Recreating the freedom and fantasy of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4

The impact that the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games had on extreme sports titles and the skateboarding community can’t be overstated. The original games from developer Neversoft deftly captured the joy of building your skate style and exploring a popular destination transformed into a skatepark. Vicarious Visions’ 2020 remake, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2, was a firm reminder that iconic THPS gameplay still hits—and we’re getting the next bundle soon with the revamped Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4.

During Summer Game Fest 2025, we had the opportunity to play Iron Galaxy’s take on 3 + 4. While checking out the renewed titles, we spoke with game director Kurt Tillmanns about stepping in for the previous remake developer and what makes the classic THPS gameplay so timeless.

“We’re huge fans of the franchise; most of the team have been playing the games their whole lives,” said Tillmanns. “It’s a great honor to be working with Tony Hawk to carry on with what Vicarious Visions had done on an amazing project [with 1 + 2], and then just carry it forward and make improvements and additions in every possible place we can.”

Developer Iron Galaxy has an extensive history of assisting developers and even taking over development from other teams, particularly Killer Instinct’s final seasons. Much like the 2020 remake, THPS 3 + 4 focuses on revitalizing the original 2000s-era games with refined gameplay and more fleshed-out mechanics that incorporate features from later games in the series, such as Tony Hawk’s Underground and its suite of wall planting and spine transferring.

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Iron Galaxy chose a novel approach in adapting the career mode from the fourth game of the series, which offered free-roam maps and other skaters hawking missions. It was a well-loved feature and even formed the basis of the skater story mode in Tony Hawk’s Underground, but, as is, it couldn’t work with both 3 and 4—so the developers opted for a more seamless blend between them. The compromise allows players to skate in parks for up to an hour, giving them the freedom to skate as they like.

The experience of exploring a sandbox skatepark filled with half-pipes and bizarre activities that lean into the rebellious nature of skate culture is at the heart of what makes the THPS games so enjoyable. When it came to delivering a remake of the third and forth games, the developers still wanted to deliver on the heightened reality of the “skater fantasy.”

Humor and rule-breaking are part of the Tony Hawk formula

“Part of the legacy of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater is that it has a sense of humor about itself, and it can break a bunch of rules,” said the game director. “Some of that even starts with the level, like the way that we designate levels in Tony Hawk or think about the forbidden, fantastic places in them. You have forbidden places in real-world locations that you just want to skate in and feel like a real skater, and then we also have places like Area 51 or this Pinball Machine level.”

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“We can kind of break reality, and then the skaters are also an extension of that. Having a variety of guest characters [such as Michelangelo from TMNT and the Doom Slayer] is another way for us to break the rules of reality and just give you a new skater fantasy.”

More than 25 years since the release of the original Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, the games have left an undeniable impact and set a standard for action-sports games—and the upcoming remake of 3 + 4 looks to keep the party going.

According to Iron Galaxy, the experience of being a skateboarder and leaving your mark in a setting that has been transformed into a skater’s playground is what makes the series feel timeless and approachable.

“There’s something about these games that represents freedom, like there’s no wrong way to play a Tony Hawk game, right?” said the game director. “It’s like you can express yourself in a million different ways, and every time you play a level, it’s going to be different however you want to complete the goals in whatever order you want. We’ve seen people replay levels, and each run opens up new possibilities.

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“To me, I think the timelessness stems from the fact that it has an awesome sandbox where people are free to do anything they want. I think that’s what makes it timeless for sure.”