Tony Hawk, the renowned skater and the face of the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series has been spotted at a recent concert performing one of the tracks straight from the game. Releasing on the original PlayStation in the late 90s, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater brought skateboarding alternative culture to the mainstream and still has its dedicated fans.
Arguably the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater glory days are well and truly over, the last entry came in the form of 2020’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 remake, and the franchise has slipped into dormancy, partly caused by the merger of Activision’s internal studios. Along with being able to pull off gravity-defying tricks and stunts in players' bedrooms, the game introduced millions of people to underground punk, rock, and hip-hop artists from all over the world.
A video posted to TikTok by user kris_writes from a recent Goldfinger gig at the House of Blues in Anaheim shows the Birdman himself taking to the stage with the band to perform the iconic Superman. The ska punk track is one of the first songs players would have heard back in 1999 when they loaded Tony Hawk's Pro Skater on the original PlayStation and over twenty years later remains a popular anthem.
Even though skateboarding is Hawk’s main profession, to see him jump on stage and sing the classic punk song remarkably well has delighted fans. To this day, Goldfinger’s Superman and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater go hand in hand and have both become synonymous with each other. This relationship goes so deep that one of the recent Tony Hawk documentaries is named after one of the lyrics from the song.
With Hawk popping up and bringing a hit of nostalgia to fans, some would naturally turn their attention to the game franchise itself. Sadly, the franchise is dormant after the remake of Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3 + 4 was canceled by Activision. Even with the proposed Microsoft merger, it seems that skating fans may be in for a long wait to see what the Birdman comes up with next.
While there might not be a new Tony Hawk's Pro Skater game on the horizon, fans of the genre still have a lot to look forward to as EA’s revival of the Skate franchise is well into development. Although there is no release date, the free-to-play title is set to be a community-driven experience focusing on the core skating experience rather than intrusive microtransactions.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Uproxx