Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 features the series' trademark open-ended gameplay, in which the player (playing as a professional skateboarder) completes a number of tasks which result in cash rewards. With money gained, the player can then purchase skill improvements and better skateboards. THPS2 was also the first game in the series to introduce the manual, a skateboarding trick where the performer balances on two wheels. This enables players to string together trick combos. The game also introduced the Noseslide, Tailslide, Bluntslide, Nosebluntside, Feeble, and Overcrook grinds. It was also the first of the Pro Skater games to feature Create-a-Skater and Park Editor features, now staples in the series.
Game Objectives
- Emulator used: Mupen64 0.5 rerecording v8
- Aims for fastest time
- Genre: Sport
- Even better than the 1st one
Here are the four main tricks used in this run:
Grinding
Grinding usually adds to your speed. This is why I jump many times on the same rail to reach optimal speed. Upward rails give speed faster than downward rails for some reason.
Wallriding
While wallriding, you can jump a second time to reach higher areas.
Jumping
Jumping keeps most of your speed.
Manual
Manuals keep your combo going and add to your multiplier. They are useful to get the high points goals.
I chose to reach the ending credits as fast as possible, instead of going for 100% requirements.
Character Choice
I used Tony Hawk because he already has a lot of speed and spin. After the first stage, I just have barely enough money to max those two stats. Visiting the store takes about 6 seconds; since the other stats seemed useless to me I decided to visit it only once.
The Hangar
After uploading my [/Forum/Topics/4739&start=101|first WIP], YouTube user stevoisiak notified me that it was possible to get both the first gap and the "nosegrind over the pipe" goals. It took a lot of work, but I finally pulled it out. I also was able to get the third gap and grind the end of the propeller at the same time.
School II
This stage is pretty straight-forward. I doubt there’s a better possible route here.
Marseilles
Again, another pretty straight-forward stage. I get the minimum points to still get in first position. In THPS2, you can’t trigger the ending credits if you don’t have all three gold medals.
New York City
Hitting "retry" here (like in neskamikaze's run) is slower, since I don't aim for in-game time. Looking back at this, I think there's a way to quit Joey's sculpture faster while still getting the goal.
Venice Beach
Here, there may be a way to get the sick score goal before reaching the secret tape, which would save a bit of time. I tried three different routes and the one you see turned out to be the fastest.
Skate Street
Same two rounds.
Philadelphia
My favorite stage! The route is pretty different from the RTA run and way more entertaining.
Bullring
Grinds, grinds, grinds, fun, gold medals, etc.
Comparison Table
Here I compare the times I got in each stage with neskamizake's times (taken from this
video).
Since there weren't any better/TASed Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 run, those were my goals to beat.
| Levels | Nahoc's in-game time | neskamizake’s in-game time | Time saved |
|---|
| The Hangar | 14 seconds | 24 seconds | 10 seconds |
| School II | 22 seconds | 26 seconds | 4 seconds |
| Marseilles | 5 and 5 seconds | 7 and 7 seconds | 4 seconds |
| New York City | 45 seconds | 53 seconds | 7 seconds + retry time |
| Venice Beach | 18 seconds | 28 seconds | 10 seconds + retry time |
| Skate Street | 3 and 3 seconds | 7 and 7 seconds | 8 seconds |
| Philadelphia | 17 seconds | 31 seconds | 14 seconds |
| Bullring | 6 and 6 seconds | 8 and 9 seconds | 5 seconds |
| Total | 2 minutes and 24 seconds | 3 minutes and 27 seconds | 1 minute and 3 seconds |
Special Thanks
- neskamikaze: He gave me many, many tips and a lot of advices. He kept giving me new ideas to try and luckily, they worked quite often! His RTA run was also useful for comparison. Huge thanks to him.
- sonicpacker: He encouraged me and gave me feedback throughout the run.
- sportplanet.com: This site provided me with nice [link removed]that helped me build my routes.
adelikat: Good viewer response, accepting for publication.
