6 Sports With No Good Video Game In Years

The momentous impact that the initial release of Tony Hawk’s Skateboarding had back in 1999 really cannot be understated. What was previously a niche interest suddenly became a widespread lifestyle and anyone that attended an educational establishment in the early 2000s will remember the skater cliques and how ubiquitous pop punk music became.

Many bands and brands were discovered through their inclusion in the Pro Skater series (as it became known) and there was little fault in any of the first five releases up to Underground in 2003.

The appeal of the early Tony Hawk games were their simplicity. Chaining tricks to score points fuelled progression, whilst battle modes such as HORSE made the games essential parts of any multi-tab gaming session.

As the Pro Skater series began going downhill, first through overcomplication and then through ludicrous peripherals, EA’s Skate muscled in, offering a more technical control scheme. There were three critically acclaimed releases, but they stopped suddenly after 2010. Since then, the legacy of Pro Skater has been tarnished by the truly horrible Pro Skater 5 that many hoped would revive the sport on consoles.

The skateboarding scene remains alive but subdued compared to its heyday. Given that it will make its debut as an Olympic event at next year’s Tokyo 2020 games, the timing could not be better for somebody to have another go at bringing it to life electronically once more.