Skateboarding icon Tony Hawk has publicly declared his intention to push for a remaster of Tony Hawk’s Underground (THUG), the beloved 2003 skateboarding game that marked a turning point for the franchise.
“I’ll campaign all I can,” Hawk stated about bringing THUG to modern platforms. This announcement has gotten longtime fans excited, since many consider the title one of the series’ best entries.
Unlike the objective-based structure of earlier Tony Hawk games, Underground introduced a full story mode following a custom character’s journey from neighborhood nobody to professional skater. This narrative-driven approach, complete with the infamously backstabbing antagonist Eric Sparrow, gave the game its unique identity.
Fans have been quick to point out that any potential remaster has to keep this story element. “THUG was a story mode, with the option to also play classic mode on the levels,” noted one longtime player. “Without the story mode, it’s just Tony Hawk 2 with bigger levels and stronger vert combos.”
The game also introduced revolutionary features to the skateboarding genre, including the ability to get off the board, drive vehicles, and interact with NPCs in semi-open environments. These innovations, coupled with its gritty underdog story, helped THUG stand apart from its predecessors.
The timing of Hawk’s advocacy comes after the successful 2020 release of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 Remaster, which was praised for its faithful recreation of the classics while updating them for modern hardware. This success showed there’s still a huge appetite for skateboarding games and nostalgia for the franchise.
Any remaster would face challenges, though. The original development studio, Neversoft, no longer exists, and issues like music licensing and updating the gameplay would need to be addressed by whoever takes on the project under publisher Activision.
Kickflipping into the future
Some fans have also said they’d love to see remasters of other story-driven entries in the series, like Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland, or even brand new games using the refined mechanics of recent remasters.
While Hawk’s comments don’t count as an official announcement, his willingness to push for the project carries a lot of weight, since his name and image are so tied to the franchise. As the face of skateboarding for generations, Hawk’s involvement has usually been a good sign for the quality and authenticity of games that bear his name.
