Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 is the third game of the Tony Hawk series. This game introduced the revert and double tap tricks, which allowed for much longer and higher scoring combos. There are 8 main levels in the game, five of which are with goals scattered across the level, and three competitions.
Objectives
- Emulator used: DolphinHawk (syncs on Dolphin 5.0-16426)
- Optimizes for in game time first, then real time
- Obtain three medals in competitions
- Reach the credits and unlock Cruise Ship
Options
It's modern Tony Hawk baby! Autokick off is the way to go. Autokick off makes it so that to move forward you need to hold your kick button. In the thps2 engine, you don't really need to hold ollie much at all to keep max speed, but in 6th gen games you need to hold it a good bit more. This means that I can't get a million one frame ollies like 5th gen thps3, but I will move faster overall and we make up for the extra ollie button holding with stat changes.
The other benefit of turning autokick off is that you gain control of your skater earlier in the run and can skip the starting animations.
Skater Choice
Thps3 does something really interesting in that different groups of skaters have different goal layouts. SKATE letters will be in different positions and the "trick on x gap" goal will be different. Even after all these years it's still not worth it to switch from Street to Vert, so our options are Jamie Thomas, Bam Margera, and Andrew Reynolds (along with Officer Dick but he's an unlockable skater). Jamie is the fastest to select, and he also gets a really easy to adjust trickset.
Trick Swapping
This happens pretty fast because of how smooth the menus are and how close together what we need is (how did they make these menus so responsive they're so perfect oh my GOD). In order we change:
- Nosegrab to One Foot Japan; Boneless 180 One Foot Japan is our bread and butter move to get special.
- FS Shove-It to 360 Varial; the specific reason for putting this on is for getting a three second heat all the way in Tokyo.
- 360 Hardflip to 540 Tailwhip; Tailwhip gives more score and is a pretty short special
One Wheel Nose Manual, Crooks Bigspin Crook, and Layback Sparks aren't altered because keeping the grind and manual specials help with meeting score thresholds, ESPECIALLY in competitions, but also in goal levels.
Stats
These stats are essentially the minimum you could hope to efficiently complete the run in. Losing even one ollie would make this route essentially impossible. The stats menu is a lot simpler than the tricks menu, and goes as follows:
- Lower hangtime, manual balance, and lip balance to 0
- Lower rail balance to 4. Firstly because it gives us the exact amount of stats we need to fill the rest, and second because rail balance is pretty much a necessity for some of the movements done in the TAS. I'm sure there are slightly slower movements you can do in real time (like spacing out grind hops for example) that would allow you to put that rail balance back into ollie to make things easier overall, but it's a major help).
- Max Switch (gives equal speed in switch stance when maxed), Spin (helps a ton with scoring), and Speed (it's a speedrun).
Competitions and RNG Seeds
I only found the seeds for first, second, and third place for each heat in the competition because competition scores are decided from the frame you skip the final intro comp cutscene and get into your first run. Final scores are calculated by adding your two best heats together.
I'll discuss it more in the levels themselves, but the minimum scores with perfect rng are 25k for Rio, 45k for Skater Island, and 100k for Tokyo. The rng refreshes if you wait a long time in cutscenes (working theory is due to particle effects or something similar moving it forward) or if you retry the competition. A retry or two will still come out a decent bit faster than having to do an extra jump and trick in each heat to make up for having unfavorable rng. These addresses are used for all the competition levels.
RNG Seeds (all 2 byte signed)
| Position | heat 1 | heat 2 | heat 3 |
|---|
| First place | 00B4659E | 00B465A2 | 00B465A6 |
| Second place | 00B465C2 | 00B465C6 | 00B465CA |
| Third place | 00B465E6 | 00B465EA | 00B465EE |
Ending Run vs Retrying Run
This is more applicable to All Goals and Golds (and will be delved into more in that submission), but is still worth mentioning here. On Gamecube it’s generally less efficient to retry the level and then hit end run. The reason it’s so valuable on PC is because the game takes almost no time to load, while on Gamecube a retry loses over half a second on its own.
The second reason is the ability to complete objectives within the few frames after ending the run. The most notable example in Any% would be the end of Suburbia, where ending run into the cutscene saves almost a second and a half vs the rta route where they watch it in the middle.
One mechanic that’s used a lot throughout the run is post end run Bonelesses. Normally you’d have to land and wait a number of frames until your combo finally ends and you get your scores. Instead what you can do is Boneless in the few frames of movement after you end run and instantly get your score. This allows for some incredibly early end of runs that can end up potentially saving in game time.
This TAS is an improvement of a whopping 22 seconds of in game time through a major goal reroute, autokick off, more optimal movement, and insane competition strategies. The first half of this run (Foundry, Canada, and Suburbia) are all ripped in some capacity from the All Goals and Golds submission. I did go back and edit some trick usage and things like that to make the run slightly more unique (and make up for the fact that this run doesn’t have an fs540). Everything post Suburbia is entirely unique to this run.
In Game Timer Comparisons
| Level | Fog TAS | RTA WR | New TAS | Difference (RTA) |
|---|
| Foundry | 1:31 | 1:33 | 1:35 | 4(2) |
| Canada | 1:48 | 1:49 | 1:45 | +3(+4) |
| Rio heat 1 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 2(1) |
| Rio Heat 2 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 2(1) |
| Suburbia | 1:31 | 1:31 | 1:27 | +4(+4) |
| Airport | 1:49 | 1:48 | 1:49 | 0(1) |
| Skater Island heat 1 | 56 | 58 | 58 | 2(0) |
| Skater Island Heat 2 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 2(1) |
| Los Angeles | 1:27 | 1:27 | 1:42 | 15(15) |
| Tokyo Heat 1 | 56 | 57 | 57 | 1(0) |
| Tokyo Heat 2 | 56 | 57 | 57 | 1(0) |
In Game Time Difference: 22 Seconds (13 seconds)
Foundry
This level does not change (apart from some trick selections) from the All Goals and Golds run, so here are the comments verbatim from that submission.
The Foundry route hasn't really evolved too much from the Fog route except for where we get the A and the foreman. This run opens the same way, cutting the corner super tight for the K then grinding to the valve.
Then comes the first major roadblock I ran into, bonelessing the S. This is normally pretty easy in real time because runners frequently use max ollie, but because I have it set to 7 I have to be a bit more creative with how we grab it. The main problem is that the letters bob up and down and we absolutely need a low part of the cycle to even have a chance to grab it. You may be able to gather exactly what went wrong here, an optimal start simply can't reach it. The way I slow down here is by clipping the wall slightly to delay just enough to meet the cycle..
(A little sidenote, but another issue here is that sometimes your ollie can be super low and I have absolutely zero idea why this is the case. I can only assume it is something to do with landing from a late ollie or something similar. I asked in the community and didn't get an answer so if it gets figured out I'd be very curious what is found.)
The next bit is pretty simple to get the E then wallride up to the top area, and now we've reached the main route difference between this and Fogs TAS. A few years ago it was found that you can fall onto the A after grabbing the tape, and this opened a pretty big reroute in rta. Runners nowadays will normally turn around at the fourth valve, grind back towards the way they came, then follow the path to hit the foreman grind with speed and go to the fifth valve from there. However, it was found that you can go from the A to the foreman with a well placed boneless, which eliminated the need for some backtracking.
The TAS optimization of the segment comes from the fact that IL runners go towards the end of the scaffolding with the tape and use that for a consistent setup for the strategy, and I found that you can do it by just dropping off right when you get the tape and don't need to bonk the wall. This allows me to get 1 igt better than the ILs (using the IL timing method).
The route after the foreman is pretty basic and standard. A 50-50, a Boneless up to the bucket, a few side hops, then grinds with some Ollies/bonelesses to avoid slopes or get slope boosts. After the last valve I delay ending the run (and also choose end run over retry) to skip a cutscene.
Canada
While the input for this level is taken from the All Gold and Golds run. This is where the Any% route starts to differ dramatically from the previous TAS and human runs. The normal route is getting Chuck Unstuck, Sick Score, Burying the Bully, and Nosegrinding the Horn. Instead what I choose to do is to grab the Secret Tape then do those goals in the reverse order. This loses me 3 igt over the previous TAS, but is the first step (of three) towards a larger timesave later on.
Rio
Rio is a very blink and you miss it level. The entire combo is: 180 No Comply, Benihana to Beni Fingerflip, 360 Switch Benihana to Beni Fingerflip. You need at minimum 25k for the Bronze, but this combo gets 30k instead. The reason for that is that it loses no time to hit 30k (the only difference is spinning 180 degrees at the start vs 360 degrees) and makes the comp 100% free. The only real major thing of note is how early I end the run. I get a Boneless on the last frame of control before the scores are calculated so the game actually banks my points.
Suburbia
This is literally just the All Goals and Goal route once again, so here is an abridged version of those notes. This route loses 4 igt to the previous Any% TAS by adding in the Pumpkins, and is step two out of three on the way to a major timesave.
Starting off the level I’m buffering ollie and kick, which means I can’t Boneless until I complete another action. I do a 180 off the platform into the slope boost then do a quick Fakie Ollie to 180 One Foot Japan to get special before using the sloped driveway to do a big Boneless to get the E. The next bit is just a grind, side hop for the axe, then skating over to and clearing the pool.
This is where the route differentiates itself from Fogs TAS, instead of going to the power lines right after the Axe, we go across the pool and climb up onto the roof while grabbing a Pumpkin .
From there I follow a power line, grab the K while turning around, then grind another power line. After I grab the first tree branch on the second wire, I then jump off to get the pumpkin below the wires. Once it does a squish, I bonk the tree and wallride up the wall and start grinding to the final branch. Immediately after the cutscene I jump off to the S and follow the path around to the next pumpkin.
After this Pumpkin I cut the corner and jump over the closer trailer, then land on the clothing line after doing a heelflip over the other trailer.
The ending from the fourth pumpkin onward is the same as the All Goals and Golds submission. I get the tape before the Axe man because ending run before that cutscene starts allows us to skip it saving over a second and a half.
Airport
Are you excited for a unique to Any% route? Well here you go! All we’re doing in this level is trying to get to the baggage claim to do a Crooked grind while also getting 300k to satisfy the score goals. This level is slightly more optimal due to autokick off and less ollie, but nowhere near enough to save an igt second. Let’s catch the first flight to the next level.
Skater Island
This combo is also pretty short and sweet. A 360 Boneless 360 Varial to get special and a large base, a nose pivot right before a wall, a wallie off said wall, and a really tight 540 540 Tailwhip to get just over 60k. A very comfortable third place and we’re on to the big boy, Los Angeles.
Los Angeles
So I didn’t really test this level before I got here into the project. I just had a vision for the route and I was not prepared for how tough it would be. Remember those added goals in Canada and Suburbia? Those, along with adding the Secret Tape here in LA allow us to cut this level's overall time in half. The one caveat is the goals we cut out (Earthquake Rails, and by extension SKATE and Stopping the Car Chase) are where the majority of the score is normally gotten in both Any% and All Goals and Golds.
So what can we do instead? We can cry and cope, or we just do some really hard scoring to just barely squeak out enough points. I did a little bit of both. I open by taking the same route that Fog does, but I immediately diverge near the end of the first Earthquake Rail.
Near the end of the rail (right when I get the northern tremor gap), I do two side hops to the left. The first is to grind the stoplight, the second is to jump over the road. It’s absolutely vital that I get the tremor gap, the ped props, and the West Side! Gap when going over the street or I won’t end up with enough multiplier or score.
After jumping the road, I need to do two shuffles on the little pool where the K is to build up speed again. Since I have low ollie, I need to adjust my side hop accordingly so that I can actually grab the K in the air.
You may think, “okay two paragraphs of scoring and now you’re landing the combo surely the hard part is over right?” but no! The reason I landed there is to build up speed again going into the grinds and Varial Kickflip goal. After landing in a grind to get the Tower Rails gap, I still need to do a bunch of tricks and grind switch ups/specials to hit 400k.
After jumping back over the road and (thankfully) cracking 400k score we’ve come to the hardest part of the run: Those STUPID BALLS!
I jest. The only thing that really matters with the balls is that we hit them in such a way to continue moving right after the first one, and continue moving mostly straight after the second. They really weren’t hard at all. Onto the actual hardest part of the entire run: the Secret Tape.
In the very beginning of the submission, we talked about stats and how they affect the movements we need to do in the run. Keen eyed people may have noticed that I left 4 points in the rail stat and there were only 3 points missing in the Ollie stat. The fourth point from the Rail stat would normally go into a 5th Air stat, and this is literally the only instance in which this matters for any%.
The 4 air means I’m getting less height coming out of the ramp, the 7 ollie means I’m getting less height off of my Boneless and wallie. Together they add up to hours of frustration and a lot of doubt that the idea was possible. Eventually, I managed to just catch the rail up near the tape. I don’t have enough speed to grind up the rail, but I can immediately hop off of the rail and carry my momentum upward into the tape. It’s just barely possible to make it, but I finally did it.
This tape was the third and final piece in ripping LA in half, and all the cuts in LA save 15 in game seconds total, significantly more than the 7 or 8 seconds lost in Canada and Suburbia.
Tokyo
Honestly thought this competition was gonna be way way harder on 7 ollie. There’s a quirk in the game where if you ollie on the first frame you catch a grind you go flying really high up. That’s used here because otherwise there’s no way in hell I’m getting a 540 spin or probably even landing a Tailwhip.
This run ends up being a 3:12.2 when done with the RTA timing convention (first frame after Foundry cutscenes to End Competition on Tokyo| after matching loads to the current wr runs length. I don’t really see this route being particularly viable for current rta runners, mostly due to all goals Suburbia and the exceptionally hard scoring in LA, but this category definitely has room to go lower if somebody decides to go for it.
Thanks to Kami, Frankie, George, Fog, Sawwl, and anybody else who’s ever contributed to strategy hunting and optimizing this game to where it is today. I hope this run does the game justice
Samsara: The progression of TASing Anthony Hawk's Professional Skateboarder never ceases to amaze me. The complex movement, the tight routing,
the absolutely killer soundtrack that has to be muted for the publication, and the fact that even something that looked close to perfect at the time can be shattered by a couple dozen seconds,
twice over. "Doing the game justice" might be underselling it a bit, in my opinion.
