'Pretending I'm a Superman': How 'Birdman' Tony Hawk set the standard for skateboarding video games
Extreme sports have been a fan-favorite not just when enjoyed on television, but also as a competitive video game. For those obsessed with skateboarding games across multiple platforms, the all-time cult favorite has to be the Tony Hawk series. Earlier this year, the announcement that the game series would be remastered came as a pleasant surprise for fans who had played the classic back in the late '90s.
Nicknamed the "Birdman", Anthony Frank Hawk is widely regarded as one the "pioneers of vertical skateboarding" and is a success story. He was the first man to be inducted into Skateboarding's Hall of Fame. Hawk has competed in a whopping 103 competitions even as he neared 25 years of age and made a statement by winning 73 of them. He set the record books ablaze by becoming the National Skateboard Association world champion for 12 consecutive years.
Hawk is known for nailing the 900 — a hard-to-master trick that sees the skateboarder do a two-and-a-half mid-air revolutions on a skateboard. When he did it first in '99, it was a major feat in the world of skateboarding, and in what comes as a sign of his expertise, he did it again when he was 43 and once again when he was 48. Such was the success tale, that by 1999, he was looked at as one of the perfect characters to have a personal video game series.
'Tony Hawk's Pro Skater' debuted in 1999. The immense success saw the series come up with 18 more titles that include — Ten main series, four spin-offs and four-game repackages. According to a special feature on the video games by IGN, Activision, the publishers of 'Pro Skater' had initially aimed at selling 250,000 copies of the game. Instead, they ended up selling 20 times that number with combined platform sales richly contributing to over five million.
Throughout all the game series, Hawk has remained as the pivotal character. Creativity rose to the next level when he showed up as a kid in the Backyard Sports series Backyard Skateboarding. And now, the world gets to witness the greatness and the legacy of Hawk in his upcoming documentary, 'Pretending I'm a Superman: The Tony Hawk Video Game Story' that speaks of the all-time classic game's journey and the influential role it played in his career.
At one point in time, Hawk says he was doing whatever he could to make it through tough days. His income was getting cut and in what came across a blessing, he met with Activision with the latter asking him to be the face of their game. The rest is history as we know it. The official synopsis reads: "'Tony Hawk's Pro Skater' shook the world when it sold 9 million copies upon release and forever changed the skateboarding scene. 'Pretending I'm a Superman' tells the story behind the game that changed lives and shaped a generation."
You can watch the trailer here:
'Pretending I'm a Superman: The Tony Hawk Video Game Story' premieres on August 18 on VoD.
