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Tony Hawk ’s Pro Skaternot only continue one of the biggest selling picture game titles in history , but its reaching took skateboarding to raw heights — a fact that is being explore in the young documentaryPretending I ’m A Superman : The Tony Hawk Video Game Story . The game , which get in in the autumn of 1999 , was a jeopardy for publishing firm Activision and newly - founded developer Neversoft . None the less , they push forward and managed to pitch something with the sort of length of service that no one could have predicted from a skateboarding picture game .
At the time of the departure ofTony Hawk ’s Pro Skater , skateboard video game were not incisively big sellers – regardless of the cabinet or demographic . The sport itself had gone through a series of ups and down over the path of the previous three X , but had for the most part gotten used to the fact that it was a fringe activity . Understood and loved solely by skaters , it was rarefied for mainstream taste sensation to ever shift toward it . For a brief point in the late 1980 ’s , Hollywood toyed with its own portrayal of skaters , deliver films likeThrashin’,Gleaming the Cubeand a short segment inPolice Academy 4 : citizen on Patrolin which Tony Hawk and a fistful of other pro - skaters took to the streets . But these efforts still did trivial to put skateboarding on a level where everything from its companies to its most skilled skaters were know to those exterior of skate culture .
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By the late 1990 ’s , skating was again experiencing a resurgence . Thanks to the like of skaters such as Rodney Mullen and Daewon Song , street skating was replacing the popularity of vert skating – due partly to the latter pursuit ’s motive for ramp and half - piping . This evolution was proof to Hawk that skating was a multi - faceted endeavor that could have wider appeal . As a self - profess gamer , he begin exploring the idea of a skateboarding video game . After much effort , an eager partner was found in game developer Neversoft . Using brainchild from past skate games as well as Sega ’s more recently releasedTop Skater , Tony Hawk ’s Pro Skaterwas born . Nine instalments later , its impact on American skateboard is still being finger . Pretending I ’m A Supermandoesn’t mince wordswhen it do to credit the plot for literally revolutionise skating , but how could a video recording secret plan manage such a exploit ?
An Easy Gateway Into Skating
Though skateboarding had featured in several video game throughout the eighties and 90 , Hawk point out that they all suffered from the same issues . Either the gameplay was too simplistic , or far too complex . The ultimate goal then , as Hawk describes inPretending I ’m A Superman , was to create a game that citizenry could just pick up and act as , without first let to know a great deal about skateboard or its hero - refinement . BecauseTony Hawk ’s Pro Skaterwas able-bodied to pull this off , the end result was that the game was approachable to a wide salmagundi of citizenry – many of whom had no previous insight into skating . The more these gamers delved into the biz ’s world , the greater their interest in skateboard became . For some , this resulted in little more thanan sympathy of skate terminologyas well as a realization of the actual life pro - skaters who starred in the game . But for others , the accessibility of the plot meant that the real - life possibilities of skating became more challenging . Ultimately , the plot inspired a curiosity that go more people to buy skateboards and begin to watch how to do at least some of what they ’d seen on sieve .
Pro Skaters Became Household Names
Thanks to this , skateboarding began to be learn by the mainstream as something much more than a gewgaw . The industry was growing in a very big way and as profits for established skate company grew , new companies go forth . A fresh degree of aid was being identify onskating thanks to theTony Hawkgames , as well as on the pros who could in reality pull off many of the trick that gamers were learning about throughTHPS . Gone were the Clarence Day of near staring anonymity for the most gifted skaters in the world .
Upping The Ante
When comparing the skateboarding of today to what it was like in the ' 80s and ' 90s , it ’s decipherable that it ’s become far more expert . Even what skateboard was a decade ago has evolved in such a immense way . Not only have decks and bike changed , but the tricks that skater now perform have undergone much transformation . Tony Hawk ’s Pro Skatermost emphatically played a role in this phylogeny , in that it inspired an total genesis to think outside the corner in terms of what could be done on a skateboard . At times the games may border on absurdity , with gamers grinding power lines or spin unendingly off the rim of a wild leek . But becauseTHPSprovided names and examples of skate tricks , those who were raw to the sport were able to learn the nomenclature relatively prosperous . Simply knowing what an Ollie was no longer meant that you were a skater , for example , but it did open you up to the vast possibilities of skating . Whether these possibilities were explored only within the biz or on a material aliveness skateboard , expansion and experiment reached new heights .
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Today , a quick search for skate videos on societal media sites will produce an enormous amount of substance . Many skaters , having mastered trick that were previously thought to be insufferable or that were outright unheard of whenTHPSwas liberate , are now taking things even further , with awing solvent . Technical skating is thriving like never before , thanks in large part toTHPS . The grandness of being able to push skate boundaries without care of hurt was that at last , it serve to inspirea new contemporaries of skatersto try like thing in real life . This degree of technological experimentation has take up skateboarding to heights that even Tony Hawk could n’t have imagined when he was help to get the firstTHPSoff the flat coat .
The Olympics and The Price of Change
Skateboarding has experienced monolithic growth as a effect ofTony Hawk ’s Pro Skateboarder . However , not every skater is thrilled by the fun ’s new rental on life . There ’s no shortfall of those who wish skating could go back to the day of being demote to the margin of gild . The friendly relationship and bonds that follow out of skate with a group of fellow skater is sanctified to many , andTHPS’ssuccess at open up up skate to a whole new propagation feels like a threat to some . This watershed is particularly evident when it descend to the issue of skateboardingnow being an Olympian event . If ever there was proof that skateboarding has have phenomenal outgrowth over the retiring 20 old age ( much of which is attributable toTHPS ) , it ’s the cellular inclusion in one of the world ’s biggest sporting events . The idea that a skater could take home a gold medal for their efforts was unheard of throughout Tony Hawk ’s career , but there ’s copious reason to believe that withoutTHPS , no such opportunity could exist . Those who oppose this see the fun ’s comprehension as a Colorado - optation of what ’s important to them , for little more than fiscal gain .
At the same fourth dimension , as skate legend Steve Caballero explains inPretending I ’m A Superman , skateboarding should and can be available to everyone . WithoutTony Hawk ’s Pro Skater , Caballero cope that his career would n’t have had the longevity that it has had , nor would he be acknowledged for the body of work he ’s put into the art form of skateboarding . The same can be said for Hawk , who states outright at one point in the infotainment that he does not want to go back to the Clarence Shepard Day Jr. of skateboard being an underground past - clock time . Ultimately , it ’s readable that skateboarding owes a debt of gratitude to skaters like Caballero and Hawk , who stick with what they sleep with even when it was n’t fashionable or trendy . Through that dedication , Hawk was able-bodied to unwittingly kick - start a new evolution of skateboard , and as strange as it may seem to say , it took a video biz to rescue an awing sport and help it grow in tremendous new means .
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