Steve-O, Johnny Knoxville, Ryan Dunn, and of course, Bam Margera. These are the names associated with one of the wildest TV shows in history: Jackass. Before viral YouTube stunt crews and TikTok challenges, this was the show that rewrote the book on dangerous (and hilarious) stunts, blurring the line between what can and can’t go on TV.
While all members of the cast were courageous, one broke away for his reckless abandon and his surprisingly great skills on a skateboard: Bam Margera.
Because of this, Margera was a very prominent TV figure and one that skateboarders admired. This eventually helped him find his way into the most popular skateboarding series ever: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and Underground.
Bam Margera Took His Jackass Persona Into Gaming
When you consider Bam Margera’s greatest moments during the Jackass era, you think of him in a gorilla costume, making a scene in a hotel lobby, or the golf car smash-up derby with Knoxville. Bam’s image wasn’t about skateboarding; it was about destructive troublemaking that was as threatening as it was hilarious.
This persona, a combination of authentic skating ability and anarchic punk-rock spirit, was exactly right for the Tony Hawk games. While Margera was featured in Pro Skater 3 and 4, it was his appearance in Tony Hawk’s Underground that solidified his mainstay in the franchise. He was prominently featured in the ad campaign for the game before release, and man, those videos are like a time capsule from a bygone era.
The game’s story even feels like it was ripped straight out of an MTV show. You were thrown into a narrative about a talented amateur skateboarder on the quest to go pro. Of course, the journey was filled with stunts and antics that Bam Margera would be proud of. It was even more of a punk-rock rebellion than the Pro Skater games, which focused more on the skateboarding element.
Tony Hawk’s Underground Let Players Skate Like Their Heroes
Tony Hawk has always been a celebration of skateboarding culture, and that’s why people love it. Not because these games are realistic. From the start of the original Pro Skater, you had legendary skaters like Bob Burnquist, Chad Muska, and even filmmaker Stacy Peralta. Of course, you can’t forget names like Rodney Mullen, Wee-Man, and Erick Koston either.
These guys were all heroes in the eyes of skateboarders. To be able to get a taste of their culture just by booting up a Tony Hawk game back in the day was incredible. Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 took things even further by featuring some Jackass members and other skateboarders as the rival team to Team Hawk in the World Destruction Tour.
This Tour was all about destroying stuff in skateboarding competitions all around the world. The more destruction you cause, the more points you get for your team. It doesn’t get more Jackass than that.
THUG Still Captures A Wild Era Of Gaming Culture
These days, if you’re a younger gamer, you might not even remember or have even heard of most of the names in the early Tony Hawk games. Just know that it was a very different time back then, when “sticking it to the man” was a common ideology for punk-rockers and skateboarders. It was silly, sure, but the whole scene was oozing with personality, and Tony Hawk’s Underground deserves a lot of credit for showcasing that perfectly.
The Y2K era was a frenzy, with reality TV shows and games at the time fully capturing that audacious energy. Beyond skateboarding, you had weird and inventive games like Burnout 3: Takedown, Manhunt, and Def Jam Fight For NY. These games were never about winning or following the rules; they were about embracing chaos and pushing boundaries.
This sense of reckless abandon is what made THUG such a great game. These days, you have companies worried about big open-worlds, live service models, and generating revenue over everything. In stark contrast, THUG only focused on representing the wild culture at the time, and the money was just a by-product of their excellent execution.
