Despite rumors that a remake ofTony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4would never see the light of day, developer Iron Galaxy and publisher Activision announced it just this past March. It’s exciting and possibly set up to make the same kind of wavesasTony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2didin 2020. Of course, it’s not enough to give these titles a visual upgrade, slapTony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4on the cover, and call it a day.
Game Rant recently spoke with game director Kurt Tillmanns about the approach the studio took in remaking the two most critically acclaimed games in theTony Hawkfranchise. Rather than trying to fix what wasn’t broken, the team focused on additive changes that added to the overall experience. In doing so, the team took a middle-ground approach that should appeal to veterans of the franchise but also newcomers.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 Bridges Two Distinct Eras of Gaming and Skating
One leg up that Iron Galaxy had when tackling the project ofremakingTony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3and4was the work already done by Vicarious Visions onTony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2. As Tillmanns notes, “Vicarious Visions…did such a great job of not only incorporating a bunch of moves that were in both1and2, but they added stuff that was not introduced until way later in the series.” In turn, this created an opportunity for Iron Galaxy to reimagine the parks fromTHPS 3with newer features fromTony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4. As Tillmans said,
“…now players really have an opportunity to play through both of these tours in a brand new way. The exciting thing for us is that no one has ever played these parks with this feature set before, and we also get to put our own stamp on it, which is really exciting.”
In addition to implementing newerTony Hawk’s Pro Skaterfeaturesinto older levels to make them “feel” better, one ability in particular has taken on new life inTony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4. Skitching, which wasn’t originally added untilTony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4, is now a core gameplay component of the remake. And as it turns out, Iron Galaxy took things a step further. According to Tillmanns,
“…skitching initially was something that really ended your combo. It was a very isolated feature from the rest of the system. One of the things that we’ve done is we’ve made it so that you can more easily skitch, and you can combo into skitching. It can reset or rebuild your momentum so that you can keep combos going in and out of skitching, and it also has that high skill threshold.”
Anyone who went straight intoTony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2from the original knows full well how transformative the ability to manual was, andTony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4’s adjustments to skitching may have similar groundbreaking potential as an ability to chain combos beyond what was possible in the originals.
The Soundtrack and Skater Roster for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 Embrace the Old and the New
Just as iconic as the parks and the gameplay are the soundtracks andpro skater rosters of theTony Hawkgames, and they’re two areas whereTony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4aims to honor the originals while also bringing them into the modern era. Plenty of iconic tracks and noteworthy pro skaters are returning inTony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4, but they’re balanced with new additions that see the game bridge two eras of skateboarding culture.
Rather than just add new tracks that might be familiar to most players, Iron Galaxy sought the help of none other than the skaters themselves, with the soundtrack selection becoming a collaborative effort. Tillmanns noted, “It’s not just stuff that was in the original game and then stuff from 2025. It’s telling the story of skate culture across the decades now.”
