Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

Overview

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 is a skateboarding game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision for the PlayStation on September 20, 2000. Sequel to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and the second installment of the long-running Tony Hawk franchise, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 adds new skaters and levels while introducing new gameplay elements (such as new Grind Tricks and the Manual, an on-ground trick that allows players to continue trick chains while on the ground), a character creation system, and a level editor to the series. The game also includes an improved career mode, raising the number of objectives per level while replacing the "collecting videotape" system with a currency system (in which players can buy upgrades with cash collected, while new levels are unlocked by the total cash collected).

The game was ported to the PC on October 31, 2000 (by LTI Gray Matter), the Dreamcast on November 6, 2000 (by Treyarch), the Nintendo 64 on August 21, 2001 (by Edge of Reality), and all iOS devices on April 2010 (by Activision). The PC version adds three levels from the predecessor, while the Nintendo 64 version replaced Chopper Drop with the Hoffman BMX Factory from Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX and removed some of the soundtrack (likely to reduce the ESRB rating from "T" to "E"). An updated version of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 was later released for the Xbox on November 14, 2001 (by Treyarch) titled Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2x (remaking all levels from the first two Tony Hawk games while adding four-player split-screen and system link multiplayer and gender selection in the character creation mode). Most of the assets of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 is included Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD for the Xbox 360 (via Xbox Live Arcade), PlayStation 3 (via PlayStation Network), and PC (via Steam).

Handheld versions were released on both the Game Boy Color on November 2000 (developed by Natsume) and the Game Boy Advance on May 30, 2001 (developed by Vicarious Visions). Both games are played in a 2D isometric viewpoint, and feature many elements from the console versions. The action on the Game Boy Color is primarily horizontal on the screen (while the player can also navigate the open-world vertically). The Game Boy Advance version is more faithful to the original game, replicating the levels, graphics, and gameplay.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 is the first game in the franchise to feature crossover characters as hidden playable skaters. Spider-Man, a superhero from the Spider-Man franchise) appears as a hidden unlockable skater.

Gameplay Enhancements

While THPS2 did not introduce any new gameplay modes, it added a series of new features that turned into meaningful additions to the franchise. These start with the Create-A-Modes.

Create-a-Skater

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 added the ability to create a skater, allowing the player to progress through the Career Mode (as well as the game's other various modes) as an avatar or a custom-edited character. The mode allowed a then-large amount of options for this character's appearance and allowed the user to distribute stat points wherever they pleased as opposed to THPS1's forced stat growth.

The ability to assign custom tricks was also given, allowing the player to re-write any of the default moves' combinations as well as assigning custom special tricks that could be unlocked and assigned to any specific combination of buttons. Special tricks can either be unlocked throughout the game or by purchasing them with cash acquired in the game's career mode. Flip tricks, grab tricks, grind tricks and a limited amount of manuals (also assigned to the Grind button) compiled the variety of special tricks the player could assign.

Park Editor

Also a new addition was the Park Editor, which allowed players to edit their own custom skateparks with a variety of tools, objects and obstacles. It is grid based and has four distinct themes (Power Plant, Industrial, School, Outside), each changing the appearance of the level and it's objects. The park's size can also be edited according to width and length. The object categories are as follow:

The Park Editor mode also contained a handful of previously-made parks from the team at Neversoft, giving the user some ideas as to where to start when editing a park.

Probably the most meaningful change to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 is the addition of the manual, a move that allows player to link tricks together to build up larger combos. Manuals are performed by pressing up and then down on the directional inputs. Pressing down and up will perform a nose manual. During a manual, the player must balance themselves according to the on-screen balance meter. Pressing up and down on the directional inputs will balance the player in the according direction. The longer the manual goes on, the harder keeping balance will become. Spending stat points into the "Manuals" section of the statistics screen will make manuals easier to keep going across further distances. Manuals can be performed after street tricks, such as ollies, flip tricks, grabs or grinds but never after a vert trick. It is possible to link a street combo into a vert trick, however.

A less impactful, although useful during large combo sequences, addition are the added grind tricks to the game's move list. These can be performed by double-tapping in a direction before hitting the Grind button. Example being the Bluntslide, performed by double-tapping down, then hitting the Grind button before hitting a rail. Other grinds include the Overcrook, Crooked and Nosebluntslide grind.

Cash is the new method of progressing through the game's career mode. Completing goals on the Goal List during career mode will earn the user Cash, which unlocks new levels. Cash that is earned can be spent to purchase new decks, stat points or special tricks. Additionally, each level contains a set number of Cash icons to collect, allowing for further stat-building and unlocks. Easier icons are worth less and hidden or hard to find icons are worth significantly more. Stats will cost more after each point purchase and better decks and tricks will cost much more, so finding these cash icons in each level is encouraged for building a better character.

Levels

Location: Mullet Falls, Montana

Hangar is situated in an enclosed airplane hangar. It features a large roll-in drop, a wooden half-pipe, a secret half-pipe located in a wind-tunnel and an active helicopter that, when the player grinds its chopper blades, takes off, destroys part of the roof and opens a hidden, outdoor area.

This level is featured in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD.

Objectives

Location: Southern California, California

School II is set in a college campus. It features large, open street areas, a secret indoor pool/gymnasium complex and a variety of campus walkways. It's most notorious feature is the gigantic set of stairs located at the start of the level that can be grinded down or jump off the high-perched area to score one of the hardest gaps in the game, titled "Leap of Faith".

This level is featured in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD.

Objectives

Location: Marseille, France

Marseille is the first of three competition arenas. It features a very small street area, multiple bowls and a large quarter-pipe filled lower area. It features a secret area that can be accessed by running into a wooden plank holding down one of the trees on the left side of the level. The tree collapses into a nearby wall, revealing a pit that, when entered, gives access to a large underground area filled with rails, quarter-pipes and a fountain.

This level is featured in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD.

Location: New York City, New York

New York City is set in a urban area of NYC. It features a water-side park, city streets with taxis driving on them, a multitude of park-like plazas, an overhead subway rail and a very large re-creation of the Bronx, a famous real-life skate spot. This area is locked from the beginning, requiring the player to collect subway tokens to unlock access to the subway rails which then allows access to the park.

Objectives

Location: Venice, California

Venice Beach is set in a beachside park. There are very large, open street areas featuring jumps, rails, ledges, benches and tables as well as a host of quarter-pipes, rooftops and half-pipes.

This level is featured in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD.

Objectives

Location: Ventura, California

Skatestreet is the second competition stage as well as a real-life location, held as a landmark of skateboarding culture by enthusiasts. It features a large street area with an equally-large vert area including a rectangular-shaped bowl, a massive half-pipe, and a below-ground half-pipe that is connected to one of the park's wall.

In 2005, the park's founder passed away in a motorcycle accident and the skatepark was subsequently closed.

Location: Philadelphia, PA

Philly is set in a urban park and is also a real-life location. It's actual is LOVE Park. To avoid copyright infringements, they changed the famous sculpture to 'THPS', the series' acronym. The level features a large fountain, several rails, stair gaps, ledges, gaps and jumps. The level also features an accurate representation of FDR Skatepark. It is a mostly-vert concrete skatepark.

Objectives

Location: Mexico

The Bullring is the third and final competition level.

It is a half-vert, half-street level complete with quarter-pipes, funboxes, ledges and gaps as well as a massive half-pipe attached to a loop structure. Much like the name implies, the level is built inside a bullring, where a bull runs around leaving piles of poo behind.

Location: Hawaii

Chopper Drop is one of two secret levels.

It features a half-pipe built on a platform out in the ocean. The player drops from an airborne helicopter onto the half-pipe which features a jump at the end of the platform.

Location: Space

Skate Heaven is the second secret level. It is set in "heaven" which, of course, is in space. It features an inane amount of skateboarding structures like half-pipes, bowls, stairs, rails, gaps, ledges, rails, benches, snake-runs, tunnels and flatland areas. The level is built around a volcano and if the player hops out of the level, an ominous voice (Most likely to symbolize God) either laughs at the player or proclaims "You suck" . In the Game Boy Color version, the volcano is absent, but there are different colored nebulas in the distance instead.

Secret Levels

Location: Woodland Hills

Warehouse is primarily an all-around level. It's situated in a dark warehouse and features a hill drop, walls decked with quarter-pipes, a boxed-up taxi cab and a large half-pipe sitting underneath a glass-walled overhang.

This level was originally in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.

Location: Chicago

Skatepark is an all-around level. It's situated in a large indoor skatepark with one half being dedicated to street skateboarding and the other half to vert. It features a large half-pipe, an equally-large U-shaped bowl, a funbox and two long, high-risen rails. This one of 3 competition stages.

This level was originally in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.

Location: Phoenix

Downhill Jam is primarily a street level. It is the second downhill stage level, similar to Mall though much more downhill-strong than the aforementioned level. It's situated in a open-air water dam and features a host of large jumps, gaps, rails and a massive vert half-pipe formed out of the dam's structure. This level was originally in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.

• Mat Hoffman Bike Headquarters (N64 Only)
• Tampa Skate Park (Xbox Only)
• Construction Site (Xbox Only)
• Sky Lines (Xbox Only)
• Club (Xbox Only)
• Subway (Xbox Only)
• Rooftops (GBA Only)

Characters

Pro Skaters

• Overturn: Down, Left and Grind
• The 900: Right, Down and Grab
• Sacktap: Up, Down and Grab
• Specialty: Vert

• Rocket Tailslide: Left, Down and Grind
• Racket Air: Left, Down and Grab
• One-Foot Smith: Right, Down and Grind
• Specialty: Vert and Switch Stance

• Hang Ten: Right, Up and Grind
• Triple Kickflip: Up, Left and Flip
• FS 540: Right, Left and Grab
• Specialty: All-around

• Nosegrind to Pivot: Down, Up and Grind
• Ghetto Bird: Down, Up and Flip
• Casper: Left, Down and Grab
• Specialty: Street, rails

• One-Foot Bluntslide: Left, Up and Grind
• Kickflip One-Foot Tail: Left, Down and Flip
• Christ Air: Left, Right and Grab
• Specialty: Vert

• The Fandangle: Right, Down and Grind
• Indy Frontflip: Down, Up and Grab
• Pizza Guy: Down, Left and Grab
• Specialty: Vert and Switch Stance

• The Big Hitter: Left, Down and Grind
• One-Foot Japan: Down, Right and Grab
• Fingerflip Airwalk: Left, Right and Grab
• Specialty: Vert

• Heelflip Darkslide: Left, Right and Grind
• Nollieflip Underflip: Down, Left and Flip
• Casper to 360 Flip: Down, Right and Grab
• Specialty: Street. Manuals, especially.

• Hurricane: Down, Right and Grind
• Mute Backflip: Up, Down and Grab
• Muska Nose Manual: Right, Up and Grab
• Specialty: Street

• Nosegrab Tailslide: Up, Down and Grind
• Triple Heelflip: Up, Right and Flip
• Hardflip Late-Flip: Up, Down and Flip
• Specialty: Street

• Rowley Darkslide: Left, Right and Grind
• Double Hardflip: Right, Down and Flip
• Half-pipe Casper: Right, Left and Flip
• Specialty: Street

• Madonna Tailslide: Up, Left and Grind
• Hospital Flip: Left, Right and Flip
• Indy Backflip: Up, Down and Grab
• Specialty: Street

• Benihana Fingerflip Crooks: Down, Up and Grind
• Laser Flip: Down, Right and Flip
• One-Foot Nose Manual: Left, Up and Grab
• Specialty: Street

Secret Characters

• Assume the Position: Up, Down and Grab
• Lazy-Ass Grind: Left, Down and Grind
• Salute!!!: Left, Down and Grab
• Specialty: Vert

• Spidey Flip: Up, Down and Grab
• Spidey Grind: Left, Right and Grind
• Spidey Varial: Left, Right and Flip
• Specialty: All-around

• Private Carrera
• Mc Squeeb (A 1980's style Tony Hawk)
• Mindy (Game Boy Advance Version Only)
• Trixie (Xbox/Dreamcast Versions Only)

Soundtrack

** The track "City Stars" was not actually in the in-game's soundtrack but was still considered a part of the game's OST. The track is played on Kareem Campbell's unlockable video as he is the lyricist/singer for the song.