Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

aka: SK8: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, THPS2
Moby ID: 2575
Windows Specs
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Conversion (official) Included in See Also

Description official descriptions

The sequel to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater adds many new tricks, while retaining those from the original, and a complete roster of the greatest skaters worldwide. Among the new tricks is the "manual", which allows the player character to balance on two wheels. There are also more options for scoring high-trick combos. Trick combinations can also be edited and customized. It is possible to visit some of the most popular skate parks in the world, or create own areas and share them with other players. Players can also create their own skaters, with a choice of clothing and official skateboards.

Spellings

  • 托尼霍克职业滑板2 - Chinese spelling (simplified)

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Credits (Windows version)

392 People (330 developers, 62 thanks) · View all

GTE Emulation, Source Integration, Sound F/X Programming
Network Play, Misc. Conversion Work
Texture Enhancements, Additional Art
Project Manager, 3D Engine Conversion, Software Renderer
LTI Gray Matter Special Thanks
Designed and Developed by
  • NeverSoft
Never-Ever-Soft Skate Team
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 89% (based on 71 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.1 out of 5 (based on 168 ratings with 5 reviews)

Simply Incredible!

The Good
The bestselling sequel to the bestselling skateboarding game of all time is...even better.

I wanna get something right off the bat here, folks, THPS2 is NOT realistic. If you're expecting to grind the length of a highway overpass and do 540 Kickflip McTwists on flat in real life, it ain't happening. The biggest rival of the Tony Hawk series, Thrasher: Skate & Destroy, boasts a more realistic engine, but it's not nearly as fun.

And fun is the best way to describe THPS2. The strength of the game is in the sheer fun of knowing that almost everything you can see in the game, you can interact with. Wanna grind that staircase? Ollie off the airplane? Plant that taxi? Go for it! Neversoft has created a beastly game engine, and the control is very tight, and allows for even the least gifted of gamers to jump in and learn the scheme quickly.

The main refinement to gameplay is the manual. Basically a wheelie, the manual lets you continue combos a short distance over regular ground, allowing you to link grinds and wallies for insane scores. Also, several new skaters and tricks have been added. The parks are large and well designed, with secret areas usually unlocked by grinding a certain object. The career modes have changed, instead of collecting videotapes, you have to accomplish a set of tasks ranging from the standard (score 50,000 points) to the tricky (kickflip over a certain gap) to the positively weird (ollie the magic bum 5 times) for cash, which can be spent on pumping up your skater's attributes, buying new tricks and decks, and of course unlocking new levels.

Graphically, THPS2 is not that big a jump from the original, with slightly better textures and more detailed skater models. The create-a-skater feature is a nice bonus, with many different styles possible.

All the sounds are very dead-on. The soundtrack, which was alternative punk in the original, is much more diverse, and features some old-school hip-hop (Public Enemy) along with the more mainstream rock (Papa Roach, Rage, Powerman 5k). Very nice.

The pick of the litter, however, is the Park Editor by a landslide. You are given a large blank space set in one of four themes, and you can place half-pipes, quarter-pipes, rails, funboxes. pools, benches, just tons of stuff. The choice of pieces may seem limited at first, but Neversoft helpfully includes OVER 60 sample parks, all made with the editor. You can even go so far as to customize gaps, that you have to grind through, manual through, wallride, or of course fly over. DexDrive owners, rejoice!

The Bad
Well, for those of you who are into realism, prepare to be burned.

As for some more concrete objections, the two-player modes are fun, but due to the limitations of the PSX, the framerate takes a serious hit, pop-up becomes abysmal, and entire sections of the level are walled off or missing (go to the Bullring to see what I mean). THPS2 is just not all that fulfilling in its multiplayer.

The addition of the manual has skewed the game heavily towards street skating. You can use the manual to extend grinds and wallrides indefinitely, but once you take a combo to the ramp, that's that. Vert skaters have no hope of reaching the insane point totals grinders can. When it come to racking up the points, Tony Hawk is one of the worst characters in the game. That ain't right.

Also, the create-a-skater will only create males, a but puzzling when Elissa Steamer is a selectable character. Meh.

And finally, this game is a bit on the high side of the difficulty curve

The Bottom Line
Lots of arcade-type skating fun, with many improvements over Tony Hawk 1. If you liked the first one, and you damn well better have, pick this one up.

PlayStation · by Anatole (58) · 2001

Great version of THPS2

The Good
It's a classic game. It has unique gameplay; it almost could be described as it's own genre, because of the blend between RPG (gaining stat points) and sports (skating). The Dreamcast version is excellent in comparison to the N64 version, because of the advantage of the Dreamcast's graphical capabilities (fogging distance is much farther, for instance). Controls are about the same, and the content within the game seems to be the same.

The Bad
The in-game music can get repetitive. Also, there isn't any option to create a female custom character.

The Bottom Line
It's worth playing, definitely, if not just to see what it's like. It makes an interesting blend of the sports/RPG genres. It also makes for a good couple of multiplayer rounds; nothing to keep a party together, mind you, but a good distraction for a couple of minutes.

Dreamcast · by Xeirxes (2) · 2005

Tony skates onto PC in style.

The Good
Controlling the character is a breeze (especially if you have a controller, I recommend any of the Microsoft products). There are so many things you can do here, especially when you have such an easy “Build a park” system to muck around with. And although there are all those tricks to perform, it’s getting all those hidden tapes that make this title such a great challenge.

The Bad
Beginners will find it hard to perform some of the bigger tricks, but practice always makes perfect.

The Bottom Line
Finally a great skateboard title for fans of the sport (and all those people that have always wanted to take it up, but didn’t want to get hurt trying). One of the best translations from console to PC that I have seen for some time.

Windows · by Kartanym (12418) · 2006

[ View all 5 player reviews ]

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Cameos

Through cheating or winning enough careers, you can play as Spider-Man.

PlayStation version

The PlayStation version includes the Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX playable demo.

Awards

  • Game Informer Magazine
    • August 2001 (Issue #100) - voted #4 in the Top 100 Games of All Time poll

Information also contributed by PCGamer77

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Kartanym.

Macintosh added by Corn Popper. PlayStation added by Brolin Empey. Windows Mobile added by Kabushi. Dreamcast added by Adam Baratz. iPhone added by Terok Nor.

Additional contributors: Adam Baratz, Gingerninja, Unicorn Lynx, Exodia85, tarmo888, DreinIX, Zaibatsu, FatherJack.

Game added November 8, 2000. Last modified March 26, 2024.