Pretending I'm a Superman: The Tony Hawk Video Game Story

The first half hour is a history about skateboarding. I already saw many more in depth videos about it on different documentaries so it was kinda boring to me i knew all this stuff and i assume many people watching this will know this too. Could be interesting for people new to this tho.

Then they speak a lot about 1 and 2 and briefly about 3-4 and THUG then they talk 1 minute about the failure of RIDE and nothing about THPS 5 which surprised me. They briefly mention SKATE and how it divided the player base but i would have liked if they talked about it more what they were thinking at the time about SKATE etc..

There was really nothing in depth about the production of the game it was more like how the game impacted the culture of skating and people involved in it. But i saw many youtube docs and other content that already explained this.

If you already know about skate history and lived through the THPS craze like me (i'm old) you will learn nothing new in this. But it's still entertaining and a good watch.

This documentary, seemingly released to coincide with the release of the remastered versions of "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 & 2", was advertised on Sky Documentaries last week - and being a fan of the game series, I downloaded it. Whilst it has some interesting moments, ultimately the story wasn't quite interesting enough to be worthy of the documentary.

Combining archive footage with recent interviews with various personalities, the documentary tracks the rise of Skateboarding from child's activity, to a rebellious outsider movement, to X-Games popularity. It's most high profile name, Tony Hawk, a lifelong gamer begins to discuss a video game with various parties, before settling in partnership with Neversoft/Activision and producing a series of hit games that both reflect and then influence the skating scene.

The skating side of the documentary is perhaps a bit more interesting than the gaming side. Plenty of interviews with a number of skating figures that take you though that history. There is some needle in there, towards Tony I felt - with him being a big shot and taking their world mainstream with the X-Games and the game itself. It's then really interesting out the other side, when you have skaters that were totally inspired by "Pro Skater" and even learning that some tricks that began in the game and were thought impossible, have become utilised in real life.

The actual game development though unfortunately isn't really that interesting. They had a game they thought was OK, but might not sell. It did catch on though, and sold more than they could have hoped, so they drove the franchise into the ground by releasing too many games too quickly and diluting the formula. There was a little talk about the much derided skateboard peripheral, that didn't really work, but that could have been delved into further. There was no talk about the "Jackass-ification" of the series towards the end there though. There was some discussion about the soundtrack, however, which was a key aspect for some bands to get their music heard by wider audiences.

I enjoyed the huge nostalgia buzz, don't get me wrong - but perhaps a wider target, such as action sports games in general or a wider look at the history of Neversoft, would have been more interesting.

I just saw the movie in Google Play Movies (Youtube Movies). Gave it 9/10, because, while it is a good movie, I really want to see more of what Neversoft guys have to say about the story. In short - the movie is otherwise good. Not as good as Stacy Peralta's documentaries on skateboarding, but still good. I enjoyed seeing it. I am one of these people, which this video game inspired to get into skateboarding, even late as now I am 44 years old. and I know I am not the only one. In the past I started with THPS2 and since then, every new game for me and my brother was like a holiday - we played for countless hours. So for sure, there was a need for this movie to be made and I am glad it is a reality now. Good thing about the movie is, that there are interviews not just with the skaters and few Neversoft guys, but also some of the musicians from the soundtrack and some of the influenced kids.

Basically, the movie represents more of Tony Hawk's point of view on the story and it is a good one. We see of course interviews also with the other core game skaters, such as Rodney Mullen, Steve Cabalero and more. I was looking to see Elissa Steamer, but she was not featured in the movie. Still, the presented material was interesting. There were stories, Tony tells what other options he had, the development around the game, which is the X-Games competition and the legendary 900 and many other things. Just as in the game, the movie features cool soundtrack.

Fun fact: Rodney Mullen wears a Debian linux logo t-shirt. I am curious why - is he a linux guy too? Won't be surprised, but need to ask. Asked him on his Facebook and Instagram, so let's see what he will reply.

The movie duration is like 1:11hrs and the rental price on Google was like 4$, so it was affordable and fun to watch.

This is truly a magical 73 minutes and worthy of the long wait, and anticipation I've had for it. I wasn't sure what to expect, structurally, going in, I just knew my love for the game and the role it played in my growing up. So it's important to understand the focus of the documentary.

This doc is about the influence and impact of skateboarding (and it's culture) on the game's creation, and the subsequent impact of the game on the future of skateboarding and culture. This is not just a documentary about the history of the franchise that charts the rise and fall, details of development programming, the Robomodo games etc... This is all glossed over, but this is much more about how skateboarding, and Tony Hawk influenced a game, and how that game changed several landscapes for skateboarding, culture, and games to come.

It fully captured some magic here that truly speaks to my personal feelings when I think about THPS and it's impact in my gaming life, and life outside of the game. Watching it gave me goosebumps in a way I can't explain fully... They have put into video form some of the most nostalgic feelings of my late teens, and made me feel an era of my life in a way I haven't felt before... Kind of like when you smell the air on a certain day and you remember a time or place from your past.

This doc is a personal masterpiece for me.

It's decent for what it is but the documentary lacked the deep dive into the actual games. It had a much greater focus on the influence of the game on the pro skaters that were involved in it, rather than the actual game/development.

It really does just focus on the succes. Not much else and it doesn't linger on any of the massive failures that came later and how it influenced the company/future. Like you don't hear about Neversoft becoming defunct and Robomodo taking over and how that process went.

The documentary also has a 20 minute section on the history of skating which I thought was a bit much. Especially this being a niche documentary about a very specific skateboarding game. I would expect the audience not to need a history lesson and it felt like wasted time.

So it lacks depth in the game development department which I was looking forward too. Therefore the lower rating.

If you want to hear some legendary skaters talk about how THPS elevated their lives then its great, otherwise not so much.