Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4’s Soundtrack Remixes Its Legacy

In the end, the publisher did decide on a developer, Iron Galaxy Studios. But concerns about the soundtrack were even more pronounced this time around, as marketing snippets honed in on new additions rather than showcasing the balance of 1+2. The result is tough to parse, with only 10 out of the 55 original songs from the joint soundtracks making the final cut.

The premise of giving people new music to discover—a curated playlist, rather than whatever the algorithm decides to feed them that day—is still commendable, especially as video games with licensed soundtracks continue to be a rare occurrence. But the result is missing a crucial aspect: the importance of preserving the original music time capsules as they were intended.

There’s a generational element to music discovery that can and should be contested with new waves and ideas. Newer artists in the nü soundtrack, such as Turnstile, Jeff Rosentock, and Idles, all embody decade-long influences of the bands that shaped the original releases, but aren’t bound by them. Songs like “Damaged Goods” by Gang of Four, “Charlotte” by Kittie, and “2 Minutes to Midnight” by Iron Maiden all make sense within what somebody would consider to be a fitting track list for a Tony Hawk game. But the marriage of old and new allows people to trace back said influences. Existing legacies should be part of the conversation, rather than being outright shut down.

Hawk himself reflected on this when talking about the first Pro Skater game in the Rolling Stone interview. “I’d like to think that it introduced punk as a genre to a new generation, but also keeping the reverence and the roots of it. Punk is a big tent. That’s what the musician John Doe once told me, and I’ll never forget it. My wife and I were kids of the ‘70s, what we consider punk is not what kids now consider punk. When they’re talking about Blink 182, or Offspring, or Green Day, that all came later. We were there for the absolute beginning of it with Iggy Pop and Sex Pistols and The Clash.”

During new interviews around 3+4, Hawk said that, while he wasn’t the only person to decide on the soundtracks, he did suggest bands and picked different songs by artists that were already in the game, to try and continue to foster the sentiment of “keeping it fresh” and “help discovering other music” to people. And while that’s definitely palpable in some of the track selections, this new remake bundle feels like Activision didn’t care to pursue song licenses as much as it did five years ago.

I don’t have a strong nostalgia for these soundtracks, but I do have an everlasting fondness for the tracks in Tony Hawk’s Underground 2, which was my entry to the series. Back in 2020, I wrote about how those songs have stuck with me for over a decade now. Moreover, the importance of the track selection was immediately apparent, even to someone like me who didn’t get to witness how the licensed soundtracks shaped the series over time in the preceding games. Now, I couldn’t imagine a re-release that’s missing even one of the songs there.

Licensed tracks work in tandem with the creative intent of game developers, even if they come from outside sources rather than original work made solely for the game. Recent examples like Hi-Fi Rush and the upcoming Mixtape are curated to evoke specific eras and feelings. They feel like small but significant triumphs considering the tumultuous history of copyrighted music games. Spec Ops: The Line was promptly delisted after losing licenses last year, and while the Toto’s “Africa” moment in Firewatch was small, the experience isn’t the same without it.

As a whole, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 is an uneven remake. The free-roam style campaign of 4 is absent, and its levels have been adapted to fit the two-minute timer. Sure, there’s an option to artificially extend said timer, but the maps are already different, with some being turned into the tournament-type instead. The corporate modern lens that permeates the release doesn’t do it any favors, either. Guest characters bring back the Doom collab of original Pro Skater 3, but in the form of the nü-Doom games, complete with key art to decorate your board and songs from the soundtrack shoed-in, as well as one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles… from 2023’s Mutant Mayhem movie, that is. And while real-life advertisements haven’t been a stranger to the Tony Hawk series, nor skateboarding in general, they’re as in-your-face as they can be, strangely being celebrated as a part of the game’s identity in marketing.

Change can be a good thing, especially when its nature is disruptive, meant to make a character roster more diverse or open up doors to new music. Even under the modern age umbrella of corporate licenses and tie-ins, 1+2 embodied that spirit while striking a balance, understanding and honoring the root that led to influences across generations. But 3+4 feels more like a spreadsheet row that had to be highlighted in green. When you approach a remake with little intent to preserve the legacy you’re cashing in from, foreboding not just a semblance of nostalgia but the little remnants of its original spirit, you’re barely left with a tribute. You’re left with almost nothing at all.

Diego Nicolás Argüello is a freelance journalist from Argentina who has learned English thanks to videogames. You can read his work in places like Polygon, the New York Times, The Verge, and more. You can also find him on Bluesky.