Tony Hawk's Underground

Tony Hawk's Underground for Game Boy Advance is Activision's 2003 handheld skateboarding game, developed by Vicarious Visions. Released alongside the better-known console editions, it is a separate adaptation built for Nintendo's portable hardware rather than a reduced version of Neversoft's fully 3D game. It retains the series' score-driven trick skating and takes its place as the fourth Tony Hawk release on Game Boy Advance, but presents its parks through an isometric viewpoint with polygonal riders.

The foundation is the familiar Tony Hawk rhythm of building points before the clock expires. A skater rolls through a park, launches from ramps, lands grabs and flip tricks, grinds rails and ledges, and links actions into longer combinations. Successful goals reward accurate control and route planning as much as raw score chasing. The diagonal camera gives each course a broad view, while players learn to judge approaches, landings, rails and ramps from the perspective chosen for the handheld game.

Its principal addition is Story Mode, which turns the usual career structure into a character-led progression. Players create a skater and improve abilities such as speed, hang time, spin, grind balance and manual balance through play. Parks contain professional skaters who offer timed tasks, including specific trick combinations and collection challenges. Completing those requests opens access to restricted areas, unlocks more techniques and earns money for the in-game skate shop.

The story systems also make falls matter beyond a missed combo. The custom skater has health and protective-gear meters: bails reduce health, food can restore it, and items such as helmets and kneepads help with protection. Clothing and equipment can be bought and changed at the shop. The game also introduces a brief on-foot “run out,” allowing the skater to step off the board and connect a sequence in a new way before getting rolling again. These features give the portable release a light role-playing layer without abandoning the quick, goal-based format associated with the series.

Tony Hawk's Underground GBA offers more than the main progression. Arcade and Free Skate provide alternate ways to use its ten parks, with their own goals, secrets and unlocks, while the roster includes 17 professional skaters. Local multiplayer supports pass-the-system Trick Attack and H-O-R-S-E contests. Two Game Boy Advance systems and a link cable enable head-to-head shopping-cart races, giving the cartridge a competitive option beyond comparing solo scores.

The Game Boy Advance version is especially notable for how deliberately it differs from Tony Hawk's Underground on home consoles. Its isometric presentation and compact structure suit the system, and its Story Mode uses character statistics, challenges, equipment and exploration to frame the skating. It does not reproduce the console release's expansive cinematic campaign or every customization feature; instead, Vicarious Visions shaped the 2003 game around portable sessions while preserving the central appeal of chaining tricks, completing objectives and steadily improving a skater.