An infographic for your enjoyment - A 1UP classic from January 3, 2013

Hello friends, work is busy but here was something that I put together for the heck of it. It's been a while since I created an infographic and I hope this one might come in handy the next time you see skateboarding on TV.

As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Meeting my heroes, and sneaker dreams do come true!

In the previous Fridays I had mentioned that I was a huge sneaker nerd. Collecting sneaker magazines from Japan, and ordering some overstock from the Eastbay catalog to feel like I was a part of the culture. I also talked about my favorite designs at Oakley, and how they started creating some amazing footwear. It was around this time that I seemed to manifest some amazing things while working at college. For example my friends, and I had managed to get into the E3 trade shows in the late ‘90s, and early ‘00s by creating a fake company. We would wear suits, and walk the halls as if we were exhibitors. We got a lot of access, and met some great industry people.

Around that time the demo for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater game had come out. I was a big fan of skateboarding. I figured that there was a chance that Tony might be at the E3, so I took some skateboards with me, and scored an autograph. Mind you that he still wasn’t at the peak of his popularity, so you could absolutely surprise him if you recognized him at a non-skate event. This started a trend where I would bring him a present, and birthday card at each E3. He'd be happy to sign some decks if I asked. He, and the team at Neversoft started to recognize me at the shows, and welcomed some short interviews because I started writing as the west coast correspondent to Planet Tony Hawk. Tony was always happy to mug for the camera if I asked.

After the THPS game became a hit I figured that there would be more pro skaters showing up at the following E3. This was almost guaranteed as a sequel had been announced by Activision, and many other studios said that they were making skating games as well. The next year I walked the hall with a stack of decks, and even a poster just in case I ran into the other pros. Sure enough I stumbled across a bunch of them as they were getting ready to put on a demo at the Infogrames booth. Nobody else at the show knew who they were. I recognized Colin McKay, Bob Burnquist, Bucky Lasek, and Rune Glifberg. Sadly I did not recognize Jason Ellis, well actually I thought he was Fred Durst from Limp Bizkit fame. I didn’t know why Fred was there, but I thought he was just a celeb hanging out. I apologized to Jason a couple years later about the accidental disrespect, and he laughed. He said that it was all good, his friends actually called him Fred Durst because they dressed so much alike.

Anyhow Bob Burnquist was one of my skateboard heroes along with Tony. The Brazilian had made a name for himself, first at Anti-Hero, then Flip, and the Firm. Since he could skate regular, and switch (opposite foot forward) with ease he ended up progressing vert skateboarding faster than any other person at the time. He was also one of the pros that was sponsored by Oakley. He had appeared on a massive billboard on the 405 freeway in Carson. Not too far from where I lived. Long before the E3 I got my hands on a huge poster of that same billboard. My gamble of taking it to the expo that day paid off. I went away with a collection of autographed decks, and a personalized poster. Bob asked for my name, and signed it to Noáh instead of Noe. I was too nervous to give him the spelling of my name when I showed him the poster. My brother asked why he wrote it that way later on, and I said “oh he did the Portuguese spelling of Noe, instead of the Spanish spelling.” He bought the answer. I got the poster framed not long after, and it had been sitting in the garage for decades. I finally had cleared enough room to bring it indoors.

It turned out that meeting Tony, Bob, and the other pros was not the only amazing thing that I would manifest in the early 2000’s. Managing to meet the AND1 basketball players, and even getting to design a couple of tour posters was a story for a future Friday. I enjoyed my Nike basketball sneakers, but I longed for anything that was different. I heard that Oakley had gotten into basketball sneakers, and even sponsored a few pro players. Michael Jordan, and Dennis Rodman were often seen sporting their shades. I assumed that their basketball line also stopped as size 14, like their other shoes. Sadly I found out too little too late that they had actually made that line of shoes up to size 18. The problem for me was that the sneakers were not available in retail stores. You could only find them in the dedicated Oakley shops. The nearest one to me was in Irvine, about 30 miles from Long Beach. It wasn’t like I could just check whenever I wanted. Worse yet, they only made them for a season or two before discontinuing the line. I was heartbroken. I had heard that Oakley had a few outlet stores, and perhaps I might be able to track down any remaining stock.

I wrote a heartfelt letter to Oakley headquarters, and told them about how hard it was finding shoes in my size. One of their designers nicknamed “Joker” wrote back, and said he understood how hard it was. He asked for my address. I assumed that he might send a tee shirt, or give me a list of shops to check. Instead a couple weeks later while I was working in the college computer lab when I got a call from the mailroom. They said two massive boxes had come in for me, and asked if I could pick them up. Normally the mailroom had computers delivered directly to us, so I thought this was odd. It turned out that the giant boxes weren’t addressed to my computer lab, they were addressed to me personally. More than that, they had come from Oakley HQ. I got them in my lab, and my boss, and brother were there as I unwrapped them. Seven brand new shoes, and sandals were sent to me, along with a nice note from Joker. I remained humbled by this generosity almost 20 years later.

I wore one pair of sandals every day for years until they fell apart. I promised that I would work even harder to preserve the remaining gifts. I still wear the second set of sandals every day. They are worn, and dirty, but still good. I also only wore one pair of black sneakers. I would only wear them to special occasions like weddings, or four times a year when I performed for my orchestra concerts. I often wore black sneakers instead of dress shoes whenever I played because formal shoes were so uncomfortable to me. Sadly the heels on them were starting to break, so I had to retire them. But rather than throw them away like I did with my old sandals, I glued the soles back on, and kept them in my lineup because they meant so much to me.

I never wore any of the other shoes because they were so rare. Instead I kept them boxed up in the garage for decades. Even to this day I had yet to find a special occasion to wear any of them to. So they remained in boxes. I wouldn’t guess how much they were worth on the market. I'm sure a basketball player might make me an offer but they were priceless to me. I had friends, and coworkers with collections much greater than mine, but even they had never been gifted shoes by a manufacturer. I was blessed in this regard, and remember that blessing every time I looked at my shoe rack.

I wrote a massive thank you note to Joker, and the team at Oakley for their generosity. I felt like one of those Make-a-wish kids with the outpouring of love. I was praying that I didn’t have cancer, and my mom had reached out to them on my behalf. When I originally got the box I felt like it was some sort of prank, or worse, a huge mistake. I expected that they would be sending me the bill for all those sneakers separately. I even started saving my paychecks in case the bill came in, but that never happened. There wasn’t much I could say or do for the team at Oakley. They were sitting on top of the world, there was nothing that I could have gifted them in return. As a budding illustrator I printed a poster for Joker, and sent it along with my thank you letter.

A few months later I managed to get over to Oakley for a factory tour not unlike the one from the Global Cycling Network. I don’t think they offer tours these days. Sadly Joker wasn’t working that day, so I never got a chance to meet him, and thank him in person. The company was everything I could have imagined. It was like getting a tour of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. We got to see everything except the designers at work. They were locked behind some massive industrial doors. The tour guide said that very few people in the company were allowed to go into that room, even after working there for a few years she had never even been allowed in. We saw the full size NBA court for the employees. We saw some of the machines that created their new frames, and patented technology. Of course we weren’t allowed to take pictures of any of that stuff.

I told my family how amazing the factory was. I did my best to recall everything that I saw. How they had different machines to test the strength, and resiliency of their lenses, and frames during quality control. How they had insanely high tolerances when creating their patented lenses. How their rejects would get shredded, and the plastics could be melted, and reused. For the integrity of the product they wouldn’t accept the microscopic defects on future lenses, but they would sell the shredded plastics of their defects to their competition. I saw equipment that allowed them to bond materials in zero atmosphere. It was tech that none of their competitors had access to. It was part design house, and part science lab. They were working on the coolest products on the planet. Lastly I told my family that it would be a dream job to work there. That wasn’t in the cards for me, but I was glad to have taken that trip. It gave me tremendous perspective on the future, and what could be.

With some changes to my healthcare providers last year my wife, and I were able to see an optometrist for the first time in years. I got her some cute pink Coach frames last fall, and a couple months ago I completed a dream of mine. I was able to purchase some Oakley frames for my prescription glasses. I didn’t think it would take so long to get that off of my checklist, but here we were. Now to see if I could track down a watch so I could complete the look… I never thought that the freak storms of late 2023, and early 2024 would end up doing wonders for my mental health. It would cause me to clean up, and organize the hallway, and hallway closet in the apartment so I could have more room for myself. I fixed cabinets, and helped my kid, and wife organize, but neglected making space for my stuff for years. Now I could bring in the rare Japanese game books, comics, and magazines that I had collected through my time in high school, and college. The little things that I kept that made me happy.

A few weeks into 2024 another major storm rolled through. With that more worries about the leaky garage caused me to clean up more space in the apartment, and dig through the garage once more. This time I would bring in the sneakers that I’d been holding onto for a generation. As well as a few other gems. Doing this helped me reconnect with the things I loved. They brought back a flood of memories, and reminded me that I should do things for myself more frequently. It was not healthy to sacrifice for my family, and friends, but never take time for myself. I would get a chance to appreciate the things that I enjoyed, and recharge my mental, and emotional batteries. 

These changes in my priorities rekindled my imagination. They allowed me to share stories with you, and my family that I hadn’t told before. I’ll be sharing more stories in the near future. I hope that everyone reading this has something they are passionate about. I hope you are making time for your interests, and taking care of yourself. Let me know in the comments section if you were a fan of Oakley, or any other company. Tell me what your favorite products from them were. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

My favorite Games of All-Time #8: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 - Originally published on 1UP - June 30, 2006

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 should be a videogame in everyone's collection. It doesn't matter if you are an RPG nut, sports fan, import snob, racing junkie, RTS kook or a FPS virtuoso. THPS 2 crosses genres and appeals to many types of gamers. It is the perfect balance of skateboarding culture and game.

There is never a reason not to own a copy of the definitive title in the series. The first game was groundbreaking, revolutionary, phenomenal and just about any other word you can think of to describe a title that completely rewrote the history books.

Neversoft put themselves on the map in 1999 with the release of the original Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. The game came out under the radar. But when combined with tremendous word of mouth and Tony Hawk landing the first 900 in competition helped turn the game (and the art of skateboarding) into a sensation.

A series usually takes a little time to find it's rhythm. For example Gran Turismo has only gotten better since the original. Some purists will tell you that very few games past the first are ever better. THPS 2 is the exception to the rule. No skate game before or since was better.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater became successful because it appealed to both skaters and gamers. Gamers with no interest in skateboarding enjoyed the arcade feel of the title. They liked that they could learn the controls quickly and begin building a library of tricks and combos within minutes. Skaters that were casual gamers enjoyed the game because it offered the creativity and details of actual skateboarding. The names, tricks, animations and even skaters themselves pulled from real life.

The sequel gave both gamers and skaters more of what they wanted and then some. The addition of the manual, allowed for trick chains to become longer and scores to go up exponentially. But this alone would not put the game on my top-10 list. The graphics were sharper, the music better, the characters larger, the control tighter, the trick library expanded, the animation more fluid and the details... well the devil was in the details. Detail is what carries this game into my top-10 favorites.

Each skater in THPS 2 had their own look and feel. Their personality shone through their special trick selection. We could see great differences in the way street and vert skaters handled on each area. Even the levels had their own personality. Parts of New York and Philadelphia made famous in skateboard videos turned up as an amalgamation for each level.

Neversoft managed to cater to all audiences in this game. Knowing that there was an actual Leap of Faith in San Diego, Venice Beach skatepark in Southern California or Mariseille skatepark in the south of France did not make the game any better for those that played. Even the inclusion of Skate Street, a real-world skatepark that many of the Neversoft crew frequented did not make the game more memorable.

The levels were important because they changed the psyche of the gamer. They changed the perception of the mainstream audience. The thought that real places like those featured in THPS 2 began to get players hyped on the world around them. Gamers would never look at a bench, a set of stairs and a rail in the same way again. Every block became a potential skate spot. The game made kids want to learn to skateboarding.

Skateboarding enjoyed a renaissance in the late 90's. ESPN says the X Games are partially responsible for that. Well, Tony and his games should also be allowed to take some of the credit.

I don't recall the last time a Madden game made a kid want to learn to play football... but skateboards became a magical vehicle, like a flying carpet, everyone wanted one. More important, everyone wanted to learn to ride, grind and kickflip everything in their path. Casual gamers learned that the world was a playground for pro skaters. The best never had to do anything else but skate and enjoy success. THPS 2 gave both a player editor and a park editor. There was no reason we could not live vicariously in Tony's world as well.

As a rule there will never be two levels as fun in a skate game as Venice Beach and Marseille. Both of these levels inspired by the real-world beauty of skating by the beach. Both of these locations legendary in skateboarding circles. Venice became famous for breeding the most technical and dirty skate rats around. As it was in the heyday of Dogtown as it is today, "locals only." On the other side of the globe many a pro cited Marseille as the greatest skatepark ever designed. With smooth concrete and lines that flowed for days. If anything Marseille was the complete opposite of Venice, whose harsh angles, cracked concrete and rough facade weren't organic at all.

Neversoft took the genre a step further by introducing many hidden elements. The School II featured details from schools actually used in many skate videos. What made the level memorable was the hidden pool accessible only by grinding the "Open Sez Me" rail when the school bell rang. This hidden pool didn't show up in many maps and was unknown by many gamers for months. Try keeping a secret like that today!

By the time THPS 2 hit Tony Hawk was at the top of his game and planned on going out of competitive skateboarding. Tony wanted to release a video with his absolute best stuff and then just walk away from competitions. This part was in the Birdhouse skateboard video "The End" released a half a year before THPS 2. In it Tony skates one of the largest ramps ever constructed for a video part. According to Tony the inspiration for the infamous "Bullring Ramp" was part Hot Wheels track and part Animal Chin. Neversoft didn't just recreate the ramp and the loop for the game, they also created an entire level around it.

The End was one of my favorite videos of all-time and seeing that ramp come back in game form almost brought a tear to my eye. The parks after that level, assuming you managed to get gold in every competition, were even more incredible. The best of which was Skate Heaven.

Skate Heaven features the best portions of parks that are no longer around. These include the plexiglas ramp that Tony Alva and the Z-Boys would skate in the early 70's, the snake run and full pipe from the Pipeline Skatepark, the Combi Pool from Del-Mar where toughest punks in skateboarding like Duane "the Master of Disaster" Peters would compete, the Kona ditches from Hawaii, the rail from San Dieguito elementary school and even Tony Hawk's backyard ramp from before his father passed away. They were all in one place.

All of these details, many legendary in the eyes of a skateboarder, defined the game. For that Neversoft would always have my respect. The legacy of the game would be cemented in the third hidden portion for the game (the second was in Marseille). A certain rail caused the volcano in Skate Heaven to erupt. If a player managed to jump into the volcano during the eruption they would be transported to the core of Skate Heaven. A ramp titled the "Enema Chen" and based on the ramp featured in the cult Powell Peralta skate film "the Search for Animal Chin" waited for them. As in the movie this ramp even featured a secret tunnel that allowed players to skate through to the other side.

Neversoft managed to put both the Bullring Ramp and the Animal Chin ramp in one game... I was completely blown away by their efforts.

Other secrets included "McSqueeb," the way Tony looked like in the late 80's. Complete with bright pink shirt, knee-high socks and the (Flock of Seagulls) flop haircut. "Kid Mode" where all of the skaters could played as their childhood contemporary. The "Chopper Drop," a competition level floating on the ocean served as the other secret level aside from Skate Heaven.

After locating every "Blue Text Transfer" bonus in the game players were rewarded with every teenage boy's skateboarding dream gal, Private Carrera.

With every secret and playable level in THPS 2 Neversoft managed to make a skateboarding game more epic that Sega's Top Skater. If the control was not on par with the level design then the game would have been a bust. When I say Neversoft rewrote the history books I mean it. Without them the experience that was Top Skater would never have been brought home. It would have never been expanded and made better.

Neversoft is one of the most underrated game studios in the world. Many people might think of them as a one trick pony but it couldn't be further from the truth. I say they are as good as Incognito Inc. or Sony Santa Monica. While the latter studios were allowed to develop new IP, Neversoft has been pushing out sequels for one game under the watchful eye (and pressure) of publishing giant Activision. Lest anyone forget that Neversoft also created the original Spider-Man engine for the PS1 and Gun for the modern systems and PSP. They are a studio that is capable of so much more if given the chance.

I doubt that it was easy to make THPS2 and make it so well within a year of the first title. It is tough to improve upon perfection. Neversoft has not made a better skateboarding game since.

All of that praise said before I even mention that Spider-Man was also hidden in THPS 2! Any game great enough to break my top-10 is special. Any game from a US developer that breaks the top-10 is extra special. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 is the greatest skateboarding game ever made. It will never fall from this spot. Believe it.

I’d like to hear your personal top-10, top-20, top fighting games, top sports games, or top games in any genre. Let me know in the comments section please. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

My favorite Games of All-Time #13: Top Skater - Originally published on 1UP - May 26, 2006

When I think of Top Skater little beads of sweat build on my brow. So much went into that game that I honestly have no idea how Sega managed to pull it all together. In short I am humbled by the design.

I tip my hat, I bow my head... any analogy you can think of as a sign of respect. Top Skater is one of my most beloved games and also one of the most overlooked influential titles of all-time. Top Skater begat the Sega action sports legacy, just look to my desktop picture to see what's I'm talking about. My desktop picture is important to me for many reasons. Not the least of which was because it allowed some common ground to talk with Jim of Pennywise.

Before I start talking about Cookie, Ken-ta or Jill. Before the big-name sponsors that lent their names to the game. Even before I talk about the revolutionary control set-up I have to mention one thing. Atari's 1986 arcade smash hit 720 (degrees) was the original arcade skateboarding game. It pushed the genre through its dynamic control and punk-themed music by "Faceplant". 720 is partially responsible for almost every skateboarding game to date.

10 years after 720 Sega's Top Skater rewrote the book on skate games. True to the legacy of other titles in the Sega arcade amusement (AM) groups. AM1 (later renamed WOW Entertainment) created the only other Sega arcade game on my list, the Ocean Hunter. AM2, the most famous unit under the direction of Yu Suzuki was responsible for Outrun, Virtua Fighter, Daytona and scores of other instant classics. AM3 was renamed Hitmaker in 2000 and was responsible for Top Skater and Ollie King. AM 11 renamed AV created Ollie King. Sega's platform developers Smilebit created the Jet Set Radio series... now you are all caught up.

Hitmaker was on pace for something special when the control scheme was revealed. Top Skater used a skateboard for the arcade interface rather than a joystick. Players had to stand upright on the cabinet and not only turn the skateboard from side to side to change direction, but also tilt the board to carve a turn and even slap down the tail to "ollie" or the nose to "nollie" and catch air.

A skater gained points and speed by successfully performing ramp jumps and collecting time tokens. Okay, so the experience was not a 100% accurate representation of skateboarding but then again what is? Top Skater was a downhill racer that did feature a lot of tricks based from real life.

A skater could grind on ledges and rails. They could even ollie and perform wallrides on billboards. The physics for gaining speed were semi-realistic. A player had to find the fastest line down the level while at the same time looking for ramps and shortcuts that would reward them with speed. Players that carved hard angles onto ramps and ollied at the lip were rewarded with bigger and higher airs. Those that managed to carve a fullpipe with enough speed could actually go a complete 360 degrees upside down. Special moves, mind bending animations and massive points were the icing on the cake.

If I could pin down the one thing that made Top Skater memorable it would have to be catching air out of halfpipes. Gamers that knew how to carve the gigantic snake runs could keep going perpetually higher and faster on the halfipe. These airs became longer, trickier and more dynamic. Special animations accompanied these airs. Some of the tricks based on actual skateboarding and a few based on snowboarding. The question you may be asking is "so what?" We've seen tons of these moves in other skateboarding, inline and snowboarding games. Why would Top Skater hold a place in my top game list above them?

For the simple reason that Top Skater broke taboo. They animated the air out of a halfpipe by crossing the horizon line. As an aside; some people get motion sickness while playing FPS games. This is because their eyes tell their brain that they are moving, while their inner-ear tells the brain that they are not. This mix of information causes them to feel queasy. One of the things that most video editors, animators and game designers do not do is cross the horizon line. If the horizon line is tilted it can make mild motion sickness worse. Like watching the ocean pitch from side to side while on a boat causes you to get sea sick.

With the exception of air combat sims, most games never break, let alone slightly tilt the horizon line. Watch the video for Warhawk and then the one for Snoopy vs. the Red Baron. Do you notice that the Snoopy game allows the camera to pitch and roll with the plane? The camera crosses the horizon plane and gives the player a sense of vertigo. This is one of the reasons I'm looking forward to the Snoopy game more than Warhawk. Well, that and about a $560 price difference.

Back to the game on my list!

Top Skater doesn't just cross the horizon line, it wraps it up into a little ball and throws it right out the window. The skater will fly out of the ramp and contort themselves in various positions when performing "A" and "S" class tricks like the Alley McTwist. When the skater does this the camera will pan back and rotate with the animation. Often times leaving the player not knowing which end is up until they reenter the ramp. For those few moments we are with the skater, we get to see the world through their eyes.

No game before or since has ever done it as well. Not SSX, not 1080 and none of the Tony Hawk games. In fact Dave Stohl with Activision and Scott Pease with Neversoft Entertainment said that Top Skater was one of the biggest influences in the creation of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. The downhill levels in THPS could attest to that. After eight years the Hawk franchise returns to its roots with Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam. The game will be released almost 10 years after Top Skater and a full 20 years after 720.

But this isn't where my praise of Top Skater ends. I just said that the camera was the biggest highlight for me. It isn't the only reason Top Skater was a memorable game and earns a place on this list. Top Skater also features some unique characters, each with their own personality and trick library.

These characters not only represented the archetypical skaters, they also had names like Keith, Jake and Ash. The skaters were even sponsored by shoe companies like Vans, eS and etnies. The soundtrack was provided entirely by Pennywise, the Orange County punk band with tremendous street credit. These little details helped round out the world that the game was set in. The character models were detailed for their time and did resemble skaters from the mid to late 90's. Hitmaker made great use of the then new Model-2 Arcade board when designing the levels as well.

Both the normal and expert skate parks had their own look and feel. The levels resembled a big-time race in an exotic local that could have taken place, if 100 foot ramp jumps were normal for skaters. True to the design in other Sega games like Daytona 2, the levels in Top Skater made you wish that places like this really existed. Stadium length tracks where skaters could grind and wallride with reckless abandon while moving in and out of snake runs and jumping distances that would make Danny Way jealous.

As if the game wasn't already a fun experience Hitmaker hid a number of things in Top Skater. One of these things were hidden characters, Alex the surfer and P-Nut the bodyboarder. Wait, bodyboarder and surfer? That's right! These characters floated above the air, could paddle to gain speed and even featured their own special tricks.

Top Skater also had a level hidden within the Expert course. This level was filled with ramps and bowls and known better as the Freestyle course.

The characters could skate regular (lead with the left foot) or goofy (lead with the right) based on their statistics, players could put in a code to change their stance and thus performance in the game.

Top Skater even had a code that allowed skaters to appear "super-deformed," that is have large heads, hands and feet and look like giant kids. This style of character later appeared in another Sega game called Virtua Fighter Kids. The "Kid Code" even worked on Alex and P-Nut.

Every detail that went into Top Skater forever changed the face of action sports games. The game was just about as balanced and innovative as any game on my list. The control, animation, sound, music, level and character design were way ahead of their time. Many of the hidden features went on to be copied in future games not only by Sega, but by the rest of the industry.

Three years before Tony Hawk's Pro Skater featured a couple of downhill levels with rails to grind, giant halfpipes to air out of and ramps to jump, four years before kid mode appeared in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 and five years before Kelly Slater the surfer appeared in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 there was Top Skater.

Top Skater began a legacy that not only carried over to every other Sega action sports game but also the rest of the industry. For every flying skateboard that you see from now on, for every Tony Hawk clone that has come out we can pay homage to the creator. Top Skater has earned its place on my list. It will remain as one of my favorite games of all-time.

I’d like to hear your personal top-10, top-20, top fighting games, top sports games, or top games in any genre. Let me know in the comments section please. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

My skate game history, and coming up with ideas for a 720 sequel...

I’ve always wondered what a sequel to 720° would have been like, assuming that it had as much effort put into it as the original. Atari didn’t often make sequels in the arcade, those tended to pop up on home consoles under license from a third-party developer. Their quality was never guaranteed. Playing the original game on the Xbox One S over the past few months has given me lots of ideas. There is still a lot of replay value in it, and at the same time lots of room for improvement. Skate games, as you may know have evolved greatly since 1986. I talked previously about Sega’s Top Skater was the catalyst that helped spark the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater franchise. I had a hand in helping shape the THPS series, but from outside the company. I was the west coast correspondents to PlanetTonyHawk.com (PTH), which was a fan page dedicated to the THPS series. It was launched in 1999 while the game was a demo, and had yet to be released.

In 2000 I was a finalist in the THPS2 World Championships. Activision flew me, and 11 other people up north to enjoy the X-Games in San Franciso, and compete in the game tournament. It wasn’t much of a contest as essentially we watched Ben Addair, Sean Fontenot, and “THPSAndy” Gentile fight for the top spot. In 2001 I came in 4th Place, Twin Galaxies THPS2 Best-Combo World Championship. So I could play the game very well, but at the same time I enjoyed trying to figure out ways to make it better. Neversoft, and Tony himself welcomed my feedback given my relationship with PTH, and the World Championships. I would write detailed game design documents, and provide feedback on the series as a whole. Some of these were sent directly to the team, other ideas were posted on the PTH forums. My years of playing games in the arcade, PC, and consoles, as well as being a big fan of skateboarding helped translate the elements that I thought would be great fits for the series.

I went so far as to exploit glitches in the THPS games, and record videos so I could get my ideas across. I would upload these, and show the team ways to change the control scheme. I pitched the ideas of being able to perform wall plants, reverts, and caveman tricks to expand the combo system. I talked about locations like Skateopia, and Japan as perfect settings for new levels. Many people on the PTH forums noted how many of my suggestions seemed to influence the finished versions of THPS3, 4, Underground, and Underground 2. I never so much as received an in-game credit, or thank you. Still the game studio acknowledged my contributions. They sent me a free copy of the games as they were released, and even managed to get me into the E3 on a couple of occasions. All the while I hoped that Neversoft, or another studio might be willing to take a chance on hiring me. I asked Tony, and Ralph a producer at Neversoft if they would be willing to write me letters of recommendation. They obliged, and said some very nice things about my contributions.

I thought about getting an entry-level job in QA, based on my ability I thought I’d be a good fit. THPSAndy was beyond gifted as a player, and had been picked up by Neversoft after the world championships, and later absorbed into Activision Blizzard to become a designer. As a fellow finalist I didn’t seem able to get my foot in the door. Neversoft was receptive to my feedback, but they didn’t have plans to add me to their team. I applied at Activision, Capcom, Disney Interactive, and a few other studios for over a decade, but never got so much as a call-back. It was a bummer having my ideas help shape skateboarding’s biggest franchise, but not being considered for a job. I did manage to find work at JPL for a few years, which as any science nerd would say was a dream come true. Part of me still hopes to get a chance to develop games.

With that said let’s figure out how I would approach a sequel to 720°. What types of graphics would it have, what sort of aesthetic, or theme would it take? How would the control be when compared to all the other skate games in recent memory? Activision flooded the market with THPS sequels just about every year for almost a decade. This ensured that they would hold the monopoly on the genre, while at the same time burning rivals out from trying to compete. This seemed to be their approach with the Guitar Hero franchise as well. Thankfully Electronic Arts, the company that gave us Skate or Die, was willing to take on a fresh approach when they released Skate in 2007. EA Montreal actually floated the idea of flying me, and the PTH webmaster Trevor Esposito, up to Canada to get our take on Skate while in development. It would have been nice, but the studio couldn’t get the okay from the higher-ups to do that. Skate, and games that came after like Skater XL were focused on more accurately reflecting the process, and even look of modern skateboarding. The control was very unlike the Hawk series, with making the analog sticks act like legs, and feet to control the board. Performing tricks, and combinations, was not super easy as it was in the THPS series. The challenge of accurate skating was also the reward of playing. The game even took the camera POV directly from skate videos.

I would not use the THPS, or Skate 3 formats for a 720° sequel. The Atari classic had its own look, and feel, which would be lost if it went into the format employed by the current crop. It had to be in an isometric perspective. There were examples where isometric games actually worked well for the genre. Vicarious Visions established themselves as great developers when they adapted Jet Grind Radio, and the THPS series for the Game Boy Advance. Using this perspective could still work well in an action sports title, as long as all of the other control, and design elements played in its favor. Bright neon colors, bold patterns, checkerboards, and other stylistic clashes are often what we think about when it comes to ‘80s art, music, and fashion. From an aesthetic point of view a 720° sequel should play right into all of that. Every stage, location, character, should feel heavily influenced from the 1980s.

Skate City was the dream place to skate in the original 720°, but if you remember there was a timer that prevented players from exploring the city. You were forced to rush from contest, to contest without actually getting to enjoy all the ramps, and skateable features scattered throughout the city. A timer was also used in the early THPS games, and that really hampered the experience if you weren’t going after a high score run. Exploration, and pushing your abilities in the stages kept players coming back. Skate, and more modern games understand that open world games are liberating. Players can go through these games at their own pace, for their own enjoyment. I would do the same for Skate City, but purposefully fence off areas of it. These portions wouldn’t be accessible unless you completed objectives, or found secrets throughout the game. These were some of the ideas that Atari actually had in mind for the original game. Yet imagine a map 100 times larger, and more detailed than anything Atari could have ever produced with 1980s technology.

I would sprinkle in homages to actual places, and ramps of yesteryear in the game. It would be easy to find ways to make them fit within the context of the environment. Skate City is not designed with pedestrians in mind. The architecture is all created to be ridden on, through, and over. The whole place was meant to be thrashed by some radical kids. Yes we would still feature shops in the shapes of respective skate gear, but wedges, and transitions would be built into fast food restaurants, schools, and other buildings. There would also be rails, and ledges that could be grinded. Street skating had not gone in that direction when 720° came out. It is not impossible to design a level in a strict isometric POV. Atari managed to do it in ’87. The studio got around buildings, or ramps that would have obscured the main character by using transparency. For example in the Ramp contest the far walls are wood, but the closer transitions, and deck are lexan, a clear plastic. This was a detail pulled from real life.

Plexiglass ramps, sometimes referred to as Rad Ramps, were portable halfpipes. They could set up at skate parks, parking lots, and even inside malls for demos. Although difficult to skate on they helped shape the future or ramp design. They were instrumental in pushing the boundaries of what was possible on a skateboard. Tracker Trucks worked with Firestone to create the first portable clear ramp. A version of this was featured in THPS2. The first skateboard loop, the “Death Loop” accomplished by Duane Peters, was done on a plexiglass ramp. Then there was the Turning Point ramp. It was purpose-built full-pipe-with-cradle that could be adjusted to different angles. It was used in the early boom of skateboarding for contests, and to get many skaters used to the idea of being inverted while on the board. These types of ramps, and building construction would be sprinkled throughout my version of Skate City.

Then there is the question of the contests, and the main character. How would they be different? Keep visiting the blog, and I’ll do a complete break down in the next few days. If you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!