On a day when the free-to-play Skate. reboot was supposed to dominate headlines, Tony Hawk managed to put his iconic skating series back in the spotlight. Over the weekend, the legendary skater posted a video to his Instagram, alluding to the intro of Tony Hawk’s Underground, a beloved entry into the Tony Hawk series and a game that marked the shift from Pro Skater to a more narrative-based format.
Tony Hawk Recreates The Underground Intro
In an Instagram video that was posted over the weekend, Tony Hawk recreated the iconic opening cutscene to Tony Hawk’s Underground. True to the source material, Hawk can be seen working on his skate deck whilst Jurassic 5’s “A Day at the Races” (featuring Percee P and Big Daddy Kane) plays in the background before Eric Sparrow alerts him to Chad Muska’s skate demo.
From there, the video faithfully hits all the familiar beats, including the jump to the next scene after the player’s character has been created. Hawk even throws in a one-liner about being able to get off of your board and freely walk, a feature that Tony Hawk’s Underground introduced to the series.
Predictably, fans of the Tony Hawk series flocked to the video en masse, speculating that it could be a tease for an upcoming remaster or remake of Underground. This was only fueled by the fact that the Tony Hawk IP’s Instagram account was also tagged in the video.
But is there actually anything to it?
Is A Tony Hawk’s Underground Remake On The Way?
Any mention of Underground — especially from one of the series’ figureheads — is bound to generate buzz. That excitement is only amplified by the current moment: the free-to-play Skate. reboot is making waves, and the Pro Skater 1+2 and 3+4 remasters have kept skateboarding games in the spotlight. But is there really anything to this tease?
Well, underneath Tony Hawk and the game series’ IG tags, there is a statement that reads “not a THUG promo”, which seems to indicate that the video isn’t meant to drum up interest for an upcoming title, but rather just be a one-off reference to it. The caption for the video itself mentions “Happy Video Games Day”, something I didn’t even know existed until doing research for this article (no, seriously, it’s a thing apparently).
So yeah, as of now, it doesn’t seem as if Activision has any (announced) plans to remake or remaster Tony Hawk’s Underground. Which is a shame, considering how enthusiastic some of us are about the future of the series.
