Tony Hawk's Skateboarding

Tony Hawk's Skateboarding for Sega Dreamcast is the European title for the first Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, the skateboarding game that arrived on Dreamcast in 2000. Treyarch developed this console version and Crave Entertainment published it, bringing the PlayStation original's score-chasing skate parks and licensed professional skaters to Sega's hardware. The game is part of the Tony Hawk's series, whose original PlayStation release was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision in 1999. On Dreamcast, the focus remains on completing objectives, building big trick combinations, and unlocking more of the game's compact set of locations and equipment.

Players choose from a roster led by Tony Hawk and featuring professional skateboarders including Bob Burnquist, Kareem Campbell, Rune Glifberg, Buck Lasek, Chad Muska, Andrew Reynolds, Geoff Rowley, Elissa Steamer, and Jamie Thomas. Each skater has individual statistics and a signature special trick, while extra characters can be unlocked through play. Viewed from behind the skater, each course is an obstacle-filled space of ramps, rails, ledges, half-pipes, and hidden routes. A directional control moves the skater, while separate buttons handle the ollie plus grab, flip, and grind tricks. Successful landings keep a combo alive; a bail loses the points accumulated in that sequence.

Career Mode supplies the main progression. Every level has a two-minute run and a selection of goals, allowing completed objectives to carry over from one visit to the next. Typical challenges include reaching score targets, collecting the letters in SKATE, smashing specific objects, and finding a hidden videotape. Competition stages use judged runs and award bronze, silver, or gold medals. Meeting enough goals opens new levels and gear, giving the game a clear route from the Warehouse and outdoor streets to increasingly demanding skating environments. The design rewards learning how to link jumps, flips, grabs, and grinds without exhausting the clock.

The score system is built around risk and variety. Tricks gain value from airtime, rotation, and how many different moves are linked together, but repeatedly using the same trick reduces its worth. Filling the Special meter enables a skater's higher-value signature move, creating another decision between securing a score and attempting a harder line. Alongside Career Mode, Single Session presents a two-minute high-score attempt on available courses, while Free Skate removes the time limit so players can explore routes and practice. This first entry predates the manual-balancing move added to its sequel, so its combos are centered on aerial moves and grinds.

Tony Hawk's Skateboarding also includes local two-player split-screen competition. Trick Attack is a direct contest for the best score, Graffiti has players claim course elements with tricks and steal them back with bigger scores, and HORSE challenges each player to answer a rival's short trick performance. The game therefore supports both solitary objective hunting and competitive turns with another player. Its levels mix real-world-skateboarding-inspired features with exaggerated, game-built opportunities, prioritizing accessible lines and repeat attempts over a strict simulation of skating.

The Dreamcast release is a port rather than a separate sequel or remake. Treyarch retained the original game's modes, skaters, and levels while using the system for clearer visual detail and smoother animation than the original PlayStation version. Crave handled Dreamcast publishing after Activision did not continue publishing on that system. Although the game is called Tony Hawk's Skateboarding in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Europe, it represents the same foundational series entry known elsewhere as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. Its blend of short timed runs, collectible goals, named professional skaters, and combo-based scoring established the template that the later Tony Hawk games expanded.