Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 for PlayStation is the 2001 skateboarding game developed by Shaba Games and published by Activision. Released in North America on October 30, 2001, it is the third entry in the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series and brings the series’ trick-combo formula to Sony’s original console. Players select Tony Hawk or another professional skater, then tackle compact 3D courses packed with ramps, rails, quarter-pipes, ledges, gaps, and collectibles. Its career structure turns each location into a set of score and exploration challenges, asking players to land big runs while learning the layout well enough to find objectives and alternate routes.

The central aim is to build a score before the timer expires without bailing. Skateboarding actions flow from ollies into grabs, flips, grinds, lip tricks, and manuals; connecting them without repeating tricks too often raises the value of a combo. Balance is crucial during grinds, manuals, and lip tricks, so a long run is also a test of control. Goals include reaching target scores, gathering letter collectibles, finding hidden items, and completing course-specific tasks. Success opens further events and provides opportunities to improve a skater’s abilities, giving players a reason to revisit earlier stages with stronger statistics and better familiarity with their lines.

A defining addition to Pro Skater 3 is the revert. By reverting after coming down from a vert ramp, players can keep a run alive and take it into a manual instead of ending the combo at the landing. The game also expands the available trick repertoire with flatland moves and variations that reward precise inputs. This makes the PlayStation game less about simply clearing a ramp and more about linking the whole environment together: launch from a half-pipe, land cleanly, manual across the ground, lock into a rail, and find another route before the balance meters run out. The approachable control scheme supports quick attempts, while the score goals leave room to experiment with riskier combinations.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 features a roster of real skateboarders alongside unlockable characters, and players can also make a custom skater. Its locations range through urban and competition-style settings, including courses associated with Los Angeles, Tokyo, Suburbia, and Skater’s Island. The PlayStation edition has its own Downhill level, a course also used by the later Nintendo 64 release. A second player can join locally for multiplayer play, providing a competitive alternative to the single-player career. Customization extends beyond the roster through a skatepark editor, allowing players to assemble their own spaces from ramps, rails, and other skateboarding features.

This PlayStation version is a distinct release rather than the PlayStation 2 game simply running on older hardware. While Neversoft handled the newer-console version, Shaba Games built the PS1 edition during a period when the series was appearing across several very different systems. It retains the hallmark goal-driven structure and combo-focused skating that defined the early Tony Hawk games while adapting the experience for the original PlayStation. For players exploring the series on PS1, it represents the final numbered Pro Skater entry on the platform and an important companion to the first two games.