Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 is a 2001 extreme sports arcade game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision (under their Activision O2 label). Released primarily in October 2001 for the PlayStation 2 (and subsequently ported to virtually every console of the era, including the GameCube, Xbox, PC, PlayStation, and notably standing as the final game ever released for the Nintendo 64 in North America), it is widely considered the absolute mechanical pinnacle of the legendary skateboarding franchise.

Core Concept and Story

There is no grand, cinematic narrative here. You step onto the grip tape as either one of several real-world skateboarding legends (like Tony Hawk, Rodney Mullen, Chad Muska, or Bam Margera) or your own custom skater.

Your singular goal is to drop into highly interactive, globally diverse levels—ranging from a snowy Canadian skate camp to a bustling Los Angeles earthquake zone and an incredibly busy airport terminal. You are given exactly two minutes per run to land massive combos, smash property, collect the floating letters S-K-A-T-E, and find hidden secret tapes to unlock the next level and upgrade your skater’s stats.

Gameplay and Features

While it retained the same basic arcade structure as its predecessors, THPS3 introduced a few crucial features that fundamentally changed the franchise forever:

• The Revert: This was the game’s defining, monumental mechanical revolution. By pressing a single trigger button exactly as your skater’s board touched down on a halfpipe or quarterpipe, you performed a “revert.” This simple move allowed you to immediately chain into a manual, connecting massive vert tricks (like a 900) directly into flatland street combos. It completely shattered the skill ceiling, allowing hardcore players to string together single combos worth millions of points that spanned the entire map.
• Console Online Multiplayer: THPS3 was a massive pioneer for console online gaming. It was the very first PlayStation 2 title to ever support online multiplayer (via the network adapter add-on), allowing players to dial in and compete globally in modes like Trick Attack, Graffiti, and King of the Hill.
• The Bizarre Crossovers: Neversoft leaned heavily into early-2000s pop culture absurdity. By completing the game, players could unlock a wildly eclectic roster of hidden guest characters, including Marvel’s Wolverine, Star Wars’ Darth Maul, the legendary Doomguy from Doom, and professional surfer Kelly Slater.
• The Legendary Soundtrack: You cannot discuss a classic Tony Hawk game without mentioning the music. THPS3 featured an immaculate, era-defining mix of punk rock, heavy metal, and underground hip-hop, permanently searing tracks from artists like Motorhead, CKY, AFI, The Ramones, and Del the Funky Homosapien into the minds of a generation.

Reception and The Perfect Score

THPS3 was met with staggering, universal critical acclaim upon release. It currently sits at a near-perfect 97/100 on Metacritic for the PS2 version, making it one of the highest-rated video games of all time.

Critics and players universally agreed that the addition of the “Revert” absolutely perfected the franchise’s combo system. The level design was heavily praised for being dense and highly interactive—you could trigger massive environmental events, like causing a freeway overpass to collapse in LA or causing a localized volcanic eruption in Tokyo. It captured the rebellious, irreverent skate culture of the early 2000s in a bottle and presented it with flawless, buttery-smooth arcade mechanics.

Quick Note

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 is a flawless masterpiece of the extreme sports genre.

In short: It took the incredibly solid foundation of the first two games and added the exact mechanical glue (the Revert) needed to make the combo system infinitely deep. If you want to experience the absolute apex of early-2000s arcade gaming—accompanied by one of the greatest licensed soundtracks ever compiled—it remains an untouchable classic.