A Journey Through Tony Hawk's Pro Skater Rip-Offs 

I don’t know why so many people are commenting this or where they got the info from, but Street Sk8er and the arcade game Top Skater are two completely different games. They have completely different developers and publishers. They do look similar, but street sk8er definitely isn’t a port of top skater.

'This was a chicken nugget pack-in game'

Turbo is a movie about a suicidal snail that gets super powers and gets hooked up with a mexican fella that runs a taco stand. pretty decent movie all things considered

Thrasher is excellent in one regard. It is as hard to play the game as it is to actually skateboard, which I think is what they were going for. It's supposed to be so precise and technical because skateboarding is extremely difficult to master, and tiny mistakes will cost you in bodily damage, not just points. I love the idea, hate the execution. It's the Dark Souls of skating games.

Grind Session was great. I loved finding the keys to unlock hidden areas.

I love the Tony Hawk games. Hope they are able to figure out THPS 3+4 sometime…

Timestamps for your convenience: 3:47 Street Sk8er 9:13 Skate and Destroy 14:09 Street Sk8er 2 18:40 Grind Session 23:20 MTV Sports Skateboarding 28:13 Razor Freestyle Scooter 32:58 Extremely Goofy Skateboarding 36:41 ESPN X Games Skateboarding 41:04 Airblade 45:35 Aggressive Inline 50:53 Disney Sports Skateboarding 53:12 Evolution Skateboarding 58:00 The Simpsons Skateboarding 1:00:41 Skateboard Madness (The Wrath of Jonathan) 1:05:32 Turbo Super Stunt Squad 1:10:11 Skatebird

Thrasher is as rough as arseholes but as a skater, I adored a more grounded experience instead of a game where you can do a kickflip McTwist over a moving taxi like it's nothing. It's a shame you hated it.

Just the thumbnail gives me enough joy to like. Props and follows to the artist!

Honestly I love that Evolution Skateboarding has gradually developed a bit of a cult following over the years. For the longest time I thought I was the only person who unironically enjoyed it, glad to see I'm not alone anymore lol Edit: recently replayed it (dug out my old Wii to play the GameCube version) and yeah, it still holds up well but some of the incorrect trick names and the announcer had me laughing out loud... what the hell are a Disaster Slide, Grab Tack Knee, and a Primo Stool? Lmao

Having not had any exposure to a skating game beyond THPS1, and not a fan of sports games in general, this was still engaging to watch. Your videos are always entertaining and I love what you put into them, especially actually filming yourself bailing to make a point (that looked like it hurt). Great work!

i played Thrasher just as much as i played Tony Hawk. Loved the realism (for the time) the gear and how you earned sponsors during competitions. Also the music was awesome! The game is very difficult to learn, just like the Skate series.

I mean, Turbo (the movie) actually doesn't have a lot to do with the food trucks in the movie so no Ratatouie aspects there, but yeah, it's about Snail Racing around a big track used as a way to attract people to various Mexican Food Trucks, so I can see why they went for a more exploring type game, as there is not a lot to that movie to build off of.

The first Street Sk8r reminds me of Top Skater. It was an arcade skating game where you ride on a physical skateboarding, and “ollie” at kickers/rails. And the music was solely brought to you by Pennywise.

I LOVED Evolution Skateboarding as a kid. It was my introduction to Primus. Most fans' first Primus song is "My Name is Mud" or "Jerry was a Racecar Driver" or something, but I started with "Mr. Knowitall", "Pudding Time", and "Harold of the Rocks" thanks to that game.

Thrasher is great once you get over the learning curve.

Yo, Gilly, watching this, having fun so far. Thanks for the content.

Gilly... from a lifelong skater to another... I want to see more. legend.

Big thanks for the feature-length video! Nice hearing about all these different games in great detail, even the awful ones.

Thank you for reminding me I needed to listen to Superman by Goldfinger, I committed the cardinal sin of forgetting it for a week

46:49 Skitching was not introduced in Aggressive Inline, it was introduced in 1994's Skitchin on the Sega Genesis. That game was terribly awesome.

A whole hour of Gilly! Heck yeah. I don't really care for skateboarding games, but I know I'm going to have a good time.

You put so much work into this.. wow. Loved it!

thrasher was ahead of it's time, but I feel like skaters only understand that it absolutely shat on THPS. I played it when I first came out and I was really young and didn't find it much difficult at all. but again, I ate, breathed and sleeped skateboarding

Used to watch you years ago! So happy youtube suggested your channel to me! It's like finding you for the first time all over again🎉

Loved this video, keep up the great work!

Great Vid, appreciate the pain you had to go through for the solid content you where able to make from the trash the developers made.

Great video Gilly!!

Today I learned that Gil refers to the X button on the PlayStation controller as the "cross" button, and now I think he needs to be locked up like the madman he is.

i feel i got lucky that youtube recommended me this video. you have a lot of quality content that im about to binge watch. 5/5 subscribed

Was hoping he'd cover Wave Break as well, that game feels SUPER close to how classic THPS3 feels. The shooting mechanics might not be for everyone though, but the jetski feels SO close to THPS3 I swear.

I emulated and played Thrasher on my MacBook in undergrad around 8-10 years ago. I loved it! Wild as hell to play with a keyboard, but still a fun experience with an incredible soundtrack.

I shouldn't have been surprised there are over an hour's worth of Tony Hawk ripoffs, but somehow I am. Good work Gilly!

Sorry guys, I can't hang out tonight; Gilly posted.

This just made me remember (not sure if itll be covered here or not) top skater, the arcade game with the skateboard, and a soundtrack that was exclusively pennywise. Man, that game was super fun and looked great for the time

I'm sure somewhere in the hundreds of comments people have mentioned Tech Deck Bare Knuckle Grind, but I was a bit surprised that it was overlooked in this video. Though, that's probably because it's impossible to play on PC nowadays, since the physics just break entirely for some reason or another. Definitely appreciated the deep-dive, either way! I kinda knew in the opening when you mentioned you'd be talking about "skating games, not just skate BOARDing games," that Aggressive Inline was going to be covered. I never beat it, but I played the first two levels so much as a kid, and it's a shame that it never caught on, since some of its innovations were pretty cool

Oh hey thanks. This came at the perfect time. Power is out, I'm consuming numerous substances to make me pass out so I don't have to sit in the cold and dark. Perfect thing to watch as I get nice and cozy.

Disney Extreme is a great game so much personality in such a easy concept an Airblade is really cool

My bones are frozen from how cold that Thrasher take was. Great Video!

the street sk8ers and grind session was my youth. i loved skate and destroy too. It was the music and skate clips they put in the games for me. always made me want to go skate.

3:25 Well, the original was technically called that in the UK.

I've been skating over 20 years, but my favourite game on this list was aggressive inline. I'm so glad he didn't bad mouth it. Once you mastered the controls, it was such a fun game to just figure out lines and getting to hard to reach sections. Also it had an awesome soundtrack, I still listen to it on Spotify haha!

The cop chasing you in the thrasher game is actually a rare occasion you get the 2nd person perspective, so kinda cool for that

street skater was port of the japanese arcade game Top Skater which was played with a real skateboard controller (akin to dance dance revolution). yes street skater 1 and 2 (alongside coolboarders 1 and 2, if you know, you know) were janky but had a very appealing charm to them. the both came out during a transitional time in extreme sports games. a little too late to have the legend status of skate or die but a little early to be the next tony hawk. also interesting side note, aesthetically, street skater represented the skateboarding scene in japan more than the western skate scene. thats why it doesnt look aesthetically correct to anyone that knows what the skate scene looked like in 1999.

Came to see all the different clone games. I had played thrasher and air blade and knew there had to be dozens more. Wasn’t expecting to see Aggressive Inline in the video, not sure why. I remember being so excited for the game coming out because I was big into inline skating at the time and It’s still one of my absolutely favorite of these clones to play.

That’s funny, with my main connection to the skating world being video games, Daewon Songs appearance in THAW led me to believe he was a breakout flatland skateboarding star, wonder why it took so long for him to get on board, no pun intended. Solid content as always, please keep it coming!

Steezy skating segments, Gilly!

Nice video!! Keep up the good work!

Grind session was my jam

Thank you for choosing Liquid IV for a sponsor, I really appreciate it as I would never of heard of them otherwise. I enjoy the product a lot and it's replaced the bottled drinks that costed me twice as much as these hydration multiplier packets do, plus I can buy them in bulk setting myself up for a month of being active. Seriously I really like this product and I'm glad you chose them it's a genuine improvement on my workout routine, oh and uh, I also really liked the video too.

another hour long gilly vid? lets go!!!!!!

the goofy one was actually sold in stores. (atleast in The Netherlands.) i still have the box and disc. i remember playing it a lot as a kid and had great fun with it. haven't revisited it.

Rolling is another inline game that imo is even better and closer to tony hawk than aggressive inline, but it was Europe only

One of my favorite things about Evolution skateboarding is the Deck creation mode having did grip tapes and creating your on logo with the stickers.

Thrasher Skate & Destroy was a really underated good game that I played alot it was really more like "Skate" as a more "simulator" realistic game then a Tony Hawk arcade style, also the soundtrack was spetacular

I dont know if it was ever commercially sold, but i remember i got my copy of extremely goofy skateboarding in a goodie bag from Disney through my dad’s work. Theres so little about it online, i almost thought id imagined it.

surprised you didn't mention that the secret character in the scooter game has nothing to with skateboarding i think he was a wrestler or boxer or something along those lines

Quick correction, Shaun Murray's game was originally going to be called Shaun Murray's Pro Wakeboarding but was changed to Shaun Murray's Wakeboarding Unleashed (Also it's an underrated game that does do some clever stuff with the engine.) Also fun fact, I liked the first Street Sk8er's soundtrack a lot. It's how I discovered Less Than Jake, The Pietasters, and Plastilina Mosh. But the soundtrack for it and the second game are redbook audio, and thus you can play the soundtracks through any CD player. I literately have the first game in my car just to listen to the soundtrack sometimes.

I spent many hours playing the ESPN Xgames skateboarding game and loved it. So now I have to find Evolution! Thanks for making this video and you earned a new Sub bro!

Well nice video and I can't wait to see the 9 hour part 2 in a year.

Great subject, Nice! Thanks!

I would of never guessed this guy skateboards. Great vid! Thanks for making!

Aggressive Inline was a favorite of mine back in the day. Still holds up pretty well today.

As a skater I really appreciate Thrasher for being a simulator, rather than one button arcade kind of style like ANY other game beside Thrasher and the Skate series. Never saw any info about Street Sk8er 2 "auto tricks" which is goofy as hell, and you said no non skateboard games and feature a scooter game..

Thrasher for sure takes a while to get used to the controls but I absolutely love it and played it for years over Tony hawk. I get it’s definitely not for everyone though. Great video!

The possibility of a gillythekid “sponsor me” tape being out there intrigues me

The guys from Z-Axis also made the Infamous BMX XXX, which was one of the games ever made.

I got the notification for this video while watching a video on THPS, so that was bizarrely good timing.

loving gillys new content, and walmart brand seems to nice for pheonix games.

Great quality video- I've been watching you on and off for a couple of years and I finally subscribed. You are correct- the algorithm seems to hate you for some reason. It doesn't make sense at all that someone with as many views and subscribers as you is NEVER promoted in my feed. I'm a 33 year old millennial that occasionally watches gaming related content and YT just seems to promote nothing but crap on my home page

I was hoping you'd cover Go Go Hypergrind on PS2, which is a really weird cartoon-skateboarding game made by Atlus, but the video was still great, and I loved the insight from a fan of the genre!

That's the alert I was waiting for

Grind session was my childhood. I beat it multiple times, and i absolutely loved it.

I used to love grind session and thrasher back in the day!

Talking about Street Skater 2, I had it before THPS and loved it so much. The soundtrack was amazing and multiplayer was pretty fun as well. Also I think THPS actually got some level ideas from SS2, such as Moskow (in THUG) and airport (in THPS3)

I will admit thrasher is definitely not the best but once you get past the initial learning curve. It's a decent early skate sim. And, the ragdoll physics are funny. I play it like skate; I play seriously for a few minutes then I just try to get the most brutal bail.

I would love to see your takes on the dave mirra bmx games. Had a lot of fun with those as a kid.

Cool video. THUG 1 and 2 are my favorite skateboarding games. Hope they remaster those one day like they did THPS 1+2.

not only have i been subscribed for years but i will continue to be subscribed for years that and i show not only my friends but people i talk to while out and about on a daily basis your videos if you get any new subscribers thats awesome i hope it helps in some form or fashion

Man how i wished Shaun Palmers Pro Snowboarder would be here. I know its not a Skateboard game but still. i had so much fun playing that game back in the day. still good video and im glad you included Airblade and agressive Inline :D

Always glad to see love for Aggressive Inline. One of my favorite games as a kid, and one I still play from time to time today. I actually prefer to play it over THPS4, but definitely not over THUG & THUG2.

Thrasher is actually an amazing skateboarding game and was really EA Skate before EA Skate. The reason you struggled is you insisted on playing it like Tony Hawk instead of approaching it like a skateboarder. Do real skateboarders do trick grind trick grind trick grind? No. They approach an obstacle at a gentle angle (not 90 degrees like you were doing in some cases), do a flip trick, grind, then flip out, and you're done, then go to the next obstacle. Same on ramps, do you do 5 kickflips in a row? No. You wind up (circle), then spin and do a grab in the air and land. Or, do a rotating flip trick (triangle and circle) and keep it going until you land. It is tough to get into, especially coming from Tony Hawk's super simplified arcade controls, but even today it's still a very good skateboarding game.

Nice job. I didn't knew there were so many clones and there so many that you didn't speak off. Fun fact. Me and my friends played the first Tony Hawk game and because of this we started skating too. And we don't live in USA so we were like the only ones that we did it. Fun times.

I also grew up with the Tony Hawk series and later then to skate then Olli Olli finally but I will gradually increase it. I've been gambling since I was 6 years old first with the first Gameboy then Playstation etc. it's always nice to see someone who also shares that with you send you greetings from Cologne Germany a skate in my early days to but Not eny more

those handclaps at around the 30 minute mark are killing me lol

Thrasher Skate and Destroy was my first skateboarding game and because I didn't know any better, I really enjoyed it. I got pretty good at it too. I think people often give up on this game because they're used to the fast paced arcadey feel of the Tony Hawk games but I guarantee that if I played THPS first, I would have hated it and not had the patience for it either. Street Skater 2 was one of my favourites too. Nothing special compared to THPS but a massive improvement over the original.

Bruh, I started playing Thrasher Skate and Destroy a few months ago for the first time. It has a steep, steep learning curve but once you figure it out, it is so fucking fun. I stand behind it being a good skate game.

I remember seeing Street Skater at the Arcade in the early 2000's I trying it, and didn't understand anything about how to get a trick, but at home, on THPS I could do insne long tricks.

Great job on the video. You didn't have Disney extreme adventure skate

lord I pictured antdude and connor at that skate park just standing there, with connor asking "can we go home dad, I gotta watch spongebob in theran"🤣

I might get that hydration stuff. I have adhd and i find it really hard to remember to drink because of that. Maybe if I can get hydrated with less it'll help!

So, as someone who watched turbo, its about an outcast snail who likes Indy Car who after a freak accident revolving around a street race, NOS and family, becomes a weird hybrid of the flash, a car, and a snail, afterwards his brother gets captured by birds, he runs off after him, and then they both get captured and taken in by a taco truck driver who runs nighttime snail races in a failing bodega with the intent of puting them in the midnight race to bet on, obviously turbo wins and pisses the crew of snails off, but he becomes friends with them after doing stuff similar to what they do in the game, after a series of shenanigans he wins a Indy Car race and saves the bodega from financial issues. your not missing out, this is truely one of the movies of all time.

I love Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure I think it plays really well, and I love the levels I like how there's 3 different places in each level. I also find it really cute that they had a little skate competition for kids and whoever won got put into the game I spent hours as a kid playing and replaying to 100% completion

Thrasher's controls remain over-hated

aggressive inline was a big favourite of mine on my original x-box as a kid and crawling in the dark is hoobastanks best song

I’ll always love these games for introducing me to bands like nofx, less than jake, lagwagon, suicide machines, the vandals, bad religion, no use for a name, pennywise, etc.

Street Sk8er 2 was the first skateboarding game I got. Spent so much time competing with my sister and her friend for who could get the highest score on the San Francisco stage. Soundtrack was awesome as well.

Sell Out by Reel Big Fish living up to the title, I love the band but it’s so funny how much that song is featured in not just games 😂

Thrasher Skate And Destroy Slander will not be tolerated

I loved skate and destroy back then and preferred it over TH because of its more realistic concept