Pretending I'm A Superman: The Tony Hawk Video Game Story

In the late 90s and early 2000s skateboarding undertook a major resurgence and renaissance driven by an unlikely spark. That spark being Neversoft developed and Activision published video game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (THPS), and later the sequel Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. Today as we look back on that franchise its legacy has taken on a life of its own, particularly in regards to the game's impact on skateboarding as a publicly accepted professional sport, music and all-round pop culture.

The new documentary Pretending I'm A Superman: The Tony Hawk Video Game Story explores the development process of those first two games and their subsequent impacts. Via interviews with developers, professional skaters, musicians and of course, Tony Hawk himself the viewer learns of the difficulties the game had simply getting a green light to begin development.

When the first ideas for a skateboarding game began to percolate the sport was in a downturn in popularity and mainstream acceptance, and as such it was viewed as an unprofitable video game avenue to explore. However, when Tony Hawk was approached and saw the potential in Neversoft's rudimentary demo level that all changed rapidly. From there Tony would take a very hands on approach to the development by constantly play testing, doing cotton capture for the game and even working alongside the developers to ensure the physics felt right and that all the trick names were correct.

As we now look back on the game franchise it had a monumental impact on the career of not only Tony Hawk but all of the skaters he asked to also be involved. Musician also built careers from having their music featured in the game. Most importantly though the game shot skateboarding back into mainstream pop culture and cemented skateboarding as a professional sport worthy of inclusion in the Olympics.

This documentary does a phenomenal job of telling the story of THPS 1+2, and even got me so hyped for the remake of those two games that I immediately preorder upon finishing the film. 

My one criticism is that the film focuses those two entries in the THPS franchise and only glances over the subsequent instalments. It would have been incredible if the documentary had developed a little more deeply in the demise of the franchise with later interactions, and also the rise of the games biggest rival in the EA produced Skate franchise.

Overall though an incredible watch for 90s wanting a hit of nostalgia and added hype fuel ahead of the remake release.

★★★ ½

Pretending I'm A Superman: The Tony Hawk Video Game Story is available on iTunes now.

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