The first two Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games are being remastered with impressive new visuals for modern platforms. But one update to the game that may not have been evident from last week’s reveal of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 is that the original roster of pro skaters will also be updated to their current likenesses. That means a whole lot of fellas in their 40s and 50s being recreated in video game form, including Tony Hawk himself, who just turned 52 last week.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater remaster will be full of rad middle-age dads
The developer scanned the original roster in their current forms
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Image: Vicarious Visions/Activision
Michael McWhertor is a journalist with more than 17 years of experience covering video games, technology, movies, TV, and entertainment.
It’s been more than 20 years since the original Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater for PlayStation, and the roster was full of young professional skaters at the height of their careers. Most of the roster was in their 20s at the time, but they’ve been digitally rescanned at their current ages, the developer says, which is evident in a gameplay video released last week.
“I’m really excited that all of these folks came back,” Vicarious Visions studio head Jen Oneal told Polygon in an interview. “You know, these are legends and … being able to bring them back, we’re really excited about it. They were such good sports, they came and got scanned again, they all had a ton of outfits with them to have different looks.”
To put the passage of time into perspective, here are the current ages of the game’s original roster: Tony Hawk (52), Bucky Lasek (47), Steve Caballero (55), Geoff Rowley (43), Andrew Reynolds (41), Elissa Steamer (44), Chad Muska (42), Eric Koston (45), Rodney Mullen (53), Rune Glifberg (45), Kareem Campbell (46), Jamie Thomas (45), and Bob Burnquist (43).
During our interview, Polygon asked Oneal about additions to the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 roster, specifically if a new batch of younger talent would be added to the remaster. Oneal didn’t rule it out, but told Polygon, “Right now, we’re just focused on what we’ve already announced.”
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 will be released on Sept. 4 for PlayStation 4, Windows PC, and Xbox One. Activision revealed the game’s nearly complete soundtrack on Friday, confirming which songs made the licensing cut, and a few that didn’t.
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