Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

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Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
Nintendo 54 boxcover
Developer(s) Neversoft
Aspyr Media (Windows Mobile edition)
Edge of Reality (N64 port)
Vicarious Visions (GBA port)
Treyarch (Xbox port)
Natsume (GBC port)
Gray Matter Interactive (PC port)
Publisher(s) Activision
Designer(s) Neversoft and Tony Hawk
Engine Rewrite of proprietary Apocalypse engine
Platform(s) PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Windows, Windows Mobile, Dreamcast, Mac OS, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Xbox (as THPS2X)
Release date 2000
Genre(s) Extreme sports
Mode(s) Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s) ESRB: T (Teen)

ESRB: E (Everyone) (N64 Port)

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, often called THPS2, is the second game in the Tony Hawk's series. It was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision in 2000. It was first released for the PlayStation, with subsequent ports to the Nintendo 64 (by Edge of Reality), Game Boy Advance (by Vicarious Visions), Mac OS, and the Windows PC (By Gray Matter Interactive). It was also released for the Game Boy Color, and was better received than the first installment on that machine. In spite of that, it still bore little resemblance to the other versions of the game. The Game Boy Advance version, however, was highly applauded for translating the style and sense of the game accurately into an isometric (pseudo-3D or 2.5D) game.

Contents

[edit] Gameplay

It features the series' trademark open-ended gameplay, in which the player (playing as a well-known professional skateboarder) completes a number of missions which result in cash rewards. With the cash, the player can then purchase skill improvements and better skateboards. THPS2 was also the first game in the series to introduce the manual, a skateboarding trick where the performer balances on two wheels. This enables players to string together trick combos, often resulting in hundreds of thousands of points. The game also introduced the Noseslide, Tailslide, Feeble, and Overcrook grinds. It was also the first of the Pro Skater games to feature Create-a-Skater and Park Editor features, now staples in the series.

Some levels in Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2 are designed for the player to complete a set number of tasks in two minutes. Such tasks include finding the S-K-A-T-E letters, high scores and finding a hidden tape somewhere in the level. Each of the non-competition levels contain ten tasks for a player to do, each task rewarding a player with cash. Cash is also scattered around the levels in order for players to find, increasing the use for replaying a level. Once a player has enough cash, they can continue on to a new level. The other type of levels are competition levels. This is first seen in Marseilles, where a player must perform tricks and get judged on. The rating by the judges that a player receives is based on how much they score, variation of tricks, bails, and how much of the level they have used. The judges give scores based on this criteria, the highest and lowest are taken away, and the three scores are given an average. There are three runs total and the best two count. Competition levels also contain cash hidden for a player to collect.

[edit] Levels

The game features the following levels:

[edit] Bonus levels

  • Skate Heaven
  • Hoffman Bike Headquarters (Nintendo 64 version only)
  • Hawaii Chopper Drop (not featured in all versions) (also known as Crane Drop on THPS2X)
  • Tampa Skatepark (THPS2X only)
  • Construction Site (Dallas, TX) (THPS2X only)
  • Sky Lines (Detroit, MI) (THPS2X only)
  • Club (London, England) (THPS2X only)
  • New York Subway (THPS2X only)
  • Downhill Jam (from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater) (PC only)
  • Skate Park (from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater) (PC only)
  • Warehouse (from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater) (PC only)
  • Rooftops (Boston, MA) (Game Boy Advance version only)

[edit] Skaters

The game features the following skaters:

[edit] Pro skaters

[edit] Bonus skaters

The following characters are unlocked after completing the game a certain number of times, differing for each character. Once unlocked, the player can play the game as normal with these characters:

  • Officer Dick
  • Private Carrera
  • Trixie (Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2X only)
  • McSqueeb (80's Tony Hawk)
  • Mindy (Game Boy Advance version only)

[edit] NeverSoft CAS Skaters

Inserting the following names on Create-a-Skater mode will unlock these characters:

  • Aaron Cammarata
  • Andy Johnson
  • Chris Rausch
  • Child
  • Craig Bell
  • Connor Jewett
  • Darren Thorne
  • Gary Jesdanun
  • Helen Gilbert
  • Jason Uyeda
  • Joel Jewett
  • Johnny Ow
  • Junki Saita
  • Matt Birch
  • Mick West
  • Noel Hines
  • Nolan Nelson
  • Ralph D'Amato
  • Ryan McMahon
  • Scott Pease
  • Edwin Fong
  • Jeremy Andersen
  • Silvio
  • Aaron Skillman
  • Hudson
  • Darshan Cowles
  • Kage
  • Nggdynln
  • Robert Earl
  • The Pouncer
  • Purtellion

[edit] Ports

[edit] Nintendo 64

Originally to be released along with the PlayStation version, but delayed to allow further sales of the first THPS for the console. Almost a year later, the game was released by the same company that brought the first Tony Hawk game to Nintendo 64, Edge of Reality. This version includes all of the features from the PlayStation version, including the Create-a-Skater and Park Editor. In addition to visual improvements (less jagged, smooth) like the Nintendo 64 version of the first game, a new level called Bike Headquarters (from Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX) was added. Also added were a few new cheats, such as the 10x Point Multiplier, Double-Moon Physics, and Max Turbo Mode codes. The amount of songs was reduced to six and portions of each one were cut.

[edit] Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2X

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2X was released on November 14, 2001 (only in the US and Canada) as a launch title for Microsoft's Xbox. The game contained remade versions of all the levels from the first two games in the Tony Hawk series, five new levels, a LAN multi-player feature and the ability to create females in Create-a-skater mode.

[edit] Soundtrack


Not all of the songs here were featured in the N64 version. Songs that appeared in the N64 version are marked with an asterisk. The Game Boy Advance and Game Boy Color versions of the game used music without lyrics, but none of it was licensed.

[edit] Reception and sales

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 met with a tremendous amount of critical and commercial success. The Playstation version scored second highest according to Metacritic with an overall score of 98%, only trailing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Super Mario Galaxy, and Grand Theft Auto IV. </ref>

The PlayStation version of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 has earned Platinum awards from gaming magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly. Because of this, it is the only game in the magazine's history to ever have earned a Platinum award twice (but is only acknowledged as a single game in EGM's records due to the game receiving a 10 from only one reviewer as opposed to the PlayStation game receiving 10s from all 3 of its reviewers).

As of September 25, 2007, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 is the tenth best-selling video game in the United States with 5.3 million copies sold, according to the NPD Group.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Jonathan Sidener (2007-09-25). Microsoft pins Xbox 360 hopes on 'Halo 3' sales. Signonsandiego.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-19.

[edit] External links

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Tony Hawk's video games