In the late ’90s, gaming giant Activision tapped the fledgling developer Neversoft, then on its last legs, to design a competitive skating game. Action and fighting games took immediate notice late-’90s gems like Parappa the Rapper, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and Tekken 2 made music that was as enticing as their stories and gameplay.

In the same era, Playstation, Sony’s emergent disc-based gaming console, gave developers space to play around with more intricate graphics and sound. In 1996, the veteran skate apparel brand Vans got behind Warped Tour, a traveling festival dedicated to punk rock, which had come barreling into the mainstream on the success of Cali bands like Green Day and the Offspring, who streamlined the pop-punk sound pioneered by forefathers like Bad Religion and the Buzzcocks all the way to the bank with 1994’s Dookie and Smash. In 1995, ESPN, sniffing around a growing youth demographic into fringe sports beyond football and basketball, launched the X Games, giving BMX, street luge, and skateboarding competitions a home on cable television. But it was the ’90s that blew the lid off the scene. In the ’80s, films like Thrashin’ and Gleaming the Cube made messy attempts to bring the burgeoning movement to the masses while actual skate crews like the Bones Brigade shot videos of their own in Future Primitive, The Search for Animal Chin, and others, showcasing gifted riders like Bucky Lasek and Tony Hawk. Skate culture caught fire in the ’70s thanks to crafty Cali kids turning empty pools into hangout spots and linking with the satellite network of photographers, manufacturers, and builders responsible for creating the early skateparks and founding the first magazines.

Merkules – “Bass (feat.Illustration: Maya Robinson/Vulture and Photo Courtesy of Epic Games.

Swayze & the Ghosts – “Connect to Consume”.A Tribe Called Quest – “Can I Kick It?”.If you can’t rock out and listen to this now, don’t worry, we have you covered:Ī Breakdown of the 37 New Tracks for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2: For a longer, more in-depth look at some of the new songs, here’s the Official Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 Playlist on Spotify, now updated for your listening pleasure:

Soundtrack tony hawk pro skater 3