ideaworks3D | Other | Oct 13, 2003 | Nokia | 1 |
| EU | Tony Hawk's Skateboarding | PlayStation | Oct 18, 1999 | Activision | 1 |
Also known as: Tony Hawk's Skateboarding EU1
Box art by region
NA Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 
EU Tony Hawk's Skateboarding
Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: libretro-thumbnails.
Version differences
-
TitlePlayStation (EU)
Most of Europe got the game as Tony Hawk's Skateboarding because Activision worried that 'Pro Skater' might suggest ice skating, yet the menu background still says 'Pro Skater'.2
-
AudioPlayStation (EU)
The European soundtrack adds three songs, by Aim, Grand Unified and Aquasky, and drops three by The Vandals, Speedealer and Evenrude.2
-
GameplayPlayStation (JP)
The Japanese version swaps the menu buttons (Circle to confirm, X to go back) and shows the Tony Hawk's Skateboarding logo on the main menu, even though Japan kept the Pro Skater name.2
Reception
The PlayStation version scores 92/100 on Metacritic and 94% on GameRankings, a figure the Dreamcast version matches. It earned an ELSPA Platinum award in the UK, and Game Informer placed it 36th in its 2001 list of the Top 100 Games of All Time.1
In lists
Sources
Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13
Spotted a mistake? Write to atlas@old-games.net.