Earlier today, gamers around the world rejoiced as Geoff Keighley and the ‘Bird Man’ himself, Tony Hawk, unveiled Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2: Remastered kick flipping their way into our homes on September 4th. The reveal was the focus point of today’s Summer Game Fest and presented us with a trailer rife with nostalgia and plenty of gameplay. The reaction has been nothing short of astoundingly positive. Especially since the Skater genre seems to have taken a bit of a hiatus since Skate 3 (and the disappointing THPS 5 leaving a terrible taste in everyone’s mouths).
This reaction got me to thinking; This is the perfect time to restore a nearly lost genre of not only Skater games, but extreme sports in general. One game in particular immediately came to mind. Acclaim’s Aggressive Inline.
As soon as the intro begins you hear the plucking guitar melody of Hoobastank‘s Crawling in the Dark and can’t help but feel the energy as the tune kicks off a montage of professional inline skaters like Franky Morales, Matt Lindemuth, Eito Yasutoko, and more soaring through the air, grinding railings in skate parks, pulling off butterfly inducing flips, and wiping out in glorious fashion. Immediately you knew what you were in for.
Developed by Z-Axis (also responsible for similar games like the Dave Mira’s BMX Freestyle series) and published by AKA Acclaim, Aggressive Inline debuted on May 28th, 2002, roughly five months before the heavily lauded Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4. The game was 100% a product of its generation. From the main menu, collection of licensed tracks, roster of professional skaters alongside ‘societal tropes’ and graffiti infused aesthetics, the game screamed early 2000s. It was glorious.
I remember my first few moments with the game after the choosing the first available stage, The Movie Lot. As soon as I was in control of my character I felt right at home. Maneuvering around the environment didn’t take much getting used to and before I knew it, I was comboing rail grinds, wall rides, and grabs thanks to a fluid and intuitive combo system. Taking a moment to pause, I cycled through the available BGM tracks and could only smile as I continued grinding to some good ol’ Papa Roach.
As I explored the stage I came across the first of many NPCs that would give me a task to accomplish. This was a core element of the gameplay. By completing these ‘missions’ you would trigger fun cut scenes that actually served as utilities which further opened up the stage for bigger trick opportunities, and more missions to complete. There was even a lite RPG element that tracked your usage of tricks and skills like Manuals, Backward Skating, Wall Riding, etc. and leveled up your character in those areas as you gained enough Exp. to do so.
Once you made enough progress, more stage would unlock and the gameplay loop would start to make itself more apparent. I was fully invested in completing every mission available to achieve the highest possible rating before moving onto the next area, and each time I’d crack my knuckles in anticipation of what craziness I’d be able to do in the new environment. Simply put; The game was a ton of fun. I was fortunate to have a few friends that shared my enthusiasm for it, especially considering it seemed to fly under the radar of many gamers despite solid reviews for the console versions.
Seeing longtime Tony Hawk fans getting excited for the upcoming remasters triggers a very warming, nostalgic feeling. With no better way to describe it; “You had to be there.”.
While I would absolutely be on board for a revival of the IP, it is unlikely as Acclaim has since shut its doors back in 2004, leaving many of its IPs locked in publisher limbo. This doesn’t mean someone can’t just make a new Inline skating game of course, but it’s understandable that there haven’t been many due to lack of interest.
Remasters are a great way to gauge consumer interest in a particular genre/IP, and if today’s reaction wasn’t a blaring siren to developers, then we may actually all be doomed to play COD and Madden every year for the rest of our lives.
Juuuuuuust kidding!
Maybe.