In the late fall of 2002, Neversoft did something that basically shouldn’t have worked. They took the most successful formula in sports gaming—the two-minute timer—and they just threw it in the trash. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 wasn't just another sequel. It was a total identity crisis that somehow landed the trick.
Honestly, if you grew up with the first three games, booting up the fourth one for the first time felt wrong. You’re standing in the middle of a college campus. There’s no ticking clock. No "Start" screen music fading out. Just the sound of your wheels on the pavement and a bunch of NPCs standing around like they’re waiting for a bus. It was the first time a skating game let you breathe.
The Day the Timer Died
Most people forget how risky this was. By 2002, the "Tony Hawk" brand was a juggernaut. They could have easily released "THPS3 with more levels" and made another hundred million dollars. Instead, they went open-world before that was even a buzzword everyone used.
By removing the timer, the developers at Neversoft changed the core "loop" of the game. In the previous entries, you had to memorize a map in 120-second bursts. You had to be efficient. In Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, you were allowed to be a tourist. You’d wander over to a guy standing by a fountain, talk to him, and then the mission would start.
This changed everything. It meant missions could be hyper-specific. You weren't just collecting S-K-A-T-E while trying to get a high score; you were playing tennis with a skateboard in a hidden mini-game or trying to stop a runaway parade float.
Why the mechanical leap actually mattered
It wasn't just the structure that changed. THPS4 introduced the Spine Transfer. If you’ve played any skating game since 2002, you know this move. It’s the $R2$ (or $RT$) tap that lets you fly over the back of one quarter-pipe and land in another.
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Without it, the level design in modern skating games would be impossible. It turned every map into a giant, interconnected web. You weren't stuck in a bowl anymore; you were using that bowl to launch yourself onto a roof, then spine-transferring into a backyard pool.
The Soundtrack that Defined a Generation (Again)
You can't talk about this game without the music. While THPS2 usually gets the "best soundtrack" award for "Guerrilla Radio" and "You," the fourth game was a weird, beautiful mix of genres that had no business being together.
Where else could you hear AC/DC’s "TNT" transition directly into Aesop Rock?
- The Punk Roots: You had "Bloodstains" by Agent Orange and "Savoir Faire" by Rocket from the Crypt.
- The Hip-Hop Lean: This was the peak of the series' underground rap influence. Delinquent Habits, Haiku D'Etat, and Eyedea & Abilities were all over the tracklist.
- The Weird Stuff: Flogging Molly’s "Drunken Lullabies" basically introduced an entire generation of kids to Celtic punk.
It felt like a mixtape your older, cooler cousin gave you. It wasn't just "skate music." It was a crash course in counter-culture.
Those Absurd Unlockable Characters
The "Tony Hawk" games always had cameos, but Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 went off the rails in the best way possible.
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You could unlock Jango Fett from Star Wars. Not just a guy who looked like him, but the actual bounty hunter with a jetpack that you could use to hover during grinds. Then there was Eddie, the skeletal mascot of Iron Maiden.
But the one everyone talks about is Daisy. She was a hidden skater voiced by and modeled after Jenna Jameson. In 2002, this was the kind of "did you know?" trivia that fueled playground rumors. To unlock her, you had to hit 100% completion and earn $100,000, which was basically the gaming equivalent of a full-time job.
The Remake Controversy (THPS 3+4)
Fast forward to 2025. When Activision finally released the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 remake, fans were... conflicted. On one hand, seeing the Alcatraz level in 4K was a dream come true. On the other hand, the remake did the one thing the original game fought against: it put the timer back in.
Iron Galaxy (the studio that took over after Vicarious Visions was absorbed into Blizzard) decided to "streamline" the experience. They took the sprawling, mission-based THPS4 levels and forced them into the classic two-minute run format.
For many purists, this killed the soul of the game. Part of the magic of THPS4 was the interaction—talking to the pros, finding the hidden mini-games, and the sense of progression. Converting it back to a "Classic Mode" felt like a step backward, even if the skating mechanics were smoother than ever.
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Is it still worth playing today?
Short answer: Yes. Long answer: Yes, but play the original if you can.
The GameCube and PS2 versions still feel incredibly snappy. There’s a weight to the physics in THPS4 that the later games like Underground started to lose as they became more "arcadey" and focused on walking off the board.
What to do if you want to revisit it:
If you’re looking to scratch that itch, don't just go for the highest score. That’s the old way of thinking.
- Hunt the Gaps: THPS4 has some of the most creative "gaps" in the series. Finding them all is the only way to truly master the maps.
- Find the Mini-Games: Go to the Zoo. Find the birdhouse. Play the egg-catching game. It’s stupid, it’s hard, and it’s exactly why this game has more personality than most modern sports titles.
- Check out THUG Pro: If you're on PC, there's a fan-made mod called THUG Pro that imports almost every level from the entire series into the Underground 2 engine. It’s the most active way to play these levels online today.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 was the end of an era. It was the last "Pro Skater" title before the series turned into a story-driven soap opera with Underground. It sits in that perfect sweet spot between the arcade purity of the 90s and the open-world ambition of the 2000s. It’s messy, it’s difficult, and it’s arguably the most important game Neversoft ever made.